Eric Zeman, my favorite Phonescoop editor after Rich, wrote a fairly cogent article debunking the flame bait put out by CIO magazine comparing the Storm to the iPhone.
While the complaints are valid – stereo Bluetooth would be nice and a removable battery would be nicer – I think RIM is good at what it does – namely being better at mail than Windows Mobile and Symbian while the iPhone is good a what it does – doing everything else better than Windows Mobile and Symbian. Let’s let these two colossi live in relative peace so RIM and iPhone can be the mullet of the phone world: business up front, party in the back.
In all fairness, he wrote an identical article from the other side of the fence, but reading that article, his arguments in favor of the iPhone are a little half-hearted (at least to this iPhone user who’s thinking hard about whether to switch to a Bold).
I consider this to just be the start – when our worlds are beginning to be controlled by these devices is when we can really see them take off. Imagine if you didn’t have a wallet or a set of keys, it was all just built into your phone… being able to control things like your TV, air conditioning, etc. are all simple tasks, but it could be integrated into a device like this very well.
SwissFreek, the same guy has also written another article on why you should get an iphone 3g, but this time it was against the storm. We all love iphones and blackberries, but Cruch gear should at least post both sides of the story so they don’t look like they are pulling from either device.
I think ht altoug they are different in “what they’re good at”, they will fight some of the same market segment now. And I think that in addition to email, BB has the kind of feature maturity that iPhone still does not have (and I’m an iPhone owner and huge fan).
my comments at http://www.commentino.com/orim
Nothing comes close to the iPhone ;)
Until any other mobile device emulates or uses Apple’s OS X mobile version, I’ll be using my iPhone. The integration with my Macs is the biggest selling point or I would have already had a crackberry. Not really any shame in being #2, in this race.
What an idiotic post this is. The Storm article is not flamebait at all. Luckily the article you point to taking on the supposed flamebait is totally reasonable:
“C’mon, Apple, where’s stereo Bluetooth?”
“This one could go either way, depending on how you look at it.”
“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.”
“Storm’s haptic feedback is better than the iPhone’s lack of haptic feedback is probably debatable.”
“There’s no debating the cut-and-paste argument. Apple, you’re behind the ball on this one.”
“I don’t think iPhone users are missing all that much with the lack of multitasking.”
Where’s the umbrage again? I’d say only with your babyish iPhone user hurt feelings because someone pointed out that another phone has some features the iPhone does not? Pathetic.
Well if I said the iphone had 8 different types of on screen keyboard, would that matter to you? No. The majority of iphone users don’t care about haptic feedback (ultimately drains your battery) and multitasking (crashes, crashes, and the lag blackberries are known for). The iphone uses push, in which all of that multitasking data is stored on servers, keeping your apps running smoothly and efficiently. Once you open the app, your previous state is sent to you in a matter of seconds. So multitasking, no big deal (although it’s still a nice feature to have). And haptic feedback (again) drains your battery so fast it’s ridiculous. Haptic feedback only helps those who are too stupid enough to realize they are touching the screen (a-duh)!
Now, i’m not bashing the Blackberry Storm, as it is the first phone to actually compete with the iPhone 3G. I like its 3.2 meg camera with video (iphones can take videos too via cydia). I also like stereo bluetooth, just because its an extra feature (even though people look ridiculous with those giant headsets on). The writer of the article is right, it’s debatable on which you think is better. iPhone has AppStore, Storm has 3.2 camera. iPhone has iPod, Storm has haptic feedback. iPhone has Safari, Storm has stereo bluetooth. iPhone has WiFi, Storm has slightly better email connectivity. It does go either way.
I have to agree with dlc. After reading the article I can’t help but think he made some good points in very fair language. I think folks who like Apple products tend to be so won over by the marketing that they just cannot accept that another product might possibly be better. You buy a device and you like it? Cool. Someone comes out with a better one, switch. Or not. Its really that simple.