The Verdict...

Well, its been just a day or two over a week since I got the Iphone 3g. Since this isnt just a normal purchase but also a switch in sides in the eternal battle that is Blackberry vs. Iphone, RIM vs. Apple. I figured I would not delay the inevitable, but put to blog my Iphone vs. BB Curve comparison.

The Prelude

First off, both rode on the At&t network. However, the Curve did not have Wireless or 3g. So, I will do my comparison on the similarities and/or the comparable equip/features. Then, I will go add in my thoughts on the Wireless/3g nature of the Iphone and its future? competitor, the BB Bold and Storm. We wont even bring up the windows crap phones or the palm cuz 1. I never owned one (for good reason) and 2. they are so far behind its not even funny.

The Look/Aesthetics/Feel

The looks are a tougher one, because everyone had different likes and dislikes, but since I am the one doing the comparison, I'll defer to my taste. If you are talking straight factory settings, the Crackberry comes with the At&t theme (pictured above) and it sucks. flat out. Its also a huge file for a theme and its ugly, bloated and I hate it. The iphones look is nice, its clean, soft and has a great contrast between the buttons, and the background. The icons are a huge part of the iphone because all the icons are uniform. At&ts icons and the blackberry aftermarket apps are far from uniform. The after market icons for the iphone from the app store are integrated way better and fit in better with the native iphone apps.

The exterior of the phones also play into the look of them. The back of the 16gb iphone I have is white, and it has the chrome around the screen. I actually like the color and the overall exterior look of the Curve.

as far as the aesthetics... I have to give the Iphone the edge for the look of the screen and the icons where I actually like the Curves exterior design a tad more. The curves stock themes drive it down several points.

The feel of both are great, however, the iphones chrome and now 3gs white and black back feel very slippery to me. a case is an absolute must for me. I feel as though the iphone could just slip out of my hands. The Curve is lighter and even though about the same width, feels wider in my hand.

Ill give the Curve a split decision here.

Functionality/User interface

The blackberry as well as everyone knows has a full keyboard with a rolling scroll ball. It can be easily changed to allow it to scroll faster or slower depending on your preference. The Iphone has a glass touch screen that is slick... it really is the epitome of a great idea executed extremely well.

The Curve and all blackberrys work off an Os that supports lots of menus and ability to search through root files, almost as you would on a computer. The options screen is simple and just a list. I dont like the fact that its a chain nightmare though. If you dont remember what menu your option is in, its a pain to go thru all the options cuz they are all several folders deep. Some of the options folders are not classified well, making finding certain options difficult. The plus is that you can do pretty much what you want with a BB. I was able to easily go into the Desktop Manager and edit the code to completely remove bloated and unnecessary files. This proves to be a handy tool, because Blackberrys come preinstalled with themes for almost every carrier in the U.S. and Europe. That takes up alot of memory. The only factory theme you have to keep is the standard BB zen or icon to make sure it keeps all the info on native applications and icons, and to be able to navigate the Os. For syncing, you use either Desktop manager for windows, Pocketmac for Mac or you can just set your phone to mass storage mode and drag and drop what you want into folders like an external drive. The Curve has a place for a mini flash card which I bought a 8 gb card for. The Media player is subpar, the audio whether thru headphones or speaker is muddy and there are no ways to equalize the music. The biggest downfall and one I cant understand is the lack of Html email and browser. Its almost like RIM decided they were so good at what they do that they didnt need to worry about such trivial stuff. Especially when an user can pay an extra 30 bucks for an aftermarket app to get the feature. BOOO!! the long awaited os 4.5 should fix both of those issues. The delay in releasing those features is a huge knock on RIM, and its a feature I was not about to wait for. You cant play streaming video, only videos you are able to download. The one Great thing about blackberry is its ability to download applications, themes etc. OTA or over the air. Of course, that is also standard on the iphone.

the Push email however gives RIM a nod over Apple. Even with the Microsoft Exchange, the iphones push email is a little different. All emails to a Blackberry go straight to the RIM noc in canada. This is good for speed of email, its like sending text messages, but is bad for outages. If the Noc goes down. So does all the email for every blackberry everywhere.

The Iphone is a little more locked down. No access to root files or folders. But everything is nice and neat and simple as you would expect an apple product to be. The menus are intuitive and the navigation thru the menus is simple and quick with the touchscreen. The Email and Browser are top-notch. They arent kidding when they say this "is the internet" not a mobile browswer. I still think that the missing flash and shockwave from the browsers is a little annoying, but it is a minor nuisance that I rarely have a real problem with. The syncing is where Apple destroys all others. Syncing thru a platform and program like Itunes that is already well established and integrated is where no others can compete. You can sync photos, videos, applications, contacts, music, podcasts and pretty much everything thru itunes. With that comes the luxury of an Itunes store that has all of those things and one of the largest libraries of music at your finger tips. Or, if you are on the go, access the itunes store from your phone and download it wherever you are at. I could go on, but Apple destroys everyone else with its infrastructure and backbone.

Winner by KO Iphone.

Resources

For Blackberry there are thousands... ultimately, that also is a pain, You have several huge blackberry sites and they all have some of the same stuff and a little bit of stuff that the others dont. So, to find anything, you have to really search for it. I found lots of different Mac Leopard themes out there but only one that was free and with icons I liked. There are thousands of apps out there, you can find the best user created ones at www.themes4bb.com . Another super useful site, and one of the most popular among blackberry users is www.crackberry.com . Crackberry has a store, forums, rumors, blogs etc. as well as ringtones and wallpapers. The great thing about blackberry in this case is that you can use almost any music file imaginable as a ringtone or notification and all you have to do is drag it into the ringtone folder. No buying ringtones for 1.99 or more when you can drag an DRM free music in the folder and use it. You want a movie clip or sound bite for an email notification? go to www.moviewavs.com and download the mp3. drag it into the ringtones folder and set it as your email or sms text notification.

With the iphone you have resources all over also, but the most obvious is the GIANT that is Itunes. All the Apps, music, podcasts, videos, tv shows, etc you could ever want. however for those that want tips and tricks for the iphone, try out Crackberrys sister site www.theiphoneblog.com . In fact, if you want to see comparisons on the iphone and blackberry, there are plenty of nice comparisons done by both The Iphone Blog and Crackberry.

Iphone gets a unanimous decision here.

So the winner with 2 of 3 categories is the... IPHONE!

well, I think this will wrap up this portion... I'm sure more comparisons will come to mind soon. and if you have any specific questions on either of these phones, let me know and I will give you my experience on them.