Regular Folks Guide to Making the Switch to iPhone

The world of cellphones is sadly just like the world of sports teams. People are fanboys and their phone is better than everyone else’s. Not to mention it defines who they are. For the rest of us folks with regular jobs who just want something that works for what we need most, I offer an overview of my switch from Verizon’s Blackberry to ATT’s iPhone 3GS.

I was a Blackberry fanboy myself for many years, as well as a big Verizon fan. After using my phone more and more for business, on trips, and just in my day-to-day figuring out where I was, I decided that the iPhone just does more, faster, than the Blackberry after having an iPod Touch for a while. It would’ve been sacrilege for me to think that an Apple phone could do business email in a more useful way than a Blackberry just a year or two ago. But somehow they did.

The Good, the Bad, and the Eh….the Blackberry vs. the iPhone

While it isn’t a fair comparison to pit the Blackberry Curve vs. the iPhone 3GS since it’s a little more costly and newer/faster (and touchscreen differences – though the Storm would fare worse), this review accounts for all the Blackberries I’ve owned (every model that Verizon has had for the past 5 years) in the areas that matter. I don’t care which phone does Twitter apps better.

At first glance the iPhone dominates the Blackberry, but as you use it there are some things the Blackberry does better. But in balance, the iPhone is a far superior

Hardware and Construction

The Blackberry Curve was the best sized Blackberry and had an awesome keyboard. The shell was a bit cheaply made, though, and the trackball ended up crapping out quickly. I had 3 Curves in less than a year under warranty due to some faulty piece of hardware.

The iPhone 3Gs is a great looking phone, with no moving parts, and even has a fingerprint resistant screen. Much better construction and having had an iPod Touch for a year, there really isn’t much damage that’s possible since nothing moves or comes off.

The lack of removable backing is somewhat nice for aesthetics and longevity of the case of your iPhone, but that also means no battery removal…ever. Which brings me to a big weakness of the iPhone – the Battery. It is apparent quickly that it will not match the Blackberry Curve battery life.

Some Blackberries are better made than the Curve for Verizon, and I wanted them. But Verizon wouldn’t carry them.

Winner – iPhone 3GS

Talking and Texting

The iPhone is really an iPod Touch with a phone as an afterthought. It is apparent in the quality of calls and the general interface. Also, texting is just not pleasurable on the iPhone. Not only is the messaging interface aggravating, but typing on a touch screen is difficult. Fortunately the correction tool is great, and the new landscape keyboard helps, but the Blackberry has the vastly superior call quality, ease of texting, and texting options of the two.

Most importantly, there are a host of options on the Blackberry for texting and calling you can pull up. Easily save a number to contacts, get call information, and find texts quickly. iPhone is very locked down and views texting like an instant messaging conversation rather than a text within itself.

The one win the iPhone3GS has is the visual voicemail. This is offered on Blackberry, but the iPhone actually catches caller ID (including the place they called from) and downloads the voicemail, so you check them just like a stack of mp3s and you don’t have to listen to them all to get to the one you need to hear. Even if you had your phone turned off or were in a no service area (yes, that is often).

Winner – Blackberry

Verizon vs. AT&T

To make a long story short, AT&T blows in service. The 3G is faster on AT&T,though, just don’t leave a metro area. Worse, the EDGE network coverage isn’t all that hot either, and dropped calls and no service zones are more frequent than I prefer.

You will fully understand the dead zone commercials of Verizon if you make the switch. It’s no intolerable, just annoying. I do miss Verizon, though, because of the coverage and service, so if they ever get the iPhone I’ll pay whatever to switch back.

A coverage example is that I live in downtown of a medium metropolitan area with both ATT and Verizon 3G coverage. I received this coverage all the way to work – 10 miles away- with Verizon. With AT&T I lose the 3G 3 miles into the trip, lose coverage completely 5 miles into the trip for a mile, and regain EDGE network at work, which is much slower.

Winner – Verizon

—– Review to be continued…Operating Systems, Media Capabilties, Camera, Wi-Fi, Browser, and Customization, apps