I have an iphone for personal use and a curve 8320 for work. There are some nice phones out there besides the iphone (I really like the Pre and android based phones), but blackberries are not among them.
I'm not going to take the time to respond to every point the OP makes, but there are two I just can't resist.
BBM - It always kills me when people bring this up. I really can't imagine a more useless feature. I guess email, SMS, and AIM/gchat/etc. aren't enough ways to get in touch with someone. And if the fact that it's completely redundant weren't enough, it's grossly inferior to those other methods because it only works with other blackberries.
Fast OS - Ok, maybe there was a big improvement on the 8900 (as compared to the 8320), but believe me, it would have to be HUGE. The unbelievable sluggishness of my bb astounds me on a daily basis. I even frequently scroll too far because the cursor lags so far behind the ball's motion. I see the hourglass for probably 5+ seconds when I lock the phone (not that it matters, since I'm done using it, but that's just an example).
Comparing a bb to an iphone just kinda boggles my mind. My bb strikes me as a phone with a keyboard and a few apps slapped on; my iphone is a 3.5" computer.
Reasons I left the blackberry for the iPhone and why I'm never going back.
1. Web browsing is awful on the Blackberry. I mean really bad.
2. Besides the almost unusable BB Storm, the screen sizes are tiny.
3. The OS is largely unchanged from the original BB OS from a decade ago.
4. Third party apps stink on the BB.
5. BB Media Player = Lame
6. No SMS threading
If all I wanted to do was email, I might consider the BB. For everything else, there is no comparison to the iPhone.
I used BBM everyday when the wife and I both had blackberries. I would love to see apple use iChat in this way with the iPhone. I also don't see how BBM is grossly inferior to the others messengers. For free it works and works well.
Never experienced the sluggishness or lag you did with my 8330. OS was great IMO.
I have an iphone for personal use and a curve 8320 for work. There are some nice phones out there besides the iphone (I really like the Pre and android based phones), but blackberries are not among them.
I'm not going to take the time to respond to every point the OP makes, but there are two I just can't resist.
BBM - It always kills me when people bring this up. I really can't imagine a more useless feature. I guess email, SMS, and AIM/gchat/etc. aren't enough ways to get in touch with someone. And if the fact that it's completely redundant weren't enough, it's grossly inferior to those other methods because it only works with other blackberries.
Fast OS - Ok, maybe there was a big improvement on the 8900 (as compared to the 8320), but believe me, it would have to be HUGE. The unbelievable sluggishness of my bb astounds me on a daily basis. I even frequently scroll too far because the cursor lags so far behind the ball's motion. I see the hourglass for probably 5+ seconds when I lock the phone (not that it matters, since I'm done using it, but that's just an example).
Comparing a bb to an iphone just kinda boggles my mind. My bb strikes me as a phone with a keyboard and a few apps slapped on; my iphone is a 3.5" computer.
Even if you use BBM, what does it *add?* Couldn't you do the same thing with IM/push email/SMS? Having a 4th way of accomplishing the same thing (sending an instant communication to someone else with a smartphone) doesn't qualify as a major feature in my book. It's grossly inferior because it provides duplicate functionality but is limited to people who have blackberries.
Re: the OS, I have two complaints.
First, the sluggishness. Everyone I work with has the same issue with their bb. Maybe it's because of what the firm installs, but when we had 8700s with the same stuff they were fine.
Second, everything takes far more steps than it should. The whole expanding menu thing is a mess.
hey now, there's no need to bash on the uselessness of BBM just because you have barely any need for it, i know if I had a bold, BBM would be one of my most used apps since most of my close friends have bb's.
What does IM have over email for sending quick messages? What does email have over SMS for sending quick messages? etc etc... Why not just say all forms of text messaging are useless as you have a phone if you need to communicate with someone.
It is just another way to communicate. As it was free and the wife and I liked to use it over the other messengers. It was also always on. I didn't have to load a messenger or 3rd party program. Was just far from useless and would love if the iPhone had something similar.
I don't understand all these people trying to prove you wrong.
What I'm asking, and it's a serious question, is how does *anyone* have any need for it? It's one way of doing what any smartphone can already do in at least 3 other ways, except it's limited to blackberries.
If you happen to like its layout or whatever better than an IM program or email then fine, enjoy it. But the OP touted BBM as some major advantage of bb, and I'm still waiting to hear an explanation for that.
I realize you posted before my last post, but I'll say the same thing to you I said to daonesteven: how exactly is it some big advantage?
But to answer your question:
- IM has the advantage (over email) of being faster if it's a prolonged back and forth. No hitting "send," no auto spell check, no waiting for the SMTP server.
- email has the advantage that not everyone is on IM all the time or even has an IM account. also better for longer messages as you can take the time to proofread without someone waiting for a response.
- SMS has the advantage that it can reach any person with a phone, smart or not. It has the disadvantage of costing money.
Each of the other three adds something the other two alone don't cover. I don't see a single thing that BBM adds that the other three, collectively, lack.
Who said it was a big advantage?
The OP. That's been my point all along.
Must have missed the big advantage point but what he said I agree with.
"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"
Still think Apple should have done this with iChat on the iPhone.
He listed 6 things he liked about bb over iphone and BBM made the list. he also said it had "no match" and was a "genius move." If you want to quibble about my paraphrasing that as "big advantage" go right ahead - I don't think I'm exactly making things up out of whole cloth here.
But fine, I'll play your game. How is it either unmatched or a genius move? It's a duplicative service that only works with a very limited universe of other users. I guess that's kinda unmatched in terms of restrictiveness...
Reasons I left the blackberry for the iPhone and why I'm never going back.
1. Web browsing is awful on the Blackberry. I mean really bad.
2. Besides the almost unusable BB Storm, the screen sizes are tiny.
3. The OS is largely unchanged from the original BB OS from a decade ago.
4. Third party apps stink on the BB.
5. BB Media Player = Lame
6. No SMS threading
If all I wanted to do was email, I might consider the BB. For everything else, there is no comparison to the iPhone.