Back to Blackberry and Loving It!
Or Top Ten Reasons To Like Blackberry Over Iphone
I just switched back to Blackberry (Bold 9780) after a failed experiment for the last year with the iphone4. I am so pleased by the move and I can't say enough good things about the Blackberry. It's a shame the company gets such a bad rap in the press right now as the product is excellent, especially for business use. Here are a few details about why I'm glad I made the switch. (for any questions/comments please leave a comment below and I will do my best to respond)
The # 1 reason) Typing on a tactile keyboard
The # 2 reason) Typing on a tactile keyboard (sooo important it deserves to be stated twice) - while self explanatory, I should say that even after owning the iphone for a year I still could never get used to the onscreen keyboard. I tried everything. I even bought a snap-on keyboard (from a 3rd party, which I later returned) and a wireless bluetooth keyboard (from apple - it worked great but who wants to carry this around all the time?)
3) unified messaging box - for all emails, phone calls, text messages, bbm's etc - no need to check five different apps
4) more customization options - most importantly, the ability to set different ring tones for different email accounts (work & personal) - with iphone, unless you jailbreak you are stuck with the default ring tone, meaning every time someone in earshot with an iphone or ipad gets email you hear the same sound
5) keyboard shortcuts - once you learn these, it's easy to reply to a message, forward, search by letter in a list, etc “R” for reply, hold key for capital letter, “T” for today (in email), “M” for monthly calendar view, etc, etc – so easy to navigate!
6) smaller and lighter and cheaper than iphone (also less risk of smashing when dropped) – I don’t feel so paranoid about losing the phone or dropping it in the lake – it’s cheaper to replace than an iphone (and arguably less desirable thus lowering the theft risk)
7) better battery life (blackberry = 2 to 3 days of usage; iphone 1 day or less only)
8) calendar app is so much easier to use than the iphone4 - easier to make quick entries, display in different views. also, while minor blackberry allows you to set default reminders of zero minutes (alert goes off when event starts) - can't do this on iphone. not to mention iphone doesn't even allow you to have a default reminder, thus creating another step in the event entry process
9) more comfortable against the ear - maybe it's just me but I find the corner of the iphone4 cuts into the ear when pressed close to hear a caller on the other end
10) better phone signals (iphone4 is the worst cell phone I have ever owned, even after getting the phone replaced once, it still drops calls, cuts out and fails to make outgoing calls on a regular basis)
11) flashing red light alerts you to incoming emails
12) belt holster (yes i am a nerd but it's not really noticeable under a suit and vibrate tone for new messages = fewer missed calls/emails)
13) auto on/off feature (allows use of the alarm; can't do this on an iphone unless you leave the phone on all night, where you will be waken by junk emails in the middle of the night)
14) ability to sync memopad notes & todo lists from outlook (no easy way to do this on iphone)
15) no annoying autospell substituting strange words where they don't belong (for example, on my iphone i typed "...do you mind if i give him.." and iphone auto-typed "...do you mind if i gas him". or i typed on the iphone "home for the holidays" and iphone replaced it with "home for the holocaust". yet another example, i tried to type a business message and it inserted the word "tickling". clearly some different meanings (see www.autocorrectgonebad.com)
16) blackberry opens up to the latest email message when taken out of the holster or unlocked- iphone4 involves annoying steps to check recent email...
17) no annoying auto rotate for the screen like the iphone – on the iphone it was enabled in some apps but not others, and invariably rotated just when you wanted to show someone something on the iphone
Okay so that’s more than ten reasons but you get the point. Of course there are fewer apps than iphone4 but honestly, am I really that upset that I can't download dancing cat apps etc? The only one I really miss is Skype, but perhaps Blackberry will get this one day too. Most other apps are available on Blackberry.
Iphone4 does excel in surfing the web (or "consuming" content, where Blackberry excels at "creating" content) - but I can live with this. Blackberry displays most web sites okay
Tethering (for surfing the web while connected to a laptop) - iphone does do this well - Blackberry can do it too but speeds are slower because data is encrypted
I will say the pinch & zoom feature on iphone is great, but apparently Blackberry is getting this soon too..
The camera (for stills and video) is great on iphone, as is renting & watching TV shows and movies. Okay, so there are some real advantages to iphone4. And if the truth be told, now carry two phones: Blackberry for work, iphone4 for personal. It’s a nice luxury.
Bottom line - Blackberry for work is the only way to go.
Long live the Blackberry eh! :-)
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