Blackberry 9700 vs. iPhone 4 (click for full size image)

As most of you know, I’ve recently gone from Symbian (s60) powered Nokia phones (N97, E71, N86, N79) to Blackberry (9700). Well, the Blackberry didn’t last too long in the end. I’ve just switched to something that I held out against for quite some time–an iPhone. Yep, I went and got myself a 16GB iPhone 4.

Why, you might ask?

There are several reasons, but here’s a couple big points. The Blackberry 9700 was a great device in most ways. Stable, excellent battery life, allowed me to stay very well connected to the internet….except when it came to actual web browsing. Support and presence of third party applications has greatly increased on the Blackberry platform over the past year or two, and there are now applications for just about anything you want to do with the phone. But, browsing the internet is still a slow and tedious process. On a Blackberry, RIM actually does the job of compressing data to keep data transmission to a minimum. While this is good in some ways (if you’re on a tiered data plan for instance), but it also makes for a much slower page loading time. Not to mention the smaller screen makes zooming almost mandatory once the page loads, but then you have to scroll right to left a lot to even read a page that is not optimized for mobile viewing. Considering I want to be able to check out links posted by folks I follow on Twitter, Facebook, and from emails I receive, etc., web browsing is definitely an important feature as far as I’m concerned. And obviously, browsing on the iPhone–with its larger screen and fast browser speeds (in my own experience, from using my wife’s iPhone 3GS) makes it an ideal device for web browsing.

There’s also another issue, and even bigger one to me. With all the info floating around about a new Blackberry operating system, OS6, I was very excited–one of the main features being an updated webkit browser that was supposedly very quick. Then came the problem: a rumor that the Blackberry 9700 was being rebuilt with more RAM to be able to support OS6…. This was quite disappointing to me to even consider, as the 9700 was released in January of this year, not even 5 months from when this news/rumor broke. Looking at specs of other upcoming Blackberry devices (especially those being advertised as capable of running OS6 when it arrives), one can see the 512MB RAM spec as a similarity between them, lending more credence to the rumor. This actually put me off quite a bit. There’s nothing like buying the “latest and greatest” only to have the same company release the new “latest and greatest” only a couple months later (Nokia N97 and N900 anyone?).

So, onto the guts of this post: my experience so far with the iPhone 4.

Blackberry 9700 vs. iPhone 4 (click for full size image)

Luckily I actually got to check one out on release day without having to wait in line or deal with crowds–at this point I still wasn’t convinced I wanted one yet. My bowling coach/pro shop owner pre-ordered his and was lucky enough to receive it a day early, so he had his in hand when I went to see him about some equipment. The phone looked and felt great, it was very fast, and the screen…well, it was…wonderful. The big, high resolution screen just looked great, no matter what it was doing. I played with it for a little while, even testing to see if I could duplicate the “death-grip” signal-killing issue (and yes, I could–although the phone never totally lost signal, just went to 1 bar and sat there no matter how long I held it). So, at this point I was still undecided, but was definitely leaning towards the switch. Needless to say, on launch day and the few days after, my Twitter feed was filled with links (all about the iPhone 4 release, needless to say), and trying to view many of them on a Blackberry was wearing on me. A few days later, I decided I was going to try it out–I’d purchase and activate the iPhone 4 on another line, keeping my Blackberry active and as my main phone for the moment, allowing me to “try out” the iPhone and see if I really like it.

So, I called around to several AT&T stores on Wednesday, June 30, to see if they still had any. Nope, all sold out at all the stores around me. I didn’t even bother with Apple stores, as the two nearest me aren’t that convenient to get to in the first place. Luckily, a local Best Buy store did have a few in stock, and I was lucky enough to get there in time to snag one after work. Activation and everything went very smooth–15 minutes start to finish, and the Best Buy rep didn’t do anything other than what I asked to be done (now THAT is good customer service, IMHO).

Once I had the phone in my hands, set-up was pretty much a no brainer. Its very easy to see how so many cell phone users went from non-smartphones to the iPhone. The phone itself, the operating system, and its syncing to iTunes makes it ultra simple for people to use and set up. Within minutes of plugging into iTunes, all my data (phone book, calendar, and music if I had wanted it) was on the iPhone 4 and ready to be used. While I’m used to this set-up process with any phone, I can’t stress enough how much easier it was on the iPhone. With either Blackberry or Nokia when you reloaded/upgraded the OS, or got a new device it took visiting web links to download software, sending myself text messages to get download links, entering in serial numbers and registration ID’s, transferring .alx and .sis files from the computer to the phone, etc. With an iPhone–plug it in and let it sync. New iPhone after returning yours for signal issues (haha), plug it in and sync–all your data and apps will be there, just as they were on your last phone. There’s much to be said for this, as it makes a “smartphone” much less daunting to Joe Public.

So far, I am really enjoying the iPhone 4. I’m finding it comparable (or better) in most ways to my Blackberry in terms of functionality. The only real downside that I’m able to complain about at this time (after almost a week of using it) is the speed at which I’m able to type. Typing can obviously be done faster (and more accurately) on a device with buttons and tactile feedback than it will on a screen that has no feedback other than a sound when you touch it. I do feel like both Blackberry and S60 on Nokia’s allowed me more ability to personalize notifications as well, which in some ways was good, but on the other hand this goes back to the simplicity of use that I mentioned earlier–I probably had 40-50 different types of notifications on my Blackberry that I could set individual alerts for. Email functionality (every account I use is Gmail at this time, no need for Exchange, etc) is on par with Blackberry so far in my experience. Both Twitter and Facebook work equally as well as they did on Blackberry, and there are probably several more Twitter applications to choose from as well (although some may be total crap–more on this thought later).

One of the features Blackberry has been missing that I was introduced to while using my Nokia phones was the ease of photo and video uploads. On Nokia phones, I could use a combination of Pixelpipe and Nokia’s Share Online service to upload photos (AND videos–of any file size) to multiple endpoints at all once. On Blackberry, the only way I’ve found to get video off the device is to upload using tvider…and you’d better hope you’re on wifi when you do it. Pictures could be sent through MMS and email without too much problem, but there was still a horrendous 2MB (I think that is correct) cap on the size of the email for BIS users (non-corporate Blackberry users). With the iPhone 4, I’m once again able to use Pixelpipe, and even though there is a 200MB limit on uploads, I can still get multiple pics at a time off the phone as well as videos.

So far, I have been pleasantly surprised by the battery life of the iPhone 4–one of my foremost concerns in this switch away from Blackberry (Blackberry is known for its stellar battery life). But, after several days of decent usage, and not having to plug it in to charge during the day once yet, I’ve been quite happy with its performance. The photo below was taken on a day when the phone was taken off the charger at 5am. I mistakenly left wifi on all day, even though it wasn’t connected from 6am to 4pm. At work my phones go from EDGE to 3G quite often as I go further into buildings and labs, and this is supposedly a big drain on the battery as well. I turned Bluetooth on and connected to headset at 3pm to past 5pm. Mild usage day for me (at the time of this pic, around 5:30pm), a few text messages, about 30 minutes worth of calls, some web browsing, IM’ing, etc. And as you can see, its still got 50% battery left to work with. Not too shabby.

iPhone 4 battery life (click for full size)

I’m finding that the giant Apple App Store can be both a blessing and a curse. With over 225,000 apps available for download, I’m finding there’s a lot of trial and error going on to find applications with the functionality I want. I have numerous Twitter applications due to the fact that the first two I tried did not allow me to edit a Re-Tweet before sending it (as I sometimes prefer to add some commentary of my own). Luckily, there do appear to be free applications for just about anything out there, as well as paid, so one has the choice whether or not to go broke trying out applications. Also, I’ve seen a lot of what looks like total junk in some way or another…so, as I’ve always said and heard, only some of that 225,000 plus applications are worthwhile.

Another plus with the iPhone 4 is the new 5MP camera, and the front facing camera. When I initially heard about FaceTime, I said to myself “Nokia’s been able to do that for quite some time,” but even when I had Nokia phones I didn’t use that feature. Having now used FaceTime to talk to my Dad (he upgraded from the original iPhone), I have to say I enjoyed the feature and will use it more often for sure. The 5MP camera takes some pretty good shots, and having had a phone with an 8MP camera capable of GREAT shots (a Nokia N86), this upgrade from the iPhone 3GS’s 3.0MP camera was another good move on Apple’s part (and an upgrade for me coming from the Blackberry 9700′s 3.2MP camera as well).

Now, when it comes to the “death-grip” issue mentioned earlier, I do notice a drop in signal on my iPhone 4 if I hold it “the way you’re not supposed to” (in left hand, bottom left corner of phone in palm, fingers on right side of phone, thumb along left side of phone–see pic below). However, even when I’ve done this during a call, I did not drop the call. I did observe the signal drop from 5 bars to 1, but had no issues with call clarity or anything. I also performed some speed tests over 3G while the phone sat on a table and while I held it with “death-grip”, and while there was a drop is speed (download speed went from 2.8Mbps to .8Mbps, upload speed less noticeable at 1.0Mbps to .8Mbps), it was still far from useless being held in the “death-grip”. Maybe I’m lucky and need to try this again in a low signal area and then I’d see it drop the connection on the whole, but who knows. I can honestly say that a couple of my Nokia’s were far, FAR worse with holding 3G signals than the iPhone 4 is currently. In terms of calls so far in my use, I’ve yet to drop a call, and voice quality has been very similar to what I’ve experienced on my Blackberry. Personally, I can’t really complain about AT&T down here in the Atlanta area. I’ve never had major issues with them as a service provider myself.

Here I display the "death-grip" on the iPhone 4

I’ll call it quits here and post updates or more thoughts later. If you’ve got any questions, please feel free to ask–post a comment, email me, send me a message on Twitter or find me over at HowardForums (username martin_j001). Thanks for reading!

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