I’ve been offered an upgrade from my old Blackberry through Voda and I can either get the Blackberry Torch or an iphone4, the ip4 will cost £89 to buy and an extra £5 a month on the same contract.

I love my BB Bold which I have had for 2 years, I use it for business, so its mainly emailing and some internet and a lot of calls and texts. I like the sound of the Torch with the choice of keypad or keypad on the screen, I don’t get on with emailing from my ipod touch even though it has the latest os and you can email sideways.

When you read the reviews the iPhone eats everything else, but is it just hype ? What would I be best getting ?????

ANY thoughts gratefully rec’d !

For what you’re using it for, and given your personal preference as well, I’d say stick with the BB.

You like your Blackberry, and don’t like your iPod Touch… Tricky, but, maybe the Blackberry?
First dibs on the iPhone if you get it though 🙂

If you don’t like the touch for the keypad you will have the same problem with the iP4 so I would stick with the Blackberry.

I would have an iP4 myself though.

Do you get used to that whole typing on glass thing ????? 😕

my mrs has an Iphone 4 but I have a nokia C6…I tried the Iphone but my man fingers couldn’t do typing at all. the C6 has a keyboard that slides out which I find alot more practible

Blackberry Torch for business, iphone 4 for fun.

I don’t get on with emailing from my ipod touch even though it has the latest os and you can email sideways.

The iPhone is exactly the same as the iPod Touch (plus obviously the phone/texting bits) so if you don’t like emailing on the touch don’t get an iPhone!

Do you get used to that whole typing on glass thing ?????

I don’t find it a problem. I wouldn’t want to write a 5000 word essay on it but for email, facebook updates and forum posts it is just fine.

I tried the Iphone but my man fingers couldn’t do typing at all

You have a severe case of botuliform digitus. Even my huge gorilla hands can manage it. 🙂

I don’t agree – my iPhone is for business and it is fine. What can a Blackberry do that an iPhone can’t?

“What can a Blackberry do that an iPhone can’t?”

A: Not look as amazing when you put it on the table/desk for everyone to admire.

Its true Gary, they are a sexy bit of kit. But 5 years of texting and emailing with thumbnail edges have made me a bit averse to the whole writing on glass thing !

FWIW I used to have a Nokia something-or-another with both a “normal” keypad and a slide out “proper” keyboard. Both were rubiish for typing on compared to my iPhone. I was amazed how much better I find typing on glass compared to “real” keypads.

What can a Blackberry do that an iPhone can’t?

BlackBerry Messenger. It’s the killer app (for me).

Physical keyboard. The crucial feature (for me).

What does Blackberry Messenger do?

If you like a real keyboard then fair enough. Personally I went through several smart phones before the iPhone came out and I always avoided phones with pull-out keyboards (I always preferred the less bulky touch screens and dialling wands).

What does Blackberry Messenger do?

It’s like IM but really tight. Chat, calendar, photo sharing, lists and probably some other shit. Can see when individual messages have been both delivered and read. Looks good. Can communicate in groups. Intuitive. Free for unlimited use (once you have BIS/BES, obviously), unlimited (or maybe just very long) message length.

There was a rumour that RIM was going to make it available on other platforms but that would be madness because it’s a big part of keeping people locked in on BB.

Fair enough – not having used it I can’t comment.

stick with the bb, iphones are fantastic media devices with communication abilities, blackberry’s are fantastic communication devices with media abilities! to simplify it somewhat, but after a few years of bb typing you’ll get frustrated with the touch only screen,
(os 6 is a big step up from 5 on bb’s too, playing flash videos on etc. use the wifes bold over my curve occasionally for that!)
is also nice to be able to upgrade the OS easily when new comes out, meaning your old phones as upto date as can be! without a new versoin of the phone coming out and you being instantly out of date!!

Why not go to a shop & spend 10 mins trying them out? Always better to get hands on with something like this.

Only caveat to this might be that you’ve already mentioned you aren’t particularly keen on typing on an iTouch….

When I got my HTC Desire, it was that or a fairly standard Sony Ericsson. I was convinced I would be hugely annoyed by the touch screen of the HTC Desire & wanted to try them both before choosing the SE, just to prove how rubbish touch screen phones are and that I really didn’t need all that fancy gubbins.
10 mins later I walked out with an HTC Desire – even though I had to pay £115 for the phone.

I don’t use the physical keyboard on the Torch, I find it too small for my sausage fingers. 😳

I have both. The iPhone kills the BB.

You can get What’s App on the iPhone – it enables messaging with other users who are tied to the BB messaging platform.

Scott, very interested in an owner of both, why’s the IP so much better ?

I went from a slide out keyboard (that I hardly used) on a Nokia N97 Mini, to the glass of a Desire HD and it’s so much better.

Mindy you, the HD is big enough to have decent sized keys, unlike those piddling little iPhones….

Having used a phone with a slide-out keyboard in the past, I was unsure about the iPhones ‘virtual’ keyboard, but having the flexibility of a keyboard that works landscape and portrait is very liberating. It’s very easy to get alternative characters just by pressing and holding which brings up all the alternatives, which is much easier than on the piddly little keys on my old and clunky XDA Mini. [Èèéêëçñ?øœóàáâäæ€$¥?§] are some, plus you can easily add foreign language characters as well. Does take a bit of getting used to, And I’m not that fast, and I don’t really use both thumbs well at all, but I was watching a bloke on the train with an iPhone, and the speed be was typing was unbelievable. He had a laptop open in front of him, and never touched it for over an hour. You can get styli that work on the iPhone, but I think many rely on the spell- check. I think you need to play with a touchscreen like the iPhone’s for a while to really appreciate the flexibility.

Had a go on a torch the other day – fiddly annoying menus that are difficult to navigate. Buttons for media etc are crap.

Iphone – just works great my 73 yr old granny was using mine the other day to look at videos and pics, she could navigate the touch screen no problems – get whats app for IM.

Which Bold are you upgrading from? If it’s the 9000, you may find the “real” keys on the Torch a let down. I have a Torch and love it, but typing is not the same as the Bold. Keys are smaller and need a firmer push. I can’t use the screen to type on the BB efficiently, but I can manage on the iPhone/iTouch interface – just.

As for what does a BB do that an iPhone can’t, well BBM of course! – just ask my son and any other teenager. £5 per month on payg (free until July) means free unlimited texts and file transfers to any blackberry, anywhere in the world, without a contract or WiFi. In fact this feature has seen the net spend by users on BB go down, as corporate customers move away from Blackberry Enterprise Server to MS Exchange and lower overheads. At work the SVP’s all carry iP4’s.