What can a Blackberry Bold 9700 do that iPhones can’t?

I know people ask this all the time, and while most people don’t really know the answer, or think it’s a cheesy question ASSUMING that iPhones can do EVERYTHING a Blackberry can do (and they’re wrong…) Please, stand by for the ULTIMATE…

10 Things iPhones Can’t Do, But Blackberries CAN!

#1. BRIGHT Flash light using the Camera’s flash left on…

No iPhone users, apps that turn your entire screen white cannot replace a 13 foot light that’s even powerful enough to fix your car in the pitch-black dark! Yes, our flashlight apps just leave the camera flash on indefinitely, but the blackberry camera light is so bright, it could cause eyeball damage and can lead people to safety… It sounds cheesy, but it really does impress people to have a light that bright that doubles as your phone.

#2. Color changing LED lights…

Yes, there’s one little LED light on the phone that usually reminds us our battery is low, or gives us the heart pumping jitters that there’s a new E-mail (Oh, joy!), but it’s actually capable of 7+ different shades of color! This little handy app can cause the LED to go various shades and no… it’s not slightly red green or blue, it’s the full color! Pretty cool that you can control it to a sexy blue color when your girlfriend calls or an annoying red alert when your boss calls.

#3. A Real Keyboard!

Sheah, who cares right? You see those nerds touch typing at high speeds and you see their bubbly keyboard letters bouncing up as they type and wanna join the crowd? Hold up there partner! iPhone users have tested to find an average of 33 WPM (words per minute) typing speeds on their phones. Blackberry phones average 45 to 60 WPM without LOOKING!! Being a physical keyboard with real buttons a Blackberry typist can look around, and even watch TV while pounding out their message… But the human brain just can’t do that on a piece of glass!

#4. Bold 9700s battery lasts longer then an iPhone…

Yes… If you’ve read reports about the new iPhone 3.1 battery problems, you know there’s something up when a Bold 9700 can play music for 39  hours straight and an iPhone… Just can’t! Isn’t this thing made by the same folks who make the iPod? LOL… 39 hours not just playing music, but with Wifi ON, Radio ON, taking emails, calls and SMS for 39 hours!

#5. Removable Memory

Yes, you may never need to if you buy a 32GB card, but Walmart and other stores photo departments don’t yet have iPhone plug jacks on the front of their machines. Want prints? Better have removable media… Now that’s convenient!

#6. Removable Battery

Ok, so you really wanna go mega hours without having to re-charge? How about that trip thru the amazon where you’d still like to use your phone for GPS!? Buy 2 batteries… Can’t do that with an iPhone.. Yes – you can get external battery things that dangle from the bottom, but what fun is that? And how much fun is it when the internal one dies? Don’t imagine it’s fun!

#7. Drop the debate.. Drop the two phones!

Yes, I’ve dropped my blackberry on the concrete floor in my garage while working on the Porsche… from 4 feet up! Major impacts, with minor scratches and zero real concerns and years later without incident on my Bold 9000 and even the Bold 9700 has taken some major 3+ feet up to concrete without any problems. Sure beats having a solid glass faced device like the iPhone which is heavily prone to cracking and smashing. Blackberries are very indestructible.\

#8. Blackberries Use Standard Connectors

In a pinch? In a weird country? Your local electronic hut might not have the connector to charge or USB cable to sync your data in a tight squeeze if you need an iPhone one. Blackberries use standard connectors that have been around for ages and not their own specialized 30 pin thing.

#9. An Iphone Doesn’t Have The Pixels Bold 9700’s Do

Blackberry Bold 9700 devices are 480×360 resolution… Straight outta the box… iPhone devices are 480×320 (yes it’s being nit-picky) but hey, high resolution graphics are the in thing, right?

#10. Blackberries Are Military Grade

Military Grade encryption and are used by the CIA, FBI, Whitehouse, Congress, Department of Defense, Navy, Army and anyone else who needs something they can count on in an emergency… Can you expect that from an iPhone? Nope!

** Update ** 12/29/2009 – This actually stirred a lot more debate than I thought it would and there’s definitely alot more reasons to like Blackberry Bold 9700 (and similar) devices than I would have expected…

Things like Data Compression! Blackberry data is always less than iPhone use… Things like multi-tasking, apparently iPhones don’t do that very well. That’s ok, neither did the original apples! haha… No Jailbreaking, just call AT&T or Rogers and have them unlock your Blackberry! No warranties voided by doing so!

True bluetooth support! (Thanks GMedia!) actual A2DP support. Built in voice dialing, external speakers on the iPhone are too quiet, Blackberries can sync with iTunes… AND every other music application out there! <GRIN>.

One other note, this post wasn’t designed to be an iPhone hater although there was a time when I could have easily called myself that… The purpose of the post was to simply point out to all the iPhone lovers that there are at least 10 things a Blackberry can do than an iPhone can’t. That’s kinda cool. In the end, if I were a hollywood socialite.. I’d probably have an iPhone for parties, and a Blackberry for evening email work… But alas, even hollywood actors like Paris Hilton use Blackberry Bold’s.

Actually, did you know there’s an entire website dedicated to celebrity blackberry sightings? Goodness I had no idea! Cool!!!

Daniel J Deyette