I am hoping you guys can help me make an informed decision. I have had BB's for quite a few years and my 8900 is by far the best one yet. However my carrier, T-Mobile, had been giving me all types of problems the last 6 weeks and they are not sure how long till they can rectify their tower problems. So I am changing carriers to AT&T and with it need new phones for me and the wife, she also has a BB. The wifes company will pay for the phones, a nice perk, and she has her heart set on the new I-Phone 3GS. I have been trying to decide between a BB or the I-Phone. The only cons to the BB is no 3G and a slow web browser but the problem is only 1 con to the I-Phone I can think of and thats no MMS till September. Not a big deal because thats one of the issues I am having with T-Mobile so have not been able to receive MMS for a month. Any information or different way of looking at things would be appreciated. I hate to jump to the I-phone and miss out on something I'm overlooking. Thanks.

Wirelessly posted (My Bold)

U need to keep in mind of the touch screen. It makes typing much slower and harder

To say nothing of having a screen covered with fingerprints. I hate that about my Garmin GPS and it is ten times worse when you are typing email on the iPhone screen. Yet people rave about the iPhone's screen. I guess they don't mind the smudges.

Wirelessly posted (VZW Storm, ATT Bold)

The bold on ATT is 3g isn't it? The processor is one of the fastest I've used on a BB and it does support mms. Both have gps both have media players one has a really qwerty keyboard one is touch screen. And the iPhone has no replacable battery.



How well will the cut and past work? How well will the landscape keyboard work? It will be a mad rush those first days for the iPhone I'd recommend going and touching both.



The iPhone does have a ton of apps most are just ehh but some are useful.



Bottom line will be your preference

Keep in mind that the iphone is more for entretaiment than anything else, i wouldnt change my 8900 for an iphone if i want 3g i would wait for the new ones from bb or go to the bold!!!

As A Former Iphone User, I Can Say, GLAD TO HAVE BUTTONS BACK!

Agreed. I have had the iPhone and the iPhone 3G (two of them, actually). Before (and in-between) the iPhones, I have had BlackBerry devices going all the way back to the RIM 950. I just keep coming back to the BlackBerry. The iPhone is a great device, and the 3GS looks to be even nicer, but it still doesn't have a hardware keyboard. For me, that's a big deal. There's more to it than that, but the keyboard on the Bold is just that amazing.

And unkmark, ironic what you said as that is exactly what I said last week when I picked up the Bold. It just feels right.

Beyond that, though, is the issue of switching carriers. The grass is always greener, as they say. You will find AT&T has its share of issues as well, from down time to spotty 3G coverage in areas. I have been with AT&T for so long I can't remember what they used to be called, but at one point it was BellSouth DCS I think. I won't be leaving AT&T for another carrier because none are perfect, so I might as well stick with the one I have the history with. It helps me out since I change phones more than I change socks (I'll be switching to the Tour/Onyx/whatever it will be called when it hits AT&T for example).

On the other hand, something to consider... It has been said that AT&T is the largest BlackBerry carrier in the US, and possibly in the world. If accurate, there wouldn't be a better carrier if you plan on sticking with the BlackBerry.

To add, Iphone is a great phone for internet browsing. It has a better browsing interface IMO. I think the BB has lot to improve in that department.

Very true. The iPhone does have a fantastic web browser. That said, I can do a quick Google search or a Wikipedia read and get information without issue on the BlackBerry. The web browsing experience on the BlackBerry doesn't come close to the iPhone's, but it isn't absolutely horrible either.

I agree with this. It is preference. I support Blackberry devices at my place of work but I carry an iPhone for personal use. I can type much faster on my iPhone then on a full qwerty BB device.

People also forget that the BlackBerry is a smartphone and works great for that. The iPhone is more or less a Computer. I make calls, Surf, Text use GPS, dock it in my car and play music, Remote control iTunes in my house, stream video to the net etc etc. Battery life is not going to be the same as the iPhone has way more horsepower.

I work to live, not live for work.
iPhone for living
BlackBerry for working

Thanks for all the input guys. Still not sure what I'm going to do only because I have had such good luck with the BB's I have had. The only definite is I am changing to AT&T. I just can't put up with the issues I am having with T-Mobile, which is a shame since I have been with them for years.
I do have a question that maybe steve or someone can answer since its impossible to get through to apple. Can you sync the Iphone with outlook 03? I don't have a mac and use outlook for everything so if I can't do that it will be a deal breaker.

Yes. It was designed to play nice with MS. Check this out...

Sync Your iPhone 3G with Vista and Outlook

I agree, if you spend time on Facebook, youtube... and use the browser a lot get an iphone but for emails nothing is better than a BB!

Email is great on the iPhone. I would say if you connect to an exchange environment there's no better choice than a BB.

Again, life vs work..

Thanks Steve thats what I was trying to find out. That helped out a lot.

I have a different viewpoint. I found e-mail on the iPhone to be cumbersome. I have several e-mail accounts that I check on a regular basis, and drilling down into the folders on the iPhone for each account just to read and manage e-mail became a pain. Drill down. Read. Delete. Drill up. Drill down in next account. Rinse. Repeat.

Additionally, their push e-mail wasn't so hot. E-mail managed on the computer was not pushed to the iPhone until a new message appeared. According to Apple, this is the way it was designed to work. What? It used to drive me nuts to have an unread e-mail icon on the iPhone even after I read all my e-mail on my desktop computer. Why these two couldn't stay in sync was beyond me.

Moving to the BlackBerry Versus section.

Just a suggestion to consider: if you like BB check out the 8900. It's not 3g but it's as fast on EDGE as the Bold is on 3G if you use ATT (at least for downloading pages). That's what a lot of people say. I know that 3g on ATT has some battery issues searching for a signal. Of course the Bold is 3g on ATT too, if you're sold on the 3g thing (I'm not). So the iPhone isn't the only excellent smartphone out there.

I have an 8800 thats getting old ( no camera, no 3g) for work (real estate) and am debating between the iphone 3gs (peer pressure from my apple fanboy/girl buddies) and the upcoming bb magnum or onyx. So far I hate the keyboard on the iphone (everyone says i'll get used to it) and hate that it lacks a Today theme like the ones on bb. I also find that the bb is much easier to use with one hand too.

The one thing that I really hate about the bb is the trackball. I hate cleaning it and having to do a battery pull every week. I'm hoping the new bb devices will have the trackpad.

The BB with Exchange is only better if your company uses BES. If it doesn't, then the iphone is better.

A question for anyone that knows the iphone well. When you are looking at the contacts in the iphone phone book, I notice that it doesn't show the company name under the contact like it does on the blackberry. Is there an option to show the company name in small print under the name of the person when looking at the list of contacts? This might be a deal breaker for me. I guess this is why bb is the best for business users.

No. Options are fairly limited on the iPhone. To make matters worse, Apple has a tendency towards half-baked solutions with the iPhone/iPod Touch.

For example, Bluetooth audio streaming is finally an option with iPhone OS 3... hooray! Now I can finally use my iPod Touch on my motorcycle via Bluetooth streaming! And since my helmet (Nolan N-103) has the ability to play, pause, stop, fast forward, and rewind Bluetooth audio devices, I can control my iPod Touch! Yay! Oh wait... Apple has not implemented Bluetooth A/V control. What? So another half-baked implementation. Surprise.

My Bold, with its "terrible multimedia capabilities," can do this. Huh. That's odd.

I don't agree with you on this one. My BB can do all that the iPhone can, except I find that on my iPod Touch, after just playing a few games and listening to some music, the battery is really low. Nice thing is, when my BB battery is dead and I'm out on the road with no place to charge it, I can just take out my spare battery that I carry with me, pop it in and I'm good to go. Can't do that with an iPhone.

these threads are pointless, just look at the last million of them and they all read the same.

Very true. But hey, it helps pass time during the day.

You're welcome.

If you're syncing from a Mac you have more address fields, if you're creating a contact on the phone you can add a business. I don't know what gets transferred in a sync from Outlook.

It will show the company name when viewing the details of the contact, sure, but unlike the BlackBerry, it will not show the company name under the contact name when viewing the list of contacts. I assumed that was what the question was referring to.

Oh, yeah, you're right! That's probably what the OP was referring to.

It's called an iPhone, not I-Phone.

but does the address field show up in the list of contacts? thats what i didnt like when looking at a friends iphone. i have over 600 contacts and at least 75% is for work. in list mode (or whatever iphone people call it) it only shows the names of contacts.

yes that was what i was asking for. i guess i'm not ready to quite give up the bb.

Yeah, you wouldn't like the iPhone address book.

The only alternative you have is the group view. You can group corporate contacts by their company.

OP, just to offer my experience:

My 2G iPhone (does what I need, plus I save $240 on my AT&T contract with the cheaper plan) is two years old and still looks and works great - taken good care of it. I use the phone heavily, yet battery life is still good and I haven't needed to replace it. I run a non-profit organization and have two email accounts on the phone. I use and rely on my phone all the time. Email is not always perfect, but I will tell you that during the day 95% of the time emails arrive to my phone before they do on my computer.

There needs to be a referrence name for the phone for iPhone users like crackberry is for BB users. I don't know what I would do if I lost mine. It keeps me connected to my technology and needs. With the most recent update, 3.0 software, landscape mode is amazing, as is cut/copy/paste, the spotlight search, and mms (which you already know will technically be available through AT&T later this summer.) There's more on the update I haven't started using yet.

For me, the iPhone (including typing and the "smudgy" screen - if mine gets smudgy I don't notice) is so easy to use and does everything I need it to do like a workhorse. Good luck in your choice. Just wanted to add my input.

sorry ppl, but i just have to post in here.

the article i posted below is just a classic image of what this whole iphone phenomena has become....i couldn't get the grin off my face when i saw the pictures comparing today's release with 2 yrs ago....

iPhone 3G S global launch sees smaller lines, quieter reception (update)

down in nyc, i hear the hopefuls waited in the chilly rain.....he he....'power to the ppl....'

While that photo showed very few people in line for the iPhone 3GS at that particular store, check this out:

Update: According to O2, sales for the 3G S have already surpassed numbers for the iPhone 3G during last year's launch. Looks like pre-orders were in full effect here.

So, year one the iPhone was a massive hit. Year two, the iPhone 3G was an even bigger hit and outsold the original iPhone. Year three (and on launch day, today), and the iPhone 3GS is an even bigger hit! It has reportedly already sold more than last year on launch day. So while the lines may be shorter (and not all of them are), the sales are huge!

I love my BB, but I miss some of the capabilities of the iPhone. What really amazes me, though, is regardless of your stance on the iPhone, you can't deny the incredible sales these things generate.

Now where is RIM's new OS?

all arguments welcome friends i need to rant here, so don't read on if you take things really seriously about this topic....

i don't see anything really revolutionary going on in the smartphone frontier....

as a matter of fact, the only recent smartphone offering that i see potential with is the Pre.....made only by it's WebOS operating system.

regardless of technology progression, i haven't seen many breakthroughs in the past 3-4 years. touch screen is a technology invented several years ago, it took long enough to appear on a phone

enter Apple's reality distortion feild, and you'll be sold on the iphone 3G S with it's 'revolutionary' technology and restrictions (personally, i think the restrictions are what's revolutionary about Apple products....before you know it, they've got you convinced).....

I basically agree.

I am very disappointed with Apple's latest offering of the iPhone 3GS. In my opinion there isn't enough to justify moving from 3G to 3GS, but undoubtedly plenty of people will (and apparently already have).

As far as the Apple restrictions are concerned, I hated the limitations with the iPhone because those restrictions made the iPhone so incapable of being a truly fantastic device. Well, that and bugs. They didn't help.

I'm going to upgrade to the onyx or magnum if that's coming within the next 3 months. I also use msn messenger and aim (sometimes) and a lot of my contacts use bb messenger. I don't understand why the iphone only has a beta version of aim and no msn. i don't usually like going the 3rd party app route either and why can't the iphone run apps in the background. The iphone does a lot of things better than the bb, just not the things that are important to me.