The best smartphone in the world: no one will care
I will receive my new BlackBerry Bold 9700 this week and am expecting to call it the best smartphone I have ever used. It will have a near perfect form factor, excellent battery life, great screen, excellent voice quality, super fast performance and an OS which allows me to communicate all day long and run my life as I need to.
It will be received ecstatically by BlackBerry fans who will upgrade to it in droves, but the wider world will wonder what is so good about it. The fact that it will be a great phone and a device which allows me to do necessary tasks effortlessly are of no consequence because you cannot move the screens around with your finger, you cannot pinch photos and the web browser is not very good. I accept that the default BlackBerry web browser is a pile of nonsense, but in almost every other ‘phone’ way it outperforms the competition.
I don’t believe that BlackBerry phones are better than Android, Windows Mobile phones or the iPhone, but there is such a swift move towards touch screens and fancy interfaces that few seem to care about the phone side anymore. Few seem to worry about how their smartphone does things, but are more interested in what it can do and it does not matter if it is poor in a number of areas. As long as it has sixteen fart apps available and lots of games that’s enough for most people.
This is all sounding a bit negative and I don’t mean it to. The HTC HD2 will also arrive this week for review and I will no doubt be as excited as everyone else about it. It looks like a magnificent piece of engineering and one that offers an experience that people desire in 2009. It will make the BlackBerry OS look like something that is 3 years out of date, which it probably is, but will it make and receive calls as well, will the battery life last as long and will it be as easy to use throughout the day? The answer is likely to be no to all of those, but it doesn’t matter. The fact that the Bold 9700 is probably the best smartphone in the world, when all practical aspects are considered, is irrelevant in a world where the number of available apps and the size of the screen are all important.
Maybe I have this wrong and maybe most of the online press does as well. We spend hours talking about Android, the iPhone and the HTC HD2, but BlackBerry devices still outsell them all. The problem is that they are just not as exciting as the rest and that leaves us with little to get excited about, they evolve over time and RIM doesn’t seem to want to make a splash and change things radically at this time. The problem is that it seriously needs to because people like me are dwindling every day.
Shaun,
I never believe I sell out to the “popular” world and like to tread my own path but I do believe that large screens and fancy interfaces are the way forward. What I love about the iphone is how natural it feels to use and that’s all down to the interface, large screen and the pinch touch.
I can admire the Blackberry (I use one for work) for many aspects but it still feels like a device whereas the iphone feels like an extension of me. For that reason the iphone will always win over the BB. I’m not a fanboy and have my frustrations with the iphone but they are few and far between. It’s just the device that I find easiest to use and most “comfortable” – and I don’t have a single fart app installed.
Sid
Shaun,
Sometimes I wish that I would have waited for the 9700 because of everything it has to offer and the optical trackpad. I went and played with the 8520 when it came to T-Mobile and just did not like the optical trackpad experience as of yet. Also it is something new for Blackberry; for me that means wait to see what happens. I remember what happened to the original Storm.
However, I will admit, that yes, there is a growing trend to the touch screen. I fell captive to it at one time as well. It is terrific to be able to see. However, on almost every count that I can think of, the keyboard falls short. One thing about RIM and Blackberries in general, maybe RIM doesn’t want to have a shorter battery life. Maybe they don’t want all of that flash and pomp. Their concept and train of thought is very cautious and meticulous. I remember when a Blackberry was simply a device for a business person. Now look at RIM. They are selling Blackberries to consumers in droves. I believe that they have the Zen that Palm used to have all those years ago. Flash and pomp are nice and catch the eyes. But, solid performance will always win in the end, I believe. This is what I think RIM knows and banks on.
David/Sid,
I echo your sentiments about the iPhone, particularly this part:
“I can admire the Blackberry (I use one for work) for many aspects but it still feels like a device whereas the iphone feels like an extension of me.”
Agreed. To me the keyboard, to trackball/trackpad, back button, BlackBerry button etc and endless menus just get in the way of what I want to do. They’re just clutter. I also prefer the flexibility, speed of entry, and stress-free typing of the IPhone’s virtual keyboard to a physical one.
With the IPhone I feel directly connected to my data; tapping, dragging, pinching and flicking with my thumb or finger just feels natural. On a BlackBerry, I feel it’s like using pulleys, winches and levers to get stuff done.
There’s a part of me that also agrees with Shaun. I think some of the latest crop of touchscreen smartphones are trying too hard by cluttering up the screen with too many fancy widgets and interface elements, because that’s what they THINK the iPhone is about and they’re still trying desperately hard to capture that magic. In many ways, the iPhone is the least “flashy” of all the current touchscreen phones because the interface and the thought behind it goes much deeper than mere eye candy.
The optical trackpad and great battery life make any blackberry a worthy device. But they are boring.
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