cmdrdredd
Lifer
- Dec 12, 2001
- 27,052
- 357
- 126
My sister has the Instinct and after just a few weeks usage the scrren has become unresponsive or not as sensitive as it was new. It also loads up apps and media quite slow by comparison. I actually like the Instinct and think it's a great device, but it has a few issues yet to be worked out. I also think Sprint's network is not as speedy as AT&T's. At least not around Ft. Lauderdale FL.
I may sound like someone who thinks every phone with a touch screen is an iPhone copy. Some of that may be true, trying to market the touch screen and the sleek look, but each device has it's own ups and downs. The Instinct is much better for text messaging IMO as you can use your finger nail or the stylus pen they provide. That is better IMO than using the very tip of your finger on the iPhone (stylus won't work). Also, you can type in landscape mode on the Instinct.
I think Apple has a few patents on the mobile device with touch screen or something. That seems to be why other companies have a different approach to it. Using a stylus on the Instinct for example, the Click Screen on the Storm etc. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't doubt it.
I may sound like someone who thinks every phone with a touch screen is an iPhone copy. Some of that may be true, trying to market the touch screen and the sleek look, but each device has it's own ups and downs. The Instinct is much better for text messaging IMO as you can use your finger nail or the stylus pen they provide. That is better IMO than using the very tip of your finger on the iPhone (stylus won't work). Also, you can type in landscape mode on the Instinct.
I think Apple has a few patents on the mobile device with touch screen or something. That seems to be why other companies have a different approach to it. Using a stylus on the Instinct for example, the Click Screen on the Storm etc. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't doubt it.
ViRGE
Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus
- Oct 9, 1999
- 31,516
- 167
- 106
No direct syncing over a cable (you have to do it via cellular). It doesn't sync calendars (WTF?), only contacts. The built in calendaring system lacks any real customizing ability for repeating events (hence the reason I wanted to sync). Contacts can only be displayed in first name-last name order, it isn't capable of reordering them on the fly. You can put them in backwards, but this causes all sorts of hell if you later want to export them to Outlook and the like for other uses.
The Media Manager software also wouldn't sync up with the phone until the phone was updated to the latest firmware. Accordingly, the updates are also done over cellular, which means updating is devilishly slow and has to be done in several parts. It was 3 download/install/reboot cycles to get the latest firmware for this phone, and applications are updated separately from the base firmware which requires more downloading and updating. Oh, and you can't update the email application unless you have an account already programmed in.
I also have general gripes about the lack of multi-touch (although I realize that's not their fault), how the web browser blows chunks (their fault), and how slow the phone feels (again their fault). Basically there's a bunch of stupid stuff wrong with the phone for no apparent reason.
I think that about covers it.
ultimatebob
Lifer
- Jul 1, 2001
- 25,134
- 2,450
- 126
Yeah... the 3G iPhone was pretty flaky until the 2.1 firmware came out. That fixed most of the problems that I had with the phone.
I have no idea what some people have been doing with their Storm but I haven't had any issues with mine and I use both for business and personal. AT&T's 3G is terrible compared to Verizon.
QueBert
Lifer
- Jan 6, 2002
- 23,015
- 1,202
- 126
Verizon > AT&T - with ease, both are overpriced but Verizon has a much better network hands down.
iPhone > Storm - most would agree, minus the Apple haters. The Storm has BB mail support, about the only thing going for it with the exception of Verizon people can get it. The click screen is borderline horrible on the Storm, the UI is slower and less responsive and even with a better 3G network, the broswer isn't as good as Safari on the iPhone.
so iPhone on AT&T > Storm on Verizon. iPhone on Verizon would be about the best shit possible, but from what I heard Verizon passed on the chance to have it because they didn't want to give control to Apple (idiots)
Verizon gets steller reviews as a provider, the Storm reviews I'm seeing though aren't really good at all.
Lumathix
Golden Member
- Mar 16, 2004
- 1,686
- 0
- 46
The following are my opinions, having owned an iPhone for a couple weeks, and currently owning a Blackberry Storm.
OS version .85 was just released on the storm. I have one, and it is WAY better than at release. Quicker OS, more responsive touch screen keyboard.... and the updates are coming fast from RIM / Verizon.
My girlfriend and I each had an iPhone 3G and ditched it the last day of the 2 week trial period.
iPhone ISSUES
No ringer profiles....none. Like leaving your phone on at night for emergencies, but don't want to be woke up at 2am by a work email? Tough, can't do it.
Phone also rings and vibrates in your ear with incoming messages, even while on the phone. There is no way to turn this off.
No MMS.
No cut & paste.
No landscape keyboard in SMS or Email like the blackberry. You have to buy a 3rd party program to compose your emails in landscape, then switch to your phone's email system to send it. Retarded.
No switching between landscape and portrait keyboards on the fly like the blackberry.
AT&T coverage has NOTHING on Verizon's network. We had them two weeks, and had several dropped calls, and even more missed IMs. 3G coverage is spotty and puts a major drain on the already weak battery when used. Verizon took us back without charging the cancellation fee.
No extended battery, or even a spare battery, unless you want to install it in one of the TWO available battery "cases", which is funny because it makes the phone like twice as thick, and twice as heavy, which defeats the whole purpose of it being a sleek phone. Did I mention the battery life on this phone sucks sucks sucks? Also, if your battery goes bad, you cannot simply purchase a new one. You must send the ENTIRE phone in.
It's not comfortable to hold, and it's not comfortable against your face. You'll end up putting a bulky case on the damn thing because it feels like you'll break it or scratch it of you don't.
By the way, with the way the phone works, there is no real IM program you can leave on. When you leave a program, it closes it. Period. That includes IM programs. We had to purchase a program, that would keep you logged into THEIR server and notify you when you receive an IM via email or text. Pain in the ass.
Phone call quality is horrible. It's funny how it's an iPHONE, but the PHONE part of the iPHONE sucks ass. It's like the phone part of the iPHONE was an afterthought.
No settings for the camera. None. You get 2MP pics, that's it. No zoom. No flash. The Storm has resolution settings, flash and a zoom.
MobileMe software boasts that it keeps you updated on your home PC, work PC and phone, all wirelessly without the need for exchange. It's very misleading. You cannot get push email with your current account. You have to use a new me.com email. (I didnt particularly want another stupid email address) It doesn't sync music, it doesn't sync calendar entries, task lists, etc. Only contacts. You cannot set up pop email accounts with mobileme either. You can only check email when logged into mobileme website. Which by the way doesn't work with windows explorer very well, and states right on the website it works with Safari or Firefox. The funny thing is, I tried it with Safari 3 times, and it froze 3 times. Firefox was adequate. I basically paid $99 to keep my contacts synced for a year, which I could have done via cable connection for free.
Application store is really good. (Blackberry is launching their own app store Dec 31st.)
Web browser is really good. (Best on a mobile phone I've seen, period)
iPod with the iPhone is really good.
Works right out of the box with exchange server, and is easy to set up. No need for enterprise.
I know you're a guy, but my girlfriend had issues typing on the keyboard since she has fingernails. With the blackberry, you have to "click" the keyboard to select the letter. She couldn't type on the iphone at all, but she grabbed my storm last night after I upgraded to .85 OS and she said it's alot better than before, and way ahead of the iphone. I personally like the click screen and after having owned the phone for a while, I'm fairly adept at it.
Anyway good luck.
OS version .85 was just released on the storm. I have one, and it is WAY better than at release. Quicker OS, more responsive touch screen keyboard.... and the updates are coming fast from RIM / Verizon.
My girlfriend and I each had an iPhone 3G and ditched it the last day of the 2 week trial period.
iPhone ISSUES
No ringer profiles....none. Like leaving your phone on at night for emergencies, but don't want to be woke up at 2am by a work email? Tough, can't do it.
Phone also rings and vibrates in your ear with incoming messages, even while on the phone. There is no way to turn this off.
No MMS.
No cut & paste.
No landscape keyboard in SMS or Email like the blackberry. You have to buy a 3rd party program to compose your emails in landscape, then switch to your phone's email system to send it. Retarded.
No switching between landscape and portrait keyboards on the fly like the blackberry.
AT&T coverage has NOTHING on Verizon's network. We had them two weeks, and had several dropped calls, and even more missed IMs. 3G coverage is spotty and puts a major drain on the already weak battery when used. Verizon took us back without charging the cancellation fee.
No extended battery, or even a spare battery, unless you want to install it in one of the TWO available battery "cases", which is funny because it makes the phone like twice as thick, and twice as heavy, which defeats the whole purpose of it being a sleek phone. Did I mention the battery life on this phone sucks sucks sucks? Also, if your battery goes bad, you cannot simply purchase a new one. You must send the ENTIRE phone in.
It's not comfortable to hold, and it's not comfortable against your face. You'll end up putting a bulky case on the damn thing because it feels like you'll break it or scratch it of you don't.
By the way, with the way the phone works, there is no real IM program you can leave on. When you leave a program, it closes it. Period. That includes IM programs. We had to purchase a program, that would keep you logged into THEIR server and notify you when you receive an IM via email or text. Pain in the ass.
Phone call quality is horrible. It's funny how it's an iPHONE, but the PHONE part of the iPHONE sucks ass. It's like the phone part of the iPHONE was an afterthought.
No settings for the camera. None. You get 2MP pics, that's it. No zoom. No flash. The Storm has resolution settings, flash and a zoom.
MobileMe software boasts that it keeps you updated on your home PC, work PC and phone, all wirelessly without the need for exchange. It's very misleading. You cannot get push email with your current account. You have to use a new me.com email. (I didnt particularly want another stupid email address) It doesn't sync music, it doesn't sync calendar entries, task lists, etc. Only contacts. You cannot set up pop email accounts with mobileme either. You can only check email when logged into mobileme website. Which by the way doesn't work with windows explorer very well, and states right on the website it works with Safari or Firefox. The funny thing is, I tried it with Safari 3 times, and it froze 3 times. Firefox was adequate. I basically paid $99 to keep my contacts synced for a year, which I could have done via cable connection for free.
Application store is really good. (Blackberry is launching their own app store Dec 31st.)
Web browser is really good. (Best on a mobile phone I've seen, period)
iPod with the iPhone is really good.
Works right out of the box with exchange server, and is easy to set up. No need for enterprise.
I know you're a guy, but my girlfriend had issues typing on the keyboard since she has fingernails. With the blackberry, you have to "click" the keyboard to select the letter. She couldn't type on the iphone at all, but she grabbed my storm last night after I upgraded to .85 OS and she said it's alot better than before, and way ahead of the iphone. I personally like the click screen and after having owned the phone for a while, I'm fairly adept at it.
Anyway good luck.
No offense, but on several of those issues, it seems like you didn't do your homework before purchasing the iPhone. Everyone should know by now about the lack of MMS + Copy/Paste (both of which are correctable by jailbreaking btw). Coverage is always going to be an issue of location. It's true that AT&T sucked when the iphone 3g was released, due to lack of planning on their part, but it has improved significantly (at least in my area) since then.
If I was going to get a blackberry, I'd get the Bold. Now that's a great Blackberry phone, unlike the storm.
Lumathix
Golden Member
- Mar 16, 2004
- 1,686
- 0
- 46
No offense taken. I have the better phone of the two now. But whether everyone should know the iPhone cannot provide you with a simple function like MMS or cut & paste isn't relevant to the OP's questions regarding the differences between the two phones. The iPhone still doesn't have these functions....
As to your comment on AT&T's coverage compared to Verizon's, all I can tell you, is Verizon at least in my area has by far the best coverage around. Not just better than AT&T, but better than any other provider I've used. And AT&T on the other hand, was horribly unreliable during the two weeks I had the service. And I'm in a major metro area. The fact remains the iPhone does indeed have issues with the items I listed above. Nobody can dispute it.
I want the storm soo bad but the promotions ended before I had the spare cash to get one. Everyone keeps talking smack about the storm but for some odd reason VZW can't keep them in stock in the stores in my area which has at least 3 stores. Everyone I have ran into that is using one only seems to have one complaint which is that the phone seems slow. Once I hear this I promptly ask them if they have updated the software and the common reaction I get is how do you do that. That leads me to believe that the majority of people complaining about the phone are not aware of how to upgrade it to fix the common issues with it. I spent roughly half an hour explaining what all one person could do to make her battery last longer and how to resolve 90% of the issues with hers even though I dont own one yet. Hopefully they will run another promotion for it soon bringing the price down again. Im not cheap or anything but I have to make sure I have enough to pay the bills when I get it
It'd be too expensive for me to switch to AT&T and the iPhone. So the Storm looks like the natural progression for me once my Curve has run its course. The iPhone app store is really cool (especially jealous of the Pandora app), but it still has lots of battery life issues. As long as my BlackBerry has an RSS reader, a good browser in Opera Mini, and Tele Atlas map data, I'm good.
blackberry storm is a business device that offers functions similar to an iphone. but in the end, its still a blackberry and its core functionality is to be an email/phone device. the iphone is everything a portable media player/browser should be, but it is definitely not a business friendly phone. if you want cool gimmicks, get an iphone. if you want a business phone with gimmicks, get a storm. but if all you're looking for is a business phone, get a bold or curve.
gorcorps
aka Brandon
- Jul 18, 2004
- 30,741
- 456
- 126
Applications that let you slosh around a pint of :beer: and 'drink' it. Really... THAT'S how you use the motion controls on the phone? I understand there's games for it now that use it, but still. I've played a few games on it, and there's one bowling game where you can't use the touch screen to bowl. You have to swing the phone like a bowling ball to bowl. That's the stupidest decision I've ever seen, and THAT is forcing the gimmicky motion controls down your throat. It's like the tons of wii games that throw motion control into the mix because it's there, not because it should be used.
QueBert
Lifer
- Jan 6, 2002
- 23,015
- 1,202
- 126
lol, their app store will suck, I have a Pearl and finding apps to install is a joke. Everybody and their momma wants to make iPhone apps, didn't RIM also launch an iTunes like music store? How did that go? Weather you love or hate the iPhone, the Apps store will never be toppled by any one. I suspect RIM's latest venture will mirror their on-line music store.
MotionMan
Lifer
- Jan 11, 2006
- 17,124
- 12
- 81
So a mouse is a gimmick because it can be used to play games? Windows is a gimmick because it actually COMES with games on it?
And the design of games by third parties is the fault of Apple?
Did you know that the motion controls lets the iPhone know if it should display things in landscape mode? It also allows you to move to the next page of documents without having to touch the screen. There are plenty of useful uses for the motion controls.
MotionMan
gorcorps
aka Brandon
- Jul 18, 2004
- 30,741
- 456
- 126
The motion control itself is not the gimmick, but how it's used can be. I know it how it senses landscape/portrait and I know there are other uses to motion controls and games that work well with it. But when you force the motion controls into something that doesn't need it you're turning it into a gimmick.
gimmick being something that has situational usefulness, but is not necessary. the click screen for the storm, the mouse function on the samsung omnia, the plastic flip cover on the moto zn4... things like that. granted when i think about it, the storm and iphone arent gimmicky phones unless you consider everything outside the phone function as an unnecessary gimmick. they're more along the lines of gadget phones
if you're looking to consolidate all of your gadgets into one (phone, gps, mp3/video, camera) then get an iphone or a storm. currently, the iphone is the greatest gadget phone by far. if you need to stay with verizon, then get a storm or wait until 2010 for the iphone to arrive to verizon. the storm is getting better with each release and given time there will be plenty of apps.
MotionMan
Lifer
- Jan 11, 2006
- 17,124
- 12
- 81
Originally posted by: bonkers325
gimmick being something that has situational usefulness, but is not necessary. the click screen for the storm, the mouse function on the samsung omnia, the plastic flip cover on the moto zn4... things like that. granted when i think about it, the storm and iphone arent gimmicky phones unless you consider everything outside the phone function as an unnecessary gimmick. they're more along the lines of gadget phones
if you're looking to consolidate all of your gadgets into one (phone, gps, mp3/video, camera) then get an iphone or a storm. currently, the iphone is the greatest gadget phone by far. if you need to stay with verizon, then get a storm or wait until 2010 for the iphone to arrive to verizon. the storm is getting better with each release and given time there will be plenty of apps.
Is it better to have a gimmick or a gadget?
MotionMan
a gadget of course!
an iphone is a great media phone... but blackberries win for business application. it just depends on what you want
an iphone is a great media phone... but blackberries win for business application. it just depends on what you want
I've had a BB Storm since a couple days after release, kept it updated, and can unequivocally say it's a piece of shit.
I'm quitting my current job for a non-Blackberry job and decided to order an iPhone. I'll report back after I've had it for a week, but the fact that I'm locking into a 2-year $60/month contract plus $215 for the phone instead of going month-to-month with no contract and a free BB Storm should be an indication of my views toward the BB Storm.
If you need a BB, go Bold. My company didn't offer it until a month after the Storm due to contractual issues with AT&T or I'd have one, but from the little I've seen it seems like the superior BB.
I'm quitting my current job for a non-Blackberry job and decided to order an iPhone. I'll report back after I've had it for a week, but the fact that I'm locking into a 2-year $60/month contract plus $215 for the phone instead of going month-to-month with no contract and a free BB Storm should be an indication of my views toward the BB Storm.
If you need a BB, go Bold. My company didn't offer it until a month after the Storm due to contractual issues with AT&T or I'd have one, but from the little I've seen it seems like the superior BB.
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