Cool Gadget | PDA Phone

When Research In Motion (RIM) announced the Storm, it made headlines for being the first touchscreen BlackBerry smartphone and also the first in the market with a clickable touch panel. The Apple iPhone 3G, on the other hand, has been constantly improved upon since its launch and currently includes support for Microsoft Exchange and third-party software.

Now that RIM has had a few months to improve the Storm and finally sees fit to release it in Asia, is the Storm able to blow away the iPhone? Let’s find out in this Prizefight. 

Sexiness

Design and looks count for a lot when you’re shopping for a smartphone, so here’s where we examine the look, size, feel and sex appeal of the devices. 

While it’s longer than the Storm, the simple lines and slimmer profile of the iPhone give it an advantage over the Storm. Apple products are reputable for their attractive designs, and the iPhone is an example of this. The iPhone is not just slim and sleek, it oozes sex appeal. Quite frankly, no other smartphone comes close in terms of design. The iPhone is still top dawg in my books.

Though it isn’t unattractive, the Storm is just not as sleek as the iPhone. While we appreciate the fact that the Storm has a 3.5mm audio jack, having this on the side instead of on the top or bottom makes it cumbersome to fit into a pocket when used as a music player with wired headphones. The Storm is definitely on the chunky side ,which is a bit of a turnoff, and the gap between the screen and chassis is worrying as dust can accumulate there over time. The good thing is that the Storm retains the look of a BlackBerry despite having a large and vibrant touchscreen. The overall feel is very corporate, yet stylish.

Navigation

Sexiness is one thing, but is the handset easy to use? In Round 2, we look at the user interface of the devices’ controls and touchscreens. 

The user interface on the iPhone works well and is dead simple. The single button brings you to your list of apps from anywhere and the virtual keyboard is among the best compared with other devices’ onscreen text input methods. Apple nailed it with the user interface on the iPhone. There are plenty of touch-friendly implementations optimized for finger-based input. It’s a no-brainer using the iPhone. It is that easy.

Having a clickable display is a very clever idea, giving you tactile feedback on a full touchscreen device. Unfortunately, it’s let down by the onscreen keypad which is not as effective as the iPhone’s. When you navigate deeper into menu items, especially in the Options, you will be presented with lists of items more suited for use with a physical directional pad or trackball, not a touchscreen device. For me, the clickable touchscreen is a hit-and-miss. It takes a while to get up to speed typing on the onscreen keyboard. It doesn’t help at all that the interface feels sluggish. RIM has tried to marry the physical keypad and touch display on the Storm which is a very good attempt but just doesn’t cut it for me.

Features

What do these smartphones offer under the hood? In this round, we examine the features in each device and rate which phone offers more. 

Though many missing features will be added when version 3.0 of Apple’s iPhone software ships, this mobile phone, as it currently stands, lacks quite a number of basics such as copy-and-paste and multimedia messaging. That said, it has most other functions well-covered, with HSDPA connectivity, Wi-Fi and GPS all under the hood. The iPhone missed out on so many features. It doesn’t support multitasking, lacks multimedia messaging, video recording and Bluetooth stereo, among others. I What would also annoy is the open-quit-open method of switching between applications. Apple may have gotten it right with the design and user interface, but it really should look at some of the basics as well.

Like any other BlackBerry device, you can expect the Storm to offer a great push-email. The exclusion of Wi-Fi is mind-boggling though, as it’s become a standard feature for almost all smartphones. This is especially important if you find yourself in an indoor area with poor HSDPA coverage and Wi-Fi might well be the only other option. The only feature the Storm lacks is Wi-Fi which it makes up for with HSDPA. That’s fine and dandy, but if you are not on an unlimited data plan, it’s good to have Wi-Fi for, say, streaming videos on-the-go. The Storm also has a very strong set of productivity, multimedia and messaging applications out-of-the-box. A big plus.

Web browsing and multimedia

These handsets do a lot more than just make calls, they also have video and digital music players and Web browsers. But which device offers a better experience? 

Very few other phones come close to the Web-browsing capabilities of the iPhone. It renders regular pages well and many Web sites even have special iPhone-formatted pages which will load faster on this handset. Music and video features are well-integrated because this is essentially an iPod touch with a cellular radio and camera. Aside from the lack of Flash support, the Safari browser delivers a great Web-surfing experience with multitouch capabilities that few other browsers can match. The iPod features are also top-notch.

Though it loads Web pages quite decently, the Storm’s browser still has some ways to go if it wants to match Safari on the iPhone. The screen on the Storm is excellent for videos and the built-in speakers are insanely loud and clear. I also like the fact that you can insert a high-capacity microSD card to expand its storage. The Storm has one of the most vibrant displays in the market, which makes it a joy to watch videos on the device. Web browsing is all right, but isn’t superior to Safari on the iPhone.

Email and applications

You can do more with a good set of productivity software on these smartphones. In this round, we look at how the two devices handle email and if it’s easy to install applications. 

Email is dead easy to configure on the iPhone. The Storm does still have an advantage in this aspect because RIM has a strong tradition in handling push email, not to mention the necessary backend tools and operator support to boot. Though it’s the only way to install apps on the iPhone, the App Store enjoys a strong developer base and has a huge selection of programs that cater to almost every need. The easy access to third-party software is where the iPhone truly shines. Find something you like on the App Store? Download and install it directly onto the handset. Don’t like it afterwards? Just delete it. There are so many apps available that you’re bound to find at least a few you like. Support for various email clients including Microsoft Exchange, Gmail and Yahoo! Mail is a plus, but the iPhone doesn’t quite match the BlackBerry when it comes to email handling.

Though BlackBerry’s App World isn’t available in Asia yet, the Storm lets you install apps manually by downloading a file through its browser or by transferring from a PC. While there are many productivity apps for BlackBerry devices, developers do need to put in extra work so that the apps will work with the Storm’s touchscreen interface. See comment on email handling on the left. BlackBerrys are excellent email devices. The same can be said of the Storm, though as mentioned earlier, the only beef with it is the sluggish performance which mars the user experience. App World is currently available only in the US, Canada and the UK, which is a real pity. But it’s still possible to download some apps either directly onto the phone or via a PC.

General performance

Smartphones aren’t worth much if they don’t make good calls or keep up with your demands. In this final round, we look at the overall performance of the devices.

Call quality is good on the iPhone and there is generally very little to complain about its speed and performance. Though battery life isn’t excellent, it’s in line with many other smartphones. This means I almost always have to charge daily, especially if the device is used intensively for music and occasional Web browsing. I have no issues with the performance of the iPhone, though I’d love to see a longer battery life for it. With push email turned on, occasional use of GPS for navigation and Web browsing, this thing zaps battery life pretty fast.

With push email enabled, you can’t really expect a miracle with the Storm’s battery performance. As with the iPhone, daily charging will be needed for most of us. I do have to note that it has a removable battery, so there is the option of buying an extra in case you are a heavy user. Once again, call quality is good, so no complaints here. I find the general performance of the Storm lacking. The software was slow and the interface choppy at times. While the overall functioning isn’t crippling, the sluggishness is enough to be annoying.

The winner is…

Winner: Apple iPhone 3G

Though the Storm is packed with features and comes with RIM’s legendary email prowess, the it still doesn’t have the chops to best the iPhone. Apple’s year-old handset has too much of an advantage when it comes to user-friendliness, multimedia capabilities and third-party support.

Nonetheless, the Storm has improved through firmware updates since its initial launch in the US late last year, and we look forward to the second iteration. Perhaps then, BlackBerry will have a touchscreen phone that can rival Apple’s.

About the judges 

John Chan is a self-confessed user interface addict. Give him the latest and greatest gadgets, but if it takes too many button presses to get to the desired menu, it’s junk to him. 

Damian Koh firmly believes that springy hardware buttons will eventually triumph over unreliable touch keys. Truth is, he’s just a stick in the mud and refuses to accept that times have changed. 

Disclaimer: This feature is only a quick comparison of the Apple iPhone 3G and RIM BlackBerry Storm based on the judges’ experience with the smartphones. Check out the individual reviews to find out more about the two devices.