[ADGrant]

Well said

BUT in complete context, the discussion of iCloud arose from the statement that iTunes is no longer required for using an iOS device.

It isn't. It may still be the best option for certain types of data though.

[Laura Knotek]

No. iTunes will sync Outlook to an iOS device so if you want to USB sync rather than via a cloud, an iPhone will work just as well as a BB. If you want to sync to the Exchange server your instance Outlook is connecting to instead, iOS devices can do that too (so can a Mac). I believe Android devices can as well but I have no experiance with Android.

A Blackberry OTOH cannot connect to an exchange server directly. It can only connect via a BES server at significant additional cost or a BESx server at a lower additional cost.

Also I don't think you can USB sync a modern Windows Phone.

So if one does not want iTunes either, then only BlackBerry or Windows Phone sync with Outlook without 3rd party apps?

[ADGrant]

I do Love the Microsoft Stuff, When I was a Student I did everything I could to RUN from Microsoft, once I got into the business world, I realized how great Microsoft was and regretted greatly coasting through the Excel/Powerpoint classes I did, took me much longer to learn advanced features when I was working.

Outlook Calendar coupled with outlook contact management is what makes it great, emailing is Meh, I like it Better than I liked LotusNotes, but 8 out of 10 emails I will send from my BlackBerry before booting up my laptop, but with Calendars, and contact management, I have so many groups based on who I need to get data too, and in what industries they are related, Outlook has so many easy ways to deal, and the advanced features are fantastic,

I wrote my first Windows software back in 1988. I still work in Windows application development. All my business communication is via Outlook or a BES connected Blackberry. My personal technology however is now all Apple based (since Oct 14).

All my personal communication is via my personal Apple devices and all business communication is via corporate BB and Windows desktop.

[_StephenBB81]

I wrote my first Windows software back in 1988. I still work in Windows application development. All my business communication is via Outlook or a BES connected Blackberry. My personal technology however is now all Apple based (since Oct 14).

All my personal communication is via my personal Apple devices and all business communication is via corporate BB and Windows desktop.

Ok?

My business/ personal life over lap extensively, my family use outlook and BlackBerry's across multiple sectors, my programming love was for webbased application and networks until I discovered the world of sales.

My personal and Work calendars must over lap as I spend 100-150 nights a year in hotels, so my personal calendar must reflect the place I am in, how this really reflects to how one can use OutLook but not use iTunes doesn't really come to bare.
I was given a Free MacBook to trial, it wasn't my cup of tea, shortly there after Windows 7 came out, which was more my cup of tea, still not perfect, but luckly 3rd party makes it much better. This thread with a great premise is to help those of us with BlackBerry's learn the ins and outs of how the other phones could fit into our lives.
If the purchase of a new phone required a full week of set up and transfer of all technology within the house, hardly would seem worth it.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Laura Knotek]

If the purchase of a new phone required a full week of set up and transfer of all technology within the house, hardly would seem worth it.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Yes. I agree. If I were to get a different smartphone beside BlackBerry, I would need it to "play nice" with the HW and SW I already have, which happens to be PC and Microsoft products, not Macs and Apple SW.

[ADGrant]

Ok?

My business/ personal life over lap extensively, my family use outlook and BlackBerry's across multiple sectors, my programming love was for webbased application and networks until I discovered the world of sales.

My personal and Work calendars must over lap as I spend 100-150 nights a year in hotels, so my personal calendar must reflect the place I am in, how this really reflects to how one can use OutLook but not use iTunes doesn't really come to bare.
I was given a Free MacBook to trial, it wasn't my cup of tea, shortly there after Windows 7 came out, which was more my cup of tea, still not perfect, but luckly 3rd party makes it much better. This thread with a great premise is to help those of us with BlackBerry's learn the ins and outs of how the other phones could fit into our lives.
If the purchase of a new phone required a full week of set up and transfer of all technology within the house, hardly would seem worth it.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

My employer does not permit corporate devices to be used for personal email. Nor do the permit business email to sent from personal accounts. Emailing corporate information to a personal email account can (and has) resulted in termination of employment. There is also no way to sync a corporate calendar or contacts to a personal device. I carry two phones, one personal, one work. Not an uncommon scenario for corporate BB users.

I adopted the iPhone over a year after all I had switched everything else to Apple. Plenty of people own an iPhone and no other Apple stuff. I had an iPad first and it worked fine with Windows. Problem was, it showed me just how much Windows was slowing me down. So I switched to a Mac about 18 months ago. I switched to an iPhone from BB two weeks ago.

[ADGrant]

So if one does not want iTunes either, then only BlackBerry or Windows Phone sync with Outlook without 3rd party apps?

I am fairly sure that Windows phone won't sync directly with Outlook.

It is true though that an iPhone will not sync with a PC unless you use the syncing software provided but that is true of any phone except those that do not provide syncing software such as Android or WebOS.

[_StephenBB81]

My employer does not permit corporate devices to be used for personal email. Nor do the permit business email to sent from personal accounts. Emailing corporate information to a personal email account can (and has) resulted in termination of employment. There is also no way to sync a corporate calendar or contacts to a personal device. I carry two phones, one personal, one work. Not an uncommon scenario for corporate BB users.

I adopted the iPhone over a year after all I had switched everything else to Apple. Plenty of people own an iPhone and no other Apple stuff. I had an iPad first and it worked fine with Windows. Problem was, it showed me just how much Windows was slowing me down. So I switched to a Mac about 18 months ago. I switched to an iPhone from BB two weeks ago.

my 9300 is very much that BES locked Device, All of my Calendar events are done via my 9900 and the 9300 is invited to have relevant ones to just work inserted.
I create much of the content that I go with as most of it is government legislation that I need to make into layman terms, and then build TCO's around the legislation.
Because of my travel and the high data costs associated with Travel my personal phone became a BB as I used to be a BES BB, and a Personal WinMo, as before being in the corporate world I carried a WinMo personal,

I question how many of those people who own just an iPhone, don't use iTunes, that really is my primary distaste for the iPhone (apart from no keyboard, but that could probably be over come if forced.)
Everyone has different personal work lives, when I was a techy, I had far more free time to play than I do now with technology, the mirroring of technology from Personal to Business makes moving from machine to machine braindead easy, and allows one to do work at home without the need to boot up a burdened down machine.

[chiefbroski]

Yeah, I gotta say, I couldn't stand taking care of two phones all the time. Sounds like a nightmare....lol. My BB 9860 gets my government work email, university email and my personal email all in one. All calendars, emails, and everything are separate but on the same phone. Seems way simpler than having two devices.

It's done by forwarding my work exchange email from work using Blackberry Redirector (I know, old skool) to my personal device (a BB). No security violations I believe. Its push and simplifies my life. Thank you BB.

Probably other platforms can do this too, but until I see a better/easier solution than what I have now, I remain unimpressed.

[mtint]

Well, nice thread.

When was using iPhone and iPad as primary devices was very satisfied with syncing gmail. Gmail setup as Exchange account worked great on iDevice, in terms of syncing and push, for email, calendar and contacts (the later with some issues).

The gmail account was setup twice
1) as Exchange for emails, contacts and calendar;
2) as IMAP for Notes. Loved that configuration, quite missing it, because all notes made on preinstalled app was synced to a note folder in gmail.

For (google) calendar was using third party app, GooSync if not wrong, for creating appointments. The third party "involvement" was only because of the functionality to setup several reminders (popup, email, sms) for appointment.

The same time my email experience on iOS was far from great
- nightmare to type email or sms on iPhone. Loved typing on iPad btw.
- Attachments. No way to have more than one attachment to email, actually there was some third party solutions but never worked well for me.

Another reason moved away from iOS was managing my documents on the device. No such things like file explorers or so, due to the way iOS is. Only solution was iFile, need for jailbreak, but even then it was to messy and not organized for me.

[pantlesspenguin]

I'm really glad this thread has taken off! I'm learning things about Android I didn't even know after about 15 months of using the platform.

There's a better place to get information about Android and iOS rather than start a thread on a BB fan site.
Here...
http://www.androidcentral.com/
and here...
http://www.tipb.com/

For some reason, the OP and others feel the need to come to CrackBerry and evangelize for iOS or Android. This isn't the place, it just causes arguments. Mobile Nations has done a great job of bringing several OS specific sites together (Thanks Mobile Nations). Take advantage of it and visit some of the other sites if you are interested.

Again, this thread is to educate BLACKBERRY USERS on the current state of Android and IOS platforms, their capabilities, etc because I was tired of blatant misinformation being shared by BB users who might not know any better. Do you really think the average BB user would go to androidcentral or tipb to verify their claim that android/ios battery life sucks, widgets are pointless, email/calendar integration must suck compared to BB, the devices are toys that can't accomplish real productivity, etc? Again, the point of this thread was just to invite BB users to ask questions about these platforms to stop misinformation from being shared.

The vast majority of Android/IOS users on crackberry are previous BB users who really enjoy this community and are rooting for RIM to succeed and looking forward to future BB devices. Unfortunately there are some trolls out there who give us former BB users a bad name. Regardless, while we wait I get really frustrated when I see false information being spread.

Another way to look at it - say you've been an Android user since its inception, and a member of androidcentral for years. Recently, however, BB OS7 devices have really won you over, and you jump on one of those. You still check in with androidcentral because you have friends on that site and want to continue to monitor Android's progress. But, every once in awhile you'll see someone spouting off something about the new BBs that you know to be false now after using them. How would that make you feel?

I'll get off my soapbox now . Carry on with the q&a!

[ADGrant]

It's done by forwarding my work exchange email from work using Blackberry Redirector (I know, old skool) to my personal device (a BB). No security violations I believe. Its push and simplifies my life. Thank you BB.

Probably other platforms can do this too, but until I see a better/easier solution than what I have now, I remain unimpressed.

No security violation for you perhaps. Many employers would not permit the instalation of a mail redirector (including mine). Some companies will permit employees to connect their personal phone to the corporate exchange server. The other solution to the one phone problem is Goodlink which sandboxes the corporate information. Neither solution is available to personal BB users but some companies also allow personal devices to connect to BES or BESx.

[ADGrant]

The same time my email experience on iOS was far from great
- nightmare to type email or sms on iPhone. Loved typing on iPad btw.
- Attachments. No way to have more than one attachment to email, actually there was some third party solutions but never worked well for me.

Another reason moved away from iOS was managing my documents on the device. No such things like file explorers or so, due to the way iOS is. Only solution was iFile, need for jailbreak, but even then it was to messy and not organized for me.

I agree with the typing issue. It takes some getting used to. As for email attachments, I have had issues with reading attachments on my BB. I used to get very large PDFs which would result in the email being truncated. I would have to use my iPad to read the emails.

I manage my PDF documents in iBook.

[ADGrant]

I question how many of those people who own just an iPhone, don't use iTunes, that really is my primary distaste for the iPhone (apart from no keyboard, but that could probably be over come if forced.)
Everyone has different personal work lives, when I was a techy, I had far more free time to play than I do now with technology, the mirroring of technology from Personal to Business makes moving from machine to machine braindead easy, and allows one to do work at home without the need to boot up a burdened down machine.

My guess is not very many iPhone users don't use iTunes. However it is possible to do so. PIM data can be synced via iCloud and there are third party applications for loading media on and off an iPod and probably an iPhone too.

[ADGrant]

Yes. I agree. If I were to get a different smartphone beside BlackBerry, I would need it to "play nice" with the HW and SW I already have, which happens to be PC and Microsoft products, not Macs and Apple SW.

iOS devices play fairly nice with PCs. Certainly much nicer than Android or WebOS and at least as nice as BB or Windows Phones. It some respects they work better with a PC environment than either a BB or Windows phone.

[Laura Knotek]

iOS devices play fairly nice with PCs. Certainly much nicer than Android or WebOS and at least as nice as BB or Windows Phones. It some respects they work better with a PC environment than either a BB or Windows phone.

From your previous post, it appears that iCloud will sync with Outlook. However, it appears that iTunes is required to use iCloud. The instructions state "Download iTunes" as the first step. Apple - iCloud - Getting Started

Now, you also mentioned that one can use Exchange Active Sync without iTunes.

However, is there any way to add music files to iPhone without iTunes? Obviously iTunes is not required to sync with Outlook, but what about music on the device? Can one drag and drop music files using Windows Explorer? The reason I ask is because I do not use DM Media Sync for BlackBerry. I prefer to manage my media using Windows Explorer.

[mud314]

Ok. I'll start with a question.

I do have a Gmail account, but I use Outlook, not Gmail for my contacts, calendar, and managing all of my email accounts (I have 3 others beside Gmail).

BIS syncs well with all of my email accounts/contacts/calendar in Outlook. I do not use Gmail for contacts or calendar.

Is there a way to easily sync everything in Outlook on an Android, or does everything have to use Gmail or 3rd party apps?

If 3rd party apps are required to sync Outlook on Android, are they free?

There is a third party app called the Missing Sync for 39 you can use it to sync your outlook, out of the box I don't believe there is an option as of yet.

I used to own an Android and I could never get it to to perform a good sync even when using that app. Having a Gmail account and having your contacts on the Gmail server is the best sure way to get your stuff done on this phone. As of my last experience which was about a month ago.

Links for Missing Sync: http://www.markspace.com/
http://www.markspace.com/downloads.html I think with this link you can download a trial version. Don't quote me on that though, it used to be and it's not always easy to come across this link and you may not want to spend 40 bucks for something that may or may not work for you the way you wanted it to. Enjoy

[mud314]

Ok, so here goes. Can someone who has used iOS5 and Android help me out by comparing similar features on those platforms to these ones on BB:

* Notifications - obviously no LED, but how about VM, Email, MMS/SMS etc. notifications compare?
* Bedside mode
* Email - how fast are new messages received?
* Syncing contacts/calendar with MS Outlook
* Data usage - does BB data compression make a big difference?
* Has anyone ever got malware/virus on their mobile device? How bad?
* Battery life, realistically

Never having used Android or iOS, these are some of the questions I have based on rumours, what I've heard from friends etc. Any insight folks?

Androids do have LED notification, of course IOS does not.
Email: I honestly have not noticed a significant difference in getting my email on my new BB as I used to on my Android and I have noticed that my roommates get notifications at times faster on their iPhones than I do on my BB: FB Notifications.
Syncing: I use a Mac and no longer use outlook I now use the Mail, iCal and Contacts. Very fast sync using the BB Desktop.
Data usage: Not really sure on this one at all.
Malware: I personally haven't but did have a close friend that got something on his Android phone, nothing major though, but it does exit. iOS only way to get malware is when you jailbreak your phone. Note that Rooting your Android and a jailbreak are two totally different monsters.
Battery life on my Droid was not too bad, not as good as it is on my BB by any means. My experience on my Android phone was one that providing you don't: make phone calls, view youtube, view any video period, listen to music you can get a good 8 hours out of it, no more. If you stick to basics like SMS (no MMS), FB updating you are pretty good.

I should say that on my 9930 with listening to music, even streaming, Youtube at least 4x a day, phone calls (it's a phone), email, text, sms, some gaming on the roller coaster game (i suck), I still get a good 12-14 hours of use.

[ADGrant]

From your previous post, it appears that iCloud will sync with Outlook. However, it appears that iTunes is required to use iCloud. The instructions state "Download iTunes" as the first step. Apple - iCloud - Getting Started

Now, you also mentioned that one can use Exchange Active Sync without iTunes.

However, is there any way to add music files to iPhone without iTunes? Obviously iTunes is not required to sync with Outlook, but what about music on the device? Can one drag and drop music files using Windows Explorer? The reason I ask is because I do not use DM Media Sync for BlackBerry. I prefer to manage my media using Windows Explorer.

iTunes is not required to use iCloud. It is required to upgrade iOS 4 devices to iOS 5.

To put music on an iPhone you options are iTunes, iCloud or a third party app. Windows explorer is not an option.

[mud314]

My employer does not permit corporate devices to be used for personal email. Nor do the permit business email to sent from personal accounts. Emailing corporate information to a personal email account can (and has) resulted in termination of employment. There is also no way to sync a corporate calendar or contacts to a personal device. I carry two phones, one personal, one work. Not an uncommon scenario for corporate BB users.

I adopted the iPhone over a year after all I had switched everything else to Apple. Plenty of people own an iPhone and no other Apple stuff. I had an iPad first and it worked fine with Windows. Problem was, it showed me just how much Windows was slowing me down. So I switched to a Mac about 18 months ago. I switched to an iPhone from BB two weeks ago.

I am the somewhat opposite of you. Currently writing this on MBA, for work (self employed) I use a Mac Mini, for entertainment purposes I used my iPad until I gave it away last week. However, for phone I waited for the apple announcement and that day I went and bought the 9930. I think Macs and BBs work rather nicely. For me it came to one of those things of: I don't need all those apps that iOS has, I like options in the way I do things on my phone, iOS really doesn't allow that, there is an app for everything because well technically you need an app to do anything you want or have to do, because the OS is not geared in a way to where it can do certain tasks from one screen. I like menus! I know it sounds crazy but to me menus touch on versatility which iOS cannot provide from one screen the way a BB or to some level even an Android device can.

What I do love about iPhone...the screen res, nothing compares to it. Even AMOLED I don't think looks as beautiful as the Retina display. Though I have to admit my BB 9930 does a nice enough job for me.

[Laura Knotek]

iTunes is not required to use iCloud. It is required to upgrade iOS 4 devices to iOS 5.

To put music on an iPhone you options are iTunes, iCloud or a third party app. Windows explorer is not an option.

What 3rd party app? Is it a paid app or a free app? If one has to buy it, how much does it cost?

[ADGrant]

What 3rd party app? Is it a paid app or a free app? If one has to buy it, how much does it cost?

I am not sure what 3rd party apps are currently favored on Windows because I no longer use Windows and on the Mac I use iTunes for syncing my music collection occaisionally and iCloud for PIM data and backup.

[Laura Knotek]

I am not sure what 3rd party apps are currently favored on Windows because I no longer use Windows and on the Mac I use iTunes for syncing my music collection occaisionally and iCloud for PIM data and backup.

Thanks. Perhaps someone who uses PCs, not Macs will know which apps.

I would consider an iPhone as long as I don't need iTunes.

I have no interest whatsoever in Macs. My investment in Windows SW is so great that I'd need to run Windows, rather than OS X, most of the time anyway, even if I had a Mac.

[ADGrant]

I am the somewhat opposite of you. Currently writing this on MBA, for work (self employed) I use a Mac Mini, for entertainment purposes I used my iPad until I gave it away last week. However, for phone I waited for the apple announcement and that day I went and bought the 9930. I think Macs and BBs work rather nicely. For me it came to one of those things of: I don't need all those apps that iOS has, I like options in the way I do things on my phone, iOS really doesn't allow that, there is an app for everything because well technically you need an app to do anything you want or have to do, because the OS is not geared in a way to where it can do certain tasks from one screen. I like menus! I know it sounds crazy but to me menus touch on versatility which iOS cannot provide from one screen the way a BB or to some level even an Android device can.

What I do love about iPhone...the screen res, nothing compares to it. Even AMOLED I don't think looks as beautiful as the Retina display. Though I have to admit my BB 9930 does a nice enough job for me.

I have been using an app called eWallet to maintain my account/password information for years. I started using it on PalmOS and syncing to Windows. I was able to switch to a BB still syncing to Windows. Unfortunately the Mac version only syncs to the iPhone and iPad. The BB DM on Mac OS does allow a BB to sync nicely with the built in Mac apps but to keep my iPad in sync with my BB, I needed to switch to a cloud based solution. BBs can sync with Google Calendar without too many issues but Google contacts was a disaster.

I like menus too and would have been very tempted by a 9900 if AT&T actually sold one. The new features of iOS 5 and the lack of a decent BB on AT&T forced the switch for me.
As for Apps, I use them more on my iPad than my iPhone. I like the larger screen.

[avt123]

^^

+1 for eWallet.