[mikeymobiles]

is there a way to see which browser is faster?

and what handheld is better then the other?

ANy input is much appericated...

[barjohn]

I have the 7230, the 7250 and the 7100t. The 7230 browser smokes the others.

[blake.blake]

this has been discussed all over the place ...

if you want a toy get a sidekick if you want something that WORKS get a BB. my bb rocks and i dont miss my sidekick at all. the bb is perfect, the sidekick was like haveing a moody girlfriend

[Eric5273]

I used to have the Sidekick and I would say it depends on what types of web pages you load. The Danger proxy server which the Sidekick uses is very good at scailing down large web pages for the small screen, and thus there is less data to be transferred to the device, where as with the Blackberry and other PDAs the entire page is loaded and the scailing down takes place on the device itself. So if you are loading large pages with pictures and all, then the Sidekick will usually be faster.

But if you are loading mobile-type pages, then the Sidekick will be slower since it still has to go through the Danger proxy server, which can cause a delay. Latency will become an issue. No page on the Sidekick is going to load faster than 10-15 seconds, but large pages may load in around 20-30 seconds, where a regular PDA may load a small mobile page in 5 seconds, but take a full minute to load a rather large page.

Also, a friend of mine who now has the Sidekick says their system has been very unreliable lately. I guess with all the advertising for the Sidekick going on, they have sold more units than their server can handle, so he has been having problems where web page requests just time out. This never used to happen a few months ago.

Also another thing to consider is the Blackberry browser supports Javascript where as the Sidekick's does not. This will not affect 99% of your use, but it could block you from accessing certain pages.

[Mark Rejhon]

Originally Posted by Eric5273

where as with the Blackberry and other PDAs the entire page is loaded and the scailing down takes place on the device itself.

That's totally false. BlackBerry never downloads the full page. It's always scaled down by the BWC (if using BWC only), or via the BES.

Originally Posted by Eric5273

So if you are loading large pages with pictures and all, then the Sidekick will usually be faster.

The Sidekick was faster only because it has a faster CPU than the BlackBerry. You notice how the BlackBerry Browser falls behind in rendering webpages -- it downloads the webpage in about 20-30 seconds (arrows stop flashing), but sometimes keeps rendering for up to 2 minutes. See?

It's true that Sidekick's proxy server was much better than the BlackBerry at one point, but the point is, the BlackBerry NEVER downloads the page in full size.

Faster BlackBerries such as the Verizon 7250 (benchmarked 5 times faster than 7750) are changing this, and the 7250 loads pretty much all webpages faster than any Sidekick.
:D

Hope this helps explains your experiences!

[Mark Rejhon]

Here are some of my favourite posts for answering people comparing Sidekick to a Blackberry:

• Why BlackBerry?
  
• BlackBerry versus Sidekick

[Eric5273]

I stand corrected. I had been under the assumption that BWC only handled email and that the internet browswer worked much like the browswer on a Palm or Windows Mobile Smartphone.

The more I learn about the Blackberry, the more I realize that other than physical form factor and style, the Blackberry and the Sidekick are extremely similar devices in how they function and the features they offer.

The email clients seem virtually identical, both offering push email with attachment viewing. The web browser seems to work almost identical, both using a proxy server to scale down the pages. The main differences seem to be that the Blackberry is made more for business people and offers the BES and syncing features where the Sidekick is more for teens and consumers and offers the desktop interface instead.

When I had the Sidekick I really did like it, but I began to get tired of how large the device was, I really wanted to start using a bluetooth headset, and also T-Mobile coverage is non-existant at my parents house -- a place I spend a fair amount of time. So now that I'm with Cingular and I'm getting a 7100g, perhaps I will have the same functionality, but in the smaller more phone-like form factor, with bluetooth, and with better coverage. If that is the case I will be very happy! :D

[Mark Rejhon]

Eric5273,
Just to warn you, the browser on the 7100g may be slightly slower than the Sidekick. I wish it was as fast as the 7250 browser. At least that's what my impression seemed to be. However, the graphics seemed to be better on BlackBerry (at least for the pages I tried). I am not 100% sure though, it's been a while since I last tested on Sidekick.

Nontheless, it's definitely a usable web browser :D
Also, keep in mind the default 7100g instant messaging seemed somewhat inferior to the Sidekick instant messaging -- to fix this, make sure to get Verichat from my Instant Messaging FAQ.

[mgerbasio]

Want something really fast, check the Verizon xv6600 if EV-DO is available in your area. You can use PocketIE or an even better third party browser.

From what I've read the Sidekick is lacking in RF performance where the BB is pretty good.

[FXS]

There is little comparison. The Sidekick was so unreliable. Emails would often take hours to be delivered. I'm not sure if I totally agree with the previous poster, regarding the Sidekick is a "toy," however it does make an interesting analogy.

The Sidekick is good if you want a fun, hip piece of technology, but for reliabilty and utilitarian function, nothing beats the 7250 IMO.

With that said the Sidekick is a really good device, but T-Mobile sucked in my area, NYC, which is a bad place to suck in if you want to stay on top of the market. If Verizon offered the Sidekick I wouldn't have been so quick to make the switch at all.

FXS

[Eric5273]

Originally Posted by Mark Rejhon

Just to warn you, the browser on the 7100g may be slightly slower than the Sidekick. I wish it was as fast as the 7250 browser. At least that's what my impression seemed to be. However, the graphics seemed to be better on BlackBerry (at least for the pages I tried). I am not 100% sure though, it's been a while since I last tested on Sidekick.

The Sidekick browser is actually extremely fast. Even the loading of the page happens rather quickly. What is EXTREMELY SLOWWWW is waiting for the Danger server to respond to a page request. Sometimes you can wait a whole minute just for the server to respond, and then the page loads in 10 more seconds. Unfortunately, since they have been selling lots of Sidekicks lately with all the advertising going on, the Danger server has gotten so bad that my friend says it's hit or miss now as to whether the server will even respond or your request will just time out after waiting 2-3 minutes. It's gotten to the point of being unusable.

So the reliability issue has nothing to do with the Sidekick device itself, but with the Danger server. I hope with all the Blackberrys selling now that they do not run into a similar problem in the near future. My guess is that they will make sure that doesn't happen due to the business nature of the device.

[barjohn]

Just timed downloading www.cnn.com on the 7250. Without images (images set to wml pages only) it took 45 seconds. With full images it took 1:35. Recognize that they change their web site often so it really depends on the number of photos on the page. It is a big page and can take a while to render even on a DSL connection (6 seconds in my case). Just for comparison, downloaded the same web page with the 7100 and it took 3:10 until loading stopped. The 7100 without images only took 1:00 to download the page. :D

This was from the time I clicked on the track wheel to make the request.
I should point out that the web page is usable long before it stops as it downloads images last and you can scroll the pages and view the text long before the images have completed.

Just imagine how much faster it will be once EV-DO is available. The difference in speed between the 7100 and the 7250 can probably be attributed to the difference in processor speed (20%) and the difference in network speed (80%).

[j_hizzo]

i havent experience the sidekick but i love my 7250 so i would recommend it for sure.

[denning]

my girlfriend has an SKII, I have a 7280.

They are both great. Mine handles email MUCH MUCH better, she gets messages delayed often.

She has a built-in camera which is suprisngly useful, and the integrated AOL messenger works far better than Vercihat (and it's freee).

The now infamous "web server" of the sidekick is great. You can log into the site and update any address and have it provision right away without having to pay for BES.

the keyboard on the SKII is a little squshy and not nearly as nice to the touch as the bberry.

webbrowser on both are pretty useless, i would give the bberry a slight lead. i love how every phone number is a link to dial, when using google.

Her sidekick gets tons of compliments. Much more than mine. The screen is massive and bright.

In short, for the majority of users the Blackberry is a better device, but the SKII is still great.

[Mark Rejhon]

Originally Posted by barjohn

Just imagine how much faster it will be once EV-DO is available. The difference in speed between the 7100 and the 7250 can probably be attributed to the difference in processor speed (20%) and the difference in network speed (80%).

True, it's attributable to both. However, I bet it's probably 50% attributed to processor speed.

The reason is that I notice that the network transmissions frequently stop, while the BlackBerry is trying to process the webpage, and the webpage rendering continues on the 7100 long after the arrows stop flashing.

I have noticed that in BlackBerryOS 4.0, my browser only renders at approximately 15-20 kilobits per seconds in the best case, even though GPRS downloads at 50 kilobits per second in a strong-reception area during low-congestion time periods. Therefore, I feel that it is 50% processor speed because the browser is so dramatically slower than GPRS speed on the network (I gurantee you, the 7100/7230/7280/7290 browser renders at only about 15 kilobits per second, about one-third the speed of a good GPRS connection at 50 kilobits per second.... shocking, eh!)

[robbym]

Marky,

You say that the 7290 runs at about 30% of your GPRS network's potential, what's your opinion about the 7250 on 1X?

[Mark Rejhon]

Significantly faster -- The browser on the 7250 is approximately 3x faster than the 7280/7290 or thereabouts, thanks to the faster CPU. Assuming you're browsing on both through BES (to conveniently avoid Verizon's slooooow gateway)

[maverickvergara]

I have a 7520 and the browser seems to run faster than most pdas and smart phones that I have tested.

[Raven VII]

In my experience (with the Sidekick and the 7230, both under T-Mobile), the BlackBerry eats the Sidekick for lunch with emails and reliability and usability (while innovative, I don't particularly like the swivel screen on the Sidekick, and the keyboard on the BlackBerry blows the Sidekick's out of the water). But the Sidekick blows the BlackBerry away at AIM and internet.