Android Vs Blackberry – The Real Truth

Written by admin on July 22, 2010 – 12:07 pm -

Why did I stop posting here so frequently, why did I stop blogging about blackberry fior ages, and where did I go? What stopped me from the juicy world of Bberries?

I confess I waltzed over to the dark side for a while. No, not iPhone, not quite that dark, what I mean is Google’s Android, and particularly the Nexus One…

Here’s my blog post on my other blog with the Nexus One unboxing and the Bold 9700 De-throning.

Why Did I leave the Blackbery World?

Well, it basically can be summed up by my frustration of the first news of the WebKit browser for Blackberry that’ was dangled in front of our faces way back when. It was then I realized (consuming 200+ RSS feeds per day) that my browser was stupid sluggish and annoying and anytime I had to view a webpage or check my bank balance or do anything on my phone that it was incredibly frustrating. It made 3G look like a nightmare, it didn’t properly support CSS, my blog and even my all time favorite Sphinn.com looked retarded as you couldn’t see how many times a thing had been sphunn.

I missed the size of my Bold 9000’s screen. It was larger but way easier to type on and I really didn’t appreciate the smaller size. Even though I did eventually reach my Bold 9000 typing speed on the 9700, I still longed for a larger footprint…

What I Like About Android/The Nexus One…

What I do love about the Nexus One is it’s large and very crisp AMOLED screen. It’s absolutely vibrant and video and web pages do jump right off the screen. I also love the recent Froyo update that lets me tether my laptop to it via wifi and way easier than the Blackberry’s USB tether that takes a bit of setup to get going…

I love the pinch zoom and flash support to watch videos on CNN if I choose to… However I rarely do watch a CNN video as usually when I’m bored and want to view online content on my mobile, I do not wish to share it with others and rarely remember my headphones…

The camera is much better, higher resolution and takes incredible video too. The 3d gaming and 3d rendering ability of course rivals a Blackberry, but I don’t honestly have time to play games. I’m no kid of course. I love being able to search using my voice and even type emails by simply speaking them into existence. Very handy on the road.

The level for leveling things is quite cool and so is the Google Analytics app that I use to show all my websites from my home screen and how each is doing… One thing that’s very comforting is how this website (theboldreview.com) continued to get MORE and more traffic as I abandoned it. (sorry guys!).

Viewing PDFs and reading ebooks on a Nexus is a bit slow, but much faster than a Blackberry… But… WITH ALL those wonderful things… I’m probably coming back in August… To Blackberry world…

What I hate About Androids and The Nexus One…

It pays to be a practical person. In your personal life and in your finances, in your religion (me being a lover of Christ Jesus) and in everything. Spending your money wisely and not foolishly on entertainment and buying devices that make your life easier… not neccesarily funner.

If your a busy Dad like me who works a computer job (namely online marketing consultant) who really uses a cell phone for.. Uh, you know.. CALLING PEOPLE?!?! and using the calendar and email feature… Androids will drive you nuts!

If you plan to game, surf the web all day and take pictures, I’d be willing to say the android is a better phone by a long shot, but that’s where the horses stop.

The BAD:

  • Speakerphone is so quiet I can’t hear it in loud settings
  • Gmail takes several minutes to refresh (VERY noticible)
  • Dialing while driving isn’t easy
  • Typing on it (even after months of practice) is still frustrating… I’d rather wait till I get back to the office and that’s not good!
  • The calendar app isn’t the most enjoyable experience
  • RSS feeds take forever to load (i’ve tried 8 different ones) just to keep up on industry news.
  • Battery life is horrible unless you get an extended battery like I ended up doing.
  • The phone app lags and takes time to update your “call log” to call people back if you just missed a call and wonder who it was or wish to call them back.. (sucks if you say.. run a business??)

These seem to be all dealbreakers for me.

They’re all pretty much critical uses of a business line. Business phones should really do 4 key things super well. If they can make coffee, or scramble eggs I REALLY DON”T CARE, but they should do these 4 things well:

  • Manage a web-sync calendar
    Your virtual assistant or secretary should be able to add to your calendar and or at least have a web backup in the event of device failure. It should take seconds to type or add notes to yourself to stay up to date and stay moving forward on your goals as you remember to schedule them in. If you can’t add a calendar entry at lightning speed as your dodging in between real work and appointments it becomes a thorn in your side.
  • Manage Email
    Don’t really need to explain this one do I? Check email, fast. Push emails to me, fast! Read emails, fast. Respond and type out meaningful short responses.. FAST!
  • Manage Contacts
    It’s not what you know… It’s who you know.. And how fast you can dial their number when you need them. A one time blackberry user can dial a contact faster than a practiced Android User. I guarantee that. Typing 3 letters and going straight to phone to face and yacking to your next phone meeting is KEY importance. Redialing missed calls, FAST… key importance for Business, am I right?
  • Access Complete Websites
    This is ONE     area where Android excels and blackberry is left in the dust on. You need to quickly research something, and be able to see and view the entire website properly.. A blackberry won’t do it. Sorry, but they won’t. Opera’s too slow, Bolt is annoying (and slow!) and the stock viewer is fine if the website’s mostly text!

It appears Blackberry is about to fix this on August 15th 2010. They plan to release the Bold 9800 (or at least I hope they call it that!) When they do, that phone will be the phone we dream of. Rogers has officially announced on Twitter that they plan to release it sometime near the end of august… If anyone needs any birthday Ideas, my birthday is August 28th…

The Blackberry 9800 will come with a WebKit browser capable of the full web experience (no word on flash support, but I suspect that will be there) and a querty keyboard AND a touch screen with multi-touch. It should effectively solve all my concerns and be the top business phone of 2010.

Is it an iPhone 4 Killer? PSH! NO!!! Is it an Android Killer? PSH! no…

But, is it the world’s best business phone? It should be if all reports are correct. iPhones, Droids, Samsung Galaxy, Waves, Nexus Ones.. They’re all toys. No real world business can effectively run on these things, at least not yet. Android is still a young platform that’s never been enterprise tested and iPhone while entering a more polished state on their iOS is still being designed by designers and not real world in the field profitable business owners.

I don’t see Blackberry Ever selling devices at the volume or rate that iPhone or other smartphones do, but regardless there are people who will NEVER live without their blackberries… As you can run a real business with one.

All the best!
Daniel J Deyette


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