Let me start by saying that I am a pretty hard-core Blackberry fan. I've had a Blackberry for over a year now, and it is absolutely an amazing device and has made my life so much simpler, easier and more efficient.

BUT, I was given a gift certificate large enough to cover the cost of a brand-new iPhone and am probably going to pull the trigger on it within a day or so.

I know that everyone has seen one and played with one for a short period of time, but what I really want to know is have any Blackberry users really put an iPhone through its paces for WORK?

Can the iPhone compare at all to a Blackberry?

I rely *very heavily* on my Blackberry for, of course, e-mail and calendar and since the Blackberry was built from the ground up around these and other work features, and the iPhone was not, I'm of course very skeptical that I will be as happy with the iPhone as I am with my Blackberry.

I think I'm going to go ahead and give it a shot - I have 14 days to return the iPhone if I just cannot make it work, but I want to see what everybody else's experiences have been so I have some idea of what I'm getting myself into.

I'm also getting tired of waiting for the new blackberry bold.

Yes, there are many posts here comparing the two devices and one very very indepth review of the two devices. I will look around, too.

Look in the section I have linked... you will be up late reading.

BlackBerry Versus - BlackBerryForums.com : Your Number One BlackBerry Community

**moved to the BlackBerry versus... section**

I love my iPhone. Does waaaaaay more than the berry, and the enterprise features are just as good, if not better. This post itself is off of my iPhone 3G.

Then why are you wasting your valuable time here?

??? don't get your question... the iPhone is too good to be comparable to a berry.

OMG your right, thanks for point that out. You brought me to the light.

What enterprise features? Please tell me, I didn't see any enterprise features when I used an iPhone 3G.

Yes, I could get my email/calendar, etc, but it was via OWA (not enterprise). I could get to my company's intranet sites, but only when I was on the company network (via wifi).

With my BB I'm connected directly to Exchange and can get on the intranet anywhere I have coverage for my device.

Seriously, I'm curious about the features.

don't see how you can get intranet everywhere.?? It can sync EVERYTHING with MS Exchange. And you can get true push email too, it just doesn't update as frequently. It's got full HTML too in the browser AND email.

Yes, I can get intranet everywhere since my BB is connected to the BES, which has MDS enabled. I can even get to company Sharpoint sites via that portal.

Not quite push email, but almost. There were several times I had to tell my iPhone to sync and THEN I would have email. Are you also using OWA to get your email?

HTML is there with 4.1.6 of the BES.

good to see 2 mods beating up on an obvious noob.
let him enjoy the bliss, everyone does not NEED BB.
However, they might LIKE Blackberryforums. Atleast until they get stoned for liking the iphone.

I can't stand the iphone keyboard, or its lame excuse for one. I spent more time trying to correct spelling errors than finishing what I was trying to type.

Also, I enjoy receiving e-mails almost instantaneously, and not waiting for them to be pushed through at a later time.

That said however, I do like its full featured browser and application capability. I still wouldn't buy it. I love my 8800 way too much.

What are you talking about? I'm not beating up on anyboy - I'm asking questions about teckluvr's statement of:

I had an iPhone 3G for about a month. I "sync'd" my email/calendar/contacts via OWA, which is not an enteprise feature. I can get to my company's intranet with my BlackBerry (thanks to the BES) - something I cannot do with an iPhone.

I am seriouosly wondering what 'enterprise' features he is talking about. I have nothing against the iPhone - it clearly has features that an BlackBerry does not (the browser being one of them). However, it is not (yet) and 'enterprise' device.

good to see ME report this post.

how is that statement offensive techluvr? people around here really need a thicker skin...

Which statement is offensive? I'm confused.

Was I offensive? I'm confused too. I thought I was sticking up for him because he knew very little of BB.

sorry Juwaak it was a bad night, you were cordial.

We all have bad nights, no worries.

If you take BES out of the picture (yes, not all companies have it or support it) then the iPhone does make a better enterprise device.

I came from a iPhone to a Blackberry curve (just to try out, but reverse from the OP). It just so happens that I prefer the blackberry now and I'm sticking with it for the time being.

As far as enterprise features are concerned, I had near full MS Exchange capabilies with the iPhone. OTA contacts/calendar and complete mailbox syncing (even old emails). Tasks and to-do's did not sync, but I never used them so I didn't miss out on it. The blackberry on BIS doesn't even compare. 15 min poll for email and I have to connect the phone once a day to keep stuff my contacts/calendars in sync. No folder management, no old email syncing.

Apple's app store is amazing and the iPhone can do some amazing things for a phone. The browser is the best I've ever used on phone. Typing on the virtual keyboard takes time and there is a learning curve. I type faster on my old iPhone than on my blackberry.

Why did I stick with the blackberry? Better camera features, MMS, video, SMS forwarding, copy/paste, turn by turn navigation and a few other features that I need that the iPhone doesn't offer.

Both phones are great. You just need to figure out what you feel you need most out of a phone, compare them and pick one that suits you best.

Blackberry is a platform, iphone is a device. Sure alot of companies might not have a BES but anyone in the F500 who is serious about mobility likely either has Blackberry with BES and Exchange with System Center Device Manager. The chunk on Lotus / Groupwise are likely BES. The device is just a part of a larger entity that needs management, policy and oversight.

If your looking as a consumer head - head comparing devices, I'd have to figure out what I want the device for. Apple is doing some cool stuff but seems lately they want to stick with being a "entertainment" provider. Almost every new ad is about games and every AppStore catagory around entertainment has the bulk of Apps. Last I checked Business had 112 "apps". Games was well over 2000.

I've had an Iphone since the first summer EDGE model was out and it's just not for me .. Mostly use it as an IPOD/Internet device but would pull my hair out having to rely on it for calendar / email. Luckily I get to validate / use every major device released by our carrier partners.

Now speaking to the enterprise (which I am) Iphone is so far from anything like Blackberry attached to BES both in functionality and security. There is zero management of the iphone, no encryption of the device and every week seems to see a new security risk announced. Not to mention users could fairly easily jailbreak and circumvent the Exchange ActiveSync settings? On top of that Apple wants me to manage and deploy Itunes to users? Right ...

Hey everyone!

I came from a 3G iPhone to my first BB, a 8310. I can't believe all the features that I could have had if I would have saved my money and bought a Curve instead. There are dozens and dozens of things the BB does that the iPhone simply can't do.

Sure I was able to live without these features in 15 months of owning an iPhone and I wish I had those 15 months back to experience over again but this time with a Curve.

Since owning the iPhone over the past few months, I rarely used it for email as it was just too slow at downloading messages. The iPhone would download the message headers only and then the actual message once you selected it. Sometimes if there were attachments such a big photo, it was just to slow. Two weeks ago, I was trying to download a photo that a friend sent and I wanted to show it someone at work. It was too slow on edge so I switched to 3G. No service. I wait and wait. No service. I reboot the phone and finally, 3G service. The email finally downloads and I am able to show the photo. I think that experience made me realize how aweful and embarrassing the iPhone can be. The Curve does email flawlessly and the only delays are when dowloading attchments and even then, the delays are brief as you know.

With my Curve, I have had both of my email accounts on since day one, something I couldn't do with the iPhone because that cobined with WiFi and 3G, the battery life was horrible. Like others, it wouldn't make it through a day.

Don't even get me started on the MMS and and lack of cut and paste and creating folders and a ton of other stuff I have been having fun with in the week of owning my Curve, 1 week anniversary by the way!

So, I have two of these white 3G phones. I'm going to sell one on eBay this week to cover the cancellation costs of the contract. The second will go on eBay the day I can buy a Bold to replace it.

I use two phones, one as a landline replacement and the other for work and personal. I'm sure one can picture the benefits of keeping certain aspects seperate with two phones.

Why oh why, didn't I get a BB long ago?

I'll post more later but I got the iPhone and its not as bad as I thought.........

Email certainly is nowhere near as nice as the Blackberry as far as push goes, but IMAP is nice, once I got used to it........does BB support IMAP?

No, I do not have BES nor Exchange.....I was using BIS for my BB.

The keyboard is really not as bad as I thought - just like that scene in Indiana Jones where he takes a leap of faith into the chasm, you just have to trust the software to insert the correct word and otherwise work.

I can type a heck of a lot faster than I thought I would be able to, but I really miss autotext.......

Calendar is not that bad - again, once I got it figured out. iPhone stopped syncing with my Outlook, but I downloaded a tiny software program from google to sync my Outlook with Google Calendar and then it gets pushed - TRUE PUSH! - to my iPhone calendar.

The huge screen is *very* nice - only the Storm is going to be able to truly compete against the iPhone.

Wifi is very cool to have - surprising how many open networks there are out there! I hope that doesn't stop anytime soon!

Sure the Bold will do Wifi, but the browser sucks so bad, who cares?

Anyway, each device definitely has its strengths and weaknesses but for now, I'm sticking with iPhone.......maybe I'll take a second look when the Bold comes out........

*Dozens*???

I owned an 8700 and Curve, loved them DEARLY and was EXTREMELY reticent to get the iPhone, but now that I have one, I am absolutely amazed at all that it CAN do.

frankly, with the absolute pathetic amount of memory that RIM puts in these things, there is not much that you CAN do other than email and calendar - even then you definitely have to keep on top of your system memory, lest your Blackberry start deleting e-mails, call logs, and other data against your wishes!

I'm interested to learn about all these "dozens" of things that the BB can do that iPhone can't - and no copy & paste! That's already a given.... ;)

The slow email must have been a glitch with the phone itself or some function of where you live -- my iPhone certainly is not push like my Blackberry, but it is not painfully slow either like you describe.

Yeah, from what I hear from the AT&T Apple forum iPhones may be a better choice for smaller businesses, or more specifically the businesses that use Microsoft Exchange... I know of lots of business people using iPhones, and I would guess it is just because they don't require everything the BlackBerry is capable of...

Glad you like the phone! I like mine, too. (Much more than I ever thought I would like any phone, haha...) Let us know how it continues to work out for you...

Btw, are you using push email through Mobile Me or ActiveSync?... I am using it through my generic yahoo account (I think yahoo is one of the only generic email accounts that provides it for free on the iPhone - pleasant surprise for me!)

iPhone is a great phone for personal use - and a small mom and pop business, but there is no way it can be a better phone for business no matter what the apple forums say.

I find the Blackberry does everything that I need it to do for me, and much of what I would want it to do.

The browser on the 4.6 OS on the bold at least, is not that bad, certainly the iPhone browser is better, but the Bold browser gets me everything I want to see.

But since we are talking about high end phones, we should not compare the iPhone to lower end blackberries such as 8700....

What can the iPhone do better than the blackberry Bold, and by how much. I find that when trying to look up information against my friends with iPhones, I can always bring it up faster using my BB.

"iPhone is a great phone for personal use - and a small mom and pop business, but there is no way it can be a better phone for business no matter what the apple forums say."

I never said or implied the iPhone is better for all businesses, or that either phone is "better" than the other in general. That is personal preference, and a petty argument in my opinion. Btw, as far as "business" phones, there are actually businesses that do not have BES, therefore they do not buy BlackBerries for their employees. Can you believe it? Who would do such a thing?

"I find the Blackberry does everything that I need it to do for me, and much of what I would want it to do."

Good for you. To each his own.

I am responding to a fan boy, though, so I understand. Hehe

I'm glad I like it too!!! I was pretty certain that I was going to be bringing it back to the store and hanging on for the Bold, but that's not the case.......


I have my Gmail and work acct set up on the iPhone - work is hosted by Register.com and it is not exchange so it is not push, unfortunately.

It sucks that the only way to get push on iPhone (for now) is MobileMe or exchange, but whatever.......I used to always look at my BB for new emails anyway even if it hadn't pinged, so it's not that big a hassle.

I also decided that, 9 times out of 10, it isn't critical or even that important if I get my emails *instantly*.

It's definitely a trade-off, but I'll take all the other features of the iPhone over the BB push any day.........

I am also really liking IMAP - does BB support IMAP at all?

One other thing that has been huge for me: Shazam.

For an audiophile like me, it is a Godsend!!!!!

From just doing a quick search it looks like IMAP is available for gmail on BlackBerries......(?...)

Also, just so you know, yahoo accounts do give you free push on the iPhone. That is what I use.

Just curious, what are you noticing about IMAP that you like so much? I don't really know much about IMAP.

My biggest beef with the iphone was poor RF performance. Other then that, the device was great. I miss it somewhat, even though I still use it for an ipod.

LogicMail for BlackBerry: Free Pop and Imap EMail client for BlackBerry devices | BlackBerryInsight

I have not tried it, but they claim it works with BB if anyone is interested.

I was looking for something like Shazam - ever since I have seen it in operation, but nothing like that for BB yet. Definitely mega cool phone application.

Yes, I know that Yahoo is pushed, but I have and love Gmail and do not want to switch addresses......so.......

Also, I think you would have to use the Gmail app on a BB to get IMAP functioning - I think.

Here's how it works: with POP (the most popular email protocal) you download emails from a server onto your computer.

With IMAP, the messages stay on the server.

Basically, IMAP is better if you use multiple computers (or mobile devices) because when you mark a message as "read" or delete a message from one computer or a mobile device such as an iPhone, the change gets reflected on all devices you use to access that email account - even if you use Outlook to read your emails.

You get similar performance with a BB and BES, I think.

iPhone forced me to start doing a few things in a different way, and IMAP is one of them. I also started using the "archive" feature on Gmail.

I'm a packrat and rarely delete emails. The archive feature moves them out of my inbox so they aren't cluttering up my inbox, but they are not deleted.

I have my Gmail and iPhone set up so that when I "delete" a message on my iPhone, it gets archived in Gmail. Obviously I don't want to scroll through a ton of messages on my iPhone, so I can safely "delete" a lot of messages on my iPhone knowing that they are still in my Gmail account.

If I want to truly "delete" a message from both my iPhone and Gmail, I can easily do that too, of course.

It's nice to know that when I logon to Gmail from a computer, messages I have already read are marked as "read" and messages that aren't really that important but I want to keep anyway are archived in my "All Mail" folder.

Hope that helps.

It really is pretty remarkable. As an audiophile, it is HUGE for me.

It really works amazingly well - I hit "tag now" on a track and it only caught the last few seconds of the song before the DJ started talking, (before Shazam was done "listening") but it successfully identified the song!

It also successfully ID'd a song at a loud club the other night.

Shazam RULES!!!

The iPhone has the best call quality of any phone I've had in my 10 years of cell phones.

The reception seems to be great, except in areas that I already know are sketchy, it doesn't do as well as other phones I've had.

It does drop calls fairly frequently - not enough to be really annoying, but it is noticeable for sure.

The UI really is awesome and the phone functionality is SUPERB - much better than BB for switching between calls, putting people on hold, switching between speakerphone, handset and headset, etc...

I'm almost certainly NOT going to bother with the Bold anymore.......

Now when we get a STORM for AT&T, I might give it a close look.......

i loved the iphone as well but the new 2.x version were too slow for me the loading for sms etc etc even with the latest update it's not the same. Push doesn't work if your phone is on sleep (well mine never did). The keyboard i got used to it. It's a nice tool to play with add loads of software but i rather Blackberry any day which is the reason i went back for one even tho i still have the iphone. I think those two phones are great and choosing between them is really a hard decision cause each lack and have stronger point then the other....now as for the storm we'll see

Agreed.

Email messaging is not as strong on iPhone as on BB, but iPhone certainly has many of its own unique strengths..........for now, I'm lovin' it!

Is there a way to send pictures, video clips, and music via text message with the I-Phone ? Also, what area's does the I-Phone lag in terms of email ? I am debating right now between the BOLD or the I-Phone.

1) iPhone cannot currently record video nor can it sent any MMS at all - only text messages, however you can email pictures.

2) After having this thing for about 2 months now, I will *NEVER* go back to a BlackBerry. The iPhone is so much better, it isn't even funny. I argue that, for those who are NOT on BES, the iPhone's email is actually SUPERIOR to the BB because of the iPhone's beautiful IMAP.

This means that messages are synchronized on the server, so no matter how many devices you use to access your mail account(s), they are synchronized. No more going through a bunch of messages on your desktop only to have to manually delete/read the same messages on your Blackberry!

I would absolutely go with the iPhone, hands down, over any blackberry.

As a phone it is worlds better too - the call quality is superb and switching between multiple calls and the handset/bluetooth/speaker is instantaneous and totally seamless.

The touch interface is wonderfully well done.

I can't believe I'm saying all this, as only a few months ago I was *convinced* the iPhone was just a fancy toy for kids, but oh, how wrong I was.

I really hate to say this, cuz I hate Apple.... but I gotta agree....

I also thought iPhone was nothing more than a iPod with a phone stuck on it, but it is sooooooooo much more than that.

I had previously had a Curve for over a year and had a Bold for 2 weeks.

Admittedly, email functions on Blackberry is better, especially if you use BES. Security on iPhone is crap, virtually non-existent. There is virtually no way for an admin to control an iPhone beyond basic pushing of Exchange content. For those reasons, Blackberry is still better for businesses for whom these things are important.

Everything else though, Blackberry isn't even close. It might not even be second because of the G1.

It all basically comes down to where the future of smartphones is going to be a few years down the line. Are smartphones going to remain pretty much exclusive to business? Or will the masses move away from basic feature phones to smartphones? If the latter is the case, then Blackberry has a lot of catching up to do if it wants to keep growing and maintain it's market share because the masses want iPhone features.

There's a reason why iPhone has the highest, by far, customer satisfaction rating according to JD Power than every other smartphone, and it's not just because of the iPod.

BTW, in response to the IMAP thing.... Blackberry is capable of IMAP, but IMAP on Blackberry is oddly slow. On iPhone, you open the IMAP folder, the emails are there ready to be downloaded. On Blackberry, it take a bit of time for it to synchronize the folders and messages. Also, iPhone gives you better control of the folders, such as where to store sent messages and such.

Also, I use Mobileme and it does do true push email. Basically, just forward all your emails to your Mobileme account. Then in the iPhone, set the SMTP account to the Gmail SMTP. If you do that, all your emails are sent from your Gmail account and the fact you're using Mobileme at all is transparent. If you want to get Mobileme, don't pay the full price, get one on Amazon or eBay. I paid $40 for mine.

In a nut shell, I just want to say, I've done my last battery pull.....

Huh? A blackbery with BIS doesn't support email folders in any way.

What RIM needs to do is offer some sort of wireless contact/calendar abilities and email folder support on BIS. They should take a long look at Apple's mobileme. The iPhone people on mobileme never have to sync their phones with the exception of changing their media (music,videos, pics). Everything else is kept in sync wirelessly.

Lack of a good IMAP setup, with complete 2way syncing and email folder support is my single biggest complaint from RIM. RIM needs to put something together for us consumers. As a consumer it's not worth it to me to get a domain, pay for some hosted exchange/bes server, pay some more for the premium data plan att charges for bes capabilities just to get good wireless syncing. Other than that, the phone is awesome.