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Why I switched to a BlackBerry, and I'm not coming back

C

CrzyCanuck72

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 10, 2003
913
0
So after a couple weeks of deliberation, yesterday I picked up a used BB Curve 8900, switched over, and retired my iPhone. I was unsure about whether I would be able to adapt after a year on my iPhone, but after just a few hours, I know that I won't be going back. Here's why:

Complete customizability
Every aspect of the BB can be customized to your liking... how many vibrations are given off, font, profiles... part of why I love my Mac is that it is completely customized the way I like it. The iPhone gives only the most basic customization options.

Options for everything
Every conceivable option is available... native support for folders and hiding icons, dealing with messages, etc.

Always-on IM
There really is no match for BBM... every BB user has it, it's always on, there's no service to sign in to... really a genius move by RIM

Fast OS
This might be a product of being jailbroken (which was necessary to get some basic features I required), but this BB is miles faster than my iPhone. No lagging, no stuttering.

Real multitasking
Push notifications were neat, but the BB can do real multitasking. Leave an application running in the background while you check something else.

Better notifications
iPhone's notifications were really lacking... the BB has an LED to show notifications, as well as statusbar icons (something I needed to jailbreak for on the iPhone)


Now, there are some things about the iPhone I will miss...

Seamless syncing with my Mac
I had to use a PC to get my contacts over, and I'm not even going to try moving my calendars over

iPod
'nuff said

Uncrippled wifi
When connected to wifi on the iPhone, every data feature was available... I'm on an unlimited email BB plan (no actual data allotment), and a lot of features are unavailable, which is annoying


So there you go... I had my iPhone for a year, and I really did love it, but the BB is just a powerhorse.
 
Your tags are wrong.


Customization yes this is correct but frankly the fonts on my BB Curve have never been changed and the BB tunes they give you are as ridiculous as the iPhones.

Options
Every conceivable option is available
Click to expand...
Really? because short of what you listed I know no more. I know the iPhone can be customized in ways the BB cannot.

Always on IM BBM? Really? Who uses that other than other BB users?

Fast OS hands down it is fast because the features are rather limited in some cases. The APPS we install are what do not perform quickly and this is not always the fault of an OS. This is a more full featured OS not a scaled down OS like BB.

Real multitasking undeniable here but then again all I really do is use mail/calender/phone.

Push Anyone who disputes that BB's push e-mail is not the best is a moron.



Enjoy your BB. As a user of both I prefer the iPhone. I don't think the iPhone is prepared for business ... big business ... not yet.
 
I love my iPhone, it's the best phone I ever had, admittedly it get used more for other things then the actual phone but it's like having a PDA haha :p
 
Yawn...

So what do you want from posting this thread? Us arguing with you or something to come back to iPhone?
 
I make no assumptions about you, but I've noticed girls tend to like the Blackberry more than the iPhone. :) Except me. Then again, I'm one of the few girls I've ever met who didn't constantly need to be on the phone with her friends while driving, walking, going to the bathroom, eating, showering, sleeping, etc.

I think so many girls like the Blackberry because they can touch-text while driving and putting everyone in danger.

For the record, I might be getting an iPhone someday, since we're already with AT&T, but for now I use a pink Sony Ericsson w580i and it's a pretty neat little phone. Then again, all I do is make calls and text on it, nothing else.
 
CrzyCanuck72 said:
Now, there are some things about the iPhone I will miss...

Seamless syncing with my Mac
I had to use a PC to get my contacts over, and I'm not even going to try moving my calendars over

iPod
'nuff said
Click to expand...

Two HUGE reasons why I won't be leaving my iPhone + it having far superior web browsing capabilities.

To each their own. I'm glad you like your decision to switch and I am really glad that there are a lot of options out on the table so that people can truly get what they want out of a phone.

Good luck!
 
CrzyCanuck72 said:
So after a couple weeks of deliberation, yesterday I picked up a used BB Curve 8900, switched over, and retired my iPhone. I was unsure about whether I would be able to adapt after a year on my iPhone, but after just a few hours, I know that I won't be going back. Here's why:

Complete customizability
Every aspect of the BB can be customized to your liking... how many vibrations are given off, font, profiles... part of why I love my Mac is that it is completely customized the way I like it. The iPhone gives only the most basic customization options.

Options for everything
Every conceivable option is available... native support for folders and hiding icons, dealing with messages, etc.

Always-on IM
There really is no match for BBM... every BB user has it, it's always on, there's no service to sign in to... really a genius move by RIM

Fast OS
This might be a product of being jailbroken (which was necessary to get some basic features I required), but this BB is miles faster than my iPhone. No lagging, no stuttering.

Real multitasking
Push notifications were neat, but the BB can do real multitasking. Leave an application running in the background while you check something else.

Better notifications
iPhone's notifications were really lacking... the BB has an LED to show notifications, as well as statusbar icons (something I needed to jailbreak for on the iPhone)


Now, there are some things about the iPhone I will miss...

Seamless syncing with my Mac
I had to use a PC to get my contacts over, and I'm not even going to try moving my calendars over

iPod
'nuff said

Uncrippled wifi
When connected to wifi on the iPhone, every data feature was available... I'm on an unlimited email BB plan (no actual data allotment), and a lot of features are unavailable, which is annoying


So there you go... I had my iPhone for a year, and I really did love it, but the BB is just a powerhorse.
Click to expand...

You make great points. I really do enjoy my iPhone, but I don't think I will be getting another one after my contract is up next year unless they are on another network.

Att just is not working well for me. The dropped calls are getting bad in my area.

Thanks for the info on the BB, I might look into that.
 
CocoaPuffs said:
Yawn...

So what do you want from posting this thread? Us arguing with you or something to come back to iPhone?
Click to expand...
just giving my thought process for anyone else who might be considering a BB (I know I searched for threads by people who switched)
 
Lot of unnecessary stuff deleted:
CrzyCanuck72 said:
So there you go... I had my iPhone for a year, and I really did love it, but the BB is just a powerhorse.
Click to expand...

That's why there's a large range of different products. So we get to pick which one we like and not have to put up with someone else's idea of what is perfect.
 
jessica. said:
Options Really? because short of what you listed I know no more. I know the iPhone can be customized in ways the BB cannot.
Click to expand...
Things like the number of vibrations, whether or not the LED flashes, etc. can be changed. Basically you're given almost complete free reign over how the BB interacts with you, instead of being restricted to the options Apple gives you.

btw, raygungirl, I'm a guy :p

edit: I forgot some other things:

Advantage BB:
- User-customizable dictionary and text-expansion (eg. set "cc" to become "CrzyCanuck72" automatically)
- Unified inbox
- Form factor (smaller, lighter)

Advantage iPhone:
- Threaded SMS. iPhone's threaded SMS is the standard to beat
- Browser (though BB's isn't as bad as I was expecting)
- Smaller charger :p (and integrated charger/USB cable)
- Build quality (BB feels plasticky and a little cheap)
- Troubleshooting is easier (there are a lot of things that could go wrong on a BB, on the network, the device, or RIM's end)
 
jessica. said:
Your tags are wrong.

Push Anyone who disputes that BB's push e-mail is not the best is a moron.
Click to expand...

Eugh, as a server admin in a company using exchange, I have to say that the push system used by RIM is a major headache and involved putting in a server which has to use windows 2003 when we wanted to move everything to windows 2008 for 3 whole BlackBerry users (but that was a poor business decision).

Then there's the whole extra cost for the user for Enterprise services. I find ActiveSync to work really nicely, supports multiple platforms and doesn't require any more server hardware.
 
Blackberry's are called crackberry's for a reason.


But I agree, blackberry's have so many goddamn options....takes a good day to set up everything to your liking haha. Most of my friends have blackberry's....i'll miss BBM when I leave.
 
CrzyCanuck72 said:
Now, there are some things about the iPhone I will miss...

Seamless syncing with my Mac
I had to use a PC to get my contacts over, and I'm not even going to try moving my calendars over

iPod
'nuff said
Click to expand...
For me, in addition to what you have above, I'll add:

Web Browser
BlackBerry's broweser doesn't even come close to matching the Webkit-based browers that the iPhone, Palm Pre and Andriod use.

Updatability
The update process (like for a new OS) is far from simple or quick, and the last time I checked, you couldn't do it directly from a Mac.

USB tethering
Unsupported on the Mac.

User Interface
Supports great customization and options, but it's cluttered, which makes it hard for a lot of users to find the settings they need to do the customizations.

Multiple Email Accounts
If you setup multiple email accounts, they all get dumped into the main inbox. You can setup a filter to view your additional accounts separately, but if you have a BES, when you view your BES account, you see the crap from all of your other email accounts mixed in with the BES email. Huge mess.

Having said that, I run the BES where I work, and we have about 300 BlackBerrys deployed across the country. They're workhorses. I'd guess that 95% of our users never change a default setting. The other 5% love the fact that they can tweak the hell out of their BlackBerrys.
 
the ONLY thing I miss from my BB is BBM, but even then, I only had like 4 people on my BBM contact list.
 
One hint for any blackberry owners.

Download Bolt. Its a webkit browser for the blackberry. Works damn well.
 
Threads like this are helpful for people deciding.

I originally had a blackberry curve 8330 on verizon and it was the only phone I kept for an entire year. It was a very good phone however certain things pestered me after a while. Things like the OS lagging after being on for a few days and people may call me crazy but I HATED hearing my phone go off as soon as I received an email. Yeah, it's nice that its so fast but ultimately it annoyed me especially late at night. (Yeah I know you can switch the profiles but customizing everyone of them was too much work for me :p)

The syncing was also an issue. I had to pay for software so I can sync with my mac properly. I hated it. Overall, I beat that thing up to a pulp and it never failed me. It was a great phone but browsing the web was such a pain and slow. I really do miss its loud speaker phone and vib THEN ring feature.
 
aristobrat said:
For me, in addition to what you have above, I'll add:
Updatability
The update process (like for a new OS) is far from simple or quick, and the last time I checked, you couldn't do it directly from a Mac.

USB tethering
Unsupported on the Mac.


Multiple Email Accounts
If you setup multiple email accounts, they all get dumped into the main inbox. You can setup a filter to view your additional accounts separately, but if you have a BES, when you view your BES account, you see the crap from all of your other email accounts mixed in with the BES email. Huge mess.
Click to expand...

1.) The new OS's support over the air updates for the phone.

2.) I used to tether my phone all the time? It's supported and was easy to setup. No installation necessary.

3.) Again, I was able to see all my accounts individually if I chose to.
 
auero said:
1.) The new OS's support over the air updates for the phone.

2.) I used to tether my phone all the time? It's supported and was easy to setup. No installation necessary.

3.) Again, I was able to see all my accounts individually if I chose to.
Click to expand...
1) I have 300 people across the US that don't have 5.0, so they're stuck with manual updates. And even if they did update, most of their devices will not have the new OS released for them.

2) You did a USB tether to your Mac? How?

3) Are you on a BES?
 
Wow. Bb vs iPhone thread and not a hint of a war about hard vs soft keyboard. MR is growing up, lol. Way to keep it civil, guys.

I think I'll hit my ATT store and check out the 8900.

How's the batt life?
 
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