all-touch Verizon BlackBerry Storm vs iPhone 3g, Google Phone
Submitted by ggphone on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 00:46
Verizon Wireless is slated to introduce RIM's first all-touch-screen BlackBerry Storm 9500 in holiday shopping season for 2008.
Compare to the iPhone 3g
In the following table, I summarize the comparisons of BlackBerry Storm 9500, T-Mobile G1 and iPhone 3G. Here are my first impressions:
Plus's:
- 3.2MP Camera with 2x zoom, video-capturing
- Supports both major 3g standards in the world today: EV-DO Rev. A and HSDPA. EV-DO rev. A has major advantage over HSDPA in terms of upload speed: theoretical limit of 1.8 Mbps (with a 800-1000 kbps practical limit), vs. the 384 kbps maximum limit for HSDPA. EV-DO rev. A also offers much smaller latency, making it ideal for latency-sensitive applications such as gaming, VoIP, and video telephony.
- Verizon Wireless 3G and voice coverage are very good. Customer service is also top-notch.
- The touch screen depresses mechanically (RIM calls it Click-Through technology) to confirm your tapping. This is useful to confirm that your tapping is effective. This mimics mouse click that people are familiar with. In addition, if you double-tap (or double-click) on the screen, it will offer you scroll and pan functionality.
- 4 hardware buttons for accessing phone features and menu.
- Supports VZW Mobile TV service
- Cut and Paste of text
Minus's:
- No WiFi! Verizon Wireless obviously does not want their customers to use WiFi yet. While their 3g broadband is normally sufficient on the road, users want to be able to use faster (and in many cases free) WiFi access whenever available.
- BlackBerry platform is not as open as Apple's iPhone or Google's Android. Very limited selections of 3rd party applications, which are now becoming more and more important for high end phones.
- $9.99/mo fee for using Verizon's GPS software is just outrageous. Basic GPS application should be free, since stand-alone GPS application does not use cellular network's resource at all, it merely determines the position using the free GPS satellite signal. Sure the phones still need the map, but I don't see why consumers are not allowed to use the expansion slot to store the maps.
- Slightly smaller screen (3.25in vs. iPhone's 3.5in)
- Internal storage is only 1GB
The bottom line is: the BlackBerry Storm is not an iPhone killer, but it may be the best device that Verizon has to offer to date.
| BlackBerry Storm | T-Mobile G1 | iPhone 3G | |
| MSRP | ? | $180 w/ 2yr contract | $299 for 16GB, $199 for 8GB w/ 2yr contract |
| Availability | holiday season 2008 | as early as 10/22/2008, may be pre-ordered now for T-Mobile customers | available in local Apple, AT&T, or Bestbuy stores. |
| Carrier | Verizon Wireless | T-Mobile | AT&T Wireless |
| 3g coverage | Verizon's EV-DO Rev. A 3g network, Vodafone's European HSPDA network. | T-Mobile's 3g network covers only 19 cities as of Sept 2008. | AT&T's 3g network covers 280 cities as of Sept 2008. |
| Platform | BlackBerry | Andriod, an open platform | Apple iPhone OS X, based on Mac OS X |
| 3rd Party Application Support | Yes, but selections are rather limited. | Yes, through Android Market, which is supposed to be more open than Apple Store. Free Applications are supported.
Since Android Market is much younger, currently selections of software are not as rich as Apple's. |
Yes, through Apple Apps Store, where 3rd party software needs to get Apple approval. Many reports that nice software are rejected by Apple since they compete with Apple's apps. Free Applications are supported. |
| Web browser | full HTML Web browser | full web browsing based on open-source WebKit | full web browsing based on Safari |
| Video Playback | Yes, MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV. No native YouTube support. | YouTube | YouTube, Apple QuickTime |
| Flash Support | No | No | No |
| Very strong email support through BlackBerry's email server. POP, IMAP, Exchange, SMTP, Lotus Domino | Gmail w/ push, POP, IMAP. No official Exchange support yet, but possible through 3rd party software. | Gmail w/o push, POP, IMAP, Exchange | |
| Syncing | USB or OTA. Both calendar and contact can be synced with Exchange account. | over-the-air (OTA) | USB or OTA. Both calendar and contact can be synced with Exchange account (w/ or w/o turning on Exchange email). Apple mobileme available for $99/yr. |
| Searching | ? | built-in Google one-click contextual search for everything | Free Google mobile app supports searching web and contacts |
| Visual Voicemail | Yes | Unknown yet | Yes |
| Music Store | VZW V Cast | Amazon MP3 Store | iTunes Store |
| Cellular Technology | VZW 1x EV-DO Rev. A (3g), Vodafone's HSDPA (3g), GSM | Quad-band GSM, HSDPA (3g) | Quad-band GSM, HSDPA (3g) |
| Bluetooth | Yes, with stereo | Yes, but no stereo | Yes, but no stereo |
| WiFi | No | Yes | Yes |
| Plan | Unlimited Internet and Email plan from $49.99 | Unlimited web, email, text messaging + T-Mobile HotSpot $35/mo.
Voice plan w/ 300 Whenever minutes $40/mo |
Unlimited data + 450 Anytime minutes $69.99/mo.
Family plan with two iPhones, Unlimited data +700 Anytime minutes $129.99/mo text messaging extra. |
| Tethering | Device supports it, but will Verizon unlock the capability? | Not supported, not allowed by carrier | Not supported, not allowed by carrier. However, jailbroken iPhones can be used as a modem for a PC. |
| Size | 4.4 x 2.5 x 0.5 in | 4.60 x 2.2 x 0.62 in | 5.5 x 2.4 x 0.48 in |
| Weight | 156g/5.5Oz | 158g/5.6Oz | 133g/4.7Oz |
| Screen | 3.25in Touch Screen w/ Click-Through technology | 3.2in Touch Screen, no multi-touch gesture | 3.5in Touch Screen, multi-touch gesture |
| Keyboard | touch-screen only | Physical QWERTY keyboard + touch-screen | touch-screen only |
| Camera | 3.2MP w/ 2x zoom, video recording | 3.2MP, no video recording yet | 2MP, no video recording unless jailbroken and use a 3rd party application Cycorder, no zoom |
| Unlockable | unknown yet | unknown yet | iPhone (both original and 3G) can be jailbroken to support 3rd party applications, but iPhone 3G has not been unlocked yet (which means you are stuck with AT&T if bought in USA) |
| GPS | Yes, turn-by-turn direction available via 3rd party software (for a fee). VZ Navigator costs $9.99/mo. | Yes, no turn-by-turn direction | Yes, no turn-by-turn direction |
| Maps | BlackBerry map, 3rd party software (fee may apply). Or use VZ Navigator costs $9.99/mo. | Google map with Traffic, Street and Satellite view | Google map with Traffic and Satellite view, No Street view |
| Accelerometer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Storage | 1GB internal, expandable with MicroSD or SDHC up to 16GB | 1GB internal, expandable with MicroSD or MicroSDHC slot up to 8GB | 8GB or 16GB |
| Multimedia Messaging | unknown | Yes | No, text instant messaging supported by 3rd party apps |
| Voice dialing | Yes | Yes | No |
| Copy + Paste | Yes | Yes | No |
| Removable Battery | Yes | Yes | No |
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