iPhone 3G vs Blackberry BOLD : Review Follow Up

As a follow up to my Wifi review of the Bold versus the iPhone 3G I have included a few more comparisons in this review.

Audio Quality

This refers to overall audio performance, both call quality and MP3 playback quality. As incredible as it may seem, the Blackberry BOLD has far superior audio quality than the iPhone 3G. In my opinion, this should certainly be the other way around, but it isn’t. The BOLD has the best audio quality I have every heard on a mobile device. It has superior low end, and sounds almost stereo. There is no noticable speaker, and the sound appears to emanate from the entire device. It’s actually pretty sweet.

Screen Resolution, Clarity, Function

I wil give RIM some serious props in this catergory. The screen on the BOLD is super high-res and looks beautiful. However, side by side, the iPhone 3G still dominates this category. How can you compete with a full screen that is completely interactive? You can’t. Although the BOLD screen does look very vivid, we have to keep in mind that is smaller than the iPhone, hence more pixels cramed into a smaller space = sharper image. iPhone 3G definitely wins this category though.

Web Browsing

No contest. The iPhone 3G dominates any PDA device to date. BOLD… good try, but not even close.

Email & Messaging

No MMS on the iPhone 3G. So What. With the myriad of social networks and other great online features, if you’re still using MMS you probably think fax machines are a necessity as well.

Email is an area that I use intensely throughout the day. IMO, both devices do a pretty solid job of handling emails and SMS. However, if you’re coming from a Blackberry it will take some getting used to. Here is a brief list of things that I’ve noticed about  both devices in this area.

1. Can’t search through emails or calendars on the iPhone. This should be a mandatory feature on any device this advanced. Then again, so should copy/paste. Wake up Apple!  Solution: when you need to search, have to use webmail.
2. No LED indicator on the outside of the iPhone. If you don’t feel the vibration or hear the ring, only way to see if you’ve received a message is to turn on the device and check.
3. Messages look 100 times better on an iPhone. No contest, blackberry is basically text, iPhone looks like an email client on your desktop.
4. SMS messaging. Both devices have their advantages. Even split here.
5. IMAP support, far superior on the iPhone 3G. The blackberry doesn’t sync properly with Gmail or Google Apps, your sent items, and drafts don’t get saved on the server. iPhone does a great job of keeping the folders in your mailbox in sync.
6. Push vs Fetch. No big deal. I find Fetch on the iPhone 3G just as effective as my Blackberry.

Overall Experience

I was probably one of the most adamant Blackberry advocates for quite a few years. I made the switch the the iPhone 3G for one reason really, RIM kept delaying the release of the BOLD and I wanted a 3G device. Do I regret my decision? To be honest, the first 2 weeks I was very disappointed with the iPhone 3G, so mych so that I went out and paid full pop for a BOLD the day they came out. I quickly rushed home, placed both devices side by side and started to realize that the BOLD, although a great imporvement for RIM can’t be compared the iPhone 3G and it’s potential. With the SDK released and people diving into mobile development the iPhone 3G is literally, a computer in your pocket. The BOLD, well, it’s a PDA. Another thing that really upset me is the fact that the BOLD seems to be very similar to the 8800 with regards to RIM’s urgency to start pushing out other devices immediatley after.

Similar to the 8800, it’s successors, the Curve and BOLD are much better devices. This is the same boat that the BOLD is in. Within several months, the Jevlain, Thunder and a few other Blackberry devices are going to pop up. Each with improved functionality and better form factors.

Conclusion

My advice. If you’ve been curious about the iPhone 3G, go out and get one. The BOLD is only the first generation of a new line of improved devices from RIM. Why drive the demo when you can wait for the production model to be released? The iPhone is new, exiting, innovative. Biggest draw back right now is the battery life. I have a charger at home, in the car, at the office and in my laptop bag. Does it bother me? Not, anymore, I just plug it in whenever I can and so far haven’t had the device die on me.

Those of you wondering about typing on the iPhone 3G touch screen. I type about 90 words per minute on my computer, and probably got pretty close on my blackberry. After 4 weeks of iPhone use, I think I’m pretty close. The technique is very different, but like all new things, you get used to it!

* Remember. If you really want to unlock the iPhone’s full potential, you can always Jailbreak it! Let me see you do that on a Blackberry.