Since my last phone broke, I have been using my brother's old iPhone 3G. What a mixed bag. As a multimedia experience, it's an utterly sublime one... in slow motion. It's incredibly easy to use, the interface is seamless and highly intuitive, and the touch screen is excellent. The phone is just slow, so there's a lot of delay for certain tasks. As a phone, though -- i.e. for simply taking it out of my pocket and placing a call or sending a text -- it's excruciating. Too many steps are involved, and the on-screen keyboard takes too much real estate and still doesn't give me buttons big enough to prevent a constant stream of typos. The fact that each step in the process is accompanied by a delay was a deal-breaker for me.
I like smartphones. For MY purposes, I just want the emphasis to be on "phone" rather than on "smart." Above all else, I want the device to make calls, send texts, and have durable construction, long battery life, and the best possible call quality. Everything else is gravy. In other words, my priorities are exactly the reverse of what an iPhone is designed for. Or, to put it yet another way, exactly what a Blackberry is designed for.
AT&T has refurbished Blackberry Torches for $10 with a 2-year contract. Since AT&T has the best coverage of all the carriers that use SIM cards, I was very likely to stick with them for the foreseeable future anyway. Chump change for a quantum leap in ease-of-use seems to be a no-brainer for me.
The iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 are much, much faster than the 3G. This makes a HUGE difference in the user experience. A bunch of my friends and family members have them and love them -- especially the iPhone 4, which is a genuinely awesome device. If I had had either of those instead of a plain-Jane 3G, I might have been okay with it -- or at least okay enough to talk myself out of signing another contract just for some extra convenience. I try not to confuse what I prefer with what is good; I do not like iPhones for my uses, but they are GREAT devices.
My
for what it's worth.
I like smartphones. For MY purposes, I just want the emphasis to be on "phone" rather than on "smart." Above all else, I want the device to make calls, send texts, and have durable construction, long battery life, and the best possible call quality. Everything else is gravy. In other words, my priorities are exactly the reverse of what an iPhone is designed for. Or, to put it yet another way, exactly what a Blackberry is designed for.
AT&T has refurbished Blackberry Torches for $10 with a 2-year contract. Since AT&T has the best coverage of all the carriers that use SIM cards, I was very likely to stick with them for the foreseeable future anyway. Chump change for a quantum leap in ease-of-use seems to be a no-brainer for me.
The iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 are much, much faster than the 3G. This makes a HUGE difference in the user experience. A bunch of my friends and family members have them and love them -- especially the iPhone 4, which is a genuinely awesome device. If I had had either of those instead of a plain-Jane 3G, I might have been okay with it -- or at least okay enough to talk myself out of signing another contract just for some extra convenience. I try not to confuse what I prefer with what is good; I do not like iPhones for my uses, but they are GREAT devices.
My
