Mini Review: iPhone vs. Blackberry Storm 9530

[rogerthat]

I am by no means an expert on technology item, which is exactly why I thought I would post my real world experience for fellow members here to enjoy.

My Story: my wife really wanted an iPhone for Xmas and I hadn't updated my cell phone in a couple of years so I bit the bullet and bought 2 iPhones with a family plan. Couple of days after Xmas my company sends me a new Blackberry Storm 9530 which they will pay for and have me already signed up on a Verizon plan for.

Had I known this was coming I would obviously not have bought the iPhone, but now I have both.

Reading here I know many members are iPhone owners, but I am not sure how many members may be interested in the new Blackberry and how they compare.

Background

The Blackberry Storm is the newest Blackberry launched in late November, it is the first to use a touchscreen and is being heavily marketed right now, in the US it only works with Verizon's network.

The iPhone is carried exclusively through AT&T here in the US.

You cannot operate either of these phones without data and phone plan from Verizon or AT&T respectively, at least not legally and not in the states.

Looks:

To me they both look great and have beautifully full color touchscreens that really pop and draw attention!

The storm's screen is actually a little higher resolution so movies/videos do look a little better on the Storm's screen.

Since they both look great, size is the next important look factor to me, as I like the ease of placing my phone in my pocket easily.

They both fit easily in a pocket, and height wise they are almost exactly the same, the Storm is a little wider which is not too big a deal, but IpHone wins here due to a much thinner profile. At least 1/2" which is a big deal.

Though I must state that some of the benefits that make up the Storm also give it the extra thickness.

Storm has removable battery, Apple's battery cannot be removed, which means if you need to replace the battery, I am not sure what that means...

Of course with the Strom you could buy a 2nd battery and switch as needed for juice all of the time.

The Storm also has a removable and upgradable micro SD card so you could upgrade the memory without buying a new device, IpHones you would have to buy a new phone to upgrade the memory.

I am not sure if the added benefits of the features are better than the thinner profile here, so I will give just a tiny edge to the IPhone.

Initital Impressions / Easy of Use:

the iPhone is very easy to use and setup, the theme background is so easy a small child could understand the icons and get this thing working.

It is almost amazing how few menus and hidden menus there are, if you have something that could be hidden in a menu it is instead as clearly marked selectable icon on your desktop. Swiping from screens is very easy to access each icon.

The user can also easily move the icons anywhere they want, (hint just hold any icon down for 10 seconds and they all start to wiggle, they can be moved at this time, just hit Home to end your moving session.

At the bottom there are 4 icons, those can be moved as well but will stay always at the bottom of each page. That leaves 5 pages (at least - I am not sure if there is a cap), each page can hold 8 icons. That means assuming 5 pages, at least 44 apps or programs easily at your fingertips.

The Iphone has only a Home button at the bottom other than volume control type buttons. I wish there was at least always a back button as anytime you want to leave a program you have to hit the home button and start over.

The BlackBerry is much more complex and in fact I think it will be a few more weeks before I am comfortable with the theme background and menus.

There are numerous hidden menus. For example Verizon preloads and places a large VZ Navigator icon for you to use. Hidden inside the phone under Applications and through a sub menu you must select show all applications is Blackberry Maps. Guess what your Storm has a built in GPS that works with Blackberry Maps as good as it does with VZ Navigation, difference is the VZ Navigation si going to bill you $10.00 a month to use.

For $10 a month you get voice activated directions basically otherwise Blackberry Maps can do basically the same things just not quite so sexy in delivery and graphics. Point is that th IPhone does not come with anything tricky like this and this fact alone pisses me off, if I want to add pay applications on the IPhone I can do so but they are not preinstalled inticing me to use them as though they are free.

Virtual Voice on the Blackberry - exact same thing!

Worst part of all though right now you cannot move any iconsor change locations of any items within menus. Everything is locaked and set in place.

You can delete applications entirely thoughwith your computer connection.

IN DEFENSE: There are numerous downloadable themes for BlackBerry's and some look and function like the IPhones theme background, I have seen over a handful named the IBerry. With these aftermarket theme downloads you can move icons as well ; problem: THERE ARE NO THEMES Yet offered for the Storm.

I am positive they will be, it is just too new right now and the software keeps changing so developrs are waiting until the software is set.

Using for the first time:

You must have or sign up for an ITunes account and plug everything through a computer for the IPhone to function intitally.

ITunes is all setup with everything you could possibily want to download to your photo, many apps are free and everything is again so simple to use and download to your phone.

The Blackberry has a similar desktop application program for your computer, but you could use easily without ever plugging in to a computer and function fine.

No online accounts are needed. However currently there is no equal of the Apple Itunes App Store, which means hours searching for programs at various websites and downloading and using on your phone is not as easy.

Apps:

No comparison the IPhone blows away the Storm.

Pandora, Midomi, ITalk, Mint, PageOnce, Google Earth, SeaDragon, ITV, Flixster, Zagat to Go, Camera Bag, You Tube, WikiPedia, Recipes, Drinks, Weather, Stocks, Sports, you name it these are all readily available, most for free and you can read hundreds of user reviews before downloading any of them to your phone and taking up an icon. (of course deleting an icon is simple as well) Most are free, others cost a couple of bucks.

Blackberry:

There are many apps available, but no one site to buy them at. Many I have seen are very expensive, instead of free or $3 bucks, many apps are $10 or more and some are around $30. Few if any are made specifically for the Storm and therefore do not take advantage of the touch screen and accelator.

Layman definition of accelator: abilty of the device to work through touchscreen and overall movements, ie driving a car you turn the device to the left and the right, no need for a joystick which is quite cool! Touch screen controls allow you to swipe, minimize trun, select, etc..

I group the accelerator controls and the touchscreen the same as both devices have the ability to function in this way.

The difference is the apps for the Iphone were made to take advantage of these functions and the apps for the Blackberry were not.

Again in Defense of the Storm, Blackberrry is planning an app store of their own in Feb or March of this year which in theory will function just like the IpHone store. It is not really fair becuase APple took over a year to get their app store to what it is today when I am using their phone and Blackberry phone just came ut a month or so ago.

I imagine when this store goes live hundreds of developers will make apps specially for the Storm to take advantage of the touch screen and accelator controls just like on the Iphone.

My favorite 5 (non game) apps for the Iphone: Pandora, Midomi, Mint, SeaDragon, You Tube Mobile -all bought at the Apple Istore, most for free others for a couple of dollars.

Games:

No comparison the IPhone blows away the Storm.

This is again due to the fact that games are made specifically for the Iphone. If made the same way they could be the same for the Storm/

Based on current day though there is no comparison.

My favorite 5 games for the IPhone: Crash Cart, Asphalt4 Racing, Texas Hold Em Touch, Scrabble and Monopoly

When of the most enjoyable experiences with the games in connecting with another user on the same Wifi network to play against each other which many of the Iphone games allow and my wife and I have enjoyed.

Internet Usage

Iphone: allows connection to Wifi hot spots, 3G Network there are also other networks like EDGE that I am not sure eactly what they mean but don't use them. The abillity to tap into Wifi is a nice feature as the browser and downloading is faster when connected to Wifi vs. 3G.

Since every possible plan has unlimited data time, the fact you are of netwrok really does not matter in terms of pricing.

Again, you cannot use an Iphone without an AT&T data plan here in the US.

Safari browser works great, very fast maximized for the screen size and touchscreen controls are simplae to use and navigate on the web.

Quick tip: though Wifi is faster than 3G, if you are not in 1 spot, turn off the Wifi as searhcing for available netwrosk which the Iphone will always do drains the battery.

Blackberry: DOES NOT HAVE WIFI. Can only connect to its own network,: 3G Network and also other networks like EDGE that I am not sure eactly what they mean but don't use them. I believe the Storm does have some International advantages over the Iphone in terms of network capability, but I do not travel internationally much and never for business, so not a big deal for me.

Lack of Wifi is a disappointment though not a decision breaker though as again an unlimited data plan means on #g or Wifi there are no charges for being online.

Wifi as stated is faster than 3g and at home I do have a Wifi signal.

The Blackberry Internet browser out of the box was much slower than Safari, both on 3G, I was not sure why.

I turned off Java on the browser and reduced the image quality on the browser from medium to low and now the speed is the same as on the IPhone when both are on 3G network Internet Browsing. I do prefer the IPhone Safari browser, so the IPhone wins here too.3G to 3G the Verizon netwrok is superior in coverage areas and signal strength for much of the Northeast and nationally in the US as well I believe.

Using the Phone

This are after all phones! Neither of these are bought to sue solely as phones though, as a free with plan cheapo phone will function better for a purely phone purpose. The main thing here is the network

Iphone

AT&T Network (IpHone) around me is good but there are dead spots and in my house some areas work and some don't.

On my ride homw I will hit 2 very small dead zones but enough to drop a call if driving through while on the phone.

Literally only 10 seconds or so when driving 70 or so.

Overall the phone works decent though not the best speaker internally for speaking into or listening to.

There are no exterior buttons to watch out for.

Blackberry Storm:

Verizon Network is far superior, perfect everywhere I have yet to encounter one dead spot in my state travels thus far. Quite impressive.

The phone quality is roughly the same as the IPhone, speaker isbetter but people I have called have said I sound more muted on the Storm.

Bluetooth headset that came with phone works great, though I am not that much of a talker so it is more of a gimic for me.

There are a couple of buttons on the phone that you can touch accidentially when picking up the phone or touching your face like the Mute button which can be a pain in the butt, though has yet to really affect me on an actual phone call.

Touchscreen

IPhone: I really like the way the Iphone screen works, very easy to use. I can type quite fast on the keyboard screen but do make numerous typing areas becuase the selections get picked up quickly. Online when scanning pages, it is a little tto easy to select the wrong part of a screen or to select a something when you are paging down an ad. This can be a little annoying.

The ability to pinch your two fingers together to zoom in though is amazing and much better than double tapping the screen, expanding your fingers the opposite way zooms out of course as well. This is benfically in many apps, online and when viewing your own photos plus is cool to show your friends.

Storm: Out of the box the Storm touchscreen is a mess. Blackberry in an effort to prevent unwanted selections which happens with the Iphone as mentioned above they invented a sure touch screen where you basically have to slightly depress the actual screen plexi glass to slect something.

Sliding over something highlights it and then pressing down selects it. Sounds good in practice but is way to slow I could not type at an acceptable speed at all.

Found an online trick: take a business card, cut in half, place one half on each side of the battery in the backside of the phone.

Strange as this sounds it places the screen closer to the guts of the unit and means you can touch everything much faster without a drawn out push down.

In addition through sub menus you can change the tap interval, speed and other factors which I srt all at their fastest levels and now it works so much better for me. I can still type faster on the Iphone touchscreen but I make less selection erros on the blackberry.

The Storm does not have the pinch finger thing as above, you have to double tap or hit a zoom button.

Overall typing I would call equal BUT only after some minor mods were made. Before the mods the Iphone out of the box is much better for typing. Overall I prefer the Iphone touch screne becuase it has more finger controls and they really are useful and fun.

Email:

here is where the Storm blows away the Iphone.

The Iphone functions with email using a push system, not sure the technical terms here but it can either automatically retreive your emails every 15 minutes or so or you can get them yourself.

The Storm like all Blackberry's (if setup properly) can act like a live inbox immediately getting all of our email and notifying you immediately when a new message comes in.

If used in a business capacity there is no comparison here. being on the Blackberry on the road is identical to being in front of your work station at the office.

PLEASE BE ADVISE: you need your company or company that hosts your server(s) to have a Blackberry Exchange Server and your company must add you as a licensed user for this to work. I believe this all costs money, so investigate this first.

Fortunately for me, my work set this up for me so setting up my email on the Storm was a piece of cake and works great!

Music:

It is easy to download music to both. Both play music very well can shuffle your songs, search by artist, etc..

Very cool about both is that you can scan album cover graphics with a swipe of your fingers and view while songs are playing.

Storm postives for Music:

Speaker is tter for output with the Storm.

The headphone jack is not universal on the IPhine, which means only costly Apple products, the Storm has a univeral headphone jack that will acceot any brand headphones.

You can download any MP3 songs, and Itunes songs as well. Including any illegal or file sharing songs you may have picked up along the way though album covers will not show for those of course.

Iphone postives for music:

You can download specific Playlists, with the Storm you can download all of your songs but not keep them organized by playlists.

Of course any illegal songs rejected by Itunes will not work on your Iphone.

2 of my favorite apps:

Midomi and Pandora are Iphone apps and not available currently for the Storm.

Because I like these apps so much I would give music to the Iphone for now at least.

Videos:

both work very well from my experience, streaming time not as good on home computer so you really need videos or clips that are omptimized for mobile devices otherwise there is a delay while waiting for the stram to come in which is slower than the playback.

Overall neither is up to home cupter standards for video playback, but both do the job and function well impressively for a portable handhald.

Pricing:

both are about the same, around $200 up front plus a $70.00 - $100.00 plan per month.

Not cheap!

GPS:

both have built in free GPS usage and ability get directions, street maps etc... free of charge with the right apps.

Camera:

Storm camera is better, 3.2 MegaPixel, not positive but I think the Iphone is 2.1 MegaPixel.

Storm camera also has a video recorder which is not bad. Iphone cmera is camera online not video recorder.

Neither are great cameras compared to a seperate camera worth more than $100 or so.

Some of the camera editing apps on the IPhone are fun though. You can edit your own picture library or newly taken pictures of course.

Battery Life (Power Reserve)

both about the same, either way a problem in my opinion.

Unlike a regular phone that you can leave on for a full day or maybe two without charing with all of the technology inside these phones you really can only get about 8 hours of use without a charge, so you need to have chargers everywhere and constantly connect these things.

If you work outside and not in a car or somewhere without some type of plug in these would not be good choices.

Warning:

This may just be a bug for now that will be corrected but with the Storm if you r

un out the batteryyou have to remove the battery, reinstall and boot the phone up which takes about 5 minuites and coule be a real problem if in an emergenc.

With the Iphone if you zap the juice just plug it in and it will work again.

Chargers/ Car / AC / etc...

Storm uses mini USB connection.

IPhones uses standard USB connection.

Not all of my universal connectors for chargers work with the IpHone, not suprising as Apple wants you to buy their over priced options.

Any universal made for a mini usb will work fine on the Storm.

Not sure where this should go but:

Storm allows you to cut and paste at any time which is a great feature the Iphone does not.

Both allow you to view Word Files, Excel Files, PDF files etc. without special software.

You can purchase apps for both to edit those same types of files but that costs extra.

Overall I think you can tell from my reactions that if not for work purposes the Iphone is the way to go, but becuase of 2 main factors:

The email system Blackberry uses and the superior Verizon network do make the Storm more practically and better overall if you could only choose one:

I have to assume that the small bugs the Blackberry has will be corrected with time and the apps will grow.

Anytime you get the latest technology item there are always bugs, my Iphone has over a year of advances in it by the time I got it, my Storm is brand new basically and I think the software, apps and the Blackberry will be better off in a year.

If you do not share my opinions that Blackberry will improve their software and online options than I would not rate the two so closely.

Depends on your needs:

The Iphone is a very fancy toy that works very well for work and a hell of a fun time.

The Storm is a work tool that can function as a toy.

I would much prefer an Iphone but if I have to choose one and have to use mainly for work purposes I would go with the Strom over the IPhone.

If I wanted a cool phone that also could get email and browse the web, have tons of cool apps and games, I would go with the IPhone.

Also, if the IPhone was on Verizon's netwrok I likely would have a different opinion but right now much like choosing a dealer and then choosing a watch, in many areas you have to choose the best provider network and then choose your phone.

In my case I see myself keeping both, though if the apps and programming improves for the Storm I may just keep that.

What is really great about either device is it almost eliminates the need to log on to your home computer nightly after work, you can relax more and it is much faster to check something quickly on either handheld while watching TV, eating or playing with the Kids than with a laptop or desktop computer.

Either option improves your productivity, gives you more free time, are fun and looks cool ; what more could you aks from a phone!

Hope this is informative to some member and not completely boring. Maybe I should have included photos?

Now get back to your watches.

Cheers,

M

[brook0]

Excellent review! Really enjoyed it, very informative.

Bravo!

[dvn]

i think you should be able to return the iphone back within the first 15 (or 30) days.

[TwoTone]

@MR

Excellent Review...

Thanks for taking the time to write it up for us...

One note of reference - the iPhone [3G] manages e-mail through an exchange server the same way as the Blackberry...

Both have "Push"...

Once again, thanks for taking the time...

TT

.

[rogerthat]

Thanks all, can't believe all of my spelling mistakes

Twotone the iPhone is able to connect to microsoft exchange

But this is not the same as the Blackberry Server

Blackberry also can connect to microsoft exchange and push

Emails but the blackberry server is much different and vastly superior

In how it functions

This response is from my iPhone

I don't want to return it but may see I can keep it and

Drop my data plan to a single plan and use this on home

Wifi only which would work the best for me

My guess is that will not work but it is worth a try

iPhone has a nice builtin spell checker I have noticed as I

Type this response

Cheers

M

[Shundi]

Nice review! I feel the same way you do re: the blackberry vs the iphone for work.

[rogerthat]

Yes blackberry for work

iPhone for everything else

[omni]

MR:

Great unique hands on review I don't think I could have gotten even from CNET. I am a businessperson who travels, so Crackberry was my first choice 'cause I work through half a dozen email user accounts, instant email is important when response time can make a difference. I have a Verizon BB-8830 World Edition that works flawlessly phonecalls & emailwise internationally as if I was on home turf. Pretty neat to have someone call you locally and you say you are currently in another country as if you sounded next door. I'm sure the new iPhone 3G works just as good on voice but I doubt it does as instant on the email internationally. Another factor why I got this BB was the talking GPS, mounted on the windshield of a plethoria of rental cars, it has saved having to carry an extra GPS device on a trip. I'm into lightening the travel load schlepping.

The new Storm has intrigued me as you have just confirmed what I thought it would do, satisfy my inner nerd for a gizmo toy Iphone with emphasis on touchscreen ease, games, videos, music & camera while still being connected businesswise internationally. I think most professionals who travel use Blackberry as my most recent trip to OZ & NZ revealed, the business peers all had BB.

A road warrior note: To solve your running out of power on the go, look into my solution, an iGo N136 charger with several different adapters that charge with normal AA batteries. I recently used it to emergency charge up my headphone, phone & laptop on an extended tour bus ride. Also the wall plug-in iGo can charge all your devices on the road in your hotel room (cameras too) with just one charger, you just need to buy the extra octopus looking cords and extra adapter plugs, but it sure beats having to carry all the different chargers for the different devices and cuts down a briefcase load of crap.

[dalayclass]

I bought the storm and I regretted it, I changed for the Bold far better!!!

[rogerthat]

I have never owned a Blackberry before and other than any Ipod, never owned an Apple product before either so

I cannot compare to the Bold or other models and I am sure if you are used to the previous Blackberry models the typing on the touch screen will be slow going.

I hope that my lack of previous experience in either brand leaves me impartial.

Other than the email ability the Blackberry has and this is not Storm speficic but true for all Blackberry models the Iphone is better, easier to use and more fun.

Unfortunately for me, the netwrok makes a difference too.

Cheers,

M

[omni]

I bought the storm and I regretted it, I changed for the Bold far better!!!

Care to enlighten us that are on the purchase fence why the negative statement for the Storm? Keyboard, software, battery, browser? Doesn't do me much good without the reasons. I've read the reviews. Although I don't like hassles, I only use the qwerty keyboard in a pinch when I have to answer email right away and can't get to my laptop, since at 61, my eyes & tactile ability are less than 10 years ago. When answering emails, it has to be compellingly urgent for me to do it on the BB but I do it and its not that bad when squinting. I was thinking that the bigger touchscreen keyboard and the ability to have a bigger screen for showing off my "grandpa" wallet pictures is an advantage. Speed on a BB keyboard is not my greatest concern, its the reliability & software. So again, @dalayclass, what turned you off to the Storm and back to the normal familiar BB layout that the Bold has???????????

Regards,

Omni