iPhone vs Blackberry Pearl

believe me... go with the blackberry , i dont like the pearl personally because it does not have a qwerty keyboard, i had the blackberry 8800 series phone and i used it for about a year and never once i had a problem with browsing or email.

its just a garbage apple came out with and its not worth spending the money.

The iPhone isn't a PDA. It might be, particularly after the SDK is released in February, but you should never buy something on the assumption it might end up suiting your needs if it doesn't now (unless you want to wait six months or so).

What the iPhone is, mostly, is a great phone with superb media features and great internet and email handling. But if you already carry around a video iPod then you have the half of the equation that is the iPhone media. And I assume the Blackberry can do internet/email well.

While I have iPods I love the fact the iPhone is completely integrated -- I have to carry a cell phone, but it's nice that I can watch a movie while I wait at the doctor's office. I like that I can Google map a restaraunt and then immediately call it by pressing on a location on the map and make a reservation. I like it that when someone sends me an email with a phone number (or I find a number on a web page) I can just press that number and dial it.

But... once again, not a PDA. Won't read documents or spreadsheets well (again, might change after the first of the year when many apps will become available), no PM (again, probably will change), no standard programs of the type you expect on a PDA. If you want a PDA with phone capabilities *right now* then the Blackberry is really your only choice.

Also blackberry has some issues syncing with a Mac. Not everything gets transferred back and forth. And pay no attention to Wanderer, he is on here whining bout everything which is hardly the basis of an unbiased opinion.

SDK = Software Development Kit. This allows developers to create new apps and software for a given product following regulated guidelines.

SDK = Software Development Kit

The iPhone is not a good PDA, but the Blackberry isn't either. If you want a phone with a superb PDA you want a Treo with the PalmOS.

The iPhone beats the Blackberry on the quality of the email app. Blackberry is text only email; the iPhone supports full rich text and embedded images in email. It does not support Push email as the Blackberry does (except for Yahoo email), but I don't consider this a major issue, as I can have the iPhone poll for email as often as I want.

iPhone wins on web browser; the Blackberry has a small screen, proxy based browser. The iPhone is a zoomable full screen browser. (iPhone wins over Treo on this feature also).

Calendars are about equivalent between the two. The Treo beats both, however.

Address book is not searchable on the iPhone, but the browse is very fast and easy to use. Treo again wins on flexibility of search.

iPhone does not have a to do or task list.

iPhone's note pad cannot sync with the desktop. You can email notes, however.

Blackberry lacks YouTube, Google Maps, separate weather app, separate stocks app, photo library, video iPod

So the final decision is yours, based on what features are important to you.

For someone that has a windows pc and a palm , how do you feel you know the iphone and the Apple computers? Just curious. Its all good, but Palm OMG ROFLMAO, yuk

Now the iphone is not a BB. plain and simple, have had bb's and there great, AT&T's network is fine IMHO for email and simple web browsing.

Consider the monthly cost of the iphone base plan and the bb package and a base minute plan, if the higher price is with in your budget go for it.

One thing I myself like is the fact that if I have a problem with the iphone I can get a NEW one with in 30 days, and a refurb after that. If you take care of your equipment than you should have no problems. You can bash any device made out there, they all have there quirks and issue's . Some are taken care of more speedily than others but in the end you have or had a 14 or 30 trial period to find out if this is right for you. NO one dragged your body in and made you sign a contract, do your research either before you buy or with in the trial period

Two key points.

First, I stopped carrying notebook around after I got my iPhone for short duration/trips. I can pretty much access and do what I used to do on my MBP using iPhone and be lot lighter. No I cannot create documents but I don't really need to on any phone. As for being able to read attachments, Word and Excel can be viewed and not Powerpoint. I usually have them converted to a PDF and can view anything as long as it is emailed to me.

The second is the PDA point. I started using PDA with Palm V, then to Handspring and used Treo 300, 650 and 700, and now moved over to iPhone. I also was equipped with BB from my previous employer and hated it (UI). The latter, I'm sure, am in a minority, however. With all due respect to others, I find it it is perfectly suitable for my PDA needs. Addressbook, calendar, email, sms as well as maps, notes and photos. In fact, I find it much better than Treo and BB. GPS would be nice - all Apple would need to do is to let BT GPS receiver pair up and allow for map to read data.

Not saying that iPhone is the best thing all around. Rather what your needs will determine that. For me, the ability to carry less on overnight business trips and weekend getaway is a real plus. Further, iPod function is really great. I don't play games or view YouTube so I cannot comment on those features. It is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need to do, and does it quite well for my needs.

As for virtual keyboard - it is a non-issue. You'll get used to it quite quickly.

Good luck on your decision.

This thread has been really helpful because I've been a BB Pearl user for a year (UK) and am considering switching to the iPhone.

I'm a Gmail user and I'm interested in the point you make Lawrence about how often the iPhone polls for mail.

I understand the BB polls almost constantly (I don't know the exact frequency but emails appear very quickly).

Can you give me an idea of how often the iPhone polls?

Thanks.

I used various models from Blackberry (from the pager model and the 900 series all the way up to the Pearl) for oh...about the last 5 years or so. I was on a sprint 6700 WMD a couple of years ago, when RIM was involved in the lawsuit and I had to see if WM was a viable alternative for my company. I've run Treos, both during and after it was Handspring.

Here's my analysis:

Windows Mobile:
The Windows Mobile phone could do amazing things. It could do obscure, rarely used, and even more rarely NEEDED things amazingly. If I wanted to create a VPN into my network and get a 3rd party command line parser/forwarder tool so I could manage my servers from my phone, I could do it. It was great at doing the things I never really needed to do. And it sucked at making phone calls, it sucked at syncing, and it sucked at email. What did I REALLY need it to do? Make phone calls, and get email. All the cool features in the world don't count for anything if I never use them and the device ***** at what I DO need it for.

Treos:
Much the same as above, both the Windows and Palm OS versions. Cool features, rarely used. Decent email support, but crappy email interface. Phone was only so-so. Screen sucked hard. Good 3rd party apps that I rarely used, cause if I need to create content that bad, I've got a friggin laptop.

Blackberry:
Unparalleled email device. Blackberry Enterprise Server was more reliable and functional than Goodlink/Exchange ever was. Kill, lock, provision, policy mgmt of the phone, lots of good stuff there. Keyboard was great (the full qwerty one). Sucked for making calls, sucked to look at, media playback was horrific. The Pearl? aesthetically was pretty nice, good form factor, small screen, keyboard not as effective, media playback still kinda sucked, but not as badly as the full models. I liked my Pearls (had one with Tmobile, one with AT&T) a lot for what they were, but I never wanted it back after getting my iPhone. Not to mention the Pearl's dataplan wasn't exactly cheap.

iPhone:
I finally have a device that does most of what I want, and does it well. Great for email, great for media, great for web, phone is about as good as I've had in a mobile device (last phone i recall getting better reception out of was an old Motorola v60). I can view Word, Excel, PDF files with ease. I have a fantasically complicated Excel workbook that has string handlers and calculations I thought for sure would cause the iPhone fits, but nope, it works flawlessly. Is it perfect? nope. I want task lists. I want better calendar integration. Is it better than the rest for me? Yes. I don't need to have an overcomplicated device that CAN do things I don't need it to. I want something so I don't have to carry a bunch of crap around.

I hardly ever tethered my other devices, so as a bonus, I got to go from a data plan that was $80/month to one that was $20. Doesn't take long to pay for itself at that pace, so I'm not worried about price tag differences.

The simple fact is that Apple made a device that does what I need it to do well, well. Everyone else seems to be trying to sell their device based on the merits of a feature set that I rarely had need for while providing a subpar set of core features that I really want to work nicely.

Sparkie...Gmail now has IMAP capability and works very well on the iPhone. You can set how often you would like it to check your email. You will have to go into your Gmail account and activate the IMAP option instead of POP3. Hope that helps.

Set whether iPhone checks for new messages automatically
m From the Home screen choose Settings > Mail > Auto-Check, then tap Manual, “Every
15 minutes,” “Every 30 minutes,” or “Every hour.”

Good Luck

If you are on the fence, wait and see the iPhone for yourself.

I find the Blackberry to have a horrible user interface, so I am not a fan.

I owned a Treo in the past and I liked it. The Palm interface is really showing its' age but it gets the job done.

I think the iPhone is awesome. I really like the contact management and calendar. Email works great. Keeping data synchronized is dead simple.

mbb3977 wrote:
For someone that has a windows pc and a palm , how do you feel you know the iphone and the Apple computers? Just curious. Its all good, but Palm OMG ROFLMAO, yuk

My first Mac was an LC (or actually a Lisa, but that doesn't count), and my home network currently has 3 macs, an XP laptop (employer supplied) and a Ubuntu Linux workstation. I've also had 3 Newtons, A Casio BOSS, and a (ugh) Microsoft Pocket PC. I've also used PalmOS devices since the original Palm Pilot, and other Palm products before they released the Pilot. The Palm is simply the best PDA I have ever used. I carry a T|X along with my iPhone, because there is simply nothing else on the market that competes with a Palm enhanced with PhoneMagic contact list and DateBk6 calendar.

Got the iphone opening day.. love it.. just a got work issued 8830.. like it

the BB offers excellent EMAIL. and strong phone functionality

the iphone email app is miserable, even with IMAP, why do i want my 4GB gmail file on my iphone? use the mobile gmail version thru safari. you lose using your iphone address book tho for email... I spoof my main gmail account so can write NEW emails from the iphone. but do not collect any emails on the phone from the email app.