[Macworld]

Post your comments for Smartphone showdown: BlackBerry Storm vs. iPhone here

[leicaman]

Clickable keyboard? Can it rotate to vertical or horizontal?
I guess for security reasons it's good to be able to disable the camera. But as for IT, our IT department went in a matter of months from "No way we'll allow the iPhone onto our network" to "we'll allow personal iPhones on without support, and we support corporate iPhones. The CIO now uses an iPhone.
So it may not be perfect, but it was so easy to set up, and secure enough for our security-obsessed IT department to allow it.
But I'm not going to put Exchange on my phone, except when I'm traveling overseas. Why would I want my work email when I'm at home?

[myramoki]

How in the world does one have a 'showdown' with a product that isn't even out? Call quality? Based on a survey, not how the units perform. Price? We don't have one for the Storm. Keypad? Wait an see. I've often had problems with the lightweight reviews MacWorld publishes, but this one takes the cake in the absolutely useless department.

[tfrogh]

I was excited. I have Verizon and I stick with it because it is cheap thanks to discounts through work. Sadly I have to stand in my front yard to make a call.
I started reading about the Storm on the RIM website. Then I hit the first bomb... 7 For BlackBerry Media Sync to work your media enabled BlackBerry smartphone must be connected to your computer via a USB cable. Certain music files may not be supported by the media player, including incompatible file types and files that contain digital rights management technologies.

Then the next bomb...9 BlackBerry Media Sync is compatible with 32-bit editions of Windows XP Service Pack 2 which can be used with iTunes version 7.0 or higher AND 32-bit editions of Windows Vista which can be used with iTunes version 7.2 or higher. Not compatible with Windows 2000 or MAC OS.
So, DRM will be an issue and compatibility with the Mac OS will be an issue. Guess my Treo will keep limping along.
damn damn damn damn. I was so excited. :-(

[HyperMactive]

Wi-fi is only a "slight edge?" Really??? I see the lack of wi-fi on the Storm to be its biggest shortcoming. I use wi-fi on my iPhone all the time, particularly at home.
Based on comments by readers on other sites like Engadget, the lack of wi-fi is a huge mistake by BB and Verizon. It's probably Verizon exercising its notorious iron-fisted control over phone functionality, the certainly the reason Verizon rejected the iPhone when Apple first approached them about it years ago. Fools.

[Walt_Basil]

leicaman said:

But I'm not going to put Exchange on my phone, except when I'm traveling overseas. Why would I want my work email when I'm at home?

My sentiments exactly! Reason # 58 why I love my job: Every holiday is a 4-day weekend for me!

Why in the world would I even want to think about anything work related today through Monday? I go back to work on Tuesday, and on Tuesday I'll check my work email. Until then, it's all about me baby!

Yeah, I may only make low 6-digit income compared to that guy, but that guy is always working. Even when at home, at the store, etc. Me? noteven. My time is my time!
Message was edited by: Walt_Basil to change triple digit to 6-digit. LOL... was thinking in terms of k. i.e. 100k Thanks for the catch fletc3her! Yeah... a wee bit more than a part time McDonald's employee.

[fletc3her]

Triple digit income?! Ouch. Even part time McDonald's employees make five digit incomes.
I have mixed feelings about the Wi-Fi on the iPhone. I actually keep mine off most of the time. It improves battery life and eliminates the annoying notices as I pass through Wi-Fi coverage while walking around, in a car, or on the bus. Too often the iPhone sees networks that are locked. Plus, using EDGE I don't need to worry as much about people watching my traffic when I'm on a public hotspot.
However, if I'm at home it is nice to turn on Wi-Fi and be able to do YouTube and other high bandwidth activities on the iPhone.
The clickable screen sounds interesting. That is definitely something I'll have to experience before I know if it is useful or not.
Lack of Mac support is the deal killer for RIM. I wonder when these companies will wake up and realize that cutting out Mac support is a terrible strategy. Mac users may represent a small wedge on the MBA's pie chart, but they are a very vocal minority and I would hazard to guess they spend a lot of money on gadgets.

[dbutenhof]

Of course, for me, the biggest issue with "haptic keyboard feedback" is not that there's a click when I press something, but that I can feel the outline of the keys, and particularly find the home keys, without looking, before I click anything.
If this silly "click screen" can't do that, it's useless so far as I can see, and on top of that the mechanical linkage probably reduces the lifetime of the screen by an enormous factor.
Now, if the screen dynamically pops up pressure sensitive key-shaped bumps under software command, that's something I'd like to have on my iPhone. ;-)

[Walt_Basil]

dbutenhof said:

Now, if the screen dynamically pops up pressure sensitive key-shaped bumps under software command, that's something I'd like to have on my iPhone. ;-)

Perhaps you should patent that idea. Then when they do come out with it... cha-CHING! You sue for licensing rights.

[ATLTech]

> My sentiments exactly! Reason # 58 why I love my job: Every holiday is a 4-day weekend for me!
>Why in the world would I even want to think about anything
work related today through Monday? I go back to work on Tuesday, and on
>Tuesday I'll check my work email. Until then, it's all about me baby!

I take it your job must not be too important? Ever heard of staying ahead of the game? Just because you have email does not dicate you use it, and those people that appear to be on their device all the time, ever occur to you that maybe they LIKe what they do?

Yeah it's all about you, Mr. 4 day work week.. but it would be nice to at least get a heads up on Monday to know what to expect at work, or here is a thought.. maybe you might have a server down or some problem that needs to be addressed urgently .. so having that emall gives warning, but I guess since all you care about is yourself, that's probably why you are in the low salary range :)

So take your 4 day vacation, have fun, but don't be surprised one week that your boss tells you "Hey, you can extend that long weekend as long as you like, we need people that ACTUALLY keep up with work, just because YOU take time out, doesn't preclude that the BUSINESS stops".

Little minds have small thoughts, think outside your party zone, and maybe you will get ahead one day.

[Walt_Basil]

ATLTech said:

I take it your job must not be too important? Ever heard of staying ahead of the game? Just because you have email does not dicate you use it, and those people that appear to be on their device all the time, ever occur to you that maybe they LIKe what they do?

Ever hear of retired? Heh... I'm done with the game. See you when you get there!

[mournac]

Hopefully some day, someone will come up with a way to suppress sleep. Think about all that increase in productivity. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

[dbutenhof]

mournac said:

Hopefully some day, someone will come up with a way to suppress sleep. Think about all that increase in productivity. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Done. Easily and widely available. Ask for "Kids" by name.

[TinyElvis]

It seems silly to me to "compare" these two phones and not discuss all the features of either device for a complete and fair comparison. Some of the best features of the iPhone were not mentioned - multi-touch touchscreen, accelerometer, GPS, applications, visual voicemail, music management, and many others. I'm sure the Storm has other great features as well, but they weren't mentioned. If you're going to write a "showdown" between two devices, do your homework and write a complete article. Stop wasting our time with this half-baked crap.