OT Blackberry VS Iphone way......OT

[Olddaddy]

Brethren, my employer has announced that all managers are now required to have either a Blackberry or an Iphone to increase productivity. My lowly Boost cell phone is not enough.......ok, so I need advice from down to earth thoughtful folks, like all of you. Blackberry (which one?) or Iphone.........

[PatS....]

Blackberry, hands down the best.

[bkahler]

Gotta say I really really like my iphone and wouldn't give it up for anything.........

[michael.warshaw]

blackberry is made for the emailer,

the iphone is made for the media junkie, who needs to be able to play with itunes and go on the internet.

go with verizon blackberry best service;.

[bkahler]

I don't put any music on my i-phone, waste of a good phone to do that.

Funny thing is where I work the company & government employees are issued blackberries. Hands down most of them have noted they would rather be issued an i-phone.

[dezeldoc]

Does this mean you got a new job Charlie?

[stylinmike]

Having had both, Iphone...by far. Unless you want it solely for emailing only.

[TodFitch]

At the company I'm at the sales/marketing types are issued Blackberries while the engineering staff is issued iPhones. I haven't yet seen an engineer request a Blackberry instead. But I have heard of sales/marketing types wishing they could get an iPhone.

For myself, I have declined the offer to be issued an iPhone: I really don't want to have them get a better excuse for having me available 24x7.

At the moment my pay-as-you-go cell phone is exactly where it normally is: Turned off and in a drawer by the front door. If I travel somewhere out of town it goes with me so that I can call AAA if needed or to talk with my wife without the outrageous costs of telephoning from a hotel. That is all I really need it for.

On the other hand the iPhone has a neat GPS aware Google Maps app that could be cool under some situations....

[Guest P15-D24]

blackberry is made for the emailer,

the iphone is made for the media junkie, who needs to be able to play with itunes and go on the internet.

go with verizon blackberry best service;.

Lot of people have trouble with the iPhone touch interface and like the physical buttons on the BB. I use an iPhone, wife uses a BB. I get very frustrated watching her try to use an iPhone.

[Guest P15-D24]

On the other hand the iPhone has a neat GPS aware Google Maps app that could be cool under some situations....

WIth the 3Gs the GPS stuff is now available. Don't know if Google is the base map however. Feedback from my staff is Navigon is the killer iPhone app.

[greg g]

Back when I was employed, I was offered a sprint push to talk deal. I said I didn't need one. The Boss said it would make me more intouch with my managers and with my collegues. Told him I liked my important communication face to face. he said in my position I needed to be more accesable. The agrument finally boiled down to whether or not he and the company were going to pay me for being on call 24/7, as I fugured the 50to 60 hours I was on premesis was a good trade for the current level of compensation, and that further "availability" would be have a higher cost than the price of the monthly service fee.

That and a couple other points of disagreement, over the next couple of years led me to take my retirement rather than a cell phone.

Can't see how having one of those thing clutched in you hand, or having to constantly and immediately respond to some inane request makes one more productive. As far as I can see they are an enhanced distraction. Its getting to the point where no one can make an individual / independent decision, even as regards regular loaf or split top, whole wheat or white.

The scrapping sound you may have heard is my soap box going back under the bench. Please excuse me..............

[mackster]

Back when I was employed, I was offered a sprint push to talk deal. I said I didn't need one. The Boss said it would make me more intouch with my managers and with my collegues. Told him I liked my important communication face to face. he said in my position I needed to be more accesable. The agrument finally boiled down to whether or not he and the company were going to pay me for being on call 24/7, as I fugured the 50to 60 hours I was on premesis was a good trade for the current level of compensation, and that further "availability" would be have a higher cost than the price of the monthly service fee.

That and a couple other points of disagreement, over the next couple of years led me to take my retirement rather than a cell phone.

Can't see how having one of those thing clutched in you hand, or having to constantly and immediately respond to some inane request makes one more productive. As far as I can see they are an enhanced distraction. Its getting to the point where no one can make an individual / independent decision, even as regards regular loaf or split top, whole wheat or white.

The scrapping sound you may have heard is my soap box going back under the bench. Please excuse me..............

way to go Greg! I wish I had half the spine you have. I let them (my employer) push me around for three years. I finally got away from them and I am happy without their 24/7 phone attached to me since I have my own...but if I have my choice I will go to the iphone. its way cooler looking. btw oldaddy the iphone is less complicated, I think....

[Plymouthy Adams]

I am with Greg on this..if it is a requirement of the job then it is an opertional cost footed by the employer as a tool for doing business..no way I will ever associate any private phone number/contact for myself or my home to that of a corporation or associate/business contact while I pay the bill...beck and call comes at a higher price..

[blueskies]

blackberry is made for the emailer,

the iphone is made for the media junkie, who needs to be able to play with itunes and go on the internet.

go with verizon blackberry best service;.

I have the iPhone and love it. My brother has the touch screen blackberry, and he loves it.

I would agree that the blackberry is better for the emailer, but I think the iPhone is better for the rest. I use my phone more for the apps than I do for the phone. There are thousands of very handy applications for the iPhone, hardly anything for the Blackberry. The iPhone picks up WiFi. And I've been using iTunes for years, my iPhone is a 2,500 song juke box. With the iPhone I have everything I could ever need in one device. It is a full blown Mac computer in the palm of my hand.

The user interface is better on the iPhone, in my opinion, than the touch screen Blackberry. The iPhone is smooth and fluid, the Blackberry is clunky and I think the clickable screen is gimicky for the folks that need to hear and feel a click when they push a button. The buttons don't really press down, the whole screen does.

My 2c.

Pete

[Olddaddy]

Thanks for all the replies, and yes, I did get a new job after only two months unemployed. I envy those of you who are retired and beyond the reach of the current state of employment in this country. In a better economy I would not consider providing my employer with my personal phone as his tool. However, in this economy I am happy to simply have a job, situational ethics I guess. I'm leaning towards the Iphone mostly because I've never had one and my six year old daughter thinks they are cool........I will keep you posted.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Charlie..my answer was quick and from the emplyed perspective and did not give your situation consideration..I think I would be asking if the company had logo colors so to opt for the correct "skin" on the personal communication device, what time I need to drop his kids off at school, what park is his dog partical to for the morning walk and if the wife needs help with her backhand..does he need a caddy for weekend and what is his favorite brand of car wax..and is that two or three coats...jobs are tough to get these days..competition is murder and face it at my age I would hate to even think I would have to source a job at this time..my apologies and best wishes with the new job..

[John Mulders]

Good to hear that you got a job Charlie !

On the dilemma of which device and/or whether you want/must have one I think it is all depending on the situation (economy, what does the compition do).

In the end I think people need to have time to rest and forget about work. But being the owner of a company I need to be able to get hold of staff sometimes to fix things quickly. All in balans, too much it won't work in the end.

Just my two cents.

John

From sunny Curacao where "I need it now" can takes days to materialize !

[Olddaddy]

Apologies? What for, really, I envy you older boys .......I have noticed over the years that smaller employers do tend to treat employees as servants, hard to bite my tongue, but I do. I have a plan though, I've bought myself a large step van and I am currently outfitting it for property remodel, maintenance etc. I had planned to do it as an early retirement business, but will move ahead now as there is a need in my area. I live smack dab in the center of a very large area of absentee owned homes, vacation homes, etc. Almost all foreign ownership. They need a guy like me!

[Plymouthy Adams]

my brother in law did that for years..even ferried the owners in their own car from their summer home up north to their winter place in Florida and flew back home..at that time he kept tabs on the house, arranged/did routine maintenance..he had a list of clients a mile long..he did very well might I ad...his job was to drive thier other cars about up there to keep them acive and in good shape...to take the lake boats out for a cruise to keep everything active..he even lived in the guesthouse of one of his clients..and to this date he is the only guy in this resort town who's dog had a tab at the local resturant..no joke..

[greg g]

Charlie, there is a difference in accepting a new situation with different corporate culture and knowing up front what is going to be necessary. It is changing horses in mid stream and offering no consideration for the change that gauled me. Considered it an invasion of privecy as the phones had a gps locator, and since I could walk the lenght and width of our work campus it seem to be the definition of unnecessary. And since whenever there were events going on they were already added to my schedule.

Good luck with your new situation. The days of corporate loyalty and employee loyalty are long gone.

[Guest P15-D24]

Mac, Windows and Linux. It's called Evernote and provided auto syncing of notes across all platforms, plus a bunch of other useful features. It requires a subscription, but the time it has saved for me, is well worth the cost. Imagine your wife at home writing up the honeydo list, including the grocery list on your home computer. You check on your Iphone or BB, it automatically syncs and updates the latest changes so you don't have to go back to the store twice.

I have all my work, car, boat and house to do lists, plus the pick up today list available anywhere and synced.

Check it out at www.evernote.com.

[dezeldoc]

If i recall the bb uses their own Internet package where as the iphone uses normal, i have had both and the iphone is by far better, in fact i still use the iphone and it is one of the first gen phones. don't forget they can keep track of you with any phone that has gps capability on their pc. when off the clock and it rings just hit the ignore button and they go straight to voice mail!!

[Plymouthy Adams]

Only thing I know about blackberries is that if I pick enough of them I make a very good jam if I have to say so myself..got a couple cook offs this spring...excellent breakfast staple..I have talked to a many blackberies, words not welcome here as I would get stickers picking them..

[Joe Flanagan]

Not only do I not have a Blackberry. I don't even own a cell phone. I'm holding out as long as I can. I will take one with me if I travel, but otherwise, I refuse to have that damn thing stapled to my hip. I don't know about where you live, but here in the DC area, many coffee shops, restaurants, etc. now have a sign at the register saying, "We will serve you as soon as you get off your cell phone," or something of that nature. It doesn't help that everyone thinks they're the most important person in town. I thought it was outrageous when I was at a buffet style diner and there was a customer talking on her cell phone while spooning food up out of the trays. It couldn't wait?? But what really beat that was standing next to a guy at the urinal who--you guessed it--was talking on his cell phone. One thing at a time, fella. Especially that.

[Don Coatney]

When stopped at a stop light in any given city I always see at least two people in two cars talking on the cell phone. I often wondered if they are talking to each other:rolleyes: