Sonyericsson Xperia X1 vs Blackberry Bold!Which one to buy?

[morphin1]

Hi all,
Great to be here on this forum and am looking forward to your help in assisting me to buy either the Xperia X1 or B Bold.
I do not change phones frequently and so am looking to keep this phone for about 2years.
Usage.
I will use the phone for general talking(2-3 hours daily),texting(15-25 Sms's),alarm, web browsing(20mins max daily).

Requirements.
1. Good Qwerty keyboard.
2. Long battery life as I dont want to charge it everyday.
3. Longevity on the physical body.(Steel looking parts should not start tearing you know what i mean.)
4. Should be able to connect to Idrive in my BMW 3series 2008 model for both bluetooth and Idrive(music).

Now the X1 has amazing battery life of apparently 10hrs talk time but I am not sold on the Windows OS as it might get laggy and slow over time.
Also I tried one of my friend's X1 and it works perfectly with my Idrive for music. The qwerty on X1 although might not be as good as Bold.

The Bold looks very sober and good. Has probably the best qwerty.
One of my friend has a pearl and his steel parts chipped and now it looks like some cheap phone and this is a concern for me about Bold.He does not abuse his pearl and takes care of his phones nicely.
Also the battery on bold might not be anything to boast about.
I also don't know if I will be able to connect the bold to my Idrive for music so any info on this will be great.

So now I dont know which phone to get. Please help......
Thanks in advance all.

[MidnightDraven]

The Bold nor any BB to my knowledge has steel parts. Its all plastic body.

Also, if your not using email on phone, going for the BB is a mistake as to use the internet properly you need to pay for a BB data plan, (which includes email) and is most likely more expensive and less suited to your needs than another phone with a regular data plan for internet browsing.

In your case I would say a BB is not what you need.

[morphin1]

By steel I did not mean steel.My bad. the plastic part that looks like metal.
Also the blackberry service will replace my gprs plan so that does not effect my budget and in fact it turns out cheaper due to unlimited data usage.
Thanks for your input Draven.
Waiting for some more suggestions.
Cheers

[MidnightDraven]

Ah I see. the "chrome" bezel is painted plastic etc.
Well, I suppose thats fair enough, I would assume a BB BIS data plan would be more expensive than a internet browsing data plan unlimited or not but perhaps thats just my experience.

The only other thing I have to input here is if you can get your hands on a bold from a friend and try to connect to your Idrive it would be beneficial, as you know the X1 does, and I have no idea about the Bold. But if the bold doesn't, you may regret it.

[redburgundy]

Windows Mobile takes several minutes to boot up and start downloading emails, while the OS on the Bold starts up almost instantaneously. This is a big deal if you travel by airlines and have to turn off your phone before the flight.

[raynicolini]

you know the correct answer

[raynicolini]

I would even take an Original RIM Pager over the SonyEricsson Xperia X1

[Kodok]

I have both HTC Touch Pro (AT&T Fuze w/ WinMo 6.1) and BlackBerry Bold. They both have pluses and minuses. The drawback about WinMo devices though, although they said ActiveSync has Direct Push e-mail, it's not really a 'Push' e-mail. The ActiveSync is continuously connected to the server polling for e-mails, thus the battery life is not great. My Bold seems to have longer battery life than the Fuze, but of course if you use data a lot connecting through 3G, you pretty much need to charge your phone daily.

Windows Mobile though is highly customizeable, but for some people that don't like to tinker with their phone, it's quite a hassle. BlackBerry is very strict with the OS, you can't do a lot of tinkering (custom OS), unlike WinMo, but then again people will argue that's the reason why BlackBerry is very secure compares to WinMo.

And the nice thing about Windows Mobile, you can use Pocket Outlook with pretty much any generic data plans which with Bold you have to sign up either for BES or BIS for e-mails.

All in all though, I like them both, but if you don't like to tinker with your phone too much, I would suggest to get the Bold. BlackBerry OS somehow is less buggy than Windows Mobile. And with the BlackBerry App Store opens, you can do a lot of things with BlackBerry now than just e-mails. And bulkiness does matter as well. Bold is so much thinner than WinMo phone with slide out QWERTY.

Oh one thing though. I couldn't connect my HTC phone with MB C-Class Bluetooth here in the US. Something to do with MB C-Class Bluetooth doesn't support A2DP. Since the C-Class was a loaner from the dealership, I didn't have a chance to tinker with it. Not sure about the BMW 3-Series BlueTooth though.

[lonnielove]

Be Bold and make the right decision

[morphin1]

Lol Rayni and Lonnie :)
Thanks Kodok and draven.
Will be seeing the handsets on Tuesday will update then.
I am bending more towards Bold but the fact that X1 has better camera and music capability along with better life of double talk time is making this a tough decision.
I am not a fan of how X1 looks but love the bold.

[audiofx]

music on the bold is excellent, better then any WM phone i've had (which is lots, most recently touch pro) So nice to have the keyboard always exposed to type a song name, artist etc and it just pops right up.

[morphin1]

Good point about the keyboard :)
Am leaning more towards za Bold.
Cheers Audiofx .......
Just called the Vodafone people and they said that Bold can have a max of 2gb micro sd memory.
Is this correct?
Thanks

[cdncableguy]

That is not correct. I have a 4GB card in my Bold and I know others that have 8GB cards

[morphin1]

Thanks cdncableguy way for Vodaphone to undersell their product lol.
Now one last thing which has better battery life and qwerty. 8900 or 9000?

[MERK350Z]

Hi all,
Great to be here on this forum and am looking forward to your help in assisting me to buy either the Xperia X1 or B Bold.
I do not change phones frequently and so am looking to keep this phone for about 2years.
Usage.
I will use the phone for general talking(2-3 hours daily),texting(15-25 Sms's),alarm, web browsing(20mins max daily).

Requirements.
1. Good Qwerty keyboard.
2. Long battery life as I dont want to charge it everyday.
3. Longevity on the physical body.(Steel looking parts should not start tearing you know what i mean.)
4. Should be able to connect to Idrive in my BMW 3series 2008 model for both bluetooth and Idrive(music).

Now the X1 has amazing battery life of apparently 10hrs talk time but I am not sold on the Windows OS as it might get laggy and slow over time.
Also I tried one of my friend's X1 and it works perfectly with my Idrive for music. The qwerty on X1 although might not be as good as Bold.

The Bold looks very sober and good. Has probably the best qwerty.
One of my friend has a pearl and his steel parts chipped and now it looks like some cheap phone and this is a concern for me about Bold.He does not abuse his pearl and takes care of his phones nicely.
Also the battery on bold might not be anything to boast about.
I also don't know if I will be able to connect the bold to my Idrive for music so any info on this will be great.

So now I dont know which phone to get. Please help......
Thanks in advance all.

just as a heads up i did test out the sony phone it felt great in my hand and as a media phone it was nice. but as far as the keyboard the bold was def better i found the keys on the sony to flat. almost like the nokia E90 i have. the bold just has a better feel and the keyboard on it is great the media playback on the bold is up with the sony phone. the only one thing that you might have issue with is the battery life on the bold is not the best or it could be me that i live on my blackberry. there are ways to fix that but cant talk about it on the forum. i would to be honest go with the bold overall its just a better phone that will do everything for you in a flawless form.

[iGeek_FTW]

you have to consider the differentiation between a windows os and blackberry os.

for my self, i'd rather go for something new

[AJCURVE]

coming from X1 straight to Bold, I would definitely say go with the Bold. After using the X1 for 2 months I have decided that its too complicated, touch screen is not as good or responsive as the I phone's, too bulky (just place it in your pocket and you will know what I am talking about), About the QWERTY keys I type way faster using the Bold than the X1.

[morphin1]

Thanks Merk,Igeek and AJ.
Have decide to go with BB. Now the 8900 is costing me $100 less as compared to bold.
Only reservation I have for 8900 is ease of keyboard use and for Bold is battery life.
Also do u guys feel the bold bulky and can you type with one hand (In case when you are driving and have to send a simple sms).
What to do.?

[Polaris_777]

Hi all,

I've just sent back an Xperia X1 as I didn't like it. In my opinion it was a terrible phone and I'm now thinking of replacing it with a Bold. I have to admit that I haven't yet had my hands on a Bold so I can't make any direct comparisons, but I have had experience of Blackberries before and I have done my homework on the Bold so I'm hoping that it won't disappoint me.

The things I hated about the Xperia X1 were as follows:

1. The cellular reception. (Even with the latest firmware). This was particularly poor and seems to be a common problem for the X1. In areas with good coverage my previous phone (a Nokia N82) would report several signal bars higher than the Xperia in exactly the same location. I tested this in multiple areas where I could accurately gauge and compare the signal performance between the two. The problem was so bad that the Xperia would regularly drop calls or suffer from interference on the calls whereas my N82 was crystal clear. It may be something to do with the fact that the Xperia is largely a metal bodied phone, which may contribute to a reduction in signal strength. Either that or the radio within it is just poor.

2. The battery life was extremely poor. With Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and HSDPA activated I found that I had to have the battery on almost constant charge in order to keep it working. It would hardly get me through the day.

3. The user interface / operating system. Although the Xperia has a screen which covers most of its front surface area, its reliance on the Windows operating system and lack of a proper 'finger friendly' interface such as the HTC TouchFlo meant that quickly pulling the phone out of your pocket to make a call was impossible. Instead I found myself having to reach for the stylus to navigate around many tiny and convoluted screens and menus just to open up my contacts and make a call. (I'm not a big fan of touch screens in any event, for this very reason, though some are far better than the Xperia). The operating system was also slow, clunky and buggy.

4. When the phone went into standby (a much needed power saving function!) it would shut off the screen completely. Although it would 'wake up' when a message or phone call was received, if you were not around to witness this it would quickly revert to the blank screen again without giving any indication that you had received a message or missed a call. This meant that I had to constantly 'wake it up' by pressing buttons just to check if any calls or messages had been received. By comparison, my Nokia 82 would display a clock and the number of messages and missed calls on the standby screen, allowing me to see at a glance whether I had missed anything.

5. The media player did not have a particularly good sound (very disappointing for Sony, manufacturer of the Walkman) and there was no graphic equaliser or tone control to adjust this.

I'm hoping for great things from the Bold (it can't be worse than the Xperia).

[MERK350Z]

Thanks Merk,Igeek and AJ.
Have decide to go with BB. Now the 8900 is costing me $100 less as compared to bold.
Only reservation I have for 8900 is ease of keyboard use and for Bold is battery life.
Also do u guys feel the bold bulky and can you type with one hand (In case when you are driving and have to send a simple sms).
What to do.?

i do feel that the 8900 is easy to hold in one hand and type while driveing:) the bold is a little bigger. also to be honest i am back to my 8300 i love the bold but the curve in my hand and the keys i feel are better. gong to give the bold to my brother in law and he is going to give me his 88xx which i also like. def go for the 8900 if your going to do some sms while driving

[dc/dc]

Correct section FAIL. (n)

BlackBerry Versus - BlackBerryForums.com : Your Number One BlackBerry Community (http://www.blackberryforums.com/blackberry-versus/)

def go for the 8900 if your going to do some sms while driving

Life fail. (n)

[ruconscious]

Windows Mobile takes several minutes to boot up and start downloading emails, while the OS on the Bold starts up almost instantaneously. This is a big deal if you travel by airlines and have to turn off your phone before the flight.

you're a nice guy. i never turn my phone off. i only place it on flight mode(turn off the radio) only because i use it as a mp3 player and watch videos on it. that's just me i guess.

[dc/dc]

you're a nice guy. i never turn my phone off. i only place it on flight mode(turn off the radio) only because i use it as a mp3 player and watch videos on it. that's just me i guess.

You're still supposed to turn it off for takeoff and landing.

[morphin1]

Well I checked out the phones yesterday and have made the plunge.
Got the 9000 although I love the 8900's keyboard. Only downside to 8900 was the lack of 3g (:.
Will mostly be getting the 8900 as second phone.
The Xperia didnt feel that good and my fingers kept hitting the bottom of the top slider when trying to type on top most row of keys.
Well am very happy with the bold and thanks to all here for helping me chose this phone.
Now where is that speaker phone key ummmmmmmmmm

[dc/dc]

Now where is that speaker phone key ummmmmmmmmm

Press the "S" key whilst in a telephone call.

[morphin1]

Thanks Spam.
Also I am unable to use the shortcuts. When i press U the calculator does not show up. Instead I am taken to phone dial. What am I missing.?
Calculator is not in a subfolder. Also no other shortcuts are working.
Cheers

[MidnightDraven]

Do you have dial from home screen set to on?
the shortcuts won't work if you do.

Calculator is usually in applications. try menu-showall and see if its hiding.

[mseif]

Important difference between the Bold and the 8900 , that nobody talked about!!

the Bold is 3 G and the 8900 is NOT. or am I mistaking ??

[MidnightDraven]

That is true, and was mentioned in post 24.
however, it is now irrelevant as the OP chose the Bold.

[morphin1]

Thanks Draven for that useful bit of info.
For anyone wondering how to get to Dial from home screen option do the following:
1. Go to Call log(press green button once)
2. Press Menu key.
3. Options.
4. General Options
5. Dial from Home Screen Yes/No
Hope this helps future BB noobs :)
Cheers