BB 9550 --> DInc --> VZiP4...?

[reyxlp]

I know, I know -- pry my DInc/Droid from my cold, dead hands, I had a little respect for BB but you'll NEVER catch me with a WHYphone!!! Haha...

Many DInc/iP4 comps have been made, they're not new phones, but for anyone else like me who never trys out devices not on my network (Verizon) or hasn't had the chance to play with the AT&T iP4 either, here's my $0.02 (originally having come from a BB 9550)...:

My fav interface is still BB. Can't explain it. Maybe since it was my first. Getting around the BB still makes the most sense to me, especially the way it handles contacts/contact info. Best push e-mail, loved BBM, etc.

Made the switch to DInc when plans for 9570 were scrapped and there was no new Storm in the forseeable future. The BB browser was KILLING me and I heard about Flash on the DInc/Droids.

The DInc pretty much destroyed the BB 9550. I still miss BBM, push and SurePress (yes, SurePress) but in every other regard, the DInc was like dating the wild, fun girl after years with the nice, reliable but uptight boring girl, haha...

Just got the VZiP4 (yes, I have no life and did the 2:47am pre-order) and... Well, I guess "meh..." is the best word to describe the slightly underwhelming feeling...

Absolutely gorgeous device, for sure. I'm a PC guy and you couldn't get me to even check my e-mail on a Mac. The thought of a one-button mouse alone is enough to make me puke. Gotta give them credit for their ergonomics and design aesthetic, though. Same with the iP4.

Feels a little heavier than the DInc, more like the BB 9550 in weight. Sure doesn't feel like it would survive a fall of more than 0.5", though.

The OS is consistently the smoothest, just silky smooth. Android on the DInc is consistently faster but also choppier at times.

The phone feels crippled without Flash, though. After rolling with the DInc's browser, it's hard to see websites not actually fully enabled, virtually no different than on a PC. DInc browser just absolutely anihilates. No contest.

Generally, though it's perfectly smooth, the DInc just does everything faster. (I won't even mention the BB 9550 here, out of respect for the dead.) The DInc just generally smokes the iP4 on all things velocity.

I was surprised - my first time into the Apple App Store - that with all those Apps, I couldn't find all the Apps I had on my DInc from Android Market on the App Store! Most of them were Google Apps, though, so I guess that makes sense.

The Maps program on the iP4 is WAY BEHIND the one on the DInc, and it's one of the ones I use the most, so that kinda sucks. Slower, less detail, fewer options (no rotate, no 3-D, Latitude is a seperate App altogether, etc.) No turn by turn.

I also rarely use iTunes and for music I mostly just stream Pandora so a lot of the iPod and Apple native music/multimedia perks are wasted on me.

Personally, I like the AMOLED screen on my DInc better than the iP4's screen.

Multi-tasking though is handled better on the iP4 than any of them, including BB 9550. It's the cleanest interface -- clearly see all currently running apps and close any app you want, period. No "Force Stop" or only viewing recent apps or digging through long menus that include processes, etc. Very clean.

In terms of e-mail, gotta give the iP4 the upper hand, here. It isn't a BB but it does support push for my Hotmail, Yahoo and GMail accounts -- Hotmail and GMail via MS Exchange setup, Yahoo the regular way. And it is fast, almost as instant as my BB, maybe the same - hard to remember, it's been a while. On the DInc, even with the most frequent e-mail check settings, sometimes it would be upto 10-15 mins from seeing it in my laptop's webmail to seeing it on my phone.

Overall, things seem a little more intuitively integrated on the iP4, too. Hard to describe that one, I guess getting around in the GUI just makes a little more sense than the DInc. I do miss the configurability of the BB, though -- more options than the other two, by far. Security and permissions, BB still light years ahead.

Well, hope somebody else finds this useful. I've only had the iP4 for a day so jury is still out for me. Right now, I'm still liking my DInc better and am leaning towards returning or selling the iP4 in favor of the Thunderbolt. Have to see what LTE pricing will be first, though.

EDIT: Forgot to mention also...

No widgets on the iP4 so that's too bad, I really liked that on the DInc.

I do LOVE the voicemail of the iP4 over any other Verizon device because Apple uses it's own native application for this which lets you record a greeting and then ONLY plays what YOU RECORDED -- none of that standard, Verizon, "After the tone, record your message. When you are done recording, press # for more options. To leave a callback number, press 5. To send a fax, press 4. To turn off the coffee maker in the person's house that you are trying to reach but got this endless standard greeting after their custom greeting instead, press *COFFEENOW# or *DECAFPLEASE# now. To die of old age before you are able to actually leave your message, please wait an eternity for me to stop talking." Etc...

 

[laurel25]

Thanks for the write up - it's nice to read an impartial comparison from someone who's had both phones.

 

[menschmaschine5]

Just one point: Although the multitasking interface on the iPhone 4 might be more intuitive, the iPhone still doesn't allow for true multitasking.

 

[bigk]

Great review.

I've played with the ipod touch and the UI does seems smoother then the Incredible.

So the maps program doesn't have turn by turn directions? Are their apps that give that ability? I would of seriously thought the iphone had turn by turn by now....

 

[reyxlp]

Just one point: Although the multitasking interface on the iPhone 4 might be more intuitive, the iPhone still doesn't allow for true multitasking.

Actually, I've been meaning to ask someone about that - I read on TipB someone saying that Symbian is the only OS that actually does true multitasking. Is that accurate?

 

[bigk]

Actually, I've been meaning to ask someone about that - I read on TipB someone saying that Symbian is the only OS that actually does true multitasking. Is that accurate?

I don't know about symbian, but I do know that Blackberry's new playbook tablet does true multitasking.

 

[Jude526]

I get my emails fast on my Droid INC no issues with it at all.
I am not an iphone person but I don't bash it. I came from BB and I do prefer my HTC

 

[bdragon]

It was nice reading that write up. I too came from BB to Android(Dinc) and it's like night and day. Like you, I do miss the Sure-Press and BBM, but "dating the wild, fun girl", just seemed like the right thing to do. I have an *pod, love using it and I would like the experience of owning the *phone. I love the TBolt, but I think I might hold off to see what this summer brings with the *phone.

 

[fillossofer]

Great review. I too had a 9550 and now I have an Incredible. You've confirmed my suspicions about the iPhone, and if I were you I'd be returning it.

 

[reyxlp]

bigK: It doesn't have it natively integrated with Google Maps like the DInc does. There are some you can buy but in terms of free apps, I found one called Waze which is crowd sourced but haven't had the chance to try it yet. It has great reviews but I doubt it could stack up against Google's, but I'll try it soon. The BB Playbook is the first tablet that I would actually consider buying... ...now that I no longer have a BB activated, haha -- ugh! Really wish RIM had gotten their act together and put out a Storm3 that could have compared to the DInc/iP4. Sigh...

fillossofer: Yeah, I don't know yet. If I return it, I will definitely wait until the last day to do it. It's definitely growing on me. How much in the end, we'll see. There is definitely something douchey about it, though, haha...

---

Few more days with it now...

BATTERY LIFE:

iPhone way outlasts my DInc when it comes to battery life. I'm using it more than what my average usage would be because it's new and I'm playing around with it a lot, trying to settle into it. I have yet to burn through a full charge in one day, 7/8am to midnight on average.

The OEM battery in my DInc would last maybe until 2/3pm, 6/7pm tops once I learned to disable the "Enable always on..." network data thing. Bought the extended slim from Seidio, tweaked a few of the settings and still barely made it to the end of a full day with moderate usage.

On the flip side, the iP4 is the first phone I've ever had where you can't just open the battery door and pop in a spare if you burn through the first. Still trying to get used to bringing my charger with me wherever I go, just in case.

The App Store's offerings also I am starting to feel are -- currently -- better than Android Market's and, no doubt, BB App World comes in a distant last place. Other than the Google line of apps of course, one nice thing about the iPhone is that if a major company makes an app for a smartphone, the iPhone is their top priority and you will find an iPhone version of it without a doubt. This will change, however, I think, as the numbers on Android don't lie, there will be way more Android than iOS phones out there and Android Market's size is growing so much faster than Apple's App Store, from what I've read here and on other sites.

I am really curious about the Thunderbolt. I am looking forward to comparing it with the Dinc side by side. If it's the size of the Droid X, it ain't for me. Gorgeous phone but too big for my taste. Dinc/iP4/9550 are all pretty perfectly sized, I feel.

 

[Wanda]

I got the Mrs an iPhone (pre-ordered at 4am on the 3rd but hey, i was up getting ready for work anyway) and have enjoyed playing with it trying to help her get it set up. We both came from BB's (9530 R.I.P.) but i was smart and got my Inc on launch day.

I have to say though as smooth as the UI may be, its just not mind blowing. Yes it certainly is nice, no doubt it would be a mind blower if i was coming straight from the storm to this but after using my Inc since last april it just didnt do a whole lot for me.

Also the iPhone has some real, what I would say are shortcomings that taken individually aren't deal breakers but taken together had me wondering if we were going to be sending it back...

#1 you can only have one tone for your email? WTH, so if a company outfits their entire sales staff with iP4's they ALL will have the same tone for new mail so everyone has to check their phones when someone down the hall gets a new email...absolutly does not make any freaking sense.

#2 you can only pick from a very short list of tones for your text alert. Huh? thanks apple, guess we'll all go with the default tone cause the rest are pretty annoying...again, doesn't make sense not to let people put what ever they want.

#3 unless you use exchange or gmail you can't send calendar invites to other people. this was the biggest shocker to me and would have been a deal breaker had i not been able to convince her to open a gmail account. after both of us having bb's and even with my Inc we constantly send each other our calendar items so we know what each other are doing. She uses Yahoo but iP4 will only give you the option to invite people to your calendar event if your using gmail set up as exchange or using a true exchange server.

Like i said, there are work arounds and things you have to just say "well i guess i can get used to it" but it was kind of frustrating...being as this phone is supposed be the end all be all of smartphones.

almost forgot, there are no visual notifications for you having recieved a message...no led, no nothing. only when you get a text do the screen light up so if you missed the sound notifier, the one and only one you can have set, you've got to go through the whole unlock process to check for mail...now i know the Inc's led light is pathetic but at least its there.

 

[ramireh3]

I got the Mrs an iPhone (pre-ordered at 4am on the 3rd but hey, i was up getting ready for work anyway) and have enjoyed playing with it trying to help her get it set up. We both came from BB's (9530 R.I.P.) but i was smart and got my Inc on launch day.

I have to say though as smooth as the UI may be, its just not mind blowing. Yes it certainly is nice, no doubt it would be a mind blower if i was coming straight from the storm to this but after using my Inc since last april it just didnt do a whole lot for me.

Also the iPhone has some real, what I would say are shortcomings that taken individually aren't deal breakers but taken together had me wondering if we were going to be sending it back...

#1 you can only have one tone for your email? WTH, so if a company outfits their entire sales staff with iP4's they ALL will have the same tone for new mail so everyone has to check their phones when someone down the hall gets a new email...absolutly does not make any freaking sense.

#2 you can only pick from a very short list of tones for your text alert. Huh? thanks apple, guess we'll all go with the default tone cause the rest are pretty annoying...again, doesn't make sense not to let people put what ever they want.

#3 unless you use exchange or gmail you can't send calendar invites to other people. this was the biggest shocker to me and would have been a deal breaker had i not been able to convince her to open a gmail account. after both of us having bb's and even with my Inc we constantly send each other our calendar items so we know what each other are doing. She uses Yahoo but iP4 will only give you the option to invite people to your calendar event if your using gmail set up as exchange or using a true exchange server.

Like i said, there are work arounds and things you have to just say "well i guess i can get used to it" but it was kind of frustrating...being as this phone is supposed be the end all be all of smartphones.

almost forgot, there are no visual notifications for you having recieved a message...no led, no nothing. only when you get a text do the screen light up so if you missed the sound notifier, the one and only one you can have set, you've got to go through the whole unlock process to check for mail...now i know the Inc's led light is pathetic but at least its there.

I have both an IP4 (Business) and a Dinc (Personal) and the not having a visual notification on the IP4 is a pain the arse. I hate that I have to open up the phone to figure out if I missed a message. Just Saying.

 

[Wanda]

I have both an IP4 (Business) and a Dinc (Personal) and the not having a visual notification on the IP4 is a pain the arse. I hate that I have to open up the phone to figure out if I missed a message. Just Saying.

Couldn't agree more. I'm not an Apple hater, I've been using the same macbook since 06, bought the mrs a macbook pro last year and we have an imac for our main home computer...I understand now when people say the BB is for serious workers and the iPhone is more for play. On one hand the BB is useless for internet connectivity (at least the storm was) but yet the iPhone lacks some basic things that the LGVX6900 i had 4 years ago could do easily.

Thread hijacking done...sorry OP.

 

[reyxlp]

Haha, no worries, Wanda -- hijack away, I'm learning a lot from all the comments.

I have to agree about the notifications, too. I can't believe it doesn't even have like one little light to tell you something's up.

I'm not an Apple hater but I do hate that occasional Apple person who is a smug ****** about how everything Apple is so endlessly superior but has never tried anything else and barely knows how to use his own Apple devices. Ugh...! Okay, sorry - end rant.

It's a trade off, it's great so many different devices are available but then it's so hard to find the one device that does it all, to your tastes.

For me, I'm starting to feel like I am leaning against keeping the iPhone. I don't use the iPod or iTunes functionality that much, I have no other Apple products I need to inegrate it with.

Recently, I've noticed it is having problems keeping data working properly when WiFi is enabled. Despite not showing any warnings/errors and claiming a properly connected full strength connection to my wireless network, all data stops working after a couple of hours on WiFi *AND* it fails to switch over to 3G automatically to keep the data going.

That's not good and I'm so generally over tech support from any major company, be it Apple, Dell or Verizon, I don't see myself getting it figured out. I posted about it on TipB so, fingers crossed someone will help me sort it out.

I find Android and BBOS much more configurable in this regard where when I was having WiFi troubles the first time I setup my BB 9550, I could go change a million things and even run a diagnostic, etc. In that sense, Apple products always make me feel they assume I'm too stupid to understand a little more about how things really work and even fix or customize a few things myself if I want to. Then again, I understand how this helps them ensure a more uniform quality of experience for the overall majority of users who just want to have the damn thing turn on an work the way it's supposed to. I respect that.

 

[Wanda]

Your right reyxlp, every phone and for that matter almost every piece of technology is a compromise between certain things and every device will have it's quirks that one can either just accept and move on or say "umm, not the device for me".

For me, the Inc is all I need. Push email, awesome web browsing, GPS maps, voice turn by turn directions, stream music etc etc etc...I know the iPhone can do some of these things as well as the Inc but for the reasons i posted above and the lack of voice turn by turn, and because I'm fine just dragging and dropping my music to my Inc (I really just stream slacker like 95% of the time anyway), the iPhone 4 is not the device for me.

Plus I'm really spoiled/addicted to my voice to text for texting *cough cough* but not in the car, and for emails, google search and pretty much everything. I can just hear my kids now in a few years "eeeeeuuuuuwww, who still types dad, thats so 2000's..."

 

[Wanda]

Did I mention widgets?? Put that in your pipe and smoke it Steve Jobs!

 

[reyxlp]

Yeah, I definitely miss my widgets. Also worth repeating are the lack of Flash support and a physical, dedicated notification light.

Haven't fully sorted out my WiFi troubles on the iP4 yet but I was also having the memory errors on the DInc where my e-mail app would without warning grow to 100MB+ overnight sometimes.

One more week...!

Really wish I could compare the Thunderbolt at the same time, as well. The Merge is looking pretty nice, too. I loved with my BB 9550 that I could data roam overseas for just $2/day on Verizon and then pop in a local sim for calls if I wanted. I doubt Apple would ever allow this, even if they release a global iPhone on Verizon, and Android is only recently offering some nice global options on VZ.

 

[frenzy757]

hey Rey,

How has your experience been since you last updated?

 

[reyxlp]

Well my two week window ends Monday and I think I'm going to keep the iPhone 4.

I was leaning toward going back to the DInc but once I Jailbroke (Rooted) it and got it more customized, I'm having a lot of fun with it.

I still love my DInc and have been carrying it along with the iP4 hooked up to its WiFi.

I ran hybrids on my BBs (9530 and 9550) but for some reason I never felt the need to Root my DInc, so I'm sure I missed a lot of cool stuff there.

The DInc does many things better, as has been covered in this and many other threads, but the overall experience using the iP4 feels more enjoyable to me.

Don't be fooled by the Apple fanboys, it is far from a perfect device and most of those dudes have never spent time on a BB or a DInc.

My 9550 still handles e-mail, security and customization better than the iP4 or the DInc.

I have to repeat from earlier in the thread, they're all great devices that have different strengths and weaknesses.

So it comes down to finding the one you're in the mood for.

Got all the WiFi stuff sorted out, plus a Bluetooth headache that took a few hours of surfing to solve.

I have to repost this because it's so relevant to this thread: