IPhone or Blackberry Curve?

[AnniePokely]

Pros? Cons?

I just found out my son is buying me a IPhone for my birthday next week. I wondered if anyone had information on either one of the phones above.

I'm just not sure i need that kind of a phone.

Also, aren't the calling plans higher with these?

[MarkOSU]

I don't know much about the iphone, other than the people who have them love them. I have a Blackberry, and it is great.
I use US Cellular, and pay an extra $40 a month for data services.
That cost is offset by my ability to drop the number of minutes I was paying for.
Rather than calling the members of the Association (I run 2 statewide associations) when something happens, or they need a update or question answered during the day, when I am away from the office, I email them on the Blackberry.

[Ivan]

iphone is good for personal use, bad for business use.

[MemphisPoke]

iphone is good for personal use, bad for business use.

I would echo what Ivan and MarkOSU said.

AP if you are strictly going to use it for personal use then you might have fun with the I-phone. BUT if you are in anyway going to use it for business and you, in the course of your business, use e-mail with attached data (quotes, shipping confirmations or faxed information, etc.) then go with the Blackberry.

Check out your carriers carefully and compare the plans they offer and their coverage.

[CowboyJD]

I would echo what Ivan and MarkOSU said.

AP if you are strictly going to use it for personal use then you might have fun with the I-phone. BUT if you are in anyway going to use it for business and you, in the course of your business, use e-mail with attached data (quotes, shipping confirmations or faxed information, etc.) then go with the Blackberry.

Check out your carriers carefully and compare the plans they offer and their coverage.

Agree completely. If it's going to be a "play" phone exclusively go with the I-phone. If it's going to used for business too, go with the Curve.

I have a Curve, and I love it.

[MASONOKIE]

Annie. I was all about buying a Iphone, and I went to Grandmas house Thursday on the way to the store, and she had a Readers Digest from this month on all the Pros and Cons of the phone. The article talked me out of it. I have several friends back home in Charlotte that have them, and they have been through 3 or 4 of them already. The screens keep going out on them, and loosing information.

I wanted to get one to cut back on carrying one less thing when I travel. I have my phone, Ipod, digital camera, and computer that I take with me every weekend. Well, after the article, I went and just upgradted my Ipod to the Ipod Touch, and this thing is amazing! My mom was sitting here playing with it last night and she was even amazed. It's WiFi capable as well, so I was sitting here reading some messages...

Good Luck..

[osupride97]

Absolutely no problems w/ my iphone.

AT&T Mobility has a data plan for $20. Unlimited internet and 200 text messages included. That's the only increase you will have in your plan. Unless you want to change your calling plan.

I have yet to be anywhere that I couldn't get internet service on the Edge network. It also picks up Wifi automatically.

[wickerbill]

Annie. I was all about buying a Iphone, and I went to Grandmas house Thursday on the way to the store, and she had a Readers Digest from this month on all the Pros and Cons of the phone. The article talked me out of it. I have several friends back home in Charlotte that have them, and they have been through 3 or 4 of them already. The screens keep going out on them, and loosing information.

I wanted to get one to cut back on carrying one less thing when I travel. I have my phone, Ipod, digital camera, and computer that I take with me every weekend. Well, after the article, I went and just upgradted my Ipod to the Ipod Touch, and this thing is amazing! My mom was sitting here playing with it last night and she was even amazed. It's WiFi capable as well, so I was sitting here reading some messages...

Good Luck..

I can't imagine using Readers Digest as a source for technology reviews.

You do realize that the ipod touch is basically an iphone without the phone? So if you didn't buy an iphone because the screens have been going out on your friends' iphones then you may have the same problem. I haven't heard of that many problems with the iphone. I'm waiting until they come out with one with faster internet and hopefully more storage space next year. EDGE is too slow for a phone that nice. I also need to wait until my contract is up with my current phone company.

[BackHomePoke]

From what I've seen, with the BlackBerry service, you get what you pay for with the $39.97 service. I believe that they are topps in the smart phone industry. I use mine all of the time for my corp. emails and outlook calendar. We also have very little trouble with them, they are very tough.

[bigbadbob]

I read somewhere that the storage on the Iphone is nowhere near enough if you want to do a lot of music or video. Plus they are on one of the slowest internet networks-next iteration will probably have more storage and be compatable with the better high speed network.

I think they are cool and am going to get a next gen model.

[Ivan]

I read somewhere that the storage on the Iphone is nowhere near enough if you want to do a lot of music or video. Plus they are on one of the slowest internet networks-next iteration will probably have more storage and be compatable with the better high speed network.

I think they are cool and am going to get a next gen model.

Yea if you are getting a iphone for internet useage, I would wait for the next generation of iphones that are on at&t's 3g network. Edge is rather slow vs EVDO that sprint and verizon has.

[harrijh]

This might just be a personal thing, but I don't totally get the EDGE v. 3G argument. I understand why people point to it, but I have never had a problem with the EDGE on my iPhone. Sure, it isn't cable internet speed, but it is more that useable to me every time I use it. In fact, here is a link to a youtube video showing the iPhone speed compared to a 3g phone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJTdFTIF2No

As for the work v. play discussion, I do agree to some extent. If your work involves using an exchange server for email (and the administrator won't turn on IMAP) and/or you actually EDIT work or excel files on the go, then the iPhone might not be for you know. It can check the IMAP message server and can view word, excel and pdf files. Also remember with this that Apple is due to release the Software Developer Kit in February that will probably end up adding all of this functionality.

Another thing that I think gets overlooked with the iPhone is the software update. Sure, Blackberry does sometimes offer a fix for a security problem on their phones, but Apple has already added brand new features to the iPhone via software updates, and will presumably continue to. That will help your phone stay up to date longer.

I think though, to sum it all up, they are both quality products so just go to an AT&T store and play with both of them. See which one fills most comfortable in your hand and which one makes more sense to you. They both make phone calls and do many other things, so it is probably just a preference. But personally, I do love my iPhone.

[wickerbill]

That youtube video you posted pretty much proves why people complain about EDGE. That page they were loading wasn't that big, yet took over a minute to load on a much superior phone hobbled with a slow network connection. Comparing a crappy Palm OS phone with an iphone isn't much of a valid comparison.

I have a windows mobile phone through Sprint and it regularly gets 600 kbps compared to my coworker's EDGE phone that is lucky to break 75 kbps. I like Apple products, but EDGE sucks. There's no way to say that a network that maxes out at 150 kbps is a match for one that is four to ten times as fast. While the phone may be good enough to render pages faster than other phones, somewhat making up for the speed difference, who wouldn't want that same faster phone to be able to access the faster networks? I'm waiting until Apple gets the iPhone up to its potential before looking at changing out my phone. I'm also waiting for Exchange support and hopefully some of the other office products I need for my job like citrix access and hopefully internet connection sharing, though I doubt that will ever be added.