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View Poll Results: Given the choice, would it be iPhone or BlackBerry?

Voters
200. This poll is closed
  • iPhone

    94 47.00%
  • BlackBerry

    63 31.50%
  • Other device

    43 21.50%
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Results 11 to 20 of 24
  1. #11
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Ocala, FL, USA
    Posts
    387

    Default Re: Given the choice, would it be iPhone or BlackBerry?

    I have an HTC Mogul with touch screen, camera AND full slideout qwerty keyboard. The blackberries had keyboards that were too small and did not like the response of the iphone.

    Now that I have navigation program on it, am very satisfied with the unit. Heavier than some others but easy to read and use!

    If the new touch screen blackberry were available when I bought mine, I might have considered it instead.
    -Samantha
    "Try to live your life so that you wouldn't be afraid to sell the family parrot to the town gossip." Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)
    IP

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    1,436

    Default Re: Given the choice, would it be iPhone or BlackBerry?

    After my first week with my HTC HD, what are my conclusions?

    My History
    I have been a Palm user since 1999. The most recent, a TX, added MP3 functions, Microsoft Office document editing capabilities, email management, Bluetooth and Wifi communications to the traditional organiser functions (diary, tasks, contacts and notes). Web browsing and email management was possible via Wifi only.

    The HD adds the phone functionality, 5 megapixel camera, FM radio, and full data/email/web functions. Along with most other Windows Mobile (WinMo) devices, the HD also supports 'tethering' i.e. it can act as a modem for a laptop. Compared with its closest competitors it ticks every box except for a flash for the camera.

    I think it is very usable. I will look at overall navigation, text entry, phone functions and applications.

    Overall Navigation
    A common jibe from iPhone fans is that however much you add clever interfaces over WinMo, you still have to resort to the stylus. Perhaps some users have to, but my stylus has stayed in its slot for the past few days.

    The acid test of these devices is whether you can get to the most used functions in one click. The Palm failed on this and so does the out-of-the-box TD. The TouchFLO band gives one-click access to five functions and, by sweeping the finger you can reach five more. These can be hidden and re-sequenced. One of these is a Programs panel, which scrolls vertically, and can be fully customised to include your favourite applications. A Windows-style Start menu which drops down has seven configurable slots; I have used these for system-related functions e.g. the file explorer and communications manager.

    There is a whole industry devoted to giving the WinMo user tools for customisation. SPB is the best known but one of their products is overkill for me and the other is not yet compatible with the HD. Work done by XDA developers and reported in their forum looks like they will come up with simple solutions like the Sony X1 Xperia's panels.

    Text Entry
    The virtual keyboard is excellent; I get high levels of accuracy (and far faster than the Grafitti2 used in the newer Palms.

    The HD has a version of Grafitti as well as a letter recogniser which works well. I'll be sticking with the keyboard though.

    Phone Functions
    These do all that they are supposed to. The beauty of these phones is that your contacts from Outlook are there for you to call. Email works well, again using the same contacts. Both text message and email uses the same keyboard functionality.

    Applications
    The TD comes with decent versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Beyond that, as with the Palms, you need to add some key software:
    • Enhanced synchronization of Outlook with PocketMirror Professional from Chapura
    • A program giving a closer match to the desktop Outlook; I settled on Agenda One.
    • Improved Outlook Notes functionality; SmartphoneNotes does a good job with grouping notes by category.
    • You may also add a password manager such as SPB Wallet, a database with Access synchronisation such as HanDBase, and the ability to do basic manipulation of images; SPB Imageer does the job here.

    None of these cost too much and there is no relentless upgrade cycle.

    Conclusion
    If you are fed up with carrying around a PDA, phone, camera and perhaps even an MP3 player, then a Smartphone will fit the bill. If you have to stay in the Apple fold then you have no choice but it can’t edit Word documents, there is no tethering and the camera is relatively low res. The Blackberry range is proven but the new touchscreen version is not perfect (the keyboard has no visual feedback and it has no Wifi). Of the WinMo family the HTC HD is probably the best if you don’t need a physical keyboard. And of the oddballs, the Google phone is getting good reviews but expects you to live in the Google world. There are rumours that the HTC HD will become the G2 for the US market. If you are in the UK, PC Pro has a useful detailed comparison; the only omission is tethering. It was this review which swung me to the TD.
    Last edited by stlewis; 31 December 2008 at 05:19 PM.
    Simon
    ------------------------------
    www.tlaconsultancy.co.uk
    www.bricksandbrass.co.uk
    IP

  3. #13
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    California ~ USA
    Posts
    6

    Default Re: Given the choice, would it be iPhone or BlackBerry?

    I like the BlackBerry, wish it had a few more features though...
    IP

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Posts
    68

    Default Re: Given the choice, would it be iPhone or BlackBerry?

    Palm.

    Palm Grafitti takes about 30 minutes to master and is far better for text input than either ridiculously tiny and mechanically complex keypads or touchscreen querty keypads.

    I presently have to use a company Blackberry, and hate it. It feels like a ball-and-chain (goes with the territory; not the device's fault), but doesn't balance that by providing me the upside of things I miss from my aging Tunsten T3: Loading my own Excel spreadsheets, FileMaker databases, thesaurus, dictionary, etc.--and Grafitti.

    JET
    IP

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    1,436

    Default Re: Given the choice, would it be iPhone or BlackBerry?

    Sorry Jet... I used (and mastered Grafitti) for several years, but the Palm TX seemed very grumpy over it. I had two TXs as the first got drowned, so it must have been a design thing.

    The HTC HD virtual keyboard *is* good - as you hit a key it 'flares' dark so you get visual feedback. Click/hold on a character gives you a shift function - so Q gives you 1, W 2 etc, and the second row gives punctuation. And if you want to use a letter recognizer or Grafitti-like function, it has those too.

    This really is one of these deeply personal features - some people swear by X, others by Y. And 5 minutes playing in a shop is not really enough either - I suspect my disappointing experience on an iPhone was for that reason.
    Simon
    ------------------------------
    www.tlaconsultancy.co.uk
    www.bricksandbrass.co.uk
    IP

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Posts
    68

    Default Re: Given the choice, would it be iPhone or BlackBerry?

    To me, it's not about visual or any other kind of feedback that I have hit the right key on a tiny keyboard. I think the whole idea of tiny querty keyboards is fundamentally flawed from the get-go.

    The querty keyboard was invented and intended for proper touch-typing (two hands, not looking at the keyboard). Anyone who can type can use a querty keyboard in the dark.

    Having to visually locate a character on a querty keyboard too small for proper use, even to someone like me who has been touch-typing since high school, is inefficient to begin with. I despise having to look for keys to hit with my index finger or (worse) thumbs.

    Grafitti avoids all that and lets me think text-linearly, exactly as if I were writing with a pencil ('cause that's what I'm doing). Give me that any day, on any device too small for proper use of a keyboard.

    I despise answering emails on a Blackberry. Feels like my brain is slugging through molasses.

    JET
    IP

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    16

    Cool Re: Given the choice, would it be iPhone or BlackBerry?

    I'll go for a Palm Pre!
    IP

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Upstate NY, USA
    Posts
    373

    Default Re: Given the choice, would it be iPhone or BlackBerry?

    Given that I'm typing this on my Blackberry, my answer was a no-brainer. I'm a two-thumbin' Crackberry addict.
    "You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer." -- Frank Zappa
    Visit Spinland Studios: http://www.spinlandstudios.com
    IP

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    8

    Default Re: Given the choice, would it be iPhone or BlackBerry?

    Hi

    Sorry, but I just dont get Smart phones, and I definately dont get texting, why text when you can speak to them? thats just wierd.

    I,m happy with a normal small mobile, you can keep all that over stuff.

    L8rs
    IP

  10. #20
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    London, England
    Posts
    520

    Default Re: Given the choice, would it be iPhone or BlackBerry?

    I bought an iPhone.

    If I need a good camera or video, I use a camera or video.
    IP

 

 

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