Uncle Miltie

Blackberry’s 26 Advantages over iPhone

I stand corrected on other BB models. We have an 8820 and a Curve 8310 at home, and neither device has a card that can be accessed without removing the battery. The Curve supposedly can have the card removed without removing the battery, but I have yet to find a practical way to do that...


On Aug 10 02:05 PM Wireless Wiz wrote:

> To be fair, this is an untrue statement. For instance, the Bold
> has a side door slot, the Storm does not require removing the battery,
> and most , if not all, new Blackberries I have seen have this same
> feature - either a side loading slot or a slot that all you have
> to do is to remove the battery cover and you can hot-swap the memory
> card.

Blackberry’s 26 Advantages over iPhone

This article doesn't sound anything like an investing article - it sounds like a BlackBerry fanboy's defense of his toy compared to the iPhone. In our house, we have 2 BB's and 2 iPhones, and are familiar with the pluses and minuses of both devices. Several of these BB advantages are very debatable, offered a skewed presentation to benefit your argument, are more a criticism of the carrier, and are purely an advantage based on your own point of view. For example:

>1. Blackberry can be used on almost every carrier in the world (over 475 of them). In the US, the iPhone is available on AT&T (T) only.

True that iPhone is AT&T only in the US, but it's also offered in over 80 countries on over 100 carriers. Including T-Mobile in Germany. Exclusivity is a regionally determined item, and is undertaken by nearly every carrier in nearly every market - even for several of BB's devices.

>3. Most Blackberries have keyboards ..... Helps while driving, walking, carrying something in your other hand – all the time.

Good luck with that. I've yet to see anyone successfully text with one hand any faster on a BB than on an iPhone. And any texting while in motion is a DISADVANTAGE.

>4. Blackberry uses standardized (=inexpensive and available everywhere in the world) MicroUSB connector for synchronization/charging. iPhone has a much larger proprietary 30-pin connector.

Blackberries are notoriously finicky about their MicroUSB connections - they don't work with every MicroUSB cable and can be a pain to get one that they like. And the iPod / iPhone dock connectors is as close to being universal as you can get.

>5. Some carriers such as Verizon (VZ) and Sprint (S) offer unlimited international Blackberry data roaming for $40/month or less.

Go ahead and try to use your CDMA VZ or S device outside the US and see how incredibly useful that unlimited data roaming really is - not so much when there are no CDMA towers outside of the US and Japan.

>7. Blackberry has expandable memory. iPhone is fixed and sold at 8, 16 or 32 gig only.

BB has to be expandable, because with a stock 128MB of on-board memory, there is no storage space for anything of note. To change the card on our BB's requires removing the battery - hardly a convenient thing to do with any regularity. I have over 2000 songs, 6 full length movies, 70 apps, and 2000 photos on my 32GB iPhone, and have 15 GB free. No need for another card when you have that kind of storage space.

>11. Blackberry allows communicating peer-to-peer via PIN identifier, circumventing the email system. No such iPhone equivalent.

Peer-to-peer communicating is only useful if your company doesn't lock out that service - and many do (my wife's, for example). However, there are hundreds of IM clients available for both devices and SMS on both devices that also bypass the e-mail system.

>12. Skype (EBAY) on the Blackberry? Yes, from anywhere to anywhere. Skype on iPhone? Only if you’re on WiFi.
>
>13. Sling on the Blackberry? Yes, it’s free. Sling on iPhone? $30.
>
>14. Google (GOOG) Voice on the Blackberry? Yes, it’s free. Google Voice on iPhone? Verboten.

These are limitations of AT&T, not the iPhone itself. If you're criticizing Apple's selection of AT&T, fine. Then ask why Verizon wouldn't step up to the place when Apple originally offered the iPhone to them first.

>24. Price: Unlimited iPhone voice/data service, including unlimited SMS, is $150/month. Blackberry can be had for much less. For example, unlimited Blackberry service is offered on Sprint for $100/month, T-Mobile USA $125/month, MetroPCS $50/month, although AT&T/Verizon match the iPhone at $150/month.

Again, you're comparing carriers - not the devices. The iPhone data plan is $30 a month for unlimited data on AT&T. It's actually cheaper than most BB data plans on other carriers.


Nearly every point listed is debatable, skewed and subjective. Hardly an investing article.