Consumer Reports: iPhone 64, BlackBerry Curve 61. Baloney.
OK, let us break this one down, at least according to the way the testers at CR see it in the January, 2008 issue. Here are some of the quantifiable criteria CR applied to both devices:
Performance:
Listening: A tie.Talking: A tie.
Ease of Use: iPhone wins.
Talk Time: iPhone 8 1/4 hours, BlackBerry Curve 6 1/4 hours. iPhone wins.
Messaging and InSync: iPhone wins.
Sensitivity (I guess that means to your touch, heh): A tie.
Features:
Broadband speed: iPhone and BlackBerry Curve each tie with "Low," largely due to the fact that both use AT&T Mobility's S-L-O-W EDGE network.Camera: 1.9 megapixels for each. Another tie.
Excu-u-u-se me, but the way I read these criteria, iPhone's only directly comparable advantages over the BlackBerry Curve are in messaging and talk time.
Having messaged on both, I don't see a distinct advantage one device has over another. Maybe you do but I do not.
And I have seen many reports that the iPhone's talk time in the wild-and not in the lab- is more like six or seven hours.
Most everything else cited in these metrics seem to be pretty even.
And oh yes, the price. iPhone is cited at $400, BlackBerry Curve at $200.
So let me get this straight: how does a device with practically matching scores on the criteria that matter earn more eval. points than a device that costs half as much?
Oh, and as Alexander Wolfe writes on InformationWeek.com:
Haven't the Consumer Reports testers read all the service complaints on the various iPhone user message boards?