Smartphone (Moto 930) vs. BlackBerry

[yahtzee]

Can someone (mark - your write-ups are awesome) detail why a smartphone would be a better choice than a blackberry or why not?

[arbos]

Can someone (mark - your write-ups are awesome) detail why a smartphone would be a better choice than a blackberry or why not? I'd be interested in this too. I was originally going to wait for the i930...might still pick one up.

[Mark Rejhon]

Early BlackBerries were not considered smartphones, but they gradually slowly and slowly became Smartphones, that nobody bothered calling them Smartphones.

Blackberries are also considered smartphones nowadays essentially, because of this generally agreed-upon definition of a smartphone:

"A smartphone is generally considered any handheld device that integrates personal information management and mobile phone capabilities in the same device. Often, this includes adding phone functions to already capable PDAs or putting "smart" capabilities, such as PDA functions, into a mobile phone."

Since all recent BlackBerries meet this dictionary definition nowadays, I will rephrase your question to "Which is better: BlackBerry 7280 or a Motorola 930?". I am assuming this the question you want answered;

To this I answer, I don't know enough about the Motorola 930 but since I know it is a Microsoft Smartphone operating system (Windows Mobile), you will get better "multimedia features" and worse "wireless productivity" in general.

i930 would probably excel in "multimedia features":
Video, videogames, photos, GPS navigation, camera, expandable memory, better show-off toy, etc. (of which Microsoft Windows Mobile and PalmOS is generally superior for). This would make the i930 a better and more fun toy in some ways, if a flashy device is more important to you.

BlackBerry would excel in "wireless productivity":
Superior push email. No need to manually check email; no 15-minute checking; email comes immediately. Excellent thumb keyboard, ruggedness (I've dropped my BlackBerry many times), better stability & security, even the ability to run Internet software 24/7 nonstop without draining battery too quickly. (example: 100 hours of wireless Instant Messaging without needing a standby mode) BlackBerry is better at getting things done and reliable wireless communications.

Over time, some of the differences in features will diminish, especially with Blackberry Connect on Windows Smartphones, as well as photos/video/GPS on BlackBerry (work is already being done; it is reported by one person that experimental GPS has already been tested on Charm using a Bluetooth external GPS unit.) However, you will probably never see a camera being built into a RIM-branded BlackBerry at least in the foreseeable future, due to the seucrity concerns, since RIM is a security-conscious company.

[Mark Rejhon]

Also, I noticed the i930 has no thumb keyboard, right? An experienced thumb typist can type more than twice as fast as doing T9. If you plan on writing long email messages comfortably, the BlackBerry is better for that.

[Yum]

One con of Blackberry are horrible attachment viewing implementation. You shouldn't have to shell out extra money to 3rd party services to get email to work properly when BB is touted as a strong email device. I don't know about BES since I use the BB internet service but I've heard BB's official time on receiving emails is 15 minutes, not immediate. And it has taken me close to 15minutes to receive emails sometimes, but usually more like 10 minutes.

If I'm not mistaken I've noticed an option on Windows smartphones to check email every 5 minutes, although through wireless sync, which I'm not sure would matter how it is done as long as emails are received quicker.

I use a Windows mobile PDA, not smartphone. It is indispensible but it crashes once in a while. I have to reset it and it takes a couple of minutes. Don't know if this is true for Windows smartphone but not something I would want my phone to do.

I'm convinced that compared to Windows smartphone, BB is just good for plain text email and nothing else. I use an 8700c and the call quality is inadequate. People sound like they're mumbling and any background noise on my end is picked up very prominently. When the MS software becomes more reliable, RIM will probably adopt it. BB is also way behind in terms of it's clunky user interface in the age of intuitive GUIs (Mac, Windows).

[m1kefries]

I have had the i930 and now carry a 7100i, and in the past had a 7250 with Nextel as well. I went from the 7250 to the i930 because at the time I didn't want to shell out the $2000.00 to put up a BES server. Since then Blackberry has made their Blackberry Express BES server free with one client license. So I got back into the Blackberry game.

i930 Pros - I like the form factor of the flip phone, albeit the i930 is the fattest flip phone I've had in years. The windows mobile interface is slick and familiar. SD memory expansion is great for music, pictures, etc. Low cost options for unlimited data and wireless sync. Decent camera and the ability to email pictures avoiding the MMS fees.

i930 Cons - Email replies are limited to short responses unless you want to drive yourself crazy with T9. Phone is locked so you can only load Sprint/Nextel approved software (this really sucks and is a major reason I got rid of it). It can be somewhat unstable, in that it will decide to reboot for no apparent reason. AUTD does not work with this phone period, only timed syncs work. NO BLUETOOTH!

7100i Pros - Stable OS and reliable phone. Wireless sync of email, contact, calendar, etc. is excellent and attachement support is great. Lots of third party applications focused on business productivity. Clarity of bluetooth headsets.

7100i Cons - Cost of the service (ya get what ya pay for though). Goofy antenna hanging off the top. No support for mp3 ringtones. Track wheel seems a bit loose compared to the 7250.

I've always tried to determine what was more important the phone or the data/email. If the phone is more important and you don't make a lot of lengthy replies to emails then the i930 will probably be more to your liking. If data/email are more important then the blackberry is the way to go. I have found that the 7100i is a pretty good tradeoff in that phone vs. data comparision.

Mike

[m1kefries]

Mark the i930 does have thumb keyboard available. It is an external plugin which really defeats the purpose.

Mike