Tech Blog

[#1]

I've been in the BlackBerry camp for a very long time, so it was a huge step for me on Friday of last week when I stood in line for six hours (not bad, considering) and bought an iPhone 4. There's something to be said for variety, so I decided it was high time to check out - in person - if the hoopla about the iPhone was accurate.

I'm going to have a review of the iPhone later, after I've had more time to use it, but there's one conclusion I can make after just one weekend: RIM is still the undefeated champ in messaging.

The iPhone is a great texting phone, and coming from a Storm II I found the transition easy to make (if you move to an iPhone from a hardware keyboard BlackBerry you'll find the learning curve to be steeper). It does IM, per se, but even with the touted BBM-killing app WhatsApp, the iPhone just doesn't have the messaging chops needed to take down BBM.

BlackBerry Messenger is the killer app for BlackBerry, and if you need your smartphone primarily for communicating, it's still the king of the hill. Maintaining your contacts is seamless - they're now held on a central server, letting you move from 'Berry to 'Berry without much ado. User pictures sync with your phonebook, and you can see, at a glance, if any message that you've sent has been received and read. Sending pictures, links, and video is also incredibly easy.

The biggest win for BBM? Groups. Broadcast SMS doesn't even come close; having a real-time, verified-receipt chat with a group of people is an experience that just can't be replicated anywhere else. In the face of many things that I prefer on the iPhone, I really miss BBM.

For communicators there's really only one choice on the market, and that's BBM. I'm happy with my iPhone, but when it comes to getting my message out, I've got a challenge cut out for me.

[#2]

So Graham, are you an official iPhone user now?  Or are you on the fence?

I have to agree, BBM is one of RIM's killer BlackBerry apps, and like you said, it's hard to beat BB when it comes to communication.  I'm curious to see how RIM will continue to handle the new challenges from Apple and Google.