Cellphone input needed

[MarkGrace]

I pay very little attention to tech gadgets, especially cellphones. As evidence, I submit the fact that I'm still using the Nokia brick phone (or as I call it, the Zack Morris phone). My mom calls me up last night and says that my contract is up and asks me if I want a Blackberry or one of those new 3G mytouch phones. She thought it might come in handy for work.

I asked my wife what she thought about it last night and she claims everyone she knows that has a Blackberry hates it and thinks it's not very user-friendly. I know absolutely nothing about either of them.

Does anyone have input they'd like to share about either?

[TripletDaddy]

I pay very little attention to tech gadgets, especially cellphones. As evidence, I submit the fact that I'm still using the Nokia brick phone (or as I call it, the Zack Morris phone). My mom calls me up last night and says that my contract is up and asks me if I want a Blackberry or one of those new 3G mytouch phones. She thought it might come in handy for work.

I asked my wife what she thought about it last night and she claims everyone she knows that has a Blackberry hates it and thinks it's not very user-friendly. I know absolutely nothing about either of them.

Does anyone have input they'd like to share about either?

Putting aside the fact that your mom is calling you to remind you that your cell phone contract is up and that you need a new phone.....

Your wife is rad and she also has a sister that wears a pink jacket, which ups her radness quotient, but she may not be up to speed on blackberries.

If you want a device that is more like a fun toy that has email capabilities, go for the app driven phones like the Google phone, the iPhone, etc. You can watch movies, listen to your music, etc all on one device.

If you are looking at the device as a business tool, BB is the gold standard in push email. I actually don't know of many folks that dislike their BBs. There is a reason they are known as crackberries.

The big difference for me is the typing. I hate the touch screen on the iPhone and other devices. BB is great because you can type with one hand while you drive or while you are giving someone the middle finger. I am not a big "watch movies on the phone" person, so the iPhone doesn't appeal to me in that sense (although it is a fun device, no doubt).

[Donuthole]

Putting aside the fact that your mom is calling you to remind you that your cell phone contract is up and that you need a new phone.....

Your wife is rad and she also has a sister that wears a pink jacket, which ups her radness quotient, but she may not be up to speed on blackberries.

If you want a device that is more like a fun toy that has email capabilities, go for the app driven phones like the Google phone, the iPhone, etc. You can watch movies, listen to your music, etc all on one device.

If you are looking at the device as a business tool, BB is the gold standard in push email. I actually don't know of many folks that dislike their BBs. There is a reason they are known as crackberries.

The big difference for me is the typing. I hate the touch screen on the iPhone and other devices. BB is great because you can type with one hand while you drive or while you are giving someone the middle finger. I am not a big "watch movies on the phone" person, so the iPhone doesn't appeal to me in that sense (although it is a fun device, no doubt).

Dido. Plus, i believe falafel has an app on his BB which lets him stream tv or something like that, so it's not like you can't get TV on your blackberry.

One thing to keep in mind is that with a BB or any other smartphone, you'll probably have to carry a data plan of some sort, which ups the cost of your total bill.

[MarkGrace]

Putting aside the fact that your mom is calling you to remind you that your cell phone contract is up and that you need a new phone.....

Your wife is rad and she also has a sister that wears a pink jacket, which ups her radness quotient, but she may not be up to speed on blackberries.

If you want a device that is more like a fun toy that has email capabilities, go for the app driven phones like the Google phone, the iPhone, etc. You can watch movies, listen to your music, etc all on one device.

If you are looking at the device as a business tool, BB is the gold standard in push email. I actually don't know of many folks that dislike their BBs. There is a reason they are known as crackberries.

The big difference for me is the typing. I hate the touch screen on the iPhone and other devices. BB is great because you can type with one hand while you drive or while you are giving someone the middle finger. I am not a big "watch movies on the phone" person, so the iPhone doesn't appeal to me in that sense (although it is a fun device, no doubt).

Well, it's not really my contract, it's hers. My parents put me on their family plan after my mission and never kicked me off since I've been in school ever since. I would have know idea when the contract was up.

Outside of that, thanks for the input, especially regarding the typing. My wife actually made some comment last night about how inconvenient the type pad looks. Guess I never really paid attention to it.

[falafel]

Lots of businesses only use blackberries, and for good reason. My firm, for example, does not allow email integration with any phone except blackberries (part of this has to do our physical equipment, which might be updated soon).

Of the people I know that don't like blackberries, they are usually non-business types and their blackberry is usually the pearl. That's just anecdotal though.

[falafel]

Dido. Plus, i believe falafel has an app on his BB which lets him stream tv or something like that, so it's not like you can't get TV on your blackberry.

My tv app is actually a plan benefit through Sprint. Its more like an "on demand" service, but its pretty sweet. I also get free turn-by-turn navigation through sprint as a part of my "everything data" plan. But I imagine google's free version would do the trick on one of the mytouch phones.

That said, I can put plenty of other movies and tv shows on my bb. The basic internal storage isn't much, but you can easily expand it. I have a 4GB microSD card that I got at Fry's for $10. That will fit about 10 movies or so, maybe more.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

The big difference for me is the typing. I hate the touch screen on the iPhone and other devices. BB is great because you can type with one hand while you drive or while you are giving someone the middle finger. I am not a big "watch movies on the phone" person, so the iPhone doesn't appeal to me in that sense (although it is a fun device, no doubt).

This was an important factor when I was shopping for a phone. I hate touch screens and I would avoid them at all costs.

[Art Vandelay]

Gracie don't listen to DDD he is still jealous that BB doesn't have an app for him to enter his hometeaching states like iWard. I was a blackberry guy for several years, but have been very happy since I switched over to the iPhone. Being the huge audiophile you are, I think having the seamless (or is it seemless? Where is Soccerman when you need him?) integration with iTunes is great. The only time I prefer the lighter ipod is when running. I love being able to connect my phone to the stereo in my truck to listen to First Impressions of Earth whenever I want to . The GPS add-ons seem fairly equivalent on both devices.

[TripletDaddy]

Gracie don't listen to DDD he is still jealous that BB doesn't have an app for him to enter his hometeaching states like iWard. I was a blackberry guy for several years, but have been very happy since I switched over to the iPhone. Being the huge audiophile you are, I think having the seamless (or is it seemless, where is Soccerman when you need him?) integration with iTunes. The only time I prefer the lighter ipod is when running. I love being able to connect my phone to the stereo in my truck to listen to First Impressions of Earth whenever I want to . The GPS add-ons seem fairly equivalent on both devices.

As falafel pointed out, many firms do not support iPhone for push email. I would be surprised if MG's firm supported it. The iPhone just isn't a great business tool, but it doesn't really market itself as such.

This is much like the ps3 debate.....the owners pimp everything BUT the games. The iPhone is the same way....very little discussion about the business utilities, lots of discussion about the toys.

I agree that if your focus is on the fun apps and watching movies and stuff, the iPhone or Google phone is the way to go. However as a business tool, there is no comparison between BB and iPhone....and one of the main reasons is that for whatever reason, many companies won't push to an iPhone.

PS also, did I cite to falafel to help make a point?:igiveup:

[falafel]

Gracie don't listen to DDD he is still jealous that BB doesn't have an app for him to enter his hometeaching states like iWard. I was a blackberry guy for several years, but have been very happy since I switched over to the iPhone. Being the huge audiophile you are, I think having the seamless (or is it seemless, where is Soccerman when you need him?) integration with iTunes. The only time I prefer the lighter ipod is when running. I love being able to connect my phone to the stereo in my truck to listen to First Impressions of Earth whenever I want to . The GPS add-ons seem fairly equivalent on both devices.

My BB has a link to sync my iTunes library through the BB Desktop. The player isn't as good as the iPhone I'm sure, but you can certainly put songs on your BB.

[Art Vandelay]

As falafel pointed out, many firms do not support iPhone for push email. I would be surprised if MG's firm supported it. The iPhone just isn't a great business tool, but it doesn't really market itself as such.

This is much like the ps3 debate.....the owners pimp everything BUT the games. The iPhone is the same way....very little discussion about the business utilities, lots of discussion about the toys.

I agree that if your focus is on the fun apps and watching movies and stuff, the iPhone or Google phone is the way to go. However as a business tool, there is no comparison between BB and iPhone....and one of the main reasons is that for whatever reason, many companies won't push to an iPhone.

I can't speak for bigger companies but according to our IT guy setting up our Exchange serve to push to the iPhone was much easier than when he had to set up a BES for my BB. All emails sent to my company push instantaneously, the same as with BB, yet I must have the phone on in order to pull emails from my gmail account.

[Jeff Lebowski]

As falafel pointed out, many firms do not support iPhone for push email. I would be surprised if MG's firm supported it. The iPhone just isn't a great business tool, but it doesn't really market itself as such.

This is much like the ps3 debate.....the owners pimp everything BUT the games. The iPhone is the same way....very little discussion about the business utilities, lots of discussion about the toys.

I agree that if your focus is on the fun apps and watching movies and stuff, the iPhone or Google phone is the way to go. However as a business tool, there is no comparison between BB and iPhone....and one of the main reasons is that for whatever reason, many companies won't push to an iPhone.

PS also, did I cite to falafel to help make a point?:igiveup:

What do you mean by "push e-mail"?

[TripletDaddy]

I can't speak for bigger companies but according to our IT guy setting up our Exchange serve to push to the iPhone was much easier than when he had to set up a BES for my BB. All emails sent to my company push instantaneously, the same as with BB, yet I must have the phone on in order to pull emails from my gmail account.

I know that at launch, there was a major issue with security. I don't know what the issue was, specifically, but Apple was not able to make several large companies comfortable with the level of security and privacy.

Also, the price points with the data add-ons didn't make sense.

And the touch screen (for people that are sending a load of emails) was not appealing.

I would imagine that the act of setting of the networks isn't going to be persuasive one way or the other in favor of iPhone, Palm, or BB. They are likely relatively similar in that manner.

For me, the primary turn-off with the iPhone is the touch screen. I just don't like it.

[TripletDaddy]

What do you mean by "push e-mail"?

I send you an email to your work address threatening to burn this mo-fo to the ground....you aren't at the office because you are actually on a CUF cycle retreat, circumnavigating Lake Tahoe.....so your firm's enterprise server "pushes" that email directly to your mobile device. The second you open the threatening email and respond by deactivating my CUF account, your desktop back at work reconciles with your mobile device, marking it as read.

I end-around your punishment by creating several accounts, including "D.D.D.," "3D," and "HighOrderMultiplesDaddy"

[Jeff Lebowski]

I send you an email to your work address threatening to burn this mo-fo to the ground....you aren't at the office because you are actually on a CUF cycle retreat, circumnavigating Lake Tahoe.....so your firm's enterprise server "pushes" that email directly to your mobile device. The second you open the threatening email and respond by deactivating my CUF account, your desktop back at work reconciles with your mobile device, marking it as read.

I end-around your punishment by creating several accounts, including "D.D.D.," "3D," and "HighOrderMultiplesDaddy"

I see. Like a Microsoft Exchange account. I wonder why that wouldn't work on an iPhone?

I synch both my gmail and my exchange account from work on my Android device. Works beautifully.