BlackBerry Trounces Windows Mobile
Posted by Steve Laser on 05/18/08 in Blackberry, Music Players, Palm Treo, Pocket PC Phones, RIM, Windows Mobile 6
I was at a party last night and was shocked by how many people were sporting the BlackBerry Curve, including my wife. Even a couple people who used to have Windows Mobile devices have made the switch.
One of them used to have the Sprint Mogul PPC 6700, which is a really cool phone:
I couldn’t believe he had a Curve. So I asked him why, and he told me that the form factor makes it so he can hold the Curve in one hand. He said that Gmail Mobile for BlackBerry has really added a lot of functionality to his new device. He loves the keyboard because it allows one-handed operation, as opposed to the PPC 6700, which requires two hands. Even though the device does not have gps, you can find your location easily by with Google Maps. He also likes the included media player.
I thought to myself that lots of phones have a similar form factor, such as the Samsung Ace, BlackJack, Palm Treo, and the Moto Q, to name a few. So I figured there must be more to it. He didn’t just get a new phone, he got an entirely new operating system. Just then I spotted a girl I knew and went to say hi. She, too, had a Curve. So I also asked her what was up with that (I was the life of the party). She told me similar things to my other friend, but added one important thing. She loves the trackball. With one hand you can navigate anywhere on the screen, just like with a trackball mouse on a computer. You just click the trackball when your cursor is where you want it, then start typing. This eliminates the stylus completely. She told me she missed the touchscreen on her old Treo, but absolutely loves this new way of interacting with the device. She can now do everything with one hand easily.
I asked her if she minds only having Edge support instead of the faster 3G. She couldn’t care less, she said, because the OS is very responsive. The screen may not have as nice resolution, but for her purposes, it’s great. She also uses and loves Gmail. She showed me her family pix on the attachment viewer.
What really put it altogether for me was when we dropped off our middle kid at another party earlier in the evening (isn’t anyone sick of Pump it Up yet?) and one of our friends agreed to take her home. My wife pulled out her BlackBerry and got our friends’ vitals and typed them in very quickly. She used the cursor to navigate through the fields and the excellent keyboard to input name, address etc. very fast.
None of these people were power users in the Windows Mobile sense. That is, they didn’t care much about third party apps, spreadsheets (though it sports an Excel and Word viewer), WiFi, 3G access, and gps. But they are power users in the BlackBerry sense, and with its tremendous ease of use, and excellent form factor and features, Microsoft should take note, especially if they want to increase their market share from 13% to 40% by 2012.
Written by Steve Laser · Filed Under Blackberry, Music Players, Palm Treo, Pocket PC Phones, RIM, Windows Mobile 6
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Having a Motorola Q which allows one handed operation without a stylus, I still don’t understand why people would like the Curve better. The Q is a far more capable device so other than people wanting to have a Blackberry (just like the biggies in Washington) I don’t see the advantage.
I have a Moto Q9m and I’m not sure that I agree that the Q is “a far more capable device”. What makes is far more capable?
I was referring to the capabilities of a Windows device vs. a Blackberry. If the Curve has more options available to it than the Q or the Q9, please let me know.
Love Windows Mobile, so I purchased a XV6800. Hated it. Switched to a Blackberry 8830.
I love my verizon Curve! The fullsized keyboard rocks! I had the iPOS..err..iPhone for about a month and couldnt stand the slow EDGE network. The virtual keyboard was bothersome too. I can type so quickly on the BB vs. the iPOS. The only thing that the iPOS trounces the BB is the web surfing. I hate to admit it, but Apple really hit a homerun with the browser on the handheld. Will be hard to beat their implementation.
Chris, try Opera Mini 4.1… It isn’t as good as iphone browser but it beats the heck out of the built in Blackberry browser.
Steve, your observations and reporting support a point I have been pondering: that WM may be in trouble with true 3G BlackBerrys coming (i.e. GSM, HSPA). The high speed data capability brings applications like Slingplayer mobile and a NewsBreak/PocketPlayer type of program into play (downloading and streaming podcasts). If RIM is able to maintain the stability of its OS, the reasons to use a WM device are disappearing. This is particularly true for a user like me who does not have access to an Exchange server. RIM’s BIS allows me to have some of the benefits of Exchange.
I also discount some typical arguments in favor of WM: being able to create/edit documents, spreadsheets on the device using Office Mobile (who actually uses their phone do document creation or editing?) and the opportunity to use third party apps (how many third party apps do most uses actually use? my guess is not as many as people think).
With the new BB Bold having security, stability (hopefully) and now sizzle, rather than focusing on raising its market share, my MS should be strategizing ways to maintain the share it has.
Blackberry is great for nothing but e-mails
WM Phones are great for everything but e-mails
If there was a BIS client for WM6, I wouldn’t even use my Curve for another day. WM is trying the push e-mail, but it just doesn’t work the way BB does. If Microsoft comes up with something like BIS (honestly many people don’t even care about BES) it would be able to take the market back from BB.. But doesn’t look like it will anytime soon.
An interesting article (and helpful one) would be on how to set up e-mails on WM6 with similar working behavior as blackberry.
Trackball, really I could live without.
Can someone please explain what a trackball does? The Q has some kind of directional “wheel” that allows you to move around a web page and click on things so why is a trackball better?
You can move it as a mouse while using Blackberry Browser or another browser and just emulate a mouse, also you can jump between items horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
However, I do not like the loose feeling of a trackball and would prefer scroll wheel for scrolling through pages.
Form factor and configuration are superior with Blackberry. ONLY thing lacking is a media player ala Realplayer or Windows Media Player. Now that competition has spurred creativity at RIM, watch out. No one, NO ONE will come close.
My sister has a Blackberry Pearl and my dad has a Curve; I’m not so sure that I like the trackball’s “feel,” but the cursor is pretty handy.
Personally, I’m still a Windows Mobile fan.
It’s interesting that you mentioned this though: we’re actually working on a product to bring this type of functionality to Pocket PCs. But, since Pocket PCs don’t have trackballs, our product uses the arrow keys to allow people to control a mouse cursor.
The cursor can do almost anything a stylus can, except for handwriting and drawing pictures.
Our inspiration didn’t come from the Blackberry’s trackball, mind you, so it’s not quite the same — but I think it’s turning out to be pretty useful.
If anyone is interested, we’ll be releasing a beta version on Wednesday, June 4th (about two weeks from now).
More info can be found at http://www.VirtuaMouse.com
Hmm… this is actually the first public place that we’ve mentioned the beta or our product. It looks like you’ve got the scoop, Mobility Site! :)