I find myself in unique position. A few weeks ago, I heard about a "new" blackberry from my US associates, a better, faster version of the Blackberry of yore. Not some slicked up, miniature, multicolor version of the real thing, this Blackberry called the "Bold" would redefine what the "real" Blackberry was.
Little did I know that it was already in my pocket.
Why? Well, a few weeks ago, my wife's phone got knicked on the Tube. We went back to the Orange store on Oxford street and I found out that because of my 18 months of loyal service and gross overpayments on my data service, I could get a new phone for free. And not any phone, mind you, I could get the latest Blackberry 9000 - otherwise known as the Bold. Apparently, it's available here in the UK before both the US and Canada.
The thing is - I knew nothing about this Blackberry and in fact, the last thing that I wanted was to get one. I had moved from the Blackberry 7520 years ago to the 7100 and more recentlly, to the iPhone 2G and 3G. I was happy with the iPhone and didn't really see the point in having another brick. In fact, I was looking for smaller and less full featured than the iPhone, maybe a sleeker, more modern version of the Motorola RAZR V3.
But in looking at the specs for the Bold - WiFi, 3G, new OS, high-res screen – I couldn't resist the appeal on a new gadget, even if it sat in my desk drawer. Especially for free.
In reality, the Bold spent about two days in the drawer and since then, it has been at my side or in my back pocket, providing double duty with my AT&T 3G iPhone.
That means that every day, I do a head to head comparison of the iPhone 3G and the Blackberry Bold. And it's better than the iPhone in a more than a few ways.
The Blackberry excels in many ways that you'd expect: the keyboard, and anything that needs it. That means that email and SMS are twice as fast and accurate as the iPhone for someone like me, a proficient touch typist. In fact, I'm writing this blog post on the Bold while taking the train throughout London. Good luck doing that on a jittery train with a touchscreen based keyboard. It's impossible.
It's also better handling push mail. As it stands, the iPhone only handles push email through MobileMe, Microsoft Exchange, and some hosting providers, the Blackberry allows you to do so with any POP or IMAP based provider. And Push makes a difference, big time.
The Bold also excels in ways that you don't expect. While wider and shorter than the iPhone, the Bold is an excellent one-handed device. It has reasonable heft and a good weight balance to work in one hand. I sometimes find it difficult to unlock an iPhone with one hand, much less respond to an SMS. Since I spend a lot of time walking in London now, that's actually more important than you'd think.
It should also be said: physical buttons are a good thing. Being able to navigate with escape and select buttons means more efficient navigation through menus and options that you know by heart.
Reliability? While some Orange users have experienced software issues, my Bold has been pretty rock-solid. I've only had one unrecoverable crash in the last month, the same as the my iPhone 3G.
And then there's all of those things that iPhone haters love to rave about: the Blackberry has a removable battery and can be charged with a simple USB cable.
So with all my raving about the Blackberry Bold, you'd think that it would be my weapon of choice.
It is not.
The iPhone still wins, because in today's world, it's not about just email and one-handed typing. It's about connections to the world, and by that I don't just mean WiFi and 3G. Social networks, Google Maps, and VoIP: those are todays killer apps, not only at home but in business too.
And those apps are a helluva lot easier to use on an iPhone. A touch screen is the best interface for the web, short of thought control. It's leaps and bounds better than the Blackberry trackball. I've even found myself touching the Bold's screen in the first few days of use, hoping that it would react to touch, and it sits there like a potato with keys.
The web browser on the Bold, while perfectly fast, is still not as functional as Safari on the iPhone. Rendering some sites still looks nothing like the original, and being limited to two zoom levels is murder after having the iPhone. Worse yet, I found myself not able to log into Comcast's voicemail on the Bold because I couldn't type into form fields. Epic fail.
Don't even ask about Maps on the Blackberry. I'll pay the foreign roaming charges for Google Maps on my AT&T iPhone anyday instead. Partnerships and touch screen combine to create a superior Maps experience on the iPhone.
If those were the only things, then they'd be neck and neck. But where Apple pulls ahead is the iTunes experience - both on the desktop and in the phone itself. Besides the requisite music downloading, Apple's iTunes is able to pull off what Blackberry users can only dream of: seamless sync on the Mac and being able to download and purchase applications with a browse and click interface.
Sure Blackberry will have an app store in March 2009, but when it comes to being a digital citizen in today's world, the iPhone is the overall winner because better Mac integration and app downloading experience is available now.
For those of you that have no patience or space for two phones, the choice is clear: if you have to have just one, then get the iPhone. Just don't have high hopes for long emails or blog posts.
I'm sure that the Blackberry faithful will contest my verdict, and to them, I'll give them at least this concession: The Blackberry is a stronger contender that I ever expected it to be, so for now, my pockets are full of mixed fruit.
