BlackBerry® 8830 WE VS iPhone 3G

Demiurge

My 2 year contract is up with Verizon, who has been a great service provider for me. I am getting ready to get a new phone, and right now it comes down to the BlackBerry 8830 WE from Verizon for $99 with my discounts or switching to AT & T and getting an iPhone 3G through the AT & T Business Plan, which offers some discounts.

Is it really worth it to switch? I've heard nothing but bad things about AT & T, but everything I have heard about the iPhone has been good.

The thing that bugs me about the BlackBerry is that, technology wise, the 8830 is already an old phone. There are supposed to be some new ones coming out, but I have no idea when.

I'm looking for people who actually use their phone for business, not Apple fans who bought the iPhone because it's the thing to do. I'm a MacBook Pro owner because I actually needed the graphic capabilities of the it, not because it's fashionable.

Thoughts?

bigaudiofanatic

Looking for the coolest phone that would be the iphone. Looking for dependable service and reliability verizon have you seen there dare check that out.

bobman1235

The new Blackberry Bold / 9000 looks to be a fantastic phone, and should be coming out within the next month. It drops in Canada this week but no official date for the US has been set. It's 3G, Wifi, all the bells and whistles and hte new Blackberry OS. It'll probably cost you a lot more than 99 bucks though, and I think it's coming to AT&T first. I honestly considered waiting and getting it but all the delays and lack of a release date on top of the (probable) hefty price tag turned me off.

As for the iPhone, I just bought one, despite saying I never would, because it just had everything I needed. I was skeptical of the touchscreen keyboard, but a friend of mine had one and let me play around with it and it was very fast to learn and easy to use. I still hate myself for owning one because Apple fans are the WORST, but in the two weeks I've had it I can't say I've had a single complaint.

I can't say I use it for business, only because it's not necessary. I've sent out a few work emails but beyond that nothing serious. I think RIM is still going to be the king of business devices for a while, so if you want pure business you'll most likely want to stick with the Blackberry.


Oh and as for the AT&T thing, it's regional of course. AT&T's customer service sucks, and no one can really compete with Verizon's coverage. But that being said, I"ve been with AT&T pretty much since their inception as CellularOne, and have been all over the country over the past five or so years and have had pretty consistent decent coverage.

Demiurge

bobman1235 wrote: »

The new Blackberry Bold / 9000 looks to be a fantastic phone, and should be coming out within the next month. It drops in Canada this week but no official date for the US has been set. It's 3G, Wifi, all the bells and whistles and hte new Blackberry OS. It'll probably cost you a lot more than 99 bucks though, and I think it's coming to AT&T first. I honestly considered waiting and getting it but all the delays and lack of a release date on top of the (probable) hefty price tag turned me off.

As for the iPhone, I just bought one, despite saying I never would, because it just had everything I needed. I was skeptical of the touchscreen keyboard, but a friend of mine had one and let me play around with it and it was very fast to learn and easy to use. I still hate myself for owning one because Apple fans are the WORST, but in the two weeks I've had it I can't say I've had a single complaint.

I can't say I use it for business, only because it's not necessary. I've sent out a few work emails but beyond that nothing serious. I think RIM is still going to be the king of business devices for a while, so if you want pure business you'll most likely want to stick with the Blackberry.


Oh and as for the AT&T thing, it's regional of course. AT&T's customer service sucks, and no one can really compete with Verizon's coverage. But that being said, I"ve been with AT&T pretty much since their inception as CellularOne, and have been all over the country over the past five or so years and have had pretty consistent decent coverage.

They are the worst.

Hmm, maybe I should just hang on to the phone I have now for a while and see what happens. I don't mind spending a couple hundred dollars on a new phone as long as it's worth the price tag.

I think Doro works for Verizon now. I wonder if he knows what they'll run with a 2 year contract. My only hesitation in getting an iPhone is AT & T, I have no doubt the phone is really nice.

leroyjr1

I have the at&t I-phone and its great. It's has the best in internet navigation IMO. Very easy to use and very old man friendly.

A couple negatives

*Doesn't do picture texting
* ringer isn't loud
* battery doesn't last long

Otherwise the best phone I've had. The reason I chose At&t is we do alot of fishing in Northern Wisconsin and AT&T is the only service that works on a lot of the Northern Wisconsin Lakes. Everyone is always asking to use my phone. Whatever you do don't get T-MOBILE. I have had T-mobile,Sprint and AT&T and at&t is far better than both.

You welcome to come by and check it out.


Thanks Lee

mantis

The iphone is everything everyone is saying about it. I could go on and on. I also had a Black Berry and no compare. Black berry is nice for what it is as long as you don't compare it to a iphone, it's fine.

AT&T is ok. I camr from Verizon which I felt in some places I had service and some I didn't. Princeton is tuff on all services so It's a bad place to judge. At home I get great cell. Same with Verizon.

I would check coverage in your area where you will be. If AT&T got you covered then the iphone is for you. If not then stay with Blackberry or check out there new touch thing. It looks kinda cool.

Dan

SBrown712

I just got a Curve (8320) about two weeks ago. I looked at the iphone and yea, it's cool but I couldn't justify the price of the phone or the cost of service. I got the Curve at Costco as a new customer with tmobile. Got the phone for $49.95 after rebate, no activation fee and service for less than service with at&t.
This is the first 'smartphone' I've had and I am happy with it so far. A bigger screen would be nice. There are tons of free software to download but no GPS if that's something you need.
From what I've heard the Bold is supposed to be out late September and about $400. I would guess less with a new contract.

BIZILL

sup senor david. (in my best latin accent) i decided against the **** iphones as they lack a qwerty (hard buttons) keyboard. sure hb qwertys add girth to the phone, but just ask any woman their thought on that particular matter. anyway, forget the virtual keyboards via touchscreen and forget at & t. not sure who else besides sprint that will be utilizing them, but the htc diamond pro (aka 'raphael') looks like it'll become a winner. too bad i won't be able to pick one up until AFTER they've been in service for a year or so. but hey, thank goodness for deflation, aye?

just throwing my two pennies into the jar. carry on.

http://www.htc.com/www/product.aspx?id=49518

vga screen, baby!

Fireman32

I have the blacberry curve and use it for my work phone and personal phone. While the blackberry is great for work e-mail and texting I do not like it for internet. My company is testing the Iphone and hope to switch to them within the next 2 years since it will now work with enterprise e-mail. I am probably going to get one at some point in time.

Demiurge

Doro offered up assless chap photos, so I guess I am crawling back to Verizon.

Fireman32

As far as AT&T i switched to them from Verizon and could not be happier. The times I have had to call customer service they have been great.

BaggedLancer

That blackberry bold 9000 is going to be mine soon as it's available. I currently have an 8830 World Edition and love it but the bold just has way too many features not to get it.

Airplay355

I loved T-mobile. I guess it just depends on where you live.

bobman1235

BaggedLancer wrote: »

That blackberry bold 9000 is going to be mine soon as it's available. I currently have an 8830 World Edition and love it but the bold just has way too many features not to get it.

Isn't your Blackberry like, 6 months old?

AsSiMiLaTeD

We own both. My wife had to have the iPhone, and I have the Blackberry 8310 Curve from AT&T. I'm not just saying this because I hate Apple, but I honestly prefer the Blackberry.

It's media capabilities are not integrated as well as the mephone, but I can watch videos, play music, take pictures, and it has a built in video camera.

Typing on the Blackberry is TONS easier than the mephone, though the qwerty keyboard adds some width to the phone.

I prefer the out-of-the-box browser on the mephone, but Opera mini installed on the Blackberry works great, and I prefer it about 95% of the time.

Email, no need to discuss that, the Blackberry is the clea winner at the moment.

The main thing I like about the Blackberry though, is the availability of third party applications. I'm not saying taht these aren't available for the mephone, but Apple has the same concept with their mephone that they do with their computers, which leads to fewer software apps available. Don't like the messaging program on the mephone? Too bad, you ain't got alot of options - there's about a dozen different IM programs for the Blackberry - just an example.

The Blackberry doesn't have that cool 'scroll with your finger touchscreen' thingy, and I'll admit that I liked that on my wife's phone at first. But for me, the coolness effect wore off, and I prefer that tactile response of the Blackberry. It's kinda like when I bought my first touchscreen remove, it was really cool at first, but I prefer the more practical nature of remote with buttons. Dialing by touch alone on the mephone is damn near impossible, yeah it has the presets and all that, but I like to be able to dial a number, with one hand, without looking down at the phone.

The mephone has a huge cool factor, but in my experience that stuff wears off fairly quickly. IMO, it's just not as practical of a device. So you have to decide if you want the extra coolness and little tricks the mephone has, or if you want the practicality of the BB

bobman1235

Now THERE'S an unbiased review :rolleyes:

shack

I became an AT&T wireless customer because they bought Cingular. I really liked Cingular. I am ok with AT&T wireless. My daughter was in Africa and had her Blackberry stolen and they were very helpful in getting the account closed and an new sim card issued. International coverage seems good...but I have noticed more local drop outs with AT&T than I did with Cingular. Their online/phone CS is ok but nothing special.

AT&T land line and DSL service is a complete other matter. I have to use them because they are my only option for a condo I own. They are the most incompetent, unprofessional customer service department I have ever dealt with. It took me 6+ months of hour long calls to get a simple matter cleared up. I would NEVER choose them for service if I had an option!

bigaudiofanatic

Lets put it this way if iphone had went with verizon EVERYONE that wanted a great phone and a great network would have one. Apple i will admit mad a bad move going with cingular or at&t whatever. But because they did that I will probably never get one. I will stick with verizon been with them for 6 years now and why stop something that works this good.

Shizelbs

What do you want to use it for? Do you input a lot of text?

Demiurge

Got an LG Dare from Verizon. Thanks.

AsSiMiLaTeD

bobman1235 wrote: »

Now THERE'S an unbiased review :rolleyes:

I'll admit I hate Apple, but obviously not enough to have not purchased one. That aside, I feel that all the points I made are valid points, and could stand alone on their merits regardless of how I feel about Apple.

bobman1235

I'm fine with you hating Apple; I am by no means a fan of them either. But they had the best piece of hardware for what I use my phone for so I bought it.

I was just saying that your "review" was openly hostile and mocking of one of the devices and thus very biased and tough to take seriously. I know it's just your opinion and you're entitled to it, but don't pretend you gave it a fair shot in the same breath you call it the "mephone" and refer to its "little tricks" being outclassed by RIM.

AsSiMiLaTeD

It sounds like from your first paragraph that you took my review personally or read it as directed at you, given your justification of your purchase - that certainly wasn't my intention.

The 'mephone' reference was just a small jab at the whole 'i' line of products (iphone, ipod, itouch, etc) - I don't see how that alone invalidates my entire review. I can own or like something and still make fun of it - I do it all the time - the two are not mutually exclusive. Case in point, I make fun of myself all the time for owning a GPS, but I still own one and find it useful...

Seriously, take the 'mephone' referral out of the picture, still read like a biased review?

I never said it's "little tricks" were outclassed by the BB, just that in my opinion the BB is a more practical device. The iPhone has a coolness factor to it, and does have lots of little tricks (maybe I should have used the term 'features', but I personally view features as more of a practical item, like 3G is a feature, being able to scroll through pictures by moving your finger across the screen is a trick that adds to the coolness factor, to which I'm referring).

Do I prefer the Blackberry? Absolutely. If you read my review, that should be clear, but in the same review I give the iPhone credit where it deserves it - even conceded a couple points to the iPhone. I also think the iPhone is cooler than the BB, just that as with anything that factor wears off over time.

FWIW, a biased review would have been completely one sided, and contained nothing but the positives of the BB and the negatives of the iPhone - that's not what my post is. The fact is we do still own both, and there are some things that I still like better on the iPhone, especially the way that the media stuff is integrated, and I said so in that review. I didn't list out every single point in my review above, but felt like I was capturing the most important points.

There are comments by others in this thread that come across just as biased and one-sided as mine, such as this one from mantis

The iphone is everything everyone is saying about it. I could go on and on. I also had a Black Berry and no compare. Black berry is nice for what it is as long as you don't compare it to a iphone, it's fine.

So did you chose to target mine because it's a different opinion than yours, or is it an easier target because I talk alot and provide more to hang myself with? You don't have to agree with my review, just don't see why it was singled out. It's no more biased than most of the other stuff written on here...

I realize that you're a reasonable person and didn't intend all the back and forth when you posted your original comment, but people have been giving me crap all week and you have the fortune of being one of the handful that I'm going to argue with.

Demiurge

I ordered it yesterday afternoon, so I don't have it yet, but it is supposed to be here this afternoon.

I think the deal breaker for me was how good of service I was getting with Verizon for the last 4 years, I didn't want to switch to AT & T and have a bad experience. Not that I would have, I just know the service is more spotty. So, I got an iClone from Verizon. It's gotten pretty good reviews from the more objective websites out there.

bobman1235

Well.... ouch.

Fireman32

I got to play around with the Iphone last night. My dept bought one for testing and they gave it to me to play with. I have to agree with Sal in his review. The Blackberry is much better for typing e-mails and doing business related things. For everything else I love the Iphone. I will get one eventualy now that the price has come down.

brettw22

Demi, have you actually held the Dare in your hands? I'd be all for that phone too, but it's small........and I think you're a bit bigger than I am if I remember correctly............

Demiurge

brettw22 wrote: »

Demi, have you actually held the Dare in your hands? I'd be all for that phone too, but it's small........and I think you're a bit bigger than I am if I remember correctly............

No, I hadn't, and I suppose it may be an issue with the texting, but it has a stylus, so...not too big of a deal. I've got the Chocolate Flip right now (VX8600)

LG Dare: 4.1" x 2.2" x .05"

LG VX8600: 3.89" x 1.93" x .058"

I do wish they'd make these touchscreens a little bigger.

Demiurge

Really nice phone. Definitely glad I got it.