Shouldn’t a product be at least available to purchase before it is said to be a “killer” or beating the competitor’s product? I think so. Maybe you are like me and are tired of reading about supposed iPhone killers.

RIM (Research in Motion) has shown the new Blackberry Bold 9000 with no launch date or price yet and the pundits are all gasping it to have somehow beaten Apple to the punch for a 3G iPhone that they anticipate may arrive next month. The Blackberry Bold 9000 looks like a nice mobile device, but it will excite only the “crackberry” user.

UPDATE: This unit is delayed and will not ship until August 2008 or later due to bugs that need to be ironed out. Well after the iPhone ships on July 11, 2008.

RIM clearly has tried to copy Apple’s iPhone’s exterior look. They also made their icons less cartoonish. There is where the similarity basically ends.

Remaining on the new upcoming Blackberry is the small screen, on the upper half in order to make room for the plastic buttoned keyboard at the bottom half of the device.

In comparison to the current iPhone the Blackberry Bold 9000 has no touch screen, in fact the screen is small and therefore not the best for watching video. Without the multi-touch technology of Apple’s iPhone it is really the same old, Blackberry in an iPhone-inspired case. A bit of shameless copying, I think. The only thing it “kills” is RIM’s self-esteem.

The Blackberry is a nice email device, but no Internet or media powerhouse. As far as syncing media, contacts or calendars with your Mac, forget it without third party workarounds. Syncing media with Windows computers also does not make for a great user experience. iTunes syncing does not exist without third party workarounds. With iTunes implanted on so many desktops this IS an issue.

Where is the Blackberry’s version of the iTunes Store? Audiobook support from Audible? Of course you are saying, “the Blackberry is a corporate phone” for business users. Exactly. Not an iPhone killer! They are pointed at different types of users.

The iPhone will certainly stray into RIM’s territory with the already announced and demoed iPhone 2.0 software that features Microsoft Exchange support that is built-in natively. Microsoft Exchange is what about 70 percent of businesses use for email, calendars, and contacts. IBM’s Lotus Notes is said to also be coming to the iPhone by year’s end.

Apple’s iPhone 2.0 software is also adding remote wipe that security conscious corporate uses have asked for. In case a “corporate” users iPhone is lost or stolen the device can be wiped, basically erased of all usable data, remotely form by their office IT administrator.

RIM can expect some competition from Apple’s iPhone in the enterprise going forward. Being a good mobile email device will only carry you so far. I do not see the Blackberry making a play in any big way to Apple’s core customers that are iPod consumers for quite so time.

LG, Samsung, Nokia and others all claim their phones are iPhone killers or say their devices have ALL the features the iPhone has and more. In about every case this is false. Picking a cell phone or mobile device is a personal choice. You should not pick one because someone tells you it is a killer or has all the same features. Why? Usually because they are biased to push their own product, are misinformed, or are plain lying.

A few facts for helping you pick the correct device:

Touch Screen vs. Multi-touch
“Touch” is the new 2008 buzzword even though “touch screens have been around for a long time. The iPhone features a “multi-touch” screen and interface, not a plain touch screen.

Multi-touch allows for you to use two fingers to “spread and pinch” to zoom images up and down or rotate them. Flicking through contacts and using the devices UI is quite a different experience with multi-touch. The iPhone and iPod touch both have “cover flow” for flicking through your albums, pictures, videos, and audiobooks.

The multi-touch feature extends thru-out the devices interface when using the browser to surf the Internet, mail, weather, keyboard functionality, etc.

So when you are told that a “touch” screen is the same as the iPhone’s “multi-touch” try it for yourself.

Accelerometer and More
The iPhone comes with a built-in three-axis accelerometer that can sense motion and react with software applications. iPhone’s built-in accelerometer detects when the user has rotated the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display accordingly, with users immediately seeing the entire width of a web page, or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio.

Games played on an iPhone will dazzle by utilizing the accelerometer. Expect the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP to feel the heat of the iPhone and iPod touch’s gaming capabilities.

The iPhone also employs a proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor. iPhone’s built-in proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away. iPhone’s built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.

Few of the iPhone competitors have utilize an accelerometer and therefore lack the enhancements it can provide.

Keyboard
Apple’s iPhone uses a full QWERTY touch screen keyboard that comes on screen only when you need it. This allows for the mobile device to be smaller, lighter and thinner while allowing you to have a screen size that is almost the size of the device to watch video and browser the Internet on.

Contrary to some early reports on the iPhone, the software based virtual keyboard is quite good and very usable. In fact I will say without hesitation better than some mechanical keyboards I have used on many Windows mobile phones.

Apple has bet that the iPhone’s virtual touch screen keyboard would be good enough for most users. Based on a February survey by ChangeWave Research of iPhone owners that found 72 percent “very satisfied” versus 55 percent for RIM’s Blackberry, Apple seems to be correct.

In many of the applications on the iPhone the keyboard gets larger in “landscape” mode when you simply turn the iPhone (due to the built-in accelerometer that senses the motion. The iPhone also will suggest and corrects as you type. It will be interesting to see how the iPhone’s keyboard may improve in the next generation.

If you must have a mechanical keyboard their are plenty of choices. You will pay for the mechanical keyboard with a smaller screen or a thicker heavier device in almost all cases. This is a personal choice. Some Blackberry users swear by its keyboard. Others like myself prefer the thinner iPhone with a much bigger screen.

Network
Wi-Fi, 3G, EV-DO, EDGE or HSDPA which is better for your use? When if comes to cell networks like 3G, EV-DO, EDGE or HSDPA is usually always depends on where you are standing for the time you are using it. Verizon’s network has excellent coverage in some areas as does Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile and others.

In my area on the east coast, the even the slower AT&T EDGE network is pretty adequate for surfing the web, etc. Recently, a study done by ComputerWorld claimed that AT&T had the fastest 3G network in their tests in the tri-state area. The iPhone is rumored to be able to use this network in its next generation.

Having a device that has more than one way to connect is great. This leads me to point out Wi-Fi as a feature.

Many mobile phones these days are leaving out Wi-Fi as a feature (probably by request of the wireless carriers). This is a great loss to many users. Wi-Fi is usually faster than the cell network in many cases and especially useful when in your home or wireless enabled office. With some many open and free Wi-Fi hotspots available in coffee shops, books stores, cafeterias, restaurants, hotels and airports why would you want to give this up? So many of the so-called iPhone killers have no Wi-Fi at all.

Nothing worse than being in a location that has a perfectly free and fast hotspot and have “little or no bars” on the cell network. Most all carriers have data usage limits on their networks. Wi-Fi usually does not, especially in your own home or office. Not having Wi-Fi on a device is a “killer” for me, a “deal” killer.

Browsing the Internet
Not all mobile browsers are equal. The iPhone’s mobile Safari is one of the best mobile browsers I have ever used. Together with the iPhone multi-touch interface, the large screen and the built-in accelerometer making surfing the web on a mobile device a great experience. This in my opinion is one of the strongest features on the iPhone over some of its competitors. If surfing Internet on the road is important to you, try an iPhone.

Having the Internet in your pocket is the “killer” app. But the device in your pocket has to make the Internet usable. The iPhone does this extremely well with the mobile Safari browser, multi-touch and the iPhone’s accelerometer.

The Safari browser is included and is more secure than Opera’s Mini browser that has to be installed on cellphones.

From the Opera website FAQ for Opera Mini:
Is there any end-to-end security between my handset and — for example — paypal.com or my bank?
No. If you need full end-to-end encryption, you should use a full Web browser such as Opera Mobile.

Opera Mini uses a transcoder server to translate HTML/CSS/JavaScript into a more compact format. It will also shrink any images to fit the screen of your handset. This translation step makes Opera Mini fast, small, and also very cheap to use. To be able to do this translation, the Opera Mini server needs to have access to the unencrypted version of the Web page. Therefore no end-to-end encryption between the client and the remote Web server is possible.

The iPhone is the leader in mobile browsing among iPhones with Google reporting that they seeing 50 times more search requests coming from the iPhone than any other mobile handset. Even though the iPhone has yet to support Flash.

Email
Email is the Blackberry’s strong point. The iPhone is no slouch in this area with support for Gmail, Yahoo, .Mac, AOL, IMAP, POP, and Exchange.

With the addition of full native support for Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes coming soon, Blackberry will no longer have an advantage, even for corporate users.

Supporting and using multiple email accounts on an iPhone is easy. Reading attachments including PDFs, Word files, Excel files and viewing images is also supported.

SMS and Text Messaging
SMS text messaging has become a preferred communication tool for many users. The iPhone has excellent SMS support.

There are numerous web apps for the iPhone for text chatting on AOL, Yahoo and others to keep up with your online buddies. I have used JiveTalk, Meebo, and AIM.

Syncing with Your Computer
If being able to sync your contacts, calendars, mail, and especially your music, video, audiobooks, podcasts or pictures is important to you. Proceed cautiously. Many of the so-called iPhone killers have little or no ability to sync with a Macintosh without third-party apps add some of these capabilities. Even Windows users may find the syncing a headache, especially for their media.

Of course syncing media like your photos, audio, and video is where the iPhone is “best of class” as it is an iPod.

Buying Music and Video
As you would expect, the iPhone excels in buying, syncing, and playing music, TV shows, movies, podcasts, and audiobooks with its connection to the iTunes Store. Apple is now the number one retailer in the US of music.

You can buy music on the road from the iTunes Wi-Fi store and the tracks purchased will “sync” back to your Mac or PC running iTunes the next time you connect it.

You can also “rent” movies from iTunes and play them back on your iPhone. The iPhone also has the ability to playback video on a TV with Apple’s optional cables or dock.

Audio – Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
Audio formats supported: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 1, 2, and 3), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV

Video formats supported: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 768 Kbps, 320 by 240 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

Audiobooks
I personally are longtime subscriber to Audible. I listen to audiobooks all the time, especially the car. The iPhone like the iPod totally supports Audible and Apple even sells audiobooks from Audible in the iTunes music store. Blackberry does not support this feature. It is available of some mobile phones however.

Watching TV
Some of the iPhone competitors offer the ability to watch TV utilizing a service from Qualcomm called MediaFLO. This is sold under the name of VCAST (Verizon) or AT&T Mobile TV. These are basically video clips you can view from the road and usually coast about $15 per month on top of your cell phone bill.

Apple has the iTunes Store that offers probably more content than anyone as well as including a YouTube application on the iPhone. Therefore does not offer MediaFLO. There are however several services that offer mobile music like FlyTunes.fm and seeqpod for the iPhone.

One of the most anticipated apps is SlingPlayer for the iPhone, maybe we will see it soon. I think we will see several solutions for the iPhone that will allow viewing video on the road when the App Store gets launched next month which is the result of Apple iPhone software developers kit (SDK) release. There are many websites where iPhone users can watch streaming media right now. NBC has begun offering full-length streaming episodes of popular shows “The Office” and “30 Rock” to the iPhone and iPod touch in Quicktime format from NBC.com.

Bluetooth
Most mobile phones have Bluetooth now-a-days, except maybe the lowest priced ones. With many states outlawing handheld use while driving some form of headset is required. Bluetooth gets rid of the wires. Few mobile phones have stereo Bluetooth that allows for listening to music for instance. One reason is Bluetooth’s limitations. The iPhone has standard Bluetooth as most of its competitors have.

Visual Voicemail
Allows you to look at a list of your voicemails, decide which message to listen to, then go directly to that messages without listening to the prior messages. Just like email, iPhone’s Visual Voicemail enables users to immediately randomly access those messages that interest them most. Fantastic time saver left off most ALL of the iPhone “killers.”

GPS and Maps
Getting directions and using geo-tagging is becoming a fantastic feature on many mobile phones. The current iPhone offers a nice Google Map application that is quite useful that gives directions and traffic. But the iPhone does not offer a true GPS (Global Positioning System) chip, utilizing a IP and cell phone tower localizing technology instead. Although this works pretty well it is not as accurate as a true GPS. The next generation of the iPhone may change this as it is rumored to have a GPS chip.

Some of the iPhone competitors already offer a GPS chip and turn by turn directions, many times at an additional monthly price. I use a Garmin Nuvi for this (no monthly charge).

Voice Dialing
My Windows mobile phone offers voice dialing. You press a button and speak into the phone the name of the person you want to call. Sometimes it actually gets it right!

The iPhone does not yet offer voice dialing. I would love to see this added, but I insist it be more accurate.

Camera
The current iPhone includes a 2 mega-pixel camera that takes still images. The camera and its usability is now the most popular phone for uploading pictures according to Flickr, the world’s largest gallery of online pictures.

Getting the pictures you have taken on the web or sent in an email is where the iPhone really shines. All of this is as easy as one finger touch.

The iPhone’s built-in Photo app can sync with your computer to view your photos on the iPhone or download the pictures you took with the iPhone’s camera. Viewing automatic slideshows directly on the iPhone or even viewable on a TV screen (with optional cables) is easy. Using the multi-touch display allows you to pinch and squeeze to zoom your photos is very useful. Adding the pictures to their associated contacts or making them wallpaper is quite easy.

The iPhone’s camera however does not have a flash or record video. Maybe next generation?

MMS Support
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) sometimes called Picture and Video Messaging Service is common to some cell phone users. This allows sending messages that include multimedia objects (images, audio, video, rich text) and not just text as in Short Message Service (SMS). The Apple iPhone does not have this feature and uses a email mostly to send pictures. The iPhone can not send or receive MMS, although third party solution are popping up. It is not know if Apple will include this in the next generation iPhone or iPhone 2.0 software.

Mostly, we have not missed it, but some users would like to see it implemented in the iPhone.

Notes
The iPhone has a note application that is in my opinion not a complete solution as of yet. You can take notes directly on the iPhone, but there is no easy way to sync them back to your computer. You can email the note. Although, the note application is quite nice, it will not give Palm users what they are used to.

Contacts and Calendars
Unlike the current Notes application on the iPhone, contacts and calendars sync nicely with your computer. This makes maintaining your contacts and calendar on the iPhone easy as events or contacts added on the iPhone can be synced back to your computer and vice versa.

Storage Space
Storage space on the current iPhone is from 8G to 16GB. Since the current iPod touch offers 32GB, it is likely the next generation iPhone will have at least this amount.

The iPhone has more built-in storage than most mobile devices out of the box. Certainly adequate for most any user. The iPhone does not have a slot to add external memory as some mobile devices do. But with that amount of storage out of the box, you probably will not miss it.

Going Overseas?
The iPhone is a Quad-band (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) world phone supporting GSM/GPRS/EDGE. Make sure to check with the wireless carrier when traveling to ensure you have the correct plan and avoid a surprise in your monthly bill!

If you are planning to travel with your cell phone you will have to make sure your phone is compatible with overseas carriers. CDMA phones are not. You usually need a GSM phone that is compatible for world travel.

Widgets and More
The iPhone features built-in Google Maps, YouTube, Stock, and Weather Widgets. They is also a world clock, alarm, stop watch, timer, and a calculator. These apps are not after-thoughts as they are well thought out and very useful.

Phone
Yes, the iPhone is cell phone. It offers conference calling and has a built-in speakerphone.

I have owned many cell phones and in just about all cases, trying to get a conference call working without dropping the connected caller is near impossible. The iPhone makes this so easy you have to love it.

How many times has your cell phone rang and you wanted a choice to answer it from either the Bluetooth headset or directly on the phone? Again the iPhone makes this easier and user friendly. This small things make living with a cell phone more pleasant.

Battery Life
The iPhone has a built-in battery that is not swappable by the user. This is quite controversial. This has some drawbacks for some users, but makes for a lighter, thinner device. The specs are below:

• Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Dimensions: 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches
• Talk Time: Up to 8 hours
• Standby Time: Up to 10 days
• Internet Time: Up to 6 hours
• Video Playback Time: Up to 7 hours
• Audio Playback Time: Up to 24 hours

Average users may find that they will have to charge their iPhone once every few days. Heavy users will find themselves changing their iPhone every night (which is like most smartphones).

There are plenty of third party battery extenders and power sources that connect right into the bottom dock connector if you need more power on the road. Not much different than carrying an extra battery.

Third Party Apps
Installing third party applications on cellphones is in most cases a pain. First you have to find one that works on YOUR phone and plan the lousy experience of installing it and hoping it works. Then if an update comes around, go through the process again.

The quality of some of these third party apps is well many times not so good.

Next month Apple has plans to change all of that for iPhone users with the launch of the App Store. iPhone users will soon be able to install a third party application with a finger touch from the road or a mouse click at their desktop. The range of apps will promise to astonish most users with many of them being free.

Apple will track the compatibility and updating the apps will be just a finger touch. This in itself is destined to make the iPhone a true “killer” device. There are so many web based apps for the iPhone, but now native apps will be available offering much more.

It may be a long time before the competitors can offer anything like this.

Ease of Use
Apple has long prided itself in building products that offer its users “ease-of-use.” The iPod continued this tradition from the Macintosh and the iPhone does the same. Simple, elegant, and easy to use is the target of the iPhone which it hits the bulls-eye in most all cases.

Price
Pricing information of the iPhone is one of the places I see most abused by its competitors. If you actually compare the iPhone PLUS the service package that includes data to other smartphones like the Blackberry, Treo, or Windows Mobile devices you will see they are quite competitive. In some cases cheaper.

Remember the price of a smartphone is the upfront cost plus the cost of the contract from the wireless provider. When you are buying a smartphone you need a data plan to use many of the features.

Pricing for an iPhone starts at $399 (8GB) with a monthly $59.99 plan with 450 minutes talk time, unlimited data, and 200 SMS messages. Blackberry from Verizon runs about $299.99 to $399.99 for the Blackberry and a monthly $79.99 plan with 450 minutes talk time, unlimited data, and $0.20 for messages received and $0.20 for messages sent for SMS messages. The LG Voyager sold by Verizon is $349.99 -$50 rebate similar pricing for plan as Blackberry. Do your own math, the iPhone IS NOT more expensive to comparable smartphones.

On March 6, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone software roadmap, released the iPhone Software Development Kit, and introduced the iPhone Enterprise Beta Program. Watch the presentation and see what’s ahead. See all the features of the current iPhone here.

Summary
When it comes to the Blackberry vs. the iPhone that are lots of differences to consider. For many it may start with the keyboard type and end the screen size or multi-touch.

The iPhone’s display is quite large at 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display (480-by-320-pixel resolution at 163 ppi) as compared to most mobile devices while staying thin and light. The Blackberry screen size is much smaller, less than half the size physically and at 320 x 240 (higher-end Blackberry like the Curve) less resolution.

In my opinion in order to be a “killer” you have to match or surpass the device you are supposedly killing. Buzzwords and sales-speak won’t help you when you have to live with the device. Take it from me I have used cellphones in most all categories. Almost the same, but not quite, can be a big difference.

When shopping for your next mobile phone keep this in mind. Weigh all the features that are most important to “your” needs, get informed and most important TRY the device for more than two seconds before getting out your credit card.

The iPhone is certainly not the device for every person, but with all the hype from the competition you might actually think it was. The competitor’s own hype has shown the iPhone seems to be the one they are trying to beat. Of course consumers will vote with their wallets.

    | Tags: blackberry, iPhone, smartphone, windows mobile