I don't agree. We have mostly iphones in our business, and some others like Android's, and very few Palm devices. No Blackberrys due to the cost of their BES + addtional server hardware just to support BES was just not worth it when you can use the built in feature with Exchange 2003 or newer (we have 2010). It works just fine. The iphones have been the most STABLE phone in our company. We have users who have had them for 3 years now, while some of the Android phones and Windows phones have died or having constant problems where they are requiring to be replaced by the Phone company.
I made my comments below. Sounds to me you hate the iphone. Why are you here then?
Why is it when someone says something factual, yet negative, about the iPhone, it's equated to hatred of the device? Why are people so hell bent on avoiding reality?
I am a realist. I acknowledge the strengths and shortcomings of every device, iPhone included. You conveniently ignored the latter sentence where I acknowledged the iPhone's true strengths. Now, let's go down the list.
Email: Dude, I'm not talking interface. I'm talking all-around email management. It's a scary fact, but one you must accept:
BlackBerries have no peer when it comes to email. Everyone knows that. It's not just about being able to access company email. It's what you can do with it once it's accessed.
On a BlackBerry, I can:
- Access enterprise company directories from Exchange.
- Retrieve old and even archived emails from the BlackBerry.
- Set autoresponders that are synced back to the BES server and subsequently Exchange.
- Purge emails remotely as an IT manager (this is HUGE for people who care about security for terminated employees)
- Separate up-and-downtime from ActiveSync users; Things that affect ActiveSync users do not affect BES users because BES is directly connected to Exchange. ActiveSync is a pull transaction that may or may not work.
Flexibility: WebOS is no more buggy than Android and quite frankly, I've only ran into one app that seemed to have bugs: Best Buy. Beyond that my Fascinate is significantly more stable than almost every other phone - and believe me, I've used a LOT of phones over the years in search of one that could unseat the Palm Pre.
Additionally, let's not fool ourselves into thinking iOS is somehow magically more stable than the others; especially since some people can't even get the camera to function properly.
Web: When your iPhone can handle Flash, I will give it fair due. May be an aging technology, may need to go away, but it's here now. That means devices need to support it until it dies, period. Also, any page that is text heavy is an absolute PAIN to navigate on iOS devices; the Android's browser, on the other hand, reorients the text so that it fits in the visible area automatically when you zoom it. Such a small yet powerful feature.
Standards: On an Android, I have yet to run across a site that doesn't work. On the iPhone, it's a crapshoot whether I will find a site that is formatted properly, and if it's not formatted properly, it's a pain to futz with the zooming and scrolling to read the stuff on the page because it doesn't support protocols. There are times when because a javascript has loaded that the iPhone doesn't like, it won't even render the text at all.
Security: BS. Name one other operating system that has remote deletion AND domain joining AND encryption capabilities AND app control AND internet brower control AND certificate control AND group policy. There are none. Laughable to even imply that the iPhone can hold the BB's jock on this one.
Battery life: A friend is a casual iPhone user, text every now and then, browse most often, doesn't use it for streaming or anything else. He's lucky to get a day and a half of juice out of it. That's about the same my iPod Touch 4G gets, ironically.
My Fascinate, on the other hand, can go at least 2 days without needing to be charged. That's web browsing, news, weather, music streaming, calls, push email from two accounts, texts, voice searches and animated wallpapers.
There will have to come a point when you acknowledge the weaknesses of the iPhone. It's not the g0dphone you make it out to be. People who want to play around? Sure. It's probably the #1 recommendation I make for those people. But people who need to get stuff done and the most TRULY business-oriented (i.e. no time for games, no music, no movies, don't play on the device during work hours) are not using iPhones. The top sales rep in my company uses a BlackBerry Curve. His boss uses a BlackBerry Curve. HIS boss uses a BlackBerry Curve. I use a Fascinate. Company phone is the Vibrant (T-mobile) and people love it. We have one iPhone user. He swears by it, but he's a gamer. He downloads stupid apps like that one that contorts photos so he can show people and have fun with it.
