I’ve always been a BlackBerry girl. Since my sophomore year of high school, I have had no less than 4 of these amazing phones and have been completely attached to and dependent on all of them. When I got my first BlackBerry, it was definitely a huge upgrade from my sad, old flip phone. I was enthralled by how small it was, how all of my email came straight to my phone, the quality of the camera, the Internet capabilities, the games (ahem, Brickbreaker), and of course BBM. It was a long-lasting, dependable phone; the only problem I ever had with it was when I had to have the trackball replaced, which is not a big deal.
When the iPhone was finally released, the battle between the iPhone and the BlackBerry began in full force. Most people based their decision between the two on their wireless carrier and what they would be using the phone for. Recently though, many people are switching back and forth between the two types of phones for different reasons, so I asked people why they prefer one or the other, and here are some of the responses I received:
“I love my iPhone, because I’m really used to it and I use it as an iPod, e-mail, I can put movies on it, and I love a lot of my apps like Maps, calendar, etc.” — Katherine M.
“I love my Blackberry, but I’ve had it for two years now and it’s been freezing a lot. BBM is so quick and helpful. And actually, I like that you can’t have a million apps like an iPhone – otherwise I would and I like that it helps me stay simplified and organized with just my email, texts, etc. The only reason I don’t have an iPhone is because I have the touch iPod so it would annoy me to have two devices that are so similar.” — Katie M.
“I am definitely an iPhone fan – my roommate has a Blackberry and is always having issues with it (her BBM deletes, her charger gets jammed, etc.), but I have never really had any trouble with mine. It takes awesome pictures and also contains music so there is no real reason to even have a camera or iPod in addition. Besides for BBM, there is no real reason I could see myself switching from my iPhone.” — Molly M.
“I love my new iPhone. It’s so user-friendly for technologically challenged people like me.” — Chloe G.
“I primarily like the iPhone because it allows you to use EMOJI! Oftentimes, I text solely using the Emoji application. It’s hilarious and fabulous: definitely a fun way to express my ’emotions’ through ‘Emoji!’”— Caroline S.
So after a little research and talking to several people who have had one or both of these phones, I came to this summary of the pros and cons of BlackBerries and iPhones!
Blackberry:
- Much easier to text on than the iPhone
- BlackBerry messenger (BBM) is super easy to use, extremely convenient, free internationally (on many plans), and tells you when a person has read your message and when they’re typing a response.
- Not as many exciting apps as on the iPhone, but App World is super easy to use and does have a wide variety of different apps
- They freeze sometimes, especially when they’re getting old. Sometimes it’s a software problem that can’t be fixed, and sometimes it just means it needs to be reset.
- The battery life is amazing.
- It is difficult to physically damage them and they are very sturdy phones.
- It keeps email, texts, instant messaging, etc. very organized and accessible.
- The camera is almost as good as a regular digital camera (on my Bold, I have a 5 megapixel camera and video camera with all of the cool functions and settings you find on any digital camera).
- The Internet is very fast and the phone can connect to any wi-fi network, so even if you don’t have cell service, you can still use the Internet.
- It comes in so many different varieties and you can choose the phone that works best for your needs (Curve, Tour, World, Bold, Pearl, Storm, etc.)
iPhone:
- There are an infinite number of apps for anything imaginable that are all really exciting.
- The phone is a great way to procrastinate between music, movies, email, texting, games and the Internet.
- Your iPhone is your iPod, so only one is necessary.
- The Internet is really fast.
- There is Facetime on the iPhone 4 and it is a ton of fun.
- It’s really easy to crack/shatter the screen, so you have to be much more careful with it.
- Texting with the touch screen is difficult to get used to and can be very frustrating with the autocorrect (see www.damnyouautocorrect.com for examples and a good laugh).
- Email doesn’t automatically update, and has to be checked manually.
- The graphics are very clear and picture quality from the camera is also very good.
- It is much more user-friendly and easier to figure out than the BlackBerry.
- It seems to have many fewer technical difficulties than the BlackBerry: it doesn’t freeze, it doesn’t require resetting every week, it doesn’t slow with age, etc.
- Only one version of the iPhone, but different generations, each one better and with more to offer than the last.
I have to say that, though the iPhone is very tempting, I’m happy with my BlackBerry, and I don’t see myself switching any time soon. What are your thoughts? I’d love to find out more opinions! Let me know!!
Photo Sources:
http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/gadgets/phones/mobile…
http://www.capmac.org/iphonesig/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/iphone-vs-blackberry-9000jpg.jpeg
http://cogadget.com/cogadget/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/rim-blackberry-bold-9700.jpg