iPhone and BlackBerry Thoughts

Last week I activated my iPhone – flush with excitement about the 2.0 software. I’ve been using the iPhone as a test device for the last year, without any phone service.1 The iPhone with phone service is definitely more useful.

Overall, increased usage of the iPhone has done more to reinforce my previous opinions on it than anything else – except maybe making me more dissatisfied with the browser in the BlackBerry.

Some notes:

  • The iPhone is a two-handed device, where the BlackBerry is designed to work very well as a one-handed device.
  • The keyboard on the iPhone is just awful. Whenever I need to type anything (e-mail, Twitter, etc.) I use the BlackBerry.
  • The browser is just phenomenal, and I’ve found myself on the mobile web more with the activated iPhone than I was with my BlackBerry.
  • Even with the browser being so good, it’s not nearly as fast as using a laptop.
  • Having a native Twitter app on the BlackBerry makes me realize just how much better the iPhone will be in a month.
  • Real IMAP support on the iPhone is excellent, for an “e-mail” device, the BlackBerry’s non-BES IMAP e-mail support is just pathetic.
  • The web iPhone apps and info pages are really quite handy.
  • I badly want a podcast app for the iPhone that supports downloading podcasts over wifi. I’m sure someone is building one – let me know if you want another beta tester.
  • The BlackBerry Curve is significantly lighter than the iPhone, and the rubberized side panels make it a lot easier to grip.
  • The upcoming OTA syncing for the iPhone eclipses what BlackBerry users have unless they have a BES.
  • Having web page bookmarks on the home page for the iPhone reminds me of the old PQAs on the Palm VII and i705 from back in the day.
  • The iPod integration in the iPhone is actually better than I expected. I’m noticing that more as I use the device more.
  • I appreciate my BlackBerry keyboard more now.

Having 2 phones seems a little silly at times, but the iPhone is actually an “add a phone” to my BlackBerry line, so it’s not too bad2. It’s pretty obvious to me that I’m going to need to be building great tools for the iPhone in the future, so… it’s a business expense. 😉

  1. For all those who have asked, it continued to work as expected the entire year. [back]
  2. I actually have the radio off most of the time to save battery [back]