iPhone 3G can’t stand up to Blackberry Bold for hardcore users
As we’ve all come to expect, any new smartphone that hits the market is, inevitably, compared to the iPhone. The Blackberry Bold, RIM’s greatest offering to date, is no exception, and though the iPhone 3G is slick, shiny and fast, Crackberry users will be happy to know that the iPhone 3G won’t hold a match to the Bold for power-users.
Though I already posted about TBGR’s first-hand analysis of the soon-to-be-released Blackberry Bold, the same people did a very lengthy side-by-side comparison of the Bold and the iPhone 3G. In my mind, that became a necessary comparison when Steve Jobs and Apple decided to tread on RIM’s toes by adding push technology. Now RIM is returning the favor by taking a few swings at the iPhone.
I’m not going to rehash the full comparison — I’ll let you click over if you’re wanting the specific details. What I will say is this: the comparison found that, although the iPhone led most categories by large margins, the most business-intensive features like a physical qwerty keyboard, email, screen and battery were claimed by RIM’s Blackberry Bold.
The touch keyboard of the iPhone doesn’t cut it for heavy emailers or texters. The screen of the Bold has a higher ppi count, and a generally more vibrant and attractive display. Blackberry’s email is unrivaled, and when running the internet or other day-to-day processes, the Blackberry Bold’s battery outperformed that of the iPhone.
If you’re looking for a hard-core business device, the Blackberry Bold is RIM’s best offering yet. For the more general consumer, you might be better off with an iPhone 3G. What’s also exciting is that RIM was forced to renegotiate the prices of the Bold to remain competitive with the iPhone, which means that potential buyers should be looking at spending between $199 and $299 for the device.
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July 17th, 2008
Kind of ironic that the majority of features new to iPhone 2.0 were added to catch up to features other Smartphones have had for years. But everything is compared to the iPhone. The iPhone excels in the touch interface. That’s about it. That makes it a very good device for a large majority of consumers who have never sniff a real smartphone, since they weren’t free with a contract. Nothing wrong with that.
July 18th, 2008
Many have pointed out the difference between the Blackberry (a very-evolved, efficient and responsive business device) and the iPhone (a mobile hand-held computer that has a phone and other interesting capabilities developed for the high-end consumer market).
Each has a place and a distinct market. I just hope that RIMM doesn’t forget its mission and tries to become all-things-to-all people. Changing their basic mission to compete with Apple in the consumer market could be a big mistake. Having a clearly defined mission and doing it very well is still a winning strategy.