and thirdly

From an Apple to a Berry

Am currently on Industrial Attachment at a company that doesn’t allow the use of camera phones. This meant having to lock up my iPhone and use a dumbphone that does what every phone should be able to do: makes calls, send text messages and that’s it.

Having used a smartphone for the better part of 5 years, it was a difficult transition that I wasn’t prepared to make. I survived for the first few days on an old Sony Ericsson M600i before deciding that I should explore my options.

That was when I discovered that the Blackberry Bold 9000 could have its camera removed. Along with a battery cover that would aesthetically mask the fact that it was sightless, had me sold on getting one. That and the fact that I’ve never tried a Blackberry before.

I consider myself platform agnostic. Mac, Windows, *nix. iPhone, Symbian, Windows Mobile. So it was only exciting to want to consider a Blackberry as a new toy to play with.

Crackberry

Without a doubt, the Blackberry is addictive. I bought an iPhone mainly cause I was interested in its communication abilities. Twitter, Push notifications for Beejive, Facebook, etc.

The Blackberry outshines all the other devices in this aspect of messaging. Its perhaps the grand-daddy of Push services with Apple learning from their methods of implementation.

As of now, I’m logged in 24/7 to my IM services along with having my personal, school and work emails being pushed instantaneously to the phone. No need to launch the app when you get pushed a message, just switch to its process or take a look in the integrated messages list.

Blackberry’s Instant Messenger or BBM is another gem. This is literally what WhatsApp is copying with their own implementation on the iPhone. Its a little more polished for the Blackberry though.

Notifications for messages and everything else is highly configurable having individual as well as profile based settings. You can even configure it down to how many times you want the phone to vibrate.

Thoughtful things like having the clock app run when you plug in the charger brings a smile to my face that happens when Apple does something clever.

Bee Aye Ass

Sadly, the Blackberry’s strongest point is also its weakest. A bunch of proprietary protocols allow your service operator to control almost all aspects of the phone.

In the case of local provider SingTel, being on the cheapest Blackberry plan would prevent you from using the web browser over 3G or anything else that uses the web browsing service.

BIS plans are also generally more expensive than equivalent generic data plans. This is where the iPhone really shines with its free for all access to the Apple Push Notifications Servers by way of a $99 developers fee. Blackberry requires you to be an ISV in order to do the same thing.

Having a generic data plan run alongside a BIS plan on SingTel is also largely a big problem to do too, making having an iPhone and a Blackberry an expensive proposition.

Apps apps apps

Thanks to Apple, Blackberry has also jumped on the App Store paradigm. However in this case, they are kinda self defeating due to the requirement that AppWorld requires the Browsing Service active in order to even run the app. This creates problems for people who are using SingTel’s basic BIS plan.

And that’s not all. Taking a cursory glance on the selections available makes you feel that even without AppWorld, you aren’t losing out. Apps on the Blackberry are functional yes, but not as polished as what most quality iPhone apps strive for.

The BlackBerry Experience

Despite everything, I have fallen in love with the BlackBerry. It won’t replace my iPhone, but it won’t be seen without it. It has become my default messaging device.

I love its Push capabilities. Its messaging capabilities. Its design for business model. Its executive look and feel. (That its also not made in China). The LED indicator which is fantastic for notifications. The trackball (Surprisingly good!).

I lament the lack of a Webkit browser. Better more polished non RIM apps. And the whole crazy Service Books environment of Operator controlled restrictions.

Did I mention the battery life? People who complained about the iPhone using up the battery like a camel drinks water clearly has not used a BlackBerry yet.

I can understand why RIM still survives in this day and age. They have the same dedication to their devices that Apple pays to their own. All in all, it makes for a better product. Given a choice, I don’t know why would anyone else choose Symbian or even Windows Mobile. (I won’t comment about Android until I’ve tried it at some point in the future).

In the end, it is clear to see that RIM does messaging best. The BlackBerry is unbeatable at it. The iPhone on the other hand is a more general purpose device with the potential to do so much more. It has lots of catching up to do still with RIM’s years of experience.

Ad nauseam

I would love to write some apps for the BlackBerry. Port some from the iPhone. Polish some.

Hopefully it actually happens.