Let’s be honest, every one who has a Blackberry will defend that it is the best phone ever, and couldn’t imagine life without their “BBM” (that’s Blackberry Messenger for the noobs). However, those with an iPhone couldn’t imagine life without every possible “app” and a “computer-to-go.” So which is the better cell phone – the iPhone or the Blackberry? Thanks to the 2011 release of the iPhone to Verizon, the recent hype is concerned with Blackberry users “switching over” to the Apple iPhone.
The Blackberry phone originally gained popularity as being noted as the vital phone for business and email efficiency. Blackberry users also favor the on-going conversations and messages that don’t fill up your inbox and message statuses that notify us whether a message is “delivered” and “read” (even though it may sometimes backfire on us). Or how about the exclusivity of BBM, each device with a specific PIN necessary to add a friend onto your BBM contact list. Don’t forget about Blackberry group chats with multiple Blackberry contacts. Imagine all your best friends or roommates in one chat together. Yet the single best feature seems to be the “instant” speed of a message, like an “IM,” instant message on AOL Instant Messenger. Female users may be impatient and have a constant need to know what is going on in one’s social life at all times. FOMO, fear of missing out, tends to band Blackberry users together with constant communication. Having a Blackberry and BBM is sort of like a cult, maybe an addiction? Whatever it is, they say, “You’ll never understand until you have one.”
However, no amount of love for the Blackberry can take away from the hottest item of 2011 in the technological realm, the iPhone 4. The unique touch screen has a Retina display, making it the sharpest and highest resolution phone screen to date. Apple has revolutionized the modern day cell phone into a mini computer. Multitasking could include switching between multiple applications, playing an array of games, checking your email, browsing the Internet, listening to your iTunes music library and video chatting on the newest iPhone application, FaceTime. Let’s even go as far as to say that the quality is clearer and works better than video chat on my MacBook. It gets better: the phone has two cameras, one on the front and one on the back…a fivemegapixel camera. Should we even call it a phone anymore? And for those Apple lovers, the iPhone has Apple programs such as Safari, iMovie, iTunes store and other Apple software. It literally has everything a busy college student would need encompassed in one cell phone. The more I write, the more convincing this debate becomes. Uh oh.
Yet girls going abroad have to think about which cell phones are compatible internationally and have affordable plans for such coverage. The Verizon iPhone is not an international phone. Yet even for AT&T members, an additional International Data Package for iPhone usage internationally can be very costly.
On the other hand, the Blackberry is well known for its excellence as an international phone with great coverage rates and packages. The Blackberry web and email are so efficient in data transfer that the data amount used results in a very low roaming charge per month, if anything (depending on which plan you have). In contrast, the iPhone is like a computer; therefore, it connects and downloads all data services you use. One picture in an email for example could use up your entire package in a few days! Talk about a waste of money.
But most of us can all agree that we secretly hope BBM becomes available for the iPhone. Best of both worlds? I hope so.
The only credible way to get a general consensus on this matter is to poll the women of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Here is what our women said to the following poll:
Which Cellular Device Do You Have?
1) Blackberry
2) iPhone
3) Other (Palm, Droid, Motorola, etc.)
Which Cellular Device would you prefer?
1) Blackberry
2) iPhone
3) Other (Palm, Droid, Motorola etc.)
RESULTS:
78% of women polled have a Blackberry
15% of women polled have an iPhone
Less than 1 percent of women polled have a different phone
36% of women polled prefer a Blackberry
63% of women polled prefer an iPhone
0% of women polled prefer a different phone
It appears that a Blackberry is the most popular phone owned right now by our women, however the most popular desired phone is the iPhone.
The battle continues…