My Cellphone My Terms

With Apple launching its iPhone 4 on July 30th in Canada and BlackBerry announcing the launch of the BlackBerry Torch 9800 last week, we have already received hundreds of questions about which device is better.  One key thing to note, is that both devices showcase new operating systems – Apple’s iOS 4 and BlackBerry’s OS 6.0 – and off course there is the new hardware.

So here is the ultimate showdown – a side-by-side comparison – of Apple’s iPhone 4 versus BlackBerry’s Torch 9800.

	iPhone 4	BlackBerry Torch 9800	The Winner
Images			-
Look & Feel	Height: 4.5 inches Width: 2.31 inches Depth: 0.37 inch Weight: 4.8 ounces (137 grams)	Height: 4.37in & 5.83 inches open Width 2.44 inches Depth 0.57 inches Weight 5.68 ounces (161 grams)	Winner: iPhone 4 With it’s sleeker design and overall look and feel we give Apple the edge in this area .
Display	3.5-inch wide screen multi-touch Retina display	3.2” HVGA+ multi-touch display allowing the user to apply multiple finger gestures simultaneously.	Winner: iPhone 4 The iPhone 4′s bigger screen is a bonus for most and the clarity of the Retina Display is phenomenal.
Resolution	960×640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi (pixels per inch) Fingerprint-resistant oleo-phobic coating on front and back	480×360 pixel resolution at 188 ppi (pixels per inch)Light-sensing and proximity detecting screen Font size (user selectable) Capacitive resistive touch screen	Winner: iPhone 4 iPhone 4’s Retina display and 326 ppi make it a clear cut winner.
Processor	1GHz CPU with 512MB RAM	624MHZ with 512MB RAM	Winner: Torch 9800 BlackBerry memory management is better than the iPhone, so despite the slower processor it gets the nod.
Capacity	Internal flash drive of 16GB or 32GB No expandable memory	512 MB flash memory / 512 MB SDRAM 8GB of Storage – 4 GB eMMC + 4 GB media card included Expandable memory – support for microSD card up to 32 GB	Winner: Torch 9800 Having the flexibility to add additional Flash memory is a benefit worth having.
Camera	5-MP Camera Tap to focus video or still images LED flash VGA-quality photos and video at up to 30 frames per second with the front camera 5x digital zoom HD Video recording, (720p) up to 30 frames per second with audio *Photo and video geotagging	5-MP Camera Continuous auto-focus Image stabilization & Flash 11 scene modes 2X digital zoom VGA (640×480) video recording *Geotagging	Winner: iPhone 4 With its front facing camera, HD Video recording and film editing the iPhone 4 gets the edge.
Battery & Battery Life	Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery 1420 mAh Talk time: Up to 7 hours on 3G Up to 14 hours on 2G Standby time: Up to 300 hours Video playback: Up to 10 hours Audio playback: Up to 40 hours Internet use: Up to 6 hours on 3G Up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi	Removable/rechargeable lithium-ion battery (1300 mAHr) Talk Time: up to 5.5 hours on 3G UMTS – up to 5.8 hours Standby Time: GSM® – up to 400 hours, UMTS – up to 14 days Video Playback: up to 6 hours Music Playback: up to 30 hours	Winner: Torch 9800 BlackBerry has always been exceptional in this area so we have to nod to BlackBerry given how efficient the OS is.
WiFi & Bluetooth	802.11 b/g/n support Bluetooth v2.1 VPN for WPA2 Enterprise	802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth WPA / WPA2 Personal and Enterprise Cisco CCX certified Wi-Fi access to BlackBerry® Enterprise Server Wi-Fi access to BlackBerry Internet Bundle Support for UMA (carrier-dependent) Built-in GPS functionality Includes BlackBerry® Maps	Winner: Torch 9800
Applications	With 200,000 apps and counting – lol – the creativity available in iPhone’s app store make owning an iPhone feel like infinite discovery. Anything you can imagine at this stage is likely in the iPhone app store and with that many apps the world is yours.	While BlackBerry argues that quantity is not quality the reality is that the apps in the BlackBerry store typically cost more and the selection is limited.	Winner: iPhone 4

The OS Duo – iOS 4 versus OS 6 (Let’s talk features)

iOS 4 has a number of new bells and whistles but here is a summary of the key features:

• Multi-tasking for third party applications
• Folders for Apps
• Spotlight search for all content including apps, music, mail, notes, contacts and now SMS/MMS along with the option to search the web
• FaceTime allows video calling from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 – over Wi-Fi only
• Home screen wall paper and spell checker
• Support for external Bluetooth keyboards
• Turn on or off cellular data completely
• Greater control over location services, allows you to specify which applications can access your current location.
• Edit in search results and create and edit playlists on the device.
• Resize Photos when sending to friends to reduce the size of messages
• Unified Inbox for multiple email accounts and Threaded Messaging for organizing conversations.
• Multiple Exchange accounts to be created on the same device. Prior versions only supported a single MS Exchange Activesync account
• Support for Opening Attachments
• Direct support for Google Calendar
• SSL VPN support
• Email and attachment encryption through the device passcode

BlackBerry’s OS 6 is laden with features as well, including

• Multi-tasking which has been part of the BlackBerry experience for ages
• WebKit browser makes the BlackBerry web browsing experience on par with the competition.
  Other highlights of the WebKit browser include, tabbed browsing and an auto-wrap text zoom feature that re-formats articles to fit the size of the screen. Multi-touch for photos, music and of course pinch to zoom along with tabbing and support for Flash
• Notification Previews on the Home Screen
• Home screen allows pages of applications
• Integrated Social Feeds ties in all Social Media apps saving you time (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
• Universal Search allows you to search all feeds, email, contacts, pictures, notes, text messages, calendar events and search the web as well
• Universal inbox pulls together both email and feeds from social networks such as Twitter and Facebook into one place
• A rejigged media player makes the navigation and experience akin to – dear I say – using iTunes
• Modal popups with gestures making interaction with the device that much more intuitive

BlackBerry’s goal with OS 6 was really about closing the gap and improving the overall BlackBerry user experience.  With iOS 4, Apple’s focus was to add a few key enhancements to better serve the business professional (i.e. unified inbox and multiple exchange accounts , SSL VPN support and passcode data encryption) with a new product design to re-energize its fan base.  BlackBerry is still a powerhouse in the enterprise segment for several reasons (security, exchange support, productivity, etc.) but in order for Apple to chip away at their lead better support for enterprise clients was essential.

So, who takes the prize?

I declare this duo a Draw.  YES  A DRAW.  The BlackBerry Torch 9800 is great engineering itself and with a Touch Qwerty Slider in a package the same thickness as the BlackBerry Bold 9700 (o.56 inches in Depth) it really is impressive.  However, I don’t feel this device is revolutionary in anyway and the really story is the debut of OS 6, which really makes BlackBerry users feel less inferior to other smart phone users.  For Apple, choosing form over function proved to be a serious flaw that threatened the success of the iPhone 4 launch.  Given the number of proposals generated since its launch from people across Canada on myCELLmyTERMS, the antennae issue doesn’t seem to be slowing things down, but for that reason I can’t give a phone that you must have a bumper case for an award in order to make a phone call.  So in short, BlackBerry closed the gap with OS 6 to appease Canadian evangelists and the iPhone fans appear to be willing to support Apple no matter what they do at this stage.

Get your iPhone 4 or Torch 9800 at myCELLmyTERMS – Canada. Make the cell phone companies compete for your business and like this duo, compare your cell phone plans side by side.

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