[RCNA]

My storm fried itself the other day in which I received a BB Bold 9700 as it�s replacement. Should I keep the bold or sell it and the renew my contract in which I would get an iphone?

I�m a photographer so the BB experience has not been the greatest (unlike what I see with the apps for iphone), Podcast were ok with podtrapper but a lot of them couldn�t play due to the bb encoding, and constant freezes just added to the mix. I understand that the bold won�t have the freezing problems but the lack of good apps is still not there. I know OS 6 is coming and the new apps are coming but RIM said that with OS 5 and BB App world. I do not want to be let down again.

I do work on exchange 2007 at work. We tried the iphone 4 on it today and from what I saw, it did 90% of the bb did. I couldn�t add a contact to a meeting that I created on the iphone but I could accept a meeting request that was sent from outlook.

So I have a buyer for the Bold and I was looking for your advice and thoughts. My wife wants an iphone too so we are both leaning towards that route but I just wanted to get everyone�s thoughts on this. Sorry if this has already been asked.

Thanks,
Matt

[Yell0w]

you can try reading this thread, there has been 4 pages worth of comments, i'm in the same situation as you.

[Apocalypso]

My storm fried itself the other day in which I received a BB Bold 9700 as it’s replacement. Should I keep the bold or sell it and the renew my contract in which I would get an iphone?

I’m a photographer so the BB experience has not been the greatest (unlike what I see with the apps for iphone), Podcast were ok with podtrapper but a lot of them couldn’t play due to the bb encoding, and constant freezes just added to the mix. I understand that the bold won’t have the freezing problems but the lack of good apps is still not there. I know OS 6 is coming and the new apps are coming but RIM said that with OS 5 and BB App world. I do not want to be let down again.

I do work on exchange 2007 at work. We tried the iphone 4 on it today and from what I saw, it did 90% of the bb did. I couldn’t add a contact to a meeting that I created on the iphone but I could accept a meeting request that was sent from outlook.

So I have a buyer for the Bold and I was looking for your advice and thoughts. My wife wants an iphone too so we are both leaning towards that route but I just wanted to get everyone’s thoughts on this. Sorry if this has already been asked.

Thanks,
Matt

Well, I suppose your choice should depend on what your primary needs from a cellphone are. It would appear that the logical choice (based on your info given) would be to get the iPhone. Consider the following:

1. The iPhone has a higher megapixel camera than the BlackBerry. Don't know if that's a must-have for you since as a photographer you would agree that cellphone cameras can't do half as well at taking pictures than actual cameras. For those quick, on-the-fly shots however, the iPhone might suit your needs. Plus it has an HD camera.

2. You mentioned the BlackBerry having a "lack of good apps". What do you define as "good" for an app? I happen to disagree on this point as I've found plenty of "good" apps for my BB, but I understand that personal preference is relative to an individual's needs. Have you discerned this for yourself in your consideration?

3. You use an exchange server at your work. The ip4 and the BB both are functional to this end; you however, have said that you've already tried it at work and it does nearly all of what you need it to do, so why keep the BB? Sell it!

4. Your wife also wants an iPhone. Two is company. If both of you get iPhones, you could facetime each other!

So, based on the aforementioned, I'd say go with the glaringly obvious: the iPhone.

And this is my humble, unbiased opinion as a BlackBerry addict.

Cheers and good luck on whatever you decide.

[simho]

Get the iPhone. From what you said it seems like it would suit you better. I was pro-iPhone years ago and went to BB for about 1.5 years. I've had the iPhone 4 for about 1.5 months and am going back to a 9780 when it's released.

My fiance has an iPhone 4 and wouldn't give it up for anything. Different strokes for different folks...

[thej]

No ! Dont go to iphone 4.. u hv the Grip of Death.. Shattered glass issues..

[mad_eyes]

He's a photographer, why would he care about a cell phone camera. On top of that megapixels have little to do with quality of a photo

Have u looked into android at all?

I'm considering iphone 4 as well.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Toxic17]

if your wanting to stay with BB then a Bold 9780 would be better since it has a 5M pixel camera, full OS6 support and more built in memory.

The iPhone does have an excellent camera for quick snaps and video is very good also. though do you want a full touch screen and no real keyboard?

if your into photography in a big way then a camera phone is not the best option since all camera phones have very small lens and picture quality is not as good as a decent compact camera with a larger lens.

obviously the choice is yours but i would give up on BB just yet. get intoa phone shop and test the BB 9780.

[Tinyk]

Well I loved by 9700 and as a business user thought nothing could replace it, having said that I got very tiers with the lack of apps and had a brief spell with android before trying a iPhone 4. It had it's issues which were mostly solved with iOS 4.1 and I've never looked back since. I have now converted the whole family and whilst I still carry a pappy it is very rare that it see the light of day since being so impressed with the iPhone I added the iPad to the arsenal as well.

I don't get my mail any slower than my collected using blackberries and I get the freedom to choose from five or six apps every time rather than being luck to find one. Now also being able to jailbreak it I feel the transition is complete and I have finally packed the 9700 away ready to sell.

I don't think I can homely say that the iPhone lacks anything from the bb, but it certainly adds a host of features to my list of requirements and don't think I could ever go back to the bb operating system just because of the apps I'd miss.

Hope you enjoy the change.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[iBlack11]

I agree, 9700 is a great phone so wait for the better version, dont go apple :P

[stuaw11]

OP, try out an iphone you have nothing to lose doing so if you arent confident in staying with BB. It can do 98% of what the BB can do plus a lot of stuff it cant.

BTW I dont know what iphone model with what iOS you looked at but meeting invites do work for exchange. Go into the calendar, tap the "+" to create a new appointment entry (or edit an old one), scroll below the times and "repeats" and it has "invitees" where you enter the people you want to invite.

[Maury27]

How did you get a Bold 9700 as a replacement for a storm? One is CDMA and the other is GSM... Just curious..

I just went to a iPhone 4 after almost four years on Blackberry, My most recent one a Torch 9800 .. I don't miss Blackberry at all.

[fabuloso]

I used to miss my Bold.

But, what I did was the following:

1) Jailbreak my 3GS
2) Install Cydia
3) Install openSSH, iBlocks, Winterboard and a few other BB like items
4) Download Blackberry Themes
5) Adjust BB Icons in Photoshop
6) Make iPhone look like a BB.

I don't miss my Bold anymore.

[avt123]

How did you get a Bold 9700 as a replacement for a storm? One is CDMA and the other is GSM... Just curious..

I just went to a iPhone 4 after almost four years on Blackberry, My most recent one a Torch 9800 .. I don't miss Blackberry at all.

The OP lives in Canada. Telus supports both CDMA ad GSM. I believe they merged with Bell about a year ago to form an HSDPA+ network to compete with Rogers. I may be wrong with the date.

[RetroAndreas]

The OP lives in Canada. Telus supports both CDMA ad GSM. I believe they merged with Bell about a year ago to form an HSDPA+ network to compete with Rogers. I may be wrong with the date.

For the Olympics Bell and Telus shared the cost to build the HSDPA+ network. They are separate companies but there are rumours they may merge.

[reverepats]

hey read this article from BGR before you make ur yur mind up
The iPhone is the worst… � Boy Genius Report

[Roo Zilla]

hey read this article from BGR before you make ur yur mind up
The iPhone is the worst� � Boy Genius Report

Whoever wrote that article is either nitpicking or doesn't know his iPhone. For example, the first thing he mentions, HQ YouTube over 3G is easily remedied by installing the YouTube webapp. Even Google advertises the webapp as being better than the their apps on smartphones.

The second item, adding words to a user dictionary is just plain wrong. There is one, it's just a bit hard to access. I use it all the time.

His third issue, saving state on close... I don't know what to say about his solution. He wants a long press. Right now it's a double press to bring up the menu. State saving is actually awesome. It makes apps much more responsive. I wish my desktop computer had it.

His issue with the mail app not being capable of custom ringtones (I presume he means different ringtones for different accounts or different senders) is right on. If that's a dealbreaker, than you shouldn't get the iPhone. His other issues with the mail app are also correct. For some it's a big deal, for others they're non-issues. Everybody should make up their own minds about what's important to them.

As for the other gripes about the notification system, they're legitimate gripes. A lot of them are easily mitigated by jailbreaking your phone, although he fails to mention this. For example, biteSMS let's you control the pop-ups. SBSettings allows quick and easy access to settings. Liveclock makes the clock app icon tell the time and weathericon makes the weather icon tell the current weather.

That last thing he's talking about, I've never seen it and this is honestly the first time I've even heard of this issue. If his problem is too many notifications, he can easily disable the pop-ups on the less important ones while still keeping the badges or sound alerts.

[tallguy21]

I used to miss my Bold.

But, what I did was the following:

1) Jailbreak my 3GS
2) Install Cydia
3) Install openSSH, iBlocks, Winterboard and a few other BB like items
4) Download Blackberry Themes
5) Adjust BB Icons in Photoshop
6) Make iPhone look like a BB.

I don't miss my Bold anymore.

that is smooth...which app is that and is it free through cydia? i'd love to have that layout

[tallguy21]

i'll be honest I kinda miss my 9700 because I was so used to it all.....for me I don't technically need an iPhone but I can't say I don't enjoy it....the camera, screen and random apps are definitely nice...but when it comes to typing fast and accurately the 9700 does it for me...same goes for scrolling through what I need it to scroll through, even though the Browser is amazing on the Iphone I didn't mind the Bolds Browser that much....I kinda wish they could come out w/a compact size of the Bold but still have the touchscreen up top for browsing purposes....I don't need a touchscreen keyboard like some people like....the Torch would've been on point for me if it weren't for the slider bs...plus it is laggy in comparison to the iPhone 4

anyways you just need to see what you want and need the phone for....the 9700 basically did what I need it to...but in all honesty from alot of areas the Iphone lays the smackdown...only thing I was wish the iphone had was a keyboard...lol...BB keyboard at that....anddddd the lil red light...I miss that thing....on top of the damn size of my iphone because I have a white otter box on it which looks pimp but it's huge in comparison...even w/my old Bold having a commuter box...i'm carrying a brick lol

[RCNA]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. It is appreciated.

After thinking about over the weekend, I think I will be going to iphone unless something is pointed out that I missed in my research. The major reason for the switch is the apps. For example, I do my banking with Westminster Savings, there is an iphone app, I build my webpage through squarespace.com, there is an iphone app for that, I sell stock photos on istock, there is an app for that and the list goes on. I have also found that not all podcast play through podtrapper and I was informed that this was due to coding issues. With an iPhone, I would not have this trouble.

The big one for me is (and please correct me if I am wrong) is that there is really no great photo app for the BB. The iPhone has some really awesome lite-photoshop apps out there. For what I seen and searched for the BB is I can do a crop, change the color to B&W and post on Facebook. This may be enough for the typical user but when your a photographer it is a different situation. Yes I do use you DSLR to do all my shoots and lightroom to touch up the photos but for the times I don't have a camera with me, this is the best option. I actually won a signed Sidney Crosby jersey with a shot taken from my storm. The best camera is the one that is always with you.

I also find that I keep getting the promise from RIM that there will be new apps with os 6 but this is what we were told with OS 5. So....unless there is anything I can or you can think of that I am going to truly miss, I think it will be an iphone.

Thanks again everyone,

Matt

[Roo Zilla]

Oddly, the iPhone also offers HDR which works really well. Not really a feature I had expected but it showed up all of a sudden in the most recent firmware update.

[RCNA]

Oddly, the iPhone also offers HDR which works really well. Not really a feature I had expected but it showed up all of a sudden in the most recent firmware update.

A friend showed it to me and I was blown away of how good it is. On top of that, there is a few good apps that allow you to do panormas. Just another perk to the iphone.

Just so were are on the same page, I would be getting an iPhone 4, not a 3gs.

[jezreel]

Matt, use what benefits you! The iphone is excellent for the field of work that you do so go for it !

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Cleveland]

I LOVE my iPhone 4, it's pretty much the Ferrari of smartphones, I don't miss my BB days at all, I've been BB free for almost a year lol

[RCNA]

Matt, use what benefits you! The iphone is excellent for the field of work that you do so go for it !

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Thanks Jezreel!

I did end up going with the iphone and selling the Bold just before the new one came out. I have nothing but positive things to say about the iPhone 4. It does everything I need it too and of course the right way too. It plays ALL my podcast without crashing, it allows me to edit my photos that I take, it even allows me to take a 720p video�s and edit it right in the phone.
In regards to the email on Exchange, it works with no problems at all. The search function works perfect too. I always had problems with the search tool on my BB with BES as I found it could not find any emails that I was trying to search for.

As for BBM, I now use what�s app which works awesome. You can send files, pics, videos, ect unlike BBM (at least I think). It does not tell me if the individual has read the message and does not allow group chat; not yet at least.

After talking to some friends who have the Torch and hearing their horror stories of the phone locking up, I am soooo glad that I made the switch. Honestly I don�t think I will go back to a BB unless things dramatically change but I doubt that will happen.

As for all the BB users, as mentioned above, use what works for you. If you are un-happy, then consider the completion.

[ste1164]

Glad you enjoyed the iPhone it's a great device. Kinda opposite story for me as the blackberry probably suits my needs more :P. I used to love the apps but not that much anymore. Blackberry seems perfect for me.