iPhone vs Blackberry vs Palm

Question

Level 1

114 points

iPhone vs Blackberry vs Palm

What I'm looking for:

A phone/email device/text messenger/address book/calendar that instantly and automatically syncs all my data onto my computer remotely! (Manual sync ***). So here's my comparason. Please free to add info if you have it...

In the first corner... The Blackberry

Pros:

The fact that the Blackberry uses your cell phone signal means inputting a new event in its calendar, address book, or email, means it will remotely update your computers calendar, address book, and email immediately. So you never, ever have to do a manual sync again!

Cons:

The Blackberry seems to only work with Entourage, not Apple Mail.

On top of that, you need an account with something called Mailstreet.com which charges a monthly fee, and still isn't without bugs.

And while the Apple Address Book does have an option to sync with the Entourage address book (using "Exchange"), I've never been able to get the configuration to work.

As for iCal syncing with Entourage or Mailstreet? If there's an answer, I haven't found it yet.

Even if I had no other choice but manually sync my blackberry to my computers manually at the end of the day, the PocketMac software that comes with the Blackberry does not work very well and doesn't sync everything I want. And while plenty of folks out there rave over The Missing Sync, it does not sync email from the Blackberry to the Mac. Which is the main reason to own a Blackberry

In the second corner... The iPhone

Pros:

Compatible with everything! Apple Mail, Address Book, iCal and whatever email accounts I want.

Cons:

I live in Los Angeles... in the hills of Bel Air. Which means AT&T reception is spotty at best. (Comparing online coverage maps, Verizon has the best signal in my particular area). So will my iPhone even work at my house? I don't want to have to buy one first to find out.

Unknowns: I'm assuming my iPhone can automatically sync with my .mac account via AT&T, instantly updating/syncing to my ical, address book and email on my computers at home. But again, until I actually buy an iphone I don't know if it'll work.

In the third corner... Palm Treo

Pros:

Syncs easily with Leopard thru the Palm Desktop.

I can use any phone carrier, so verizon or sprint which seem to have better reception maps in my area, are an option.

Cons:

I'd have to give up my dream of automatic remote syncing to my computers at home and just do it manually.

Palm Calendar doesn't play nice with iCal. (Categories don't match, even with Missing Sync)

Palm isn't the best email platform. Internet expensive and slow.

The platform is antiquated.

Okay, so what do you folks think? Let the posting begin!

Macbook Pro 2.4Ghz & G5 dual 1.8, Mac OS X (10.5.1), 2 GBs of ram

Posted on Dec 11, 2007 7:29 PM

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Answer 1

Ansuz82

Level 6

8,291 points

Dec 11, 2007 7:41 PM in response to Enio Rigolin2

I'll stop you 5 seconds into it...

Enio Rigolin2 wrote:
What I'm looking for:

A phone/email device/text messenger/address book/calendar that instantly and automatically syncs all my data onto my computer remotely!

Iphone doesn't do this. Best go with the BB.

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Answer 2

JimUrban

Level 4

2,590 points

Dec 11, 2007 7:42 PM in response to Enio Rigolin2

It's a phone.Buy whatever you need/want.

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Answer 3

falco223

Level 1

110 points

Dec 11, 2007 7:51 PM in response to Enio Rigolin2

Unfortunately, the iPhone is manual sync only. No over-the-air syncing. The one think you can do with .Mac is send pictures to your web gallery. I don't have .Mac so correct me if I am wrong. Nothing syncs (except email) or anythng you can manually put on their website.

My advice: As long as you have service, just buy the iPhone it is amazing despite its drawbacks. You could unlock it-remember GSM only networks so your only choice would be T-Mobile

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Answer 4

Danny.S

Level 1

0 points

Dec 11, 2007 8:30 PM in response to Enio Rigolin2

Do Not get the iphone. I am coming off a Palm 680. My wife has a crack Berry. The iPhone is a cool tool, but not nearly as functional as either of your alternatives. Email is not instantaneous like the Berry, and alot of good emails get filtered out and never make it to my phone. The fact that I can NOT get pictures or send pictures via text on a phone like this is rediculous. And lastly, the fact that you can not expand or add programs is a joke. I want a financial calculator and can not put one on my phone. I want vindigo and cann't get that. In conclusion to my Rant, it is cool as **** but totally not functional.

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Answer 5

Enio Rigolin2 Author

Level 1

114 points

Dec 11, 2007 8:40 PM in response to Enio Rigolin2

Okay,

Sounds like the Blackberry is the winner. At least for my needs.

So, for all you Blackberry folks out there, any suggestions on how to resolve the numerous problems between the Blackberry and the Mac?

i.e. ...

Email only syncs with Entourage (I can deal if no other choice, I just need it to consistently work)
Must have a monthly Mailstreet account to use the Blackberry "Exchange" system
Mailstreet account buggy, doesn't always send/recieve my emails.
Apple Address Book "syncronize with Exchange" not working
iCal compatibility with Blackberry calendar non-existent?

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Answer 6

Ansuz82

Level 6

8,291 points

Dec 12, 2007 6:51 AM in response to Enio Rigolin2

There is a program called Missing Sync out there that will solve most of your BB and Mac sync issue.

I used it with my Palm and it worked wonders.

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Answer 7

Dec 12, 2007 7:22 AM in response to Enio Rigolin2

I don't think you understand how the BlackBerry works with regards to email.
Email NEVER syncs on a BlackBerry. Your email client on your computer is completely irrelevant.
Email is wirelessly delivered to your BlackBerry using some type of RIM messaging transport. For the everyday user (non-corporate), you'd use BIS. (BlackBerry Internet Service)

BIS is a portal that will integrate your email (POP3, IMAP, Hotmail, GMail, Yahoo, etc.) with your BlackBerry device.
.Mac mail uses IMAP, and integrates perfectly with BIS.

As far as PIM sync (Calendar, Address Book, Notes, etc.) you'd use either PocketMac or Missing Sync. Both will work with either Entourage, or your built-in OSX address book and iCal. My personal recommendation would be Missing Sync. PocketMac for BlackBerry can be a bit unstable at times.

iCal and BlackBerry work fine together.

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Answer 8

Dec 12, 2007 7:28 AM in response to Enio Rigolin2

You don't mention an iPod as one of your needs.

If this is the case, you may well do better with one of the Blackberry or Palm.

Matt

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Answer 9

igrok-mac

Level 3

947 points

Dec 12, 2007 7:31 AM in response to Enio Rigolin2

Unless you're running your own exchange server, or working through a corporate server for blackberry, changing a calendar item in your berry won't automatically make it so everywhere in your system. Since you have a .mac account, everything can be in sync between your computers, the .mac site, and your iphone. Yes, you would have to sync the iphone to your computer to get whatever you've added in calendar and contacts on to your computer and up to .mac. That is, if you create a calendar entry on the phone, when you plug in your phone and sync it those entries will go to your mac. On your next .mac sync, it'll go up to there too.

For mail, though, it's different, because .mac (and all my other accounts for that matter) are IMAP accounts, that automatically stay in sync. Send an email on the iphone, and it will show up in your computer's Sent box and in your .mac webmail as well, without any additional syncing. So all your mail is always in sync. More than that, though, the iPhone's email system brings over all your imap folder hierarchy, so you can get to any folder and any email really easily. The berry just doesn't compare.

Usability is a factor that just can't be underestimated. The interface on the iPhone is simply great.

I suggest going to the Apple store to play with the iphone, then going and playing with a berry too. Then make up your mind.

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Answer 10

Dec 12, 2007 8:06 AM in response to Enio Rigolin2

I own an iPhone (Personal) and a Blackberry Pearl (Work), no way would I swap my iPhone for the Blackberry. The Blackberry as others have stated is good for email if it's linked to an Exchange server which mine is for work. I know there has been some talk about getting the iPhone to work with Exchange which would be cool. I've got to admit the user interface on Blackberry's is rubbish, i only email from it if I really have to, I'd rather forward mail to my .mac account and reply via my iPhone any day. As one of the other guys has said the best thing to do is try both in the shops.

Pete

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Answer 11

Dec 12, 2007 8:38 AM in response to Enio Rigolin2

I thought syncing over the air would be a must have feature also. BUT then when I thought about my day it wasn't necessary.

Ask yourself why do you want it to sync over the air to your home or work computer? Once the mail, calendar, addresses, etc are now on the computer, are you going to be the one that uses that data? If so then why don't you just sync the iphone via usb when you are actually sitting there.

If you need the ability to have someone else modify your calendar "over the air" from their own computer then try the Google Calendar for the iphone. gCal is a web app for the iphone and anyone with your gCal password can modify your calendar via their computer web browser.

Also, I was thinking I would be this super efficient guy always using the iphone for everything.... I do... but that means I have to charge it more often. And once again, I realized that I would be plugging it into my laptop to charge it..... and obviously sync it too.

So maybe it's not totally the end all Con of the iphone.

*************

My experience with the Palm Treo 180, 600, and 650 and Missing Sync is that it doesn't sync everything perfectly with Apple Mail, Apple Address Book, and iCal. Sometimes it messes up Address field names and Calendar Names making it necessary for cleaning up after a sync.

*************

As for LA coverage, my solution is move out of LA!! jk
I bet you know someone with an iphone...... ask them to come to your house and make some calls.

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Answer 12

Dec 12, 2007 2:37 PM in response to Enio Rigolin2

If you want good email handling features do not get a blackberry. The blackberry email handling is old and poor. Deleted messages are gone forever, syncing sent messages is difficult and you have to bcc yourself to do it. IMAP folders don't work. I was using the pearl and the way it does email is amateur compared to the iphone. The blackberry tech support is very good though.

I think that the best feature of the iphone is that it is a platform that is actively being developed. Apple is actively adding new features and fixing bugs. Nobody else can say that... they are all working on their next phone model and will only release a new model if there is a major bug.

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Answer 13

falco223

Level 1

110 points

Dec 13, 2007 5:47 AM in response to Mac Fanatic

I agree. It is not that annoying to have to sync directly.

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Answer 14

Dec 13, 2007 6:30 AM in response to falco223

I also live in an area where the coverage is spotty so I called and ordered a $1.00 AT&T phone, setup an account that I had 30 days to cancel and tested the service area before purchasing an iphone and converting over the account. The result? Well, I was quite shocked. My Verizon phone drops calls on me at my house daily and in fact its safe to say that it drops almost 80% of all calls that last more than a few minutes. It stinks.

The iPhone and the test $1.00 phone? They have never after 1 month dropped a single call. I've been totally shocked at how well their service works. The phones even work inside my college where Verizon won't work at all.

As for all the complaints on the iPhone interface. Its the most awesome thing I've touched. Its far from perfect though. Not being able to load programs, no support for voice dialing, no support to sync your Notes to mac Mail program and a few others both me almost daily. Would I give it up for something else? Not on your life. I love my iPhone!!

Also, as far as email goes I have gmail getting all my email and then I use imap to retrieve it from both my PC and my iPhone. This allows everything to automatically sync up between the two computers which is very nice indeed.

Have fun,

glenn

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Answer 15

Dec 13, 2007 8:06 AM in response to Timothy Gurske

Timothy Gurske1 wrote:
If you want good email handling features do not get a blackberry. The blackberry email handling is old and poor. Deleted messages are gone forever, syncing sent messages is difficult and you have to bcc yourself to do it.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
This was the funniest thing I've read in a long time.
Thanks for the laugh 🙂

(I do hope you were kidding. If you weren't... jeez, I don't know what to say.)

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