Smart Phones of today

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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Google’s Android OS powered phones were in most of the tech blogs since the past few days with first the sneak peak, and then the hands-on reviews of the phone which first came with T-Mobile. It is said to be one of the best phones around and competitor for the World’s dominating mobile company Nokia, and to the best gadget of the year Apple iPhone.

And am sure its going to beat the Apple iPhone sales and would be really loved, except the design which does not seem so sleek to me. Here are a few reasons why one would love the Android phone when compared to the Apple iPhone

1. The open operating system

The Android OS powered by Google is an open system, which can be played with by the developers and many cool apps and games would be coming in, and there would be everything available for free, unlike the paid apps as in the App store by Apple. And being a Google product, developers would get really handy with Android.

2. Faster than iPhone

iPhone was already fast, but the reviews of Android phone already state that the phone is faster than the Apple iPhones. Speed always counts, and Android beats iPhone.

3. No Jailbreaking needed

Its an open operating system, so there will be no hacking in or jailbreaking needed for its OS. It will be easy to customize too.

4. Online applications integration

Google products like Docs, calender and maps with Street view, everything would be just a small work to integrate into the Android mobile. Apple does not have those kind of apps, so no integration needed.

5. QWERTY Sliding keyboard

The phone does not look too bulky but it still has a QWERTY keyboard, sliding out when u need it. This is not in iPhone, there is a touch-screen there, which is not so user-friendly for people not good at touching the screens.

6. Format supporting better than Apple

Apple OS is something which does not become easily compatible with many file formats which Windows and Linux does. So Google is working well with this, trying to make the Android phone support almost all file formats.

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For my not-too-techie readers, you will not enjoy this post.? I?m going to seriously dork out on you.? I?ve now had my iPhone for over three weeks and I?m still can?t say I?ve completely moved my life off of my Treo 650 and on to my iPhone.? Here?s what I?ve done so far and how I feel about things:

Initial Impressions - It?s Awesome!

Shortly I?ll detail some of the shortcomings of the iPhone and the challenges I?ve faced as I?ve tried to move all of my ?stuff? from my Treo to my iPhone, but the overall initial impression remains - it?s awesome.? I am aware of the shortcomings, but I?m not really annoyed by them because of how freaking cool the iPhone is.? It?s a lot like how hot girls can get away with a lot more crap than not-as-hot girls.? Such is the iPhone.? Let?s look at my details of the switch:

Double Move

I wanted to move all this data not only from the Palm platform onto iPhone, but I also wanted to switch from my slow and dying PC laptop onto my iMac.? An ambitious move I realize, but I moved my iTunes home base for my iPod to my Mac a few years ago and it just seems happier there.

Relocating Contacts

I thought the contacts seemed like the most important thing to move, and they also wound up being technically the easiest.? I was able to export all of my Palm contacts into a CSV file, email that to myself, and then download them and import them into the Address Book on my Mac.? It still wasn?t easy though - I don?t know if I did every thing right, but I lost all of my Categories from palm and all of my contacts were just dumped into one big list in Address Book.? I knew I should probably go through them - I had over 900 contacts and I?d pretty much never erased a contact that wound up in my treo.

The great thing about Address Book on Mac is that you can create ?smart? groups.? For instance, I set one up where the conditions said to include everyone who had a phone number that started with either 404 or 678 or 770 or whose city was Atlanta or state was GA.? Voila - my Atlanta group was instantly created.? The big downside?? iPhone won?t import smart groups - VERY ANNOYING Mr. Jobs!!!? There?s still a decent workaround - just copy all of the contacts in the Atlanta Smart List and paste them into a static list.? Sure the group won?t update dynamically over time, but it?s still pretty quick and easy.

Calendar - easy and yet not so easy

First the easy part - when I set up my work email (MS Exchange), all I had to do was check a box to sync the calendar and instantly all of my work stuff was on my iPhone and synced back and forth.? I had been led to believe that you had to pay extra for an exchange sync, but it does everything I want with the setup I have - it even maintains which messages are read/unread between my work laptop and my iPhone.

The? problem was getting my old calendar items off of my Treo and onto my iPhone.? Long story short, there was no easy way to do this (that I could find).? What I wound up doing is using Yahoo Auto-sync (a free feature in Yahoo?s calendar) to upload all of my calendar info from Palm Desktop up to Yahoo Calendar.? I was then able to export from Yahoo to a CSV file, and then (after some cleanup) import that CSV into MS Outlook.? It was still a pain in the ass, and a lot of the details were lost.? As I understand it, there is a way to have two calendars on the iPhone (work and home), but I haven?t got that figured out.? It also doesn?t seem possible to me to sync the calendar in two places (like a work computer and a home computer).? That surprised me.? I was also surprised to see that Google Calendar doesn?t easily sync with iPhone - I just would have expected two cool thing such as these to get along.? Maybe someday.

To Do List

I cannot find a simple ?to do? list in the App store.? This seems crazy, but for me it?s true.? I?m waiting to figure out how to transfer my ?to do?s.?? Surely someone can create an easy to use ?to do? list?

Memos

A very annoying feature of the iPhone is that there?s no way to syncronize memos between the computer and the iPhone.? So if I wanted to copy a long chunk of text and have it in my iPhone? no dice - at least not for memos.? My workaround here is to copy all of the memos I had on my Treo into draft emails in gmail.? Gmail works great on the iphone, and it?s pretty easy to access and edit drafts, so that?s how I?m currently rolling with my Memo substitute.

Other Stuff

• No MMS on iPhone - just retarded.? Fix that already, will you?
• No Vindigo for iPhone - so sad.? I feel like Vindigo has just stopped trying (kind of like Palm, though Palm isn?t quite as bad).? I still haven?t found an app that shows local bars/restaurants and lets me keep a ?my favorites? list.? Somebody help me out!
• YouTube on the iPhone - so much cooler and handier than I anticipated.

There?s more to be said, but it?s taken me a long time to write this much, so I?m just gonna go ahead and click ?publish.?? Feel free to pipe up in the comments if you?ve got an iPhone and/or an opinion.

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Mobile phone manufacturers are starting to test prototypes and prepare an initial wave of handsets for FCC certification, with public sales likely late in 2008.

The arguments among software developers are starting to heat up as Apple gets its iPhone SDK (software development kit) ready to ship, while Google continues to revise its Android SDK. Android is Google?s software platform for smartphones.

On one side, AndroidGuys claims that the first generation of Android-powered smartphones will suffer from quality control problems, incomplete software and bugs. That?s probably true. Of course, iPhone had some initial issues right out of the box, too.

On the other side, droidworks counters with an important difference between the two platforms. Apple?s iPhone is a high-end smartphone that is tightly integrated with Mac software and iTunes.

The Android platform is based on open source software, and is highly scalable. We?ll see more Google Phones in India and China than iPhones, simply because Android is much cheaper to license and easier to deploy with inexpensive chipsets. There will be gPhones from a wide variety of manufacturers. Android phones do not require a full QWERTY keyboard or a touch screen, but the software will support these features if they?re included in the hardware.

Apple, on the other hand, will remain the sole brand for the iPhone.

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Samsung i900 OMNIA

First, the touchscreen. I?m fond of touchscreens, and the OMNIA?s touchscreen is good. It doesn?t come with a stylus (the Samsung people said it will come with a stylus, but the phone does not have a slot for one, so that?s doubtful; they did provide stylus during testing), so you have to use your fingers. The TouchWiz user interface is a Samsung custom UI for Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. The icons are large enough so that you can easily point to the right icon. What I like about the custom UI is that Opera Mobile is available as an alternative to IE Mobile. This is a great addition. More on this later. Of course, you can revert to the traditional WinMO UI.

Haptic feedback is available, but I had it turned off, as I find it annoying. Basically, the phone vibrates every time you press an icon. It is not a useless feature, but as I have said, I am annoyed by haptic feedback, and I felt it is a waste of battery.

There is a mouse pointer that is controlled by an optical touch pad below the screen. It is like having a touchpad on a phone. I find it odd, but it has its uses.

The on-screen keyboard remains a lot to be desired; people with large fingers will have to get used to it. The keys are too narrow for the thumbs. That is why I think the lack of stylus is a drawback.

It has an accelerometer on board, so that when you turn the phone, the UI changes its orientation. The orientation can be sluggish when, for example, Opera Mobile is running and showing Plurk in mobile mode, for example. But that is hardware limitation, which is understandable.

Probably one of the best features of the phone is its camera. It has a 5-megapixel camera, though the flash is just LED. It has camera functions that are not found in other camera-enabled phones. For example, you can take a panoramic shot with the phone, and you can stitch up to 8 images for a panoramic shot IN THE PHONE. There are other helpful features for taking shots, and I think some of them are quite useful.

One problem that I had found with OMNIA is that it runs out of memory that fast. For example, using Task Manager, the apps that were currently running were Main Menu and Task Manager, which consumed less than 1MB of memory combined. But when I tried launching Camera, I got the insufficient memory error message. Good luck running the Camera app while Opera Mobile is loaded.

I have not tested the multimedia capabilities of the phone - these features are not on top of my preferences for a phone, and there were no available video files for viewing.

The phone is nice when held, though it is shiny and fingerprint magnet. It does not feel flimsy, and you will not be embarrassed to be seen using it. Heck, I?d want this as a phone, though the lack of stylus and keypad would make me pause.

HTC Touch Diamond

What I like about the HTC Touch Diamond
• At the outset, HTC is already pretty well-known for producing reliable and function-rich PDA phones.
• It looks really sleek, with a glossy piano black surface and, as the tagline proclaims, is ?not too big, not too small?.
• It runs on HSDPA for Internet connectivity and is the fastest you can get on mobile phones right now. I tried it. It?s really fast.
• The interface is kinda like the iPhone. You can use your finger or the attached stylus to grab stuff on/off the screen.
• It has a graphics processor! Which means watching videos on this phone is really sweet.
• When surfing the net, you can zoom in to read passages of text and the phone automatically wraps the text for you so you don?t have to scroll left-right!! And the zooming is instantaneous, no waiting for the browser to reload the page.
• It doesn?t allow external memory but has 4GB of storage, which I think is enough.
• When you?re in a phone conversation and pull out your stylus, the phone automatically displays a notepad so you can take notes.
• It has a built-in Google Maps GPS program so you will never need to get lost again!

What I don?t like about the HTC Touch Diamond
• The interface is kinda sluggish, with a 1-2 second delay, when you navigate the touch screen with your fingers. That problem seems to be minimised when you use the stylus, though.
• HTC claims that it has an intuitive interface that mimics tasks you do daily so you won?t need to read a menu to learn how to use the phone. But I wouldn?t say it?s immediately intuitive. Like, when I wanted to scroll through the phone book to watch the nifty animation, I ended up calling some guy, instead. Then I couldn?t figure out how to stop the call and go back to the phone book.
• It?s too expensive.

TALE OF THE TAPE:

Samsung i900 Omnia

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