Apple's iPhone vs. RIM's BlackBerry: Who Wins on Comparison?

“Should I buy an iPhone or a BlackBerry?” It’s the most popular tech question I get asked. Here’s how to think about what your answer should be.

Phone
First, both Apple (AAPL) and RIM (RIMM) call their devices phones. While this is technically true, iPhones are only available on the AT&T (T) network. BlackBerrys can be found on both Verizon (VZ) and AT&T. Depending upon where you live, this simple truth may be the only thing you need to consider. In many locations throughout America, it is practically impossible to use the iPhone as a phone. AT&T simply drops too many calls, too often. This may sound like harsh criticism, but I have never ended an iPhone call with “good bye.” It’s always, “Hello? Hello?” As a phone, the iPhone is all but useless. To be fair, I don’t think you would do much better with a BlackBerry on AT&T, but I have heard fewer complaints from BlackBerry users about the network.

On the other hand, a BlackBerry Curve (or Tour) on Verizon Wireless is not only an excellent phone, it is a serviceable speakerphone (for all practical purposes, the iPhone cannot be used as a speakerphone).

If you are looking for a phone, buy a BlackBerry.

Multi-media Functionality
A 32GB iPhone 3GS may not be much of a phone, but it is an extraordinary multi-media device. It has a serviceable camera, a remarkable screen, a killer user interface and, as you already know from Apple’s commercials, over 100,000 available apps. If you can think of it, there’s an app for it, and the list is growing daily. This sounds like a unique selling principle of the device. And, in many ways it is. However, in practice, there are only a certain number of apps that apply to you and, in practice, the functions are available on both devices.

Camera (Still & Video)
iPhone wins — no contest!

Screen
iPhone wins — no contest!

Photo & Video Viewing, Game Play and everything fun
iPhone wins — no contest!

Web
iPhone wins — no contest! However, the Google (GOOG) apps for BlackBerry can make web browsing on a BlackBerry good enough for occasional use.

Email
The iPhone integrates with Mac Mail quite well. It has the ability to receive POP3 and IMAP email from your servers and also is somewhat compatible with Microsoft Exchange. The email client is sub-optimal (I’m being kind). If you do a lot of email, you will hate the iPhone.

The BlackBerry has a flawless email client. Whether you use Exchange or POP3 or IMAP, it is push and it is a pleasure. You can search the device quickly and find everything related to everything. With regard to email and txt, the BlackBerry is all business and it just works.

HTML email is the wildcard; Apple wins because of its wonderful screen and user interface, but BlackBerry software does display HTML email and, although it is not an enjoyable experience, the emails are readable.

Keyboard
BlackBerry wins — no contest!

Battery Life
BlackBerry wins — no contest!

Voice Recorder
iPhone & BlackBerry both work. iPhone’s voice recorder integrates with iTunes (very nice), BlackBerry's requires a bunch of transcoding from the BlackBerry desktop to your preferred file format. Yuck!

What to Buy
If you really want an iPhone, go ahead and buy one. You will also absolutely need to purchase an external battery like the Mophie Juice Pack (I like the juice pack because it is more powerful than the Mophie Juice Pack Air and I’m not purchasing an external battery for its aesthetics). If you buy an iPhone, there is a very good chance you are also going to need to purchase a cell phone and get a contract from Verizon. I don’t know about you, but I like to make a phone call or two on my phone and, as I said, this is simply not possible with an iPhone. (Jobsian supplicants: Before you burn me in effigy, understand that I am one of you. I own a 32GB iPhone 3GS. I love it and worship it. I love Steve. In fact, if you were to visit my home, it looks like Steve Jobs threw up in here. I literally have every Apple product ever made. But, you must admit this unspoken truth - the iPhone sucks as a phone.)

If you really need to do email, txt and have friends who use BBM (BlackBerry Messenger a free, instant BlackBerry-only chat client) and you don’t feel like having two phone company contracts to pay each month, BlackBerry is the way to go. However, if you really want all the features of the iPhone, including access to the App store, you are going to want to also purchase an iPod Touch. You can probably get away with the 8GB model for $199. Apple offers models up to 64GB for $399, but unless you love movies on the go, and want to store dozens of them on your device, you don’t need to spend the extra money. The Touch doesn’t have a camera, but it is a great little WiFi enabled web browser, app and gaming platform. Carrying both a BlackBerry and a Touch is a good compromise.

If you want only one device — you can’t have all of the features available in our mobile, 3G world.

The recommended iPhone Rig: 32GB iPhone 3GS, Mophie Juice Pack ($99), Any Verizon Cell phone.

The recommended BlackBerry Rig: Verizon BlackBerry Curve or Tour, 8GB iPod Touch ($199)

What do I carry? I have a 32GB iPhone 3GS and I have a Verizon Motorola (MOT) Droid, which has replaced my BlackBerry Curve for the moment. Is the Droid an iPhone killer or a BlackBerry killer? That’s for the next column.

Comments

[yennik]

very accurate on iPhone.. I love everything about it except for the AT&T part.. it's aggravating

2009 Nov 23 04:40 AM

[imobile]

Well mate, up here in the Great White North the iPhone is a bloody great phone! Works perfectly as a phone on the Rogers network in Canada!
Now should I tell you my woes re Sony Ericsson and their woeful K790 on the Telus, dropped calls network?

2009 Nov 23 05:04 AM

[None-Too-Great Hits]

I regularly switch between English and Japanese virtual keyboards on my iPhone, and could also add to the menu as many other languages as I wished, simply by clicking on the appropriate check-boxes.

2009 Nov 23 07:01 AM

[Oilitradinginsider]

what about the droid years phone in a new dress
?
the blackberry is lasy

2009 Nov 23 07:06 AM

[qualitywte]

Im beginning to think someone has too much stock in VZ. I'm on my second iPhone and the AT&T network works great where I live and where I travel almost all over the US!

2009 Nov 23 07:25 AM

[Paul1234]

This article grossly overstates the problems of the iPhone as a phone. There are parts of the country where AT&T does a very poor job (NYC and San Francisco are often mentioned) but here in Northern Virginia it hasn't been a problem. My wife and I have each owned iPhones for over two years (we now own 3GSs) and can count on one hand together the number of dropped calls we've experienced. Also, the battery life is not a problem. I use my iPhone heavily for web surfing (something nobody does with a Blackberry) and usually get a full day's charge. It's easy, and has become automatic, to simply plug it into my computer to recharge every night.

And the keyboard— I love the iPhone's onscreen keyboard and have never liked those dinky, close packed buttons on blackberries and other smartphones. The people who hate virtual keyboards are usually longtime blackberry users who don't have the time or patience to relearn their typing skills (even though it takes only a few weeks of practice). The iPhone's virtual keyboard is a big plus for me.

2009 Nov 23 07:40 AM

[User 116674]

I do agree with this for the most part except battery life.

Battery Life on the iphone is actually pretty darn good.

The battery gets drained because of all the functionality used on the phone. Iphone is used heavily to traffic web data which is a drain. On top of that most people play music while surfing and answer phone calls while still surfing. I have not even begun to touch game playing and app usage. All these are a huge battery drain but I think the battery holds up pretty darn well in line with the powerhouse and powerhog the device is.
As the Blackberry is primarily used for e-mails it uses no battery to talk about.

I too have an iphone and a Blackberry for work. The Blackberry which I only use for e-mails lasts almost a week before charging but that's all its used for cause the rest of it is garbage.

The iphone which is fun and used for calling and heavy surfing and music during the morning and evening commute on the trains to work and back home needs to be charged every 2 days. Not too bad at all for the bang I get.

2009 Nov 23 07:42 AM

[This is all true except]

While the iPhone may not be as good a phone as Blackberry, coverage may not be equal. One fact remains indisputable. iPhone users usally LOVE their phone. I have never heard that term used on RIIM devices or for that matter any PC. Apple is so far superior in every regard that the Palmer's comparison is silly.

2009 Nov 23 08:22 AM

[vassar]

I have to disagree with the author:

1. iPhone is a great phone for talking and phenomenal for conferencing.

2. ATT has been better than Verizon for me - signal everywhere and no limitation on combined voice/data with ATT

3. Battery life has be fine. Never gone dead yet.

4. iPhone keyboard is fast - I tied a Crackberry addict (boy, was she pissed!)

5. Mail on the iPhone is fantastic - I have a gmail account which allows push along with immediate OTA calendar synchronization.

2009 Nov 23 08:30 AM

[mtkoren]

I live in the Raleigh Durham area and have been on AT&T for about 2 1/2 years (since getting the iPhone) and prior to that on Verizon for about 4 years with 3 different phones.

I dare say that since I switched to AT&T the number of dropped calls has gone DOWN substantially! The travel corridor I used with 4-6 call backs can now be done with 1-2 call backs. Having said that there are areas where Verizon reaches that AT&T does not and that is always aggravating.

The carrier icing on the cake is AT&T's rollover minutes, which has saved me money and aggravation, as I no longer need to monitor if I am about to pay a colossal penalty for running over my monthly allotment!

Finally, I've noticed that the connections with my iPhone are cleaner, more like a land line, than any phone I've ever had, though I've never tried the Blackberries. I absolutely love conferencing on the iPhone - it is a joy, a real get-to! And I can fly along typing on the virtual keyboard - I really don't like those small buttons. I agree though about the whimpy speakerphone sound quality. I don't agree that much about the battery life. Sometimes I think I'm getting more life out of the iPhone than my dumb regular phones used to give me, and I use the iPhone for far more than phone use. But yeah - if you do heavy data, such as mapping with frequent updates, games, Skype and so on, some of these apps can drain the battery fast! (Especially Skype!)

2009 Nov 23 08:44 AM

[User 61758]

Agree. Why Apple has not yet acknowledged AT&T's weakness and moved with Verizon or TMobile, is beyond me

2009 Nov 23 08:50 AM

[Johnnymack]

The phone sucks? really?
What about 'fancy' functions, supposedly available for YEARS on other phones, but very hard to actually use?
CONFERENCE CALLS? very easy to do on an iPhone, or to add someone in to a discussion if they call during another call. Very crappy to do on FIXED tiny keyboards. You hang up on both people, get embarrassed, and vow never to do that again.
What about bluetooth earpieces? You know, when they're ON, but you put it in your pocket? I laugh when I see people answer the phone, hear nothing, and franticly fish through their pockets for the bluetooth earpiece! iPhone, with it's lack of fixed keyboard, is beautiful when your BT earpiece is in proximity! Three buttons come up on the display: answer phone, answer via speakerphone, or answer through Treo BT device. (yup! I had a Treo before, and the matching BT earpiece works BETTER on the iPhone than it ever did on the Treo!
Ex- Treo users are usually the biggest iPhone fans.

2009 Nov 23 09:32 AM

[dandyapple]

You can have it all. Buy a MIFI from Verizon. This neat little device gives you a WIFI Network for up to 5 moblie devices. Works great with my IPHONE and an HP Laptop as well. When AT&T drops off of 3G, just go WIFI to your Verizon MIFI and all is well. Truly Neat!

2009 Nov 23 10:32 AM

[JamesApple]

Great to see so many honest and positive comments about the ubiquitous iPhone. It really isn't fair to compare the inferior blackberrys to the superior iPhone, but the ignorant people always do. I hardly use my computers anymore, I use the iPhone instead of the computers because frankly, my iPhone works better, faster, much more intuitively and with a lot more functionalities, there's even a Microsoft Office Light for the iPhone which works great.

Ditch the computers and the blackberrys

2009 Nov 23 11:08 AM

[GSlusher]

One simple reason: CDMA. Verizon & Sprint both use this "ancient" technology. One effect is that the networks cannot handle voice & data at the same time. You can't talk on the phone and check email or the web simultaneously. Some phones will put a call on "hold" while you access the web, it will appear as a break to the other party.

Another is that CDMA is used only in the US and a very few other places. Most of the world is GSM, like ATT. Apple would have had to design another phone, had it approved, and provide support for it, or would have had to build a dual-mode phone, which probably would be heavier and cost more.


On Nov 23 08:50 AM User 61758 wrote:

> Agree. Why Apple has not yet acknowledged AT&T's weakness and
> moved with Verizon or TMobile, is beyond me

2009 Nov 23 11:50 AM

[David in England]

Here on this side of the pond, the BlackBerry curve is outstanding as an email device and excellent as a phone, despite the new apps the battery life continues to improve with each generation.
It also works well for me when I travel to the US; NYC, FL.
IPhone is only just coming available here. I don't know if you can use your IPhones when you travel, if not, that would be a real pain.

2009 Nov 23 12:04 PM

[JamesApple]

iPhone works on every continent and perhaps even in the outer space. There are millions of unlocked iPhones all over the world. In most parts of the world, especially Asia, people in the developed parts of Asia simply do not buy blackberrys. iPhone is a world class icon way above the blackberrys.

2009 Nov 23 12:32 PM

[Leandropucci]

for those of you that think that Verizon is all that good: just wait until they migrate to 4G... they'll feel the pain of having to perform on a 100% digital network.
They will never get the coolest, most advanced devices because they are the ONLY one company in the world (that is worth it) using CDMA technology...

2009 Nov 23 01:22 PM

[JamesApple]

Rim blackberry sales are expected to fall by 30% YOY from Christmas 2008. Yet another IP lawsuit against Rim this time because of the visual voicemail in the blackberry bolds. Rim share prices could drop below $30.

2009 Nov 23 01:50 PM

[brewer]

iPhones work great here. It will be on multiple networks in the next few months anyhow. That is BS that the iPhone phone isn't good, it's only the network in some locations.

2009 Nov 23 02:02 PM