[mr_man#CB]

I was asked in the thread below to come back and give my opinion after I had used the iPhone 3Gs.

http://forums.crackberry.com/f133/go...ry-com-260163/

So here it is...

As a recap for others, I had the Storm since the day it came out. I waited in line and got the 2nd one from our local store. I was on these boards almost from the beginning, listening mainly, but contributing here and there. I did not install every upgrade, but did install about 5 and in some cases downgraded when they didn't meet my specs. I was on .75 for awhile, and then .109 for even longer. I did try the latest before I got rid of my phone, but honestly, each time I personally only saw minimal overall improvement in the phone.

So I decided to move on to the iPhone. That was hard enough because I love Verizon and didn't want to go to at&t. But I bit the bullet, ordered a new 3Gs, paid the $140 to cancel with Verizon, and sold my Storm on ebay. I actually made enough money to cover all my costs so I wasn't out anything.

So now onto the honest review...

The iPhone 3Gs arrives by mail. I open it and it is much smaller than I thought it was going to be. Feels nice in the hand, very well constructed...feels solid. I remember how I felt when I first got the Storm and how slick I thought it was. This was that feeling plus about 5.

I get it activated and turn it on. My only word was wow. I actually said that aloud. The UI on this phone is simply amazing. It is so snappy I can't believe I am using a cell phone. The transitions between application is silky smooth. The responsiveness between portrait and landscape is ridiculous. (Unlike the Storm where sometime I would have to slap it on my hand for the accelerometer to wake up and switch views).

I was connected on at&t 3G and the speeds were good. Honestly, I cannot tell a difference between Verizon EV-DO and at&t. So I would call that a wash in my opinion. I then connected to wifi, which is a breeze, and that was just cool. I was downloading apps in just a couple seconds. The Storm 2 def needs to have wifi. I mean they make you pay for a data plan anyway, so why not have it?

Some other neat things that I liked...

On the Storm I hated when I need to go back and edit a text message. Holding your finger on the screen, waiting for the cursor to blink, then having to try and move the cursor really carefully to where you wanted was a real pain. On the iPhone, you put your finger on the screen and a little magnifying glass comes up easily showing where you are scrolling the cursor to. It is very smooth and very easy.

Typing on the iPhone is better than I thought it would be. It keeps up as fast as I can type and I do make less mistakes than I did with the Storm. Only downside is that the landscape keyboard is not available in all apps, and I got used to using that with the Storm so I will have to get used to not always having that.

The camera is very nice. It loads super fast, takes pictures quickly and you can preview them very easily. I hated the delay with the Storm's camera, although I will certainly miss the flash on the Storm - I used that as a flashlight and I swear I could light up my whole backyard with that thing!

Video - editting the video on the phone is as cool as they make it look on TV. I've been having alot of fun with that one.

The browser is nice, but I didn't think the Storm's was really THAT bad, but the Safari browser does perform better.

Messaging - the threading of conversations is great. I love how even if I'm in another app and I get a text, I get this smooth bubble that pops up and shows the incoming text message. Very seamless. One thing I haven't figured out is how to select a range of messages. I loved on the Storm how I could put one finger at the top and another on the last message and it would select them all...I haven't figured out how to do that in the iPhone yet.

Maps is much better...loads very fast, even zooming in or out. The built in compass is cool to see what direction you are going in reference to the map.

The app store is amazing at how much stuff is out there. Tons of free stuff so I'm having a good time trying these out.

I could really go on and on, but the bottom line and most important thing to me is performance and lack of bugs. The iPhone is silky smooth, has flawless transitions, loads apps blazingly fast, and well...just simply works well. I won't sit here and bash the Storm into the ground. It was a cool device and it will get better, but I am honestly telling all of you (whether you want to bash me or not) the iPhone is very very slick and there is no room to argue that the Storm compares. Any of you who have true appreciation of technology will agree with me. Am I saying RIM will never catch up: no. They will. It will be very hard for Apple to stay this far out front forever, but for right now there is one king when it comes to smartphones: the iPhone 3Gs.

(and if you feel the need to flame me, feel free, but my purpose here was to give you an honest opinion from someone who has used the Storm and did defend it to the end)

[savioAMG]

To be fair, it sounds like you're still in your iPhone honeymoon phase, but I liked your review. I agreed with pretty much everything you said.

Storm owners will not be happy with this, as usual when it comes to iPhone/Storm comparisons. Where's the popcorn?

[mr_man#CB]

To be fair, it sounds like you're still in your iPhone honeymoon phase, but I liked your review. I agreed with pretty much everything you said.

Storm owners will not be happy with this, as usual when it comes to iPhone/Storm comparisons. Where's the popcorn?

I wouldn't say honeymoon phase....the iPhone is just everything I hoped the Storm would be...so ya, I'm very very pleased. Best money I ever spent.

[princessfortheday]

I can respect your review, even as a Storm owner who loves her phone. I have an iPod touch, and understand how slick Pods can be, and wouldn't fault anyone for the switch. For me, its the email and business-like-ness of BB that keeps me with them.

Regardless, thanks for not Storm-bashing

[rican408]

even though some people will fight to the death that the storm is better. i do believe the 3gs just set the new bar. hurts to say that cuz i hate apple,and i hate at&t. the phone itself is top notch....
you almost make me wanna get one. the one thing i wonder is about multitasking. do you miss it much?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[spawn026]

nifty review. you did a nice clean job with no bashing just your insight of why you left the storm. unfortunately someone will come in and start the war.

[kidfox]

Seeing that that I am a storm user. And I will admit, if the I-PHONE was available on Verizon (which I believe it will be someday) I would probally get one. But curious to know. Seeing that your comparing what I believe is the 3 generation of I-Phones to the 1st generation of storms. How would people compare the storm to when the I-phone first came out?

The storm needs a lot if work but I believe Verizon and RIM will get this phone right to be a solid competitor to the I-Phone.

Thanks for the great review you provided. I hope the storm can meet the expectations of us storm users

[spawn026]

its my understanding the 3g model is the same as the 1st gen minus the 3g ofcourse. so in theory, the only up in performance is the 3gs in terms of OS. Just speaking out of my tuckus since I never owned a first gen

[bfemale]

ok, now you have really made me think. I love verizon also, but my storm is makeing me nuts! My husband loves the iphone, he did not upgrade his yet. I defend the storm over and over to his iphone, but I am about to give in and switch!

[mr_man#CB]

even though some people will fight to the death that the storm is better. i do believe the 3gs just set the new bar. hurts to say that cuz i hate apple,and i hate at&t. the phone itself is top notch....
you almost make me wanna get one. the one thing i wonder is about multitasking. do you miss it much?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Never really understood everyone's argument on this one...I use the phone the same way I did the Storm. If I close the browser it opens right back up to where I left it. I can listen to music, browse the web, and get text alerts popping up all at the same time.

[mr_man#CB]

Seeing that that I am a storm user. And I will admit, if the I-PHONE was available on Verizon (which I believe it will be someday) I would probally get one. But curious to know. Seeing that your comparing what I believe is the 3 generation of I-Phones to the 1st generation of storms. How would people compare the storm to when the I-phone first came out?

The storm needs a lot if work but I believe Verizon and RIM will get this phone right to be a solid competitor to the I-Phone.

Thanks for the great review you provided. I hope the storm can meet the expectations of us storm users

Forget the original iPhone, I wouldn't have left the Storm for even the iPhone 3G. It just didn't have some things I wanted, but the 3Gs fixed everything I didn't like about the previous iPhones. I used my friends' 3G phones and I was like ehhh...not that much better than the Storm, but the 3Gs is leaps and bounds better.

The 3Gs has awesome battery life, is waaayyy faster, has MMS (waiting on att still), copy & paste, video. These were the things I thought were missing...

[mr_man#CB]

ok, now you have really made me think. I love verison also, but my storm is makeing me nuts! My husband loves the iphone, he did not upgrade his yet. I defend the storm over and over to his iphone, but I am about to give in and switch!

I know how people on here feel about the Storm...I used to be one of you. Some will def say the Storm is fine and it is ok for them...we should leave those people alone because they are telling the truth. However, I think I was with the majority that were frustrated that the Storm let us down. We were ready for iPhone killin quality and the Storm didn't measure up. I doubt (more like hope) that RIM won't make the same mistake on the Storm 2.

I will almost guarantee any of you on the fence about the Storm will die when you get a 3Gs...it really is that good.

[1967LS2]

Good review. Personally there are still things that the iphone lacks that are deal breakers for me.
I went to a concert last night (Coldplay) with my girl, a friend and his girl. He couldnt take 1 picture with his iphone because it doesnt have a flash. I was snapping pictures with the flash on quickly and they were great quality and not all blurry like many iphone pictures sometimes are.
Also I dont like not being able to remove the battery. I keep a spare just in case I'm using my phone heavily and there is no where to plug into to recharge it. Just pop off the back door and throw in the new battery.
I also love the ability to change themes and all the customizations and folders that the Storm has. Every iphone has the same theme and structure with very little customization capabilities.
I updated my software to .151 the other day & it is amazing! New transitions, no memory leak, and very fast, smooth and responsive. Even compared to .148 it seems way more improved.
The iphone does do somethings better than the Storm but even if Verizon gets the iphone I would never ditch my Storm.
Glad to hear your liking your new iphone. Good luck with it & AT&T...

[mr_man#CB]

Good review. Personally there are still things that the iphone lacks that are deal breakers for me.
I went to a concert last night (Coldplay) with my girl, a friend and his girl. He couldnt take 1 picture with his iphone because it doesnt have a flash. I was snapping pictures with the flash on quickly and they were great quality and not all blurry like many iphone pictures sometimes are.
Also I dont like not being able to remove the battery. I keep a spare just in case I'm using my phone heavily and there is no where to plug into to recharge it. Just pop off the back door and throw in the new battery.
I also love the ability to change themes and all the customizations and folders that the Storm has. Every iphone has the same theme and structure with very little customization capabilities.
I updated my software to .151 the other day & it is amazing! New transitions, no memory leak, and very fast, smooth and responsive. Even compared to .148 it seems way more improved.
The iphone does do somethings better than the Storm but even if Verizon gets the iphone I would never ditch my Storm.
Glad to hear your liking your new iphone. Good luck with it & AT&T...

I too wish it had a flash, but also being a photog buff, you wouldn't have wanted to use a flash at a concert in low light. It would oversaturate the picture. What you need there is a high ISO setting and very sensitive CCD...neither of which exist on any cell phone.

Battery replacement would also be ok, but not really needed in my opinion. Unless you swap batteries as you do...but for me, I have never kept spare batteries, and in all the phones I have ever had I don't think I've had a battery go bad. Probably because I get a new phone every two years but still.

I still think the software updates will improve the Storm, but they won't make it what it has the potential to be. Either write a new OS, or wait for the Storm 2.

[anon(41845)]

So - there are some things I refuse to give up with my Storm. Like when I enter contact information how the Storm automatically updates my calendar with any dates related to the contact. The iPhone fails in that area. MMS - the iPhone now supports it but AT&T doesn't. Pathetic. It took AT&T their third attempt to offer this feature...and yet the network they are on can't support it. Cut and paste as well as the edit function you described...is slicker on the iPhone...but what version is Apple on? Yeah...their third. that feature came on the 1st generation Storm. Landscape keyboard in all applications. You said it. I find that invaluable. I will not downgrade that feature to go to an iPhone. I find that is the feature that makes touch screen phones user friendly - giving larger keyboards. WiFi...yeah...Storm1 should have had it...but we all know the Storm2 will have it in a few months. But 3G has been great to me. I really haven't missed WiFi as much as I would have thought I would.

I too stood in line last November to get my first blackberry - the Storm. It has its flaws and isn't as slick as the Apple. But in my opinion Apple traded eye candy for function. I didn't get the phone to download applications and play games on. I bought it as a high tech tool...and it does things that after three tries the iPhone still can't do. The Storm2 is bound to be better in every way than the first storm. It will never be an iPhone...but it is a great blackberry and has those must have features that business users love. I can't wait to upgrade to my second Storm this fall.

[mr_man#CB]

So - there are some things I refuse to give up with my Storm. Like when I enter contact information how the Storm automatically updates my calendar with any dates related to the contact. The iPhone fails in that area. MMS - the iPhone now supports it but AT&T doesn't. Pathetic. It took AT&T their third attempt to offer this feature...and yet the network they are on can't support it. Cut and paste as well as the edit function you described...is slicker on the iPhone...but what version is Apple on? Yeah...their third. that feature came on the 1st generation Storm. Landscape keyboard in all applications. You said it. I find that invaluable. I will not downgrade that feature to go to an iPhone. I find that is the feature that makes touch screen phones user friendly - giving larger keyboards. WiFi...yeah...Storm1 should have had it...but we all know the Storm2 will have it in a few months. But 3G has been great to me. I really haven't missed WiFi as much as I would have thought I would.

I too stood in line last November to get my first blackberry - the Storm. It has its flaws and isn't as slick as the Apple. But in my opinion Apple traded eye candy for function. I didn't get the phone to download applications and play games on. I bought it as a high tech tool...and it does things that after three tries the iPhone still can't do. The Storm2 is bound to be better in every way than the first storm. It will never be an iPhone...but it is a great blackberry and has those must have features that business users love. I can't wait to upgrade to my second Storm this fall.

Ya I agree on the MMS..how could that have been left off for so long. You have to fault Apple and at&t on that one...but it is being implemented at the end of the month so for me its no big deal, but I couldn't have lived without it for years like some people.

As for the landscape keyboard...it is available in the apps that I think need it such as email, texts, notepad etc. Filling out forms in some apps its not available, but honestly the portrait keyboard works so well I have been finding myself using the landscape one less and less.

And for the calendar thing...my calendar was updated with my contacts birthdays when I entered them.

Yes the BlackBerry has those BB features we have all come to love, but with the Storm they just didn't execute them very well. Features without solid performance and stability is a failing grade from my point of view...

...but we will have to see what they can do next time around.

[agentsil]

I was asked in the thread below to come back and give my opinion after I had used the iPhone 3Gs.

http://forums.crackberry.com/f133/go...ry-com-260163/

So here it is...

As a recap for others, I had the Storm since the day it came out. I waited in line and got the 2nd one from our local store. I was on these boards almost from the beginning, listening mainly, but contributing here and there. I did not install every upgrade, but did install about 5 and in some cases downgraded when they didn't meet my specs. I was on .75 for awhile, and then .109 for even longer. I did try the latest before I got rid of my phone, but honestly, each time I personally only saw minimal overall improvement in the phone.

So I decided to move on to the iPhone. That was hard enough because I love Verizon and didn't want to go to at&t. But I bit the bullet, ordered a new 3Gs, paid the $140 to cancel with Verizon, and sold my Storm on ebay. I actually made enough money to cover all my costs so I wasn't out anything.

So now onto the honest review...

The iPhone 3Gs arrives by mail. I open it and it is much smaller than I thought it was going to be. Feels nice in the hand, very well constructed...feels solid. I remember how I felt when I first got the Storm and how slick I thought it was. This was that feeling plus about 5.

I get it activated and turn it on. My only word was wow. I actually said that aloud. The UI on this phone is simply amazing. It is so snappy I can't believe I am using a cell phone. The transitions between application is silky smooth. The responsiveness between portrait and landscape is ridiculous. (Unlike the Storm where sometime I would have to slap it on my hand for the accelerometer to wake up and switch views).

I was connected on at&t 3G and the speeds were good. Honestly, I cannot tell a difference between Verizon EV-DO and at&t. So I would call that a wash in my opinion. I then connected to wifi, which is a breeze, and that was just cool. I was downloading apps in just a couple seconds. The Storm 2 def needs to have wifi. I mean they make you pay for a data plan anyway, so why not have it?

Some other neat things that I liked...

On the Storm I hated when I need to go back and edit a text message. Holding your finger on the screen, waiting for the cursor to blink, then having to try and move the cursor really carefully to where you wanted was a real pain. On the iPhone, you put your finger on the screen and a little magnifying glass comes up easily showing where you are scrolling the cursor to. It is very smooth and very easy.

Typing on the iPhone is better than I thought it would be. It keeps up as fast as I can type and I do make less mistakes than I did with the Storm. Only downside is that the landscape keyboard is not available in all apps, and I got used to using that with the Storm so I will have to get used to not always having that.

The camera is very nice. It loads super fast, takes pictures quickly and you can preview them very easily. I hated the delay with the Storm's camera, although I will certainly miss the flash on the Storm - I used that as a flashlight and I swear I could light up my whole backyard with that thing!

Video - editting the video on the phone is as cool as they make it look on TV. I've been having alot of fun with that one.

The browser is nice, but I didn't think the Storm's was really THAT bad, but the Safari browser does perform better.

Messaging - the threading of conversations is great. I love how even if I'm in another app and I get a text, I get this smooth bubble that pops up and shows the incoming text message. Very seamless. One thing I haven't figured out is how to select a range of messages. I loved on the Storm how I could put one finger at the top and another on the last message and it would select them all...I haven't figured out how to do that in the iPhone yet.

Maps is much better...loads very fast, even zooming in or out. The built in compass is cool to see what direction you are going in reference to the map.

The app store is amazing at how much stuff is out there. Tons of free stuff so I'm having a good time trying these out.

I could really go on and on, but the bottom line and most important thing to me is performance and lack of bugs. The iPhone is silky smooth, has flawless transitions, loads apps blazingly fast, and well...just simply works well. I won't sit here and bash the Storm into the ground. It was a cool device and it will get better, but I am honestly telling all of you (whether you want to bash me or not) the iPhone is very very slick and there is no room to argue that the Storm compares. Any of you who have true appreciation of technology will agree with me. Am I saying RIM will never catch up: no. They will. It will be very hard for Apple to stay this far out front forever, but for right now there is one king when it comes to smartphones: the iPhone 3Gs.

(and if you feel the need to flame me, feel free, but my purpose here was to give you an honest opinion from someone who has used the Storm and did defend it to the end)

COOL STORY BRO!.........

[agentsil]

I wouldn't say honeymoon phase....the iPhone is just everything I hoped the Storm would be...so ya, I'm very very pleased. Best money I ever spent.

well thats nice most people expected the storm to be a iblackberry but no it was just a normal blackberry and alot of still in the closet iphone loving blackberry owners were crushed if only they would move on and get the phone they wanted like you did then this site would be a much happier place

[juliankueh]

Forget the original iPhone, I wouldn't have left the Storm for even the iPhone 3G. It just didn't have some things I wanted, but the 3Gs fixed everything I didn't like about the previous iPhones. I used my friends' 3G phones and I was like ehhh...not that much better than the Storm, but the 3Gs is leaps and bounds better.

The 3Gs has awesome battery life, is waaayyy faster, has MMS (waiting on att still), copy & paste, video. These were the things I thought were missing...

I guess all us Storm users hope Storm 2 or 3 will improve as much as iphone 3gs has for Apple.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[spawn026]

Good review. Personally there are still things that the iphone lacks that are deal breakers for me.
I went to a concert last night (Coldplay) with my girl, a friend and his girl. He couldnt take 1 picture with his iphone because it doesnt have a flash. I was snapping pictures with the flash on quickly and they were great quality and not all blurry like many iphone pictures sometimes are.
Also I dont like not being able to remove the battery. I keep a spare just in case I'm using my phone heavily and there is no where to plug into to recharge it. Just pop off the back door and throw in the new battery.
I also love the ability to change themes and all the customizations and folders that the Storm has. Every iphone has the same theme and structure with very little customization capabilities.
I updated my software to .151 the other day & it is amazing! New transitions, no memory leak, and very fast, smooth and responsive. Even compared to .148 it seems way more improved.
The iphone does do somethings better than the Storm but even if Verizon gets the iphone I would never ditch my Storm.
Glad to hear your liking your new iphone. Good luck with it & AT&T...

i do miss the flash at times, could have used it yesterday but meh. The pros outweight the cons. But enough about that, coldplay??? maaaaaaan, aren't they the next generation of plagiarists

[anon(41845)]

Ya I agree on the MMS..how could that have been left off for so long. You have to fault Apple and at&t on that one...but

No buts. I love it how people will forgive Apple for things they didn't get right until their 3rd generation but fault RIM on things freely overlooking the fact that they nailed some big items the first time around like Cut & Paste, Video, MMS, Landscape in all applications, robust contacts/calendar. This was Apple/AT&T's third go round. There is no excuse for not bringing this to the table when the Storm had it day one last year on their first try.

As for the landscape keyboard...it is available in the apps that I think need it such as email, texts, notepad etc. Filling out forms in some apps its not available, but honestly the portrait keyboard works so well I have been finding myself using the landscape one less and less.

You find yourself using landscape less and less because you have no choice.

And for the calendar thing...my calendar was updated with my contacts birthdays when I entered them.

So they fixed this on the 3GS model. Took them the 3rd attempt to get this basic feature installed. Glad to hear it.

Yes the BlackBerry has those BB features we have all come to love, but with the Storm they just didn't execute them very well. Features without solid performance and stability is a failing grade from my point of view...

...but we will have to see what they can do next time around.

Again - while I'll be the first to admit the Storm isn't perfect...it was RIM's 1st generation touch screen that arguably had many big features that Apple didn't get (and some still don't offer) until their third phone.

I think the Storm2 will only improve upon the existing goodness that many of the BB users enjoy...on Verizon which in my opinion is a much better network - at least in San Antonio, TX - than AT&T.

[jah1373]

a jailbroken iPhone is the most customizable device, has the best multitasking with backgrounder, is the fastest browsing and application opening, smoothest OS, best screen, easiest to use phone on the market. How is there a comparison between the storm and a jailbroken iPhone 3GS? its not even close...

[leecott]

a jailbroken iPhone is the most customizable device, has the best multitasking with backgrounder, is the fastest browsing and application opening, smoothest OS, best screen, easiest to use phone on the market. How is there a comparison between the storm and a jailbroken iPhone 3GS? its not even close...

Funny how you have to 'jailbreak' it to make it run like a Storm.

[vevans2]

Good review but I still prefer the storm especialy with the .151 upgrade. I had an itouch and saw the iphone and I still think the device is best at multimedia and fails as a business phone. The storm is a business phone first that happens to do multimedia. It does it well also.

[anon(30569)]

K. Cool comparison. Seems unbiased and only telling me why you switched. As for apple. I never doubted them in any aspect. I still own multiple pcs. They never crash or go bad. APple just isn't for me. I got my first berry. Yes a storm and was very pleased. As I'm a techy first time I saw this site I immediately began executing many features and work arounds and hybrids and different set ups. Awesome device. I've had it for three months and only have on complaint- the lag of showing the blue key strokes while typing this in th browser. I get work emails, world of warcraft emails, aeria games emails and I can read them all and respond. K enuf bout my storm.

I got my hands on an iphone yesterday for the time. Def not for me. I sent a corp email to both devices. Took ten more minutes to get iphone. I opened it and it froze trying to load. At which point a little ibubble popped up and said- please refer to you BlackBerry to continue reading... Texting is a joke and I could load ebay and close the browse and open it back up 5 times to the iphones 3.

I see more and more people picking up an iphone and am glad. Maybe less people ******** about the storm. I had a terrible review of the iphone and every apple computer I've used. They seem like you can customiz n disect their products a lot less than pcs and my blackberry. When rim has its third storm out...

I believe, no offense, most storm os issues to be user issues. Same with pcs. I see many many kids with an iphone and run offtheir mouth about my storm. I ask them why its better and they promptly load a webpage and hand it to me.

I'm also all for people who just straight up prefer the iphone. I LIKE my storm. I
I'm also sure that the blackberry storm and the storm was marketed to different communities?
My experience was poor. But I've read good things and could see whyhy other
People would prefer it. I'm not trying to bash anyone just saying my two cents.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com