Blackberry for business, iPhone for fun?

[omarjk]

I don't wish to reopen familiar and hackneyed battle lines between Mac-lovers and those less impressed by what the people at Apple do.

But...I have just begun a job in which a smartphone will make life easier and now I need some smart advice.

Work not being graphic design etc, Windows is the platform of choice. The main reason for a smart phone is the email communication I would have 'on the go'. Program used is Outlook. I'll want Calendar syncing (very important too); web browsing; Gchat etc.

My concerns are: will the lack of physical buttons on the iPhone make it longer/harder to write emails than with a BB; will there be problems in syncing data such that a Bold or Curve is preferable? I just want a hassle-free set-up, that doesn't involve connecting and disconnecting wires all the time, and allows me to write emails quickly and with few mistakes.

If I can get all of this with an iPhone then sign me up for one. Ideally you will have owned or tried for substantial amounts of time both types of smartphone.

Any comments on this welcome and keep it clean! Thanks.

I should also add that I own a MacBook at home, running Parallels.

 

[question fear]

Does your work offer any particular support? If your IT dept will support your phone, find out if there is a particular platform or model they suggest.

Outside of that, you're going to hate this, but Windows Mobile offers the best integration with Outlook...not to throw a wrench in your plans or anything.

 

[Demosthenes X]

How time-sensitive are your e-mail needs? The iPhone only supports Push email with Mobile Me - if you're using another provider, you either have to rely on fetch email every 15 minutes, or pay for Mobile Me and forward your work email there. A BB is better for email because all messages will be pushed right to the device.

Otherwise, an iPhone should be fine for your needs. The keyboard is pretty quick once you get used to it.

 

[JNB]

The iPhone supports Exchange ActiveSync. No extra hardware, no licensing, and it is push. I've been using in for corporate email for the last year and it's damn near instant, faster than a BB in theory as it doesn't go through another box and app for processing, and certainly faster than Outlook or Entourage is on the laptop when I'm remote.

I did a few years with physical keyboards and honestly made as many mistakes with it as I do the iPhone. The trick is to just type as fast as you normally would and not try to out-think the phone. There's still a couple typos you may need to correct, but they're far easier to do that with than anything I've used with "real" buttons.

 

[Demosthenes X]

The iPhone supports Exchange ActiveSync. No extra hardware, no licensing, and it is push. I've been using in for corporate email for the last year and it's damn near instant, faster than a BB in theory as it doesn't go through another box and app for processing, and certainly faster than Outlook or Entourage is on the laptop when I'm remote.

Good point - if the company has an Exchange server in place, then the iPhone will match whatever else for email. I just assumed they didn't for some reason...

 

[omarjk]

I'll find out whether they have an exchange server in place but does that affect the earlier point that Windows Mobile is significantly better for Outlook integration?

You can tell that I'd love the reasons to buy iPhone, not least as it would sync excellently with my home computer. Does cross-platform data syncing exist so that Calendar can be updated with data from Outlook's calendar etc, with either BB or the iPhone?

 

[malnar]

I don't wish to reopen familiar and hackneyed battle lines between Mac-lovers and those less impressed by what the people at Apple do.

But...I have just begun a job in which a smartphone will make life easier and now I need some smart advice.

Work not being graphic design etc, Windows is the platform of choice. The main reason for a smart phone is the email communication I would have 'on the go'. Program used is Outlook. I'll want Calendar syncing (very important too); web browsing; Gchat etc.

My concerns are: will the lack of physical buttons on the iPhone make it longer/harder to write emails than with a BB; will there be problems in syncing data such that a Bold or Curve is preferable? I just want a hassle-free set-up, that doesn't involve connecting and disconnecting wires all the time, and allows me to write emails quickly and with few mistakes.

If I can get all of this with an iPhone then sign me up for one. Ideally you will have owned or tried for substantial amounts of time both types of smartphone.

Any comments on this welcome and keep it clean! Thanks.

Just curious, because I don't use my Iphone for business and don't know anyone that uses a phone for business, what business-type activities would you actually be doing on a phone? It seems to me the Iphone would be the winner with a much larger screen than the Bold and Curve. If it's just email, then I really don't see the difference - it's just preference in keyboard, and I really think you'll just get used to the Iphone keyboard.

 

[mwpeters8182]

I guess it would also depend whether or not your company has a Blackberry Enterprise Server or not. If they do, I'd imagine the device of choice would be a blackberry, since they'd be able to take advantage of that. Otherwise, if you're just using Exchange, the WinMo handset or iPhone would both work fine. I'd talk to see what the company will support. I know we can't get our work email on anything but a company-issued blackberry.

 

[QCassidy352]

If all you're really concerned about is checking email on the go, you'll be totally fine with a bb, iphone, or even winmo. And all of the above will integrate just fine with outlook - in theory. In practice, you need to check with your IT department and see what they're set up to handle.

 

[AMessy]

I agree with the people above to reccomend you check with your IT dept first. It could be a nightmare trying to use a phone they don't support, even if it's a better phone.

 

[MattZani]

MobileMe can sync a calender between iPhones, iPod Touch's, Macs and PC's. So your work PC Could have a work calender, your home PC have a home calender, and your iPhone has both.

This is how i think it works anyway.

 

[omarjk]

I didn't get the chance to ask today but tomorrow I will make some time. Thanks for all of your responses.

Re: MobileMe - I don't want to pay an extra surcharge for this service. Granted, many users find it very useful but I'm just not interested at this stage.

I'm not exactly sure which of these exchange servers are used i.e. BB Enterprise, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. From what I have just read, however, iPhones do support Exchange ActiveSync.

I do not work in a very large or corporate environment - a couple of hundred in a legal practice. As I may have mentioned, if I could the various Outlook calendars that I access on the office's network on an iPhone I would be very happy with that solution.

But to take this slightly away from my main query here: will the iPhone be revamped and re-released in 2010 (is that a can of worms being opened)?

 

[omarjk]

Just been trying to do a little more research around the web, and other issues have cropped up that I should mention.

Firstly, on my Outlook server at work there are at least 4 calendars I would like 24 hr access to (OK, maybe not 24 as I'm not an android but I take it you get the picture). One of them is my 'personal' calendar, and it is this I would like synced with my iCal schedule.

Secondly, will I be able to view the 3 non-personal work calendars and make changes remotely e.g. one of them tells me if I need to be in a certain place at, say, 3 pm and sends a reminder when I'm at my desktop, but I need to write that I'm unavailable?

Can I register multiple email accounts as I do with Mail OS X, or will I have to choose between work email (if it is on Exchange ActiveSync) and my gmail?

Finally, if the answer to any of the above is 'no' on the iPhone, does the same too apply to a BB?

Many thanks in advance.