Smart Phones of today

Here is an interesting list of BlackBerry Storm features that the iPhone 3G lacks. These could make you want to buy a BlackBerry Storm over an iPhone 3G.

Touch Screen Provides Tactile/Haptic Feedback
iPhone owners have long been complaining about the lack of the tactile or haptic feedback. Meaning the iPhone touch screen is not able to provide response when you hit a key which makes it difficult to type without staring directly at it.

RIM on the other hand uses “Click Through” technology on the the Storm’s touch screen to provide both audible and tactile feedback whenever you click the screen. In fact, the screen on the Storm is really just one large button that actually depresses when you click it.

Expandable Memory
The iPhone 3G is limited to either 8 GB or 16 GB of storage, depending on which model you choose. The BlackBerry Storm ships with just 1GB of on-board memory, but it also has an expandable microSD media card slot that can accommodate cards up to 16GB. So the Strom users could purchase as many microSD cards as they wish and swap them out at will, meaning that the Storm has virtually unlimited storage capacity.

Stereo Bluetooth Capability
One of the vital wireless feature that the iPhone 3G and even T-Mobile G1 lack is the Stereo Bluetooth Capability. With the iPhone, users still can’t listen to their music collections via Bluetooth, wireless headsets–at least without buying a third-party adapter–because the device doesn’t support Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) technology. That means wired headphones are a must when using Apple’s smartphone to listen to music in stereo.

BlackBerry smartphones have supported stereo Bluetooth for quite some time, and the Storm will be no exception. If you have pair of wireless headphones, or you’ve had your eyes on buying a new set, you may want to choose the Storm over the iPhone 3G so you can employ the headphones along with your new handheld.

Removable/Replacable Battery
Almost all other smartphones have removable batteries. The Apple iPhone doesn’t. To this day it causes frustration for some users, especially for frequent travelers and people who constantly listen to music, play games or watch videos or movies. Being able to swap in a spare would be great.

Since the iPhone has a fixed battery that cannot be swapped out, you need to charge regularly or purchase expensive–and awkward–third-party portable charging solutions like the Incase Power Slider Case/Battery Booster costing 100 big ones. The BlackBerry Storm has a removable battery that can be replaced with another when fully drained. Extra BlackBerry batteries sell for as little as $5.

Camera and Video Recording
The 2 megapixels camera of the iPhone 3G is disappointing, but what’s worse is that it won’t record any video. The Storm ups the ante to a 3.2-megapixel camera and also offers video capture. That’s a big plus in favor of the Storm, no doubt.

Wireless Tethered Modem
Many smartphone owners, particularly business users, employ their handhelds’ Internet connections to access the Web via otherwise unconnected PCs or laptop computers. The ability to tether can come in extremely handy while travelling and visiting various hotels, airports, lounges, etc. that charge for Wi-Fi access. In such situations, you can simply connect your smartphone and computer and avoid Wi-Fi fees. AT&T has said that it is working with Apple to bring that functionality to the iPhone. While they haven’t provided an exact date, it is coming.

Copy and Paste
Since day one iPhone users have asked for it and Apple is yet to provide it on the iPhone. This feature might sound a bit trivial for a mobile device but just try transferring a URL or some quote or important text from a Web page to an email message without it, and you’ll soon see why such a simple function can be so important.

With the BlackBerry Storm users will be able to cut and paste text by simply pressing a finger down at the beginning of a selection and then another finger at the end to highlight the text. After you make a selection, the BlackBerry Menu key shows options to copy the text and paste it at a later time.

Mutitasking: Get More Out of Your Day
In the smartphone context, multitasking means running multiple applications in the background while using your device for other purposes. Right now, the iPhone OS does not allow for multitasking, and as such, you can only run one third-party application at a time.

Th BlackBerry Storm on the other hand its 528-MHz processor and the HSPA network combine to support your need to multitask and prioritize without falling behind or out of touch. Designed to provide you with access to your voice and data services at the same time, it helps you get more out of every day.

• Take phone calls while sending and responding to email or browsing the Internet
• Maintain GPS-based directions or maps on your display even while taking a call
• Snap the perfect picture and send it out even when you’re already on the phone
• Discuss and revise Microsoft® Word, Microsoft Excel® and Microsoft PowerPoint files—edit while using the speakerphone

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I have made a specification comparison of the iPhone3G and the Blackberry Storm. Note that this is not a complete feature comparison, although I tried to put everything I could find for both the phones in it. As you can see both phones have much to offer.

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I actually waited until the second gen iPhone came out before buying in. I was concerned about the lack of 3G given the amount of data the iPhone was capable of downloading. So I bought mine in August and used it for three months. Having used BlackBerry, Treo, an assortment of different handsets as well as iPhone, it is clear to me that iPhone does not compete with Blackberry on two of the three functions.

So, without further ado, here’s the top 13 reasons I now carry a BlackBerry Bold instead of an iPhone:

1. Battery life

The Bold kills the iPhone on battery life. Under heavy use, say a business travel day with no laptop access, I have repeatedly burned through a full charge on my iPhone by early afternoon. This includes phone, e-mail and web usage, but typically not iPod usage. My Bold gets through a full day of similar activity with a half charge left at end of day. No comparison.

2. Battery life part deux

The Bold is not afflicted by “sudden drain” syndrome, something that has happened a few times on my iPhone. On occasion I have put a near full charge iPhone in my pocket and taken it out after a short period of time to find it down to the red for no apparent reason. Yes, I have applied all the iPhone updates that were released.

3. User Interface

My three year old can drive my iPhone. Should my 3 year old be able to drive my business device? Is that a good measure? I don’t think so. I tire of tapping through endless screens to get to the one I want when looking at e-mail, for example – I have five email accounts. I like the Bold’s contextual menus. Everything I might want to do on a screen has been put only a click or two away. It really works well, once you’ve learned it. Oh, and cut and paste…and keyboard shortcuts. Pretty rows of icons that jiggle on demand are fun to look at, but once you dive in it can be an uneven and frustrating experience.

4. E-mail

The e-mail just works better on the Bold. BlackBerry just knows how to do mobile e-mail. It works great. iPhone is slow to load e-mail, in my experience. Writing e-mail is wildly different as well. I became very frustrated with the iPhone’s keyboard. It was slow to respond, would often lock-up for seconds or more as I typed faster. On occasion it would simply lock-up completely, necessitating a restart – not acceptable for time-sensitive communications.

5. Stability

My Blackberry Bold does not crash. iPone apps crashed regularly. In particular, Safari crashed most frequently, followed by several third party apps I installed. As mentioned above, Mail would lock-up.

6. Appearance

iPhone looks nice out of the box, but as soon as you handle it it has finger prints and smudges. After a busy day with lunch meetings and such it could wind up looking pretty bad and take some effort to clean up. Impressions matter. The Blackberry Bold finish is not subject to this kind of smudging, except the screen area, and that cleans up with a single wipe.

7. Speed

My Blackberry Bold is generally faster than my iPhone. This is based largely on perception, but I’m referring to scrolling through screens, launching apps, viewing e-mail and most importantly, rendering web pages. I have also noticed the BlackBerry browser will pull the mobile interface by default for many sites, which I like, since I’m mainly interested in the data. This makes the experience faster yet.

8. The Keyboard

I prefer the physical keyboard to the virtual one. This is personal preference, I think, but for reasons I’ve mentioned above, I think it is also more reliable.

9. Multimedia content

I use a media monitoring service and need to view TV clips and listen to radio clips. These clips are provided in .3gp. Unlike the iPhone, the Blackberry Bold brings them up immediately in the BB media player.

10. Voice activation

Blackberry Bold has great voice activation out of the box. iPhone? No, which is surprising from a company that pioneered this technology.

11. Clicks are easier than gestures

The iPhone flicks, pinches and sweeps are neat, but clicking my spacebar once to scroll a page is actually more precise and easier in general. Clicking once to zoom page content is faster and simpler than the two finger, two handed equivalent on iPhone. With my Bold, I can stir my martini and navigate the web at the same time. The trackball wins. I think the touchscreen is a good way to get more screen real estate, but it is not necessarily an improvement in UI.

12. Storage

On my Blackberry Bold I can swap multiple 8GB microSD cards whereas I can have only one internal flash memory on iPhone.

13. Video

I like to post pictures and video remotely. I can’t do that with iPhone because it doesn’t record video. The Bold does.

Sorry Mr. Jobs, please don’t revoke my Mac Club Card, but the iPod touch with a mediocre phone = an iPhone that just isn’t eve close to the functionality of the Blackberry Bold. If you want a business communications handset with excellent multimedia internet capability, GPS, WiFi and a 2MP video camera, get a BlackBerry Bold.

If you want the latest tech toy for cool kids, you’ll hit the mark with the iPhone, but please heed my warning that you may find yourself gazing longingly across the room happy go-lucky Blackberry user sitting up at the bar.

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The “Mobile Market View”, a consumer study of U.S. mobile phone users conducted by The Kelsey Group with research partner ConStat, reveals that 18.9 percent of mobile consumers now use a smartphone. Among those surveyed, 49.2 percent plan to purchase an advanced mobile device within the next two years.

Corresponding with the rapid consumer adoption of smartphones is a marked increase in the level of mobile search activity. According to the Mobile Market View study, mobile consumers performed the following activities using their mobile devices during the past six months:

• Downloaded or looked at maps or directions: 17.6 percent, up from 10.8 percent in 2007
• Searched the Internet for products or services in their local area: 15.6 percent, up from 9.8 percent in 2007
• Searched the Internet for products or services outside their local area: 14.3 percent, up from 6.4 percent in 2007
• Obtained information about movies or other entertainment: 13.7 percent, up from 8.2 percent in 2007
• Connected with a social network, such as MySpace or Facebook: 9.6 percent, up from 3.4 percent in 2007

Study Confirms Kelsey Group Mobile Forecast

Findings from Mobile Market View indicate a growth rate of mobile Internet users that is in line with The Kelsey Group’s U.S. Mobile Advertising Forecast: 2007-2012 (September 2007), which projected mobile Internet users would grow at a compound annual growth rate of 19 percent through 2012. According to the latest Mobile Market View findings, the percentage of mobile users who access the Internet from their mobile devices increased from 32.4 percent in 2007 to 38.9 percent in 2008, an annual growth rate of 20 percent.

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