iPhone vs. BlackBerry 9000: The keyboard wars, round 2

I was completely against “virtual keyboards” for a long time. I own both an iPhone and a BlackBerry Bold and I always felt like typing on my BlackBerry was more efficient until I actually did a test. The results were shocking, even to me, check them out… http://gadgetphix.com/2009/05/iphone-vs-blackberry-bold-battle-of-the-keyboards/

We’ve done an external keyboard for the iPhone that does not require jailbreaking:

http://www.perceptdev.com/labs/content/iphone-keyboard-no-jailbreaking-required-using-20-sdk

This review is funny “given how hard they worked”…. Apple buyers are largely religious (Apple) zealots, so of course they are going to answer satisfied in droves. I won’t buy a smartphone w/o a keyboard – why have a screen filled with keys? It’s just stupid. Now, the $299 price tag with a service plan might make me just use my laptop :)

This is a no-brainer..

design a phone with maximum screen size by using a virtual keyboard (err iPhone). then use either WiFi/Bluetooth or Dock to allow those who type a lot ot cant type to BUY and add-on physical keyboard. (err Palm..)

I for one find the virtual keyboard (esp in landscape) easy to use but if I was wrting a report rather than a “See you at the station at 11″ would appreciate the option.

the $1,000,000 prize goes to whoever can create the approved add-on physical (fold small) keybloard to the iPhone/iPod Touch and make it the real winner..

My only complaint is that the current blackberry doesn’t support HTML email and the web browsing sucks. As I like to do quick searches while on the move. So the IPhone wins on those two, but it looses on the contacts, notes, tasks sync aspect. So I look forward to next gen. Blackberry to remedy my concerns.

Martin
http://www.dovico.com

This is a silly review. The only quote was from a iPhone guy that likely only uses his phone to watch YouTube videos.

Serious corporate phone users will always insist on a keyboard. Hence, Blackberry still is the number one deployment of handheld smartphones.

I agree that iPhone makes for great eye candy… but i sold mine of after a frustrating month of being unable to really access Exchange. no tasks? come on! no personal contacts? really?

Obviously iPhone will have a HUGE market… it’s just not ever going to be the SAME market as BB 9000.

the best example of why is that apple totally shut down the use of the iPhone as a tethered modem… BB 9000 supports it out the box.

before i would ever consider a smartphone, it would need expandable memory, replaceable batteries, and support for common business apps.

and… while it is right that the BB 9000 has a smaller screen than an “eye”phone, it is the same resolution… i just can use ALL of the screen WHILE i’m typing!

sorry SteveJack, but the emperor has no clothes.

Unless I can get a full-size keyboard I’m not buying anything. I believe Nokia devices work w/ bluetooth. But holding out, I want a full-powered OS too.

Personally I think the whole argument is a joke. Everybody has their own preference for a phone and the value that phone provides. The Iphone is a fancy Ipod with calling features and web access. The blackberry is a PDA primarily used for business folks who need to easily be able to email and contact other partners and clients on the road without lugging a laptop or more around. The fact that the blackberry was described as an antique in an iPhone-inspired wrapper is rediculous. If every phone that came out had to look completely different compared to the previous phone released what would we be talking on by today? Perhaps something that resembles a spiderweb, or maybe a traffic cone with optional pinetree antenna just to make it so outlandish it doesn’t look anything like any other phone. If you really want to say that one phone looks like another due to it’s design then you’re correct all phones look alike they all seem to have a square or rectangular shape to them so then are all phones a rip of each other? The answer is YES they are because a phone is still a phone anyway you wrap it up. But back to the main point it all comes down to user preference over brand,color and provider. That’s what competition is all about being able to get the same or similar phone in a different brand, color and from a different company. The same goes for Cars, Trucks, Computers, Game Consoles etc.

BlackBerry is not iPhone, and iPhone is not BlackBerry. Comparing apples to oranges is stupid. I don’t mind having an iPhone but I will never authorize it for my company. Security, controllability, ease of deployment and other features make BlackBerry the device of choice for business.

woww u guys r soo biased on the iphone. the bold is a great phone. sure it has a lot of the same things as previous blackberrys but there are a lot of things that the bold has over iphone. the screen may be smaller but it has the same amount of pixels in a smaller screen which makes the resolution better than the iphone. and the iphones keyboard hasn’t been fixed so if u r a person who doesnt like a touch screen keyboard then go with the blackberry. the bold’s keyboard is more comfortable, the UI isnt messed up at all, and if u r not into the touch screen then i suggest the bold. i m goin with the blackberry and i still have AT&T.

What a road warrior… claiming crush-proofness to the tire of a minivan as a reason the iPhone has no future in business. That is one of the funniest things I have heard in a long time… thank you!

Physical keys are convenient. The Bold design would have been improved by using a thin black border along the sides (rather than the silver), extending the screen all the way to the edges and making the entire device slightly wider to accomodate larger keys and a screen large enough and sharp enough to effectively surf the internet in desktop mode.

I think the iPhone is fantastic, but after my weekend experience, I don’t believe it can replace the BlackBerry as a corporate tool. I was out of town with my BlackBerry and had just parallel parked my car, when I exited the car and somehow knocked the phone from its holster into traffic. It was immediately run over by a minivan. Traffic finally stopped so I could pick it up, but only after the battery and cover had fallen off. I reassembled the BlackBerry and turned it on to find the screen had completely shattered black but remained intact, but I was fortunately still able to dial out using the numeric keypad and receive calls, which was a blessing since I was out of state and had already checked out of my hotel. Thank goodness the phone survived and was still working. When I reached the office the next day, it was replaced within an hour. I’m not sure the iPhone would have remained usable after being run over by a minivan.

The Apple keyboard is the only one that handles my big fat thick fingers because they use electronic capacitance to read the key and Apple has that down to a science. Only a small part of my finger has to hit the glass to make the pop up letter “pop” thereby confirming it’s the correct key. Mechanical buttons are so much harder to hit accurately when your finger covers two at once!

Anyone have a more precise date for when the Bold will be released?

Wow, the guy who wrote this statement ““RIM clearly seems to have tried to copy Apple’s iPhone’s exterior look, but beyond that derivative bit of attempted tomfoolery, the anachronistic physical buttons remain, taking up space whether or not they’re in use.

Also remaining is the small screen, mashed into the upper half of the device in order to make room for those tiny, slippery-looking plastic buttons festooned all over the bottom half of the device. The software’s UI has been prettied or messed up (depending on your taste), but it has none of the multi-touch goodness of Apple’s iPhone. It’s the same old, same old in an iPhone-inspired wrapper.”
is very obviously an iphone fan, I actually work for at&t as an online sales rep, and I have heard a whole lot of complaints about the iphone and everyone that has a blackberry is very happy, this is a biast review of the 2 phones by someone who doesn’t know a lot about phones, and his comment about the same old same old in an iphone inspired wrapper makes him look like an idiot, the phone is a revolutionary device by RIM, it includes 3G (which the iphone is yet to deliver) and really I wouldn’t have a phone that doesn’t have a keypad. I am a blackberry user and I would give up my right leg to have one (I would say my arm, but I need those to play video games and use my phone)

Wow people are dumb the leaked images of the 9000 look like the combination of a curve and an 8800 with rounded edges everyone thinks of the curve now when they think RIM because it is the most popular phone but take a look at the 8800. Now before you get all ticked off I’m not saying the Iphone is junk it’s great for the first gen however way way way overpriced and it has a long way to go to be as much of a smart phone as any BB phone push email copy past 3rd party apps better processor removable battery so on so on for a better list of why the current Iphone is not better than a BB as a smart phone go to crackberry.com and search the blogs for ten resigns the iphone is no blackberry. However the iphone browser is untouchable and like BB I hear with have 3g to back it up in the next gen. Also the tuchscreen technology on the phone “created in the 80’s” and finally put to good use is pretty cool and works way better than expected. I can not wait for the new Ipone it should be pretty respectable as a smart phone with 3g GPS WIFI VOIP MUTITASKING ” I mean I can talk on the phone start an email text play a game surf the web all at the same time hang up the phone my music starts playing again. That has to suck if your an Iphone user” and the biggest of all Push email I wouldn’t be surprised if the used the RIM services like Palm but all in all the ipone is respectable only because it is apples first phone but please don’t act like they are blowing RIM out of the water I personaly love the way the new Berry looks and think the current Iphone is ugly they look nothing alike the 9000 has warmer smother cures unlike the Ipone sharp edges and the 9000 is not just a flat cold slab I hope they dress the new Iphone up its way to plain. Oh and a multimedia smart phone that can’t send MMS or record video LOL. Still a great first try I don’t hate the Iphone just Apple and the way they do things please don’t take this the wrong way.

” Iphones are for trendy people, BlackBerrys are for important people”

Posted from a BB 8300

Um, how can RIM copy a device when thayt device already looks similar to their previouse devices?
I mean that the 9000 looks more like a 8800 than a Iphone

I’m surprised that the keyboard “issue” is still a central argument between devices as well. Between my iPhone, HTC Touch Cruise and Blackberry Pearl, I type the fastest on the HTC (simply because I find the on-screen Touch Keyboard more efficient).

Different input method editors will always appeal to different people.

Everyone can detract from the iPhone for various reasons, but in my opinion after continuous use of one for several months, the biggest hurdle for the iPhone in the power business user market (aside from enterprise level email support) will be the battery life.

With heavy use, I’ve fallen short and needed a recharge by midday on many occasions.

J. Katz – you should not be driving and texting at the same time no matter what phone you have… its just stupid.

Face it, Apple and Steve Jobs has done everyone a favor — at least those that own an iPhone . . . the fact that there really is no “tactile response” from this device means that in order to really and effectively use this device, one must really pay attention to the screen as they are typing to see what letters or/and digits they are hitting. This, in my opinion, should make it difficult enough a task so that people have to actually stop what they are doing (i.e. driving and/or walking), pull over to the side and type or wait until they reach their destination to take care of what they need to on their iPhone.

“ok. I just went back to a phone with a REAL keypad. Touch screens, in bright sunlight are nearly impossible to see, let along dial the phone on. They’re pretty, in shadow and inside, but take them outside and they’re almost unusable”

I don’t know what touch screen device you were using, but it wasn’t an iPhone. The iPhone’s display is just dandy even in direct sunlight.

@Lefteris up above: I am with you brother, flip the keyboard sideways. Much easier to hold and type – like the HP 12C, still the easiest calculator to calculate on.

I am typing this on my iPhone. Typing is a friggen breeze. It also helps spell the words. I type WAY faster on this than I ever have on a blackberry. And say what you will- the iPhone is selling like rim wishes it could. I love nokia phones- but even they are not selling this well.

iphone’s keyboard kinda grows on you after a while but still, the keys are too small. Apple should provide the obvious solution, without any moving parts: Position the keyboard across the long (vertical) axis of the iphon. In other words, when the user rotates the iphone horizontally the keyboard (and text pane) should rotate as well, as they do in other applications (Safari, photos, etc). This should allow the keys to be significantly larger.

I’ve never used a blackberry so I don’t know how difficult or easy it is to type on them. I’ve had my Iphone since early December. When I’m on the internet, I turn it to get the larger keyboard but only if I remember. It’s not a big deal. I’m almost 50; it wasn’t a HUGE skill to master :) The phone remembers the words I use so I don’t end up typing everything. I type emails but not very long ones – I’m a 90 wpm typist so I wait for the big letters…I love the note pad, ipod, MAPS are GREAT and have gotten me out of many binds! I also use the web for stocks, etc. So far – excellent experience. Looking forward to playing with new apps.

Forget the keyboard issue, the half hearted release of an iphone sdk does not insure good 3rd party apps. I use mapwith.us for geotagging on my blackberry, nothing like it on the iphone … yet. According to mapwith.us they are developing one for the iphone, but we’ll see.

At this point I choose the blackberry because it can run MapWith.Us the only auto-geotagging application for tracking photo locations on the go. However, I hear they will have a version for the iphone soon. My major beef with the iphone is the lack of third party applications.

I currenly own both iPhone and a Blackberry (8310, and 8700 before that), and recently returned a AT&T Tilt after 1 week trial, and got a 8310 instead.

These “holy” wars are based on two camps, one whose life depends on email and the other who cares about everything else. I am in the email camp, and realized how frustrating it is to write a long email with iPhone’s keypad, and Tilt’s ridiculously sluggish Windows Mobile interface and it’s oversized keyboard (frustrating for a two-thumb typist).

I still have the iPhone, for “everything else” including great Wifi and browser and the wonderfully large screen, but for other features, my Curve 8310 is the better phone, and is the best phone ever devised by RIM.

So what if this phone or that has a better feature X? Sony-Eriksson’s have great media features. Nokia has the best camera (maybe). Get a phone with feature X that focuses on what means the most to you.

I would argue I’ve got the best two phones on the market, and it leaves no room for a third to challenge either one. I know the ideal world is to have one device, but until there is such an utopian device, this is a senseless debate.

Everyone is missing the point.

All Apple has to do is ENABLE BLUETOOTH KEYBOARD SUPPORT. It drives me crazy that they have not. I’m not sure why — a true technical reason? Or typical Apple egoism?

Imagine an attractive iPhone case with a flip down cover that doubles as an external bluetooth keyboard!

But the possibilities would be nearly limitless with just simple bluetooth keyboard support. C’mon Apple. This is ridiculous.

While not a huge text fan, I do use it. Far more than I did prior to upgrading to an iPhone. I also use the web more on my iPhone, use the map function and carry a few songs and music videos to listen to during lunch and review what is happening on the Stock Market. One buys a phone for more than one function. A text-a-holic might take some time to get used to the keyboard, but the reason you buy an iPhone is for the functions and integration with iTunes and iCal and is great with POP email. It is also a great phone to talk on as well.

MDN fails to realize the 9000 has been in the works long before the iphone came out.

I have both Iphone and Blackberry.I’m testing OS 2.0 now .. lets just say it has a TON of work to do to offer the same level of exchange functionality as a Blackberry.

I oversee over 3500 mobile devices and don’t foresee a bunch of iphones (even with the OS 2.0 update) until the following is available:

more carriers
more control over media content. I could care less about Mp3, movies on a corporate device.
from what I’ve seen so far – way better exchange functionality.
cheaper price, basically sub $150 depending on contract, recent BB are almost free at this point.

You didn’t include the best article on the the subject.

I want an iBerry

http://bahellman.blogspot.com/2007/09/dear-apple-i-want-iberry.html

Mobile wars is not about the keyboard or any one specific aspect of a given device. It’s the totality of the offering: hardware, software and service as a package.

I examined 10 factors that put Apple in an unassailable position in the mobile platform wars and reviewed the weaknesses of iPhone competitors in:

Who can beat iPhone 2.0?

Dan Tynan cites a usability survey from August, meaning it was conducted in July….which means that it was done the same month the iPhone was released. This is the hard evidence he has (plus his own personal view). What a douche.

The new RIMM device looks like a joke….tiny buttons and tiny screen size.

Why is Dan Tynan at PC World considered an expert. Thumb typists when first confronted with an Iphone are slower, so what? How fast are they after a week? Reports I have seen say they are faster. This seems to be an article whoses only purpose is to fill space. Not much reporting there.

Using the phone as a browser That’s a better test of all-round functionality. Google says that iPhone users browse the web inordinately more than any other phone. I have a Samsung, and, believe me, there’s no way I even want to begin to browse the web, because any typing effort isn’t worth the sweat. The iPhone, as I see it, eliminates this issue. I don’t think ‘ghard’ keys are the way of the future. I’ll take a phone that will ‘morph’ via updates to software/firmware with fewer physical limitations any day. Plus, don’t disregard the many, many positive customer satisfaction surveys that show hands-down (or fingers-down) the iPhone is a terrific value and joy to use…

You’re talking about physical feedback from the keyboard to the finger. Blackberry has it, iPhone doesn’t but iPhone does have visual (you see the letter popup) and audible (there is a click when the key is entered) feedback.

One comparison that might be helpful is to consider the mouse vs. keyboard. When you click a link on the mouse, you see the web page start to load (visual only). The physical feedback from the actual mouse doesn’t tell you whether you have hit the link or not. You can click, feel the feedback but miss the link on the screen. Same thing with the iPhone keyboard. You get used to the visual feedback from the screen and don’t even need the physical feedback.

This argument is like DOS users arguing that the mouse is inadequate. In essence, I think this argument is laughable.

One super significant basic fact that some analysts continually miss out is: it is WAY EASIER for Apple to incorporate a keyboard (if Apple finds it so necessary) than it is for any manufacturer like Rim to get their OS to the sophistication of OsX or buld something as well engineered as an iPhone (compare the iPhone’s touch screen for example to the others).

It took Apple something like 20 years (with Steve Jobs ferocious focus) to get OsX (a modified version runs the iphone) from its seeds in Next OS to the point it is now and yet ‘analysts’ keep announcing that phone makers can produce an ‘iphone killer ‘ in a ‘few months’. The iPhone is a ‘platform’ because of OsX.

Many analysts and financial commentators are blackberry users and keep trying to find arguments to support Rim, first criticizing the iPhones lack of business security and lack of Entourage support etc. Now that Apple had answered that (through the SDK presentation), they are left with a ‘keyboard’ issue. Hey APPLE COULD PUT A KEYBOARD IN FASTER THAN AN ANALYST CAN BLINK — IF THEY WANTED TO THAT IS but even Microsoft with their experience and Billions can’t build an Os to match Match OsX. I don’t give the other guys much of a chance to do so either. If keyboard is the only advantage the other guys have they are in SERIOUS trouble.

(I don’t think Apple is going to put in a keyboard though but might in future incorporate haptic feedback or voice recognition).

Appreciate your comment, Top Tier. However, how did this focus group work the key pad for 7 months? The phone came out at the end of June and this report was issued in early August. I read this back then and thought it was plain stupid then and now I think it’s even more stupid for this writer to bring it up again. Anything for print!

ok. I just went back to a phone with a REAL keypad. Touch screens, in bright sunlight are nearly impossible to see, let along dial the phone on. They’re pretty, in shadow and inside, but take them outside and they’re almost unusable.

More error for you to correct:

- Gives how hard Steve Jobs and his team worked to design the iPhone —

You probably want to use Given instead of Gives.

ex ped: Thanks, as always. Fixed.

Hello. I don’t post many comments(bad spelling!), but I would like to pass on my itouch, I use only wi-fi!; no songs, no videos! Only internet and e-mail to my grandkids!)(OK! occasional kid picture..HA!), ipod touch experiance! At first I was slow with the touch keys(got really pissed off!)(keyboard?)Then it occured to me to use two fingers(index and middle), then three by adding the thumb!.WOW!..Think about it for a few seconds, then try it…..I will not even insust ya all, with my (wpm) on the touch. Fast! Really fast! n I’m just an ol guy, with “60’s Junior high” typeing skills!….dare I think of the fourth finger? screen seems large enough? thanks for your time readin this….nuttan

When I first got the iPhone, I couldn’t type nearly as fast as I could on traditional smartphone keyboards. It didn’t take long, however, before I could type as fast (perhaps faster) on my iPhone as I could on real smartphone QWERTY keyboard. Typing on the virtual pad is a different skill, and it takes about two weeks before your brain is trained in this new method.

Like I said before, as soon as iPhone can hook up with MS Exchange, my nephews who work for big companies will be the first ones to dump their Blackberries for the iPhones. For that matter, I’ll trade up my EDGE to 3G when it’s available.

to the author. you are retarded, the iphone has copied touch phones from samsung and lg

A rather unscientific focus group of Tynan’s too you’d have to say. Picking veteran “Blackberry” users (”or thumb typists”) will undoubtedly bring about bias based on predisposed familiarity. Who stood over the shoulders of these people for 7 months? Which begs the question, how much did they actually use the iPhone in a 7 month period? Thus one can only conclude an unscientific result, did they only use the iPhone for 7 months? How would one know? The list of what’s wrong with this type of focus group could go on and on. A better focus group would be to find individuals that are new to the concept of smart phones and give them one of each over a shorter period that can be measured properly.

I can answer what Apple would have to say about this focus group, but why bother with the obvious, as Elmer suggests.

These further manufacturer’s, as described, miss the point that the iPhone isn’t just about what it looks like, again, why bother explain what Apples OS is.