The New York Times on the iPad

It is now officially confirmed by Apple, the iPad will be in store by April 3rd in the US and shortly after in some other countries. As Steve Jobs himself emphasized during his January 27 keynote, the iPad is aimed to be the perfect device to, among others, surf the web from your living room couch. We now know that the iPad will not support flash, which might actually impact your browsing experience on some flash intensive websites. Other websites may actually detect the iPad as an iPhone (most WordPress blogs currently do) and present you with a page meant for a 3″ screen. But for most sites I tested, the iPad truly looked like the perfect internet tablet we have been waiting for.

If you can’t wait for another month and if you are dying to see what your favorite websites will look like on the iPad, read more and take a look at 15 screenshots taken from the iPad simulator that Apple was kind enough to provide iPhone developers with (I actually hope that I am not breaching the Apple SDK NDA by publishing these screenshots, after all, I am only revealing what Safari looks like on the iPad, which Apple already did to the whole world on Jan 26).

As you may notice by yourself when checking each of the screenshots above, and with the exception of Flash support, most websites I tested seem to be “iPad ready” with the exception of Mashable and Twitter which presented me the downgraded mobile version of their site. Am sure these two will tweak the necessary user-agent settings to address the issue before April 3rd.

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Devices – Palm Pilot, Compaq iPaq and Qtek Pocket PC Phones:

In march 1996, Palm Inc. (which became part of US Robotics later on), launched two truly revolutionary devices: the Pilot 1000 and Pilot 5000. These devices were called PDA (Personal Digital Assistants). I remember buying myself a Pilot 1000 and believe me, that device really rocked! It was the first PDA of its kind to offer a touchscreen, a stylus, character recognition that really worked (Graffiti), and a craddle (the ancester of your iPhone dock) that would let you synchronize your contacts, calendars, todos and notes with your PC. If you look at the picture on the right, you’ll notice that the home screen (Palm called it a launcher) was not much different from what your iPhone looks like: a set of icons that you could tap with the stylus (or with your finger), to launch an app….

Palm then released the Palmpilot Personal and Pro, followed by a series of great devices, among others: Palm III, Palm V (oh I remember that one being sleek and slim), Tungsten, before they added telephony features to those devices which became PDA-phones and then smartphones (think Treo).

While Palm was gently settling down as the PDA leader, Microsoft released Windows CE for devices that were called Handheld PC’s. In 2000, Windows CE 3.0 was packaged for palm-size touchscreen devices called Pocket PC. The first successful Pocket PC device I can remember was the Compaq iPaq 3000 series (see picture of the iPaq 3630 above): beautiful color screen, sleek aluminium body, and a fast 206Mhz ARM processor!! That iPaq helped Microsoft take a significant share of the PDA market from Palm. I switched in April 2000! The iPaq was the device to have 10 years ago. And just like every geek today dreams of Apple releasing a new update for their beloved iPhone, we used to drool for Pocket PC 2002, Pocket PC 2003, Windows Mobile 5, etc… Compaq remained a great leader of Pocket PC devices until the Phone Edition was launched. New great smartphones started to launch under the name of Qtek, iMate or Dopod. The Qtek S100 (see picture on the left) was one of my favourite. They were all manufactured by HTC who since then has always been a market leader in Windows Mobile devices (and more recently Android devices).

Apps

With decent touchscreens and processors, you guessed it, those Palm and PocketPC devices definitely ran apps! And just like today, there were native apps that came with your phone or PDA as well as free and paid third-party apps that you could download and install to add extra features to your device. There might not have been “an app for everything” but you could easily find thousands of games, productivity tools, travel apps, etc… Some of you surely remember Bejeweled, Agenda Fusion (DeveloperOne), PocketWeather (SBSH) or Pocket Informant (WebIS).

App Stores: Handango and PocketGear

As mentioned earlier, you could download free or paid third-party applications for your Palm or PocketPC devices. A few websites have specialized in cataloguing and selling these apps: Handango.com, PocketGear.com, PalmGear.com, PocketPCFreeware.com were the true ancestors of the Apple AppStore, Android Market, Balckberry World or Windows MarketPlace. And if you ever hear that Apple were the first to bypass the operators in the distribution of such apps, don’t be fooled, those Handango and other PocketGear did not pay a cent to the Telco’s when you bought an app from them.

Developers

Well there again, just like you can download the iPhone or Android SDK’s should you want to develop and distribute your own apps for today’s smartphones, you could have bought Code Warrior or Microsoft Visual Studio to do so 10 years ago!

What did Apple really do? Apple revolutionized the distribution of apps

With 1.5 billion downloads in its first 12 months (July 2008-July 2009), the iPhone and Apple App Store definitely revolutionized the mobile application ecosystem:

• Apple launched the first smartphone which was not only meant for geeks. With a cool design, a trendy brand and an intuitive user interface, the iPhone can definitely by used by anyone (from my 3-yr old daughter to my 65-yr old uncle).
• Apple launched the first multi-touch “capacitive” touchscreen, as opposed to “resistive” touchscreen which required you to litterally press the screen with a stylus or finger tip. Up to today (3 years after it was first announced), the iPhone screen remains the best in the market and its multi-touch and sensitivity allow developers to create great user experiences.
• Apple (and I believe this is truly what made a difference with its predecessors) were the first to centralize the distribution of apps in one single store, theirs. And that store is a built-in native application of your phone, it’s right there on the homescreen of every single iPhone and iPod Touch user! Also, that appstore integrates iTunes “one-click/express” purchase with your existing iTunes account that you have been using to buy music for the past few years.

Literrally, Apple did not only deliver a device and SDK which opened the door to great third party applications, Apple revolutionized the distribution of apps, it made sure that every iPhone owner could easily buy an app in less that 4 or 5 clicks! Apple has basically taken the smartphone, the apps and the appstores from a niche market (geeks, early adopters, techno savvy, etc…) to the masses by bridging the gasp from early adopters to mainstream usage.

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I use a iPhone 3GS, a Google Nexus One and a Blackberry Bold 9700: 6 of my top apps actually run on all three devices and the other 14 are either platform-specific or only run on two of my devices. Make sure to read more to quickly get the best out of that brand new smartphone you just bought

6 must-have applications that run on any smartphone (well iPhone, Android and Blackberry at least):

• Facebook to share pictures on the go and stay connected with my overseas friends.
• Shazam to instantly recognize any tune playing in the air and tag it for future reference.
• Evernote is where I take all my meeting notes and keep all type of information found online. I use it on my Mac and access notes remotely from my phones.
• RememberTheMilk is a great and easy todo list manager (On the Blackberry, look for Milksync).
• WordPress: I don’t actually post new articles from my phone but the mobile application is great to review and approve comments.
• Foursquare: check-in, gain points, unlock badges and become the mayor of that new hot spot in town (by the way I was just ousted as the mayor of the Singapore French School today )

Other must-have applications for the iPhone:

• Sygic Mobile Maps: turn-by-turn navigation. Definitely the best one, at least for South-East Asia (where I’m based).
• Tweetie: great Twitter client.
• Skype: I’m still waiting for the official 3G support but you can already make calls on a Wifi network (and 3G with a jailbroken iPhone).
• 1-password: syncrhonize all my passwords with my Mac.
• Dropbox: access my Dropbox online folders and files.
• Bloomberg: keep an eye on my stocks portfolio (I hope I had to use that app more often should my portfolio be bigger).
• Flight status: lookout for flight delays before you hit the road to the airport.

Android:

• The 6 common apps above: Facebook, Shazam, Evernote, RememberTheMilk, WordPress, Foursquare.
• Sygic Mobile Apps (see iPhone) and Skype (which by way is only a very limited “lite” version on Android)
• Seesmic: the best Twitter client in my humble opinion.
• Google Goggles: initiate a search from a snapshot rather than entering text.
• Google Shopper: scan a barcode or even a product and look for the best prices in town.
• Google Sky: forget the stress of your hard working days and travel to the sky with this fantastic augmented reality app which let you identify stars and planets.
• Google Earth: looks great if you own a hi-resolution Nexus One !!

Blackberry:

• The 6 common apps above: Facebook, Shazam, Evernote, RememberTheMilk, WordPress, Foursquare
• Opera mini: a decent browser, far better than Blackberry’s native one
• Google Maps
• Bloomberg (see above as this app also exists on the iPhone)
• Seesmic (see the Android section above)

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Whereas the standard edition is free for up to 50 users, Google Apps also comes in a Premier Edition should you require Google Groups, Google Videos, more users and storage, as well as support and SLA. Check this page to compare both editions. It actually even comes in two more versions specially packaged for Educational and Government use.

I personally use the free standard edition as the emailing and collaboration platform of my mobile applications company (Bitsmedia Pte Ltd) and, despite a few frustrations, I simply love it. Make sure to read more to find out if Google Apps is the perfect tool for your organization.

Why I picked Google Apps

• Gmail: in my very humble opinion, I truly believe Gmail is a breakthrough of efficiency when it comes to handling tons of email messages a day. Conversation threads, built-in search, reliable webmail and full imap compatibility if you prefer to use your own native client, realtime push on all major mobile platforms (iPhone, Blackberry and of course Android), Gtalk and XMPP (think Jabber), Huge storage, great antispam, … all these features not only leave very little left to platforms such as Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes, they actually make Gmail (with a personalized domain of course) the perfect platform to handle emails in a professional environment.
• Google Calendar: there again, whether you prefer to view and edit your weekly planning on a web page or in the native calendar app of your computer (think iCal for Mac), Google Calendar is good for you: multiple calendars (to separate the weekly judo classes of your 5-yr old from your company board meetings), great compatibility in sharing events and handling invitations sent from other platforms such as Outlook and Microsoft Exchange.
• Google Docs: with its latest feature upgrade which now lets you upload any type of files, Google Docs is an easy and seamless way to share documents online and get your team to truly start collaborating. Forget the multiple versions of a single document accumulating in your inbox and make sure that everyone actually works off the latest budget spreadsheet that you’re supposed to present to your board tomorrow I personally still use Microsoft Office (or Keynote for presentations) to edit documents locally on my computer and then upload on Google Docs those few files which are meant to be shared. You could however very well decide to limit yourself to the sole Google Docs for all your word processing, spreadsheets (I find that presentations are still too far behind Microsoft Powerpoint or Apple Keynote).
• Universal Access: web, mobile or native applications on your PC and Mac. All your Google Apps information seats on the cloud and becomes available anywhere, anyhow. It just works.
• Easy Administration: if you have ever used Microsoft Exchange or similar products before, you certainly know that you do need an IT guy (at least one, call him a support technician or network administrator as you wish) to properly configure and maintain such tools. And don’t forget offsite backups if your entire business depends on those thousands of email messages that have been accumulating on your server. Well, Google Apps not only allows you to forget about the backups (Google does it for you, in their very own way) but they also provide you with a very intuitive administration console to easily create new accounts and set the all thing up. No IT guy needed! Or get the IT guy work on something more productive And if you are the IT guy of your own company (I am), don’t waste your time setting up messaging servers.
• Cost: I picked the free standard edition and for a young tiny startup company like mine, every single dollar counts. In just a few minutes and at zero cost, the company was all set with a full-feature emailing, shared calendar and collaboration platform.

Despite being a great platform, Google Apps still has a few caveats that can sometime lead to frustrations:

• Once you’re all set with Google Apps, your <yourname@yoursbusiness.com> email address becomes your Google Account. And you use it as a single sign-on to all Google services. Well, not quite actually. Your Google Apps account allows you to login into services which are made available to the Google Apps platform: gmail, calendar, sites, groups, and few others. But if you also wish to use Google Reader, Google Finance, Picasa or the latest Google Buzz for example, you’ll need another regular Google account. And if you wish to share a picture via email on Picasa (or a news article from Google Reader), well the address book that Picasa and Reader will have access to is independent from your Google Apps address book. That gets very frustrating if you really want to use the entire suite of Google products and I hope Google will address this issue soon enough.
• A work around to the above caveat is to set your second Google Account with the same email address and password as your Google Apps account. That allows you to only remember one set of credentials but that will unfortunately not address the fact that they are still two un-syncrhonized accounts.
• Blackberry: Accessing your email, contacts and calendars from an iPhone or an Android mobile device works perfectly with Google Apps. Blackberry phones will be good enough for your calendar (install Google Sync from m.google.com/sync and you’re all set). When it comes to email, things are not as simple as they should be. You can either decide to use the Gmail app for Blackberry (m.google.com/mail) or the advanced Gmail plugin for BIS. The first is a separate application, not really integrated with Blackberry messaging tools and which does not offer realtime push mail. It actually has a default refresh rate of 20 minutes (very long) and you’ll need some technical knowledge to reduce those 20 minutes (read this). The second solution (just set your gmail address on your BIS web page) will give you the full Blackberry experience (push mail, integrated menus and contacts, etc…) but will not reconciliate deleted and read items from Gmail to your Blackberry. Very annoying as far as I am concerned although the next release of BIS (3.0 rumoured to be launched this month) is supposed to address this.

Conclusion:

Whether you opt for the free standard edition or the Premier Edition (USD 50 per user per year), you should truly consider Google Apps as an alternative to traditional communication suites such as Microsoft Exchange. Peace of mind (no backup, no administration, etc…), productivity (great emailing and collaborative tools) as well as cost savings should certainly convince a few of you to Go Google

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I initially decided that rather than throwing it away, I would at least dismantle it (for the geeky joy procured by looking into its guts) and share that joy by uploading a few pictures on this blog.

To my biggest surprise, the iPhone started working again after reassembling it !! Read more for more pictures !!

Check out the entire photo gallery below (8 pictures)

(update) By the way, this is the red contact indicator that would tell Apple customer service that my phone fell in the water !!

Dismantled iPhone showing the red water contact indicator

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Google Buzz is Google’s latest initiative to take its slice of the social media cake. A new platform to share status updates, photos, locations, etc. Sounds familiar? Indeed, the concept is a mixture of Twitter + Facebook + Foursqurare. You’re already using two or three of these platforms and asking yourself why you should care? Why should you start posting status updates to yet another platform? Well read more and find out why I think you should at least pay attention to this new Buzz.

Some history and background: Google and the Social Media

If the iPhone has an app for everything, Google kinda have a web service for almost everything. They of course have search, gmail, gtalk, maps, earth, translate, picasa, reader, news, products, books, and many more… But check out Google Labs and you’ll realize that they even have much more that you thought. And keep it mind that most of their products come in a web and mobile versions. When it comes to Social Media however, it seems that Google never really succeeded in launching a dominant product. Yes there is Orkut ! But apart from India and Brazil where I believe it is still more popular than Facebook, Orkut never took off and can probably be considered a failure. Google Wave ? Well, the hype was huge after they announced it, but it now seems that apart from a beautiful interface, no one really knows what to do with it. We all drooled waithing for our Wave invite and got disappointed to realize that we only had one or two people we could use it with. Failure? Time will tell but definitely far from being a success yet.

Google Buzz is seamlessly integrated in Gmail

Well, as mentioned above, Buzz is a very straightforward tool to quickly “share what you’re thinking”. But the beauty is its integration in Gmail ! That literally means that without signing up for a new service (and remembering new URLs, usernames and passwords), 146 million (as of July 2009) Gmail users will instantly have access to this new service. This is huge! Facebook only reached 150 million active users in January 2009, that’s 5 years after they launched in Feb 2004 (source).

Google Buzz brings Twitter to the millions of non-geek non-twitter-user Gmail users

If Facebook took 5 years to reach 150 million users (they now have more than 400), Twitter only has around 20 million users today. You thought that Twitter was so big? Well that’s because their user base is made of geeks, bloggers and media professionals; and you’re probably one of them ! It is actually one of Twitter’s challenges today (together with identifying a revenue model) to pass that gasp and reach out to the mass markets. And now that Google Buzz allows you to connect your Buzz stream to your Twitter feed, it means that all your Gmail contacts will soon start seeing your tweets in their inbox. And all those Gmail contacts who have never used Twitter before will start commenting and reacting to your tweets, right there, in their inbox, or more specifically on Google Buzz, from their Gmail account. That is a huge potential and if Twitter did not manage to reach the average user, Google Buzz will bring your tweets to them and convert some of them into active buzzers.

They already have Facebook ?

True, your non-Twitter friends can already share their thoughts on Facebook, which by the way brings tons of additional features such as reconnecting with old schoolmates or ex-girlfriends, and playing social games online. But again, Buzz lies right their on their Gmail inbox so we all might very well start posting on it rather than opening a new tab on your browser. And since it is so well integrated with Gmail, your insignificant post might end up in a thrilling conversation carried on email.

Facebook will definitely survive and not even for a second do I believe that Google can take them over on the social media space. But Twitter might very well suffer from the launch of Google Buzz as this could prevent them from entering mass markets and grow above 25-40 million users. Existing tweeters will stay, new ones will rarify. And after Microsoft and Apple, Facebook could very well become Google’s third competitor, especially if Facebook launches their rumored webmail anytime soon…

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Yet, there has also been lots of controversy about some limitations of the iPhone, such as the lack of multitasking, notifications, widgets, customizable home screen, etc…

Well, jailbreaking your iPhone (I take no responsibilities whatsoever as per the legal or technical impacts this could have on your phone), might actually help you to overcome these limitations as it will allow you to install apps that you can’t find on the official iTunes app-store. Here is a list of my top 10 jailbroken apps and top 10 reasons why I could not use a non-jailbroken iPhone anymore.

biteSMS: a fantastic replacement app for the native SMS client. It lets you compose and reply SMS messages without leaving the app (a game, a map, etc…) you are currently running.

Orbit: if you’re starting to have too many apps on your iPhone, spanning over 10 or 11 different homescreens, this is an app for you. Double click the home button and it opens an expose-like mosaic of all your different pages for quick access (see screenshot on this post).

Universal search: it adds direct access to Google, Wikipedia, Maps, Twitter, etc… to the native spotlight search of the iPhone.

Backgrounder: is THE app that everyone wishes the iPhone came with. Simply hold the home button when leaving an app and it actually lets it run in the background. This finally brings true multitasking with any of your existing apps.

Reminder: adds a few useful tiny icons in the status bar to inform you that you have unread emails, sms messages, upcoming calendar events, etc…

qTweeter: slide down your finger from the top of the screen and a quick composer window will appear to let you update your Twitter and Facebook status from any where, any app.

QuickBoard: customize the boring standby screen of your iPhone by adding calendar events, emails and sms messages.

SBSettings: slide your finger across the status bar to display a quick dashboard and quickly toggle Wifi, 3G, GPS, Bluetooth, etc… on and off.

HapticPro: generate an haptic “force feedback” when using the on-screen keyboard. This is something Android users are familiar with and that adds a lot of typing comfort and accuracy to the iPhone.

Keyboard: allows you to connect your Apple bluetooth keyboard to your favorite handheld.

Remember, jailbreaking your iPhone could be an hazardous operation with legal (garanty?) and technical risk (a brick?). There are tons of how-to’s available online, make sure to read and follow their instructions carefully.

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LinkedIn: a full-featured iPhone client for the most professional of all social networks. If you’re an active LinkedIn user, here’s how to manage your network on the go. Invites, messages, profiles, updates, etc… all the LinkedIn features available on the web are there. iTunes link

Tweetie 2: there are tons of different Twitter clients available on the AppStore and you may need to try a few to find your own pearl. Although Tweetdeck for iPhone is free, I believe that the guy behind Tweetie did a great job in terms of user interface and performance. iTunes link

Foursquare: there again, some of you might be more into Gowala or Loopt when it comes to checking in at your favorite venue. I am personally addicted to Foursquare. iTunes link

Pingle: I don’t think the guys at Ping.fm have developed an iPhone app (it might change now that Loic Lemeur and Seesmic bought them over) but Pingle lets you connect to your Ping.fm account and update all your various social networks at once. iTunes link

My Hub: you’re right, that’s number 6 and the title up there says “5 apps”. Well, at $1,99 it is still a great tool to access all your contacts from one single app. The current version brings Facebook, Twitter and Plaxo together with the native address book of your iPhone. Future releases will hopefully support LinkedIn, unified search and cached data. So I thought my #6 deserved its place in my top 5 iTunes link

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Syncing Mac, iPhone, Nexus and Blackberry

If like me, you own more than one phone and/or more than one computer, and enjoy the freedom to switch from one device to another without troubling yourself and risking to miss some important data at some point in time, the rest of this post is for you. Most importantly this approach allows me to stay away from annoying duplicates and, worse, lost data.

Of course, it has worked and works well for me so far but, before you read further and eventually adopt the tools and technics described below, I would like to remind you that I take no responsibility whatsoever in the potential damages or loss that may occur as a result of it. No matter what you do, I can only advise you to backup all your data before you start touching anything.

Background:

I switch mobile phone every two or three days among an iPhone 3GS, a Nexus One and a Blackberry Bold 9700. They all run on three different platforms (iPhone OS, Android, Blackberry OS). I mainly use Macs (an iMac, a Macbook Pro and a Hackintosh Dell Mini) but this should also work with Windows based PC’s.

Email:

• On the server side, I use Google Apps, which is basically a Gmail account customized for my own domain name. Make sure to enable IMAP support in your Gmail settings.
• On my Macs, I then configure the native Apple Mail application to access Gmail on though IMAP (imap.gmail.com). This should work with any IMAP compatible mail client on Mac/PC.
• On the iPhone, I setup my Gmail account as an Exchange account (m.google.com) and only sync emails and calendar entries on that account (you could sync contacts as well if you have no MobileMe account but for Mac and iPhone users, MobileMe gives you the best results on proper field mapping).
• On the Nexus, everything (mail, calendar, contacts) simply gets sync’ed through Gmail / Google Apps.
• On the Blackberry, you can either use the native mail application (with Enhanced Google Mail Plugin) but I personally prefer the GMail app for blackberry (go to http://m.google.com/gmail from your Blackberry’s browser)

Calendar:

• Server side: There again, the central online repository for my calendar is Gmail / Google Apps.
• On my Macs: the native Apple iCal application allows your to connect to your Google Calendar trough the CalDav protocol. Simply go to iCal’s preferences and add a “Google” account (do not choose CalDav although choosing Google will technically set a CalDav account). It syncs both ways.
• On the iPhone and as mentioned earlier, the Google calendar gets sync’ed via the Exchange support.
• On the Nexus: no comment.
• On the Blackberry, I use Google Sync (m.google.com/sync) to synchronize contacts and calendar.

Address Book:

• On the server side: I use MobileMe which, as an Apple product, perfectly maps the fields entered on the Mac. That means I can nicely keep multiple mobile contacts or home email addresses for a single friend and have it sync’ed perfectly between Apple products (Macs and iPhones). This is optional (it costs USD 79 per year). Whether you decide that you do need MobileMe or not, you’ll also need to have your contacts sync’ed on Gmail/Google Apps. That is easily enabled on the Apple Address Book application on your Mac (got to Preferences/Accounts). If you have more than one Mac and have decided to use MobileMe, please enable the Google Address Book sync ONLY on one Mac!. If you are not using MobileMe, you may go ahead and enable it on all your Macs.
• iPhone: setup MobileMe (under new email accounts) to sync at least your address book. I do not use the MobileMe email address and have therefore disabled calendar and email from the MobileMe settings on the iPhone. If you do not use MobileMe, remember to select Contacts or Address Book in the Exchange account settings you created above (and disable it if you do use MobileMe).
• Nexus: no comment, it will grab those contacts from Google.
• Blackberry: the Google Sync mentioned above will also take care of your address book!

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The Blackberry Bold 9700 is a totally different story. Despite the Blackberry’s App World, a decent camera and a cute tiny screen, this phone is certainly not competing with the iPhone as a true “entertainment” device. Yet, it seems to have found its place in my pocket as an incredibly addictive device for what a phone is ought to be: a communicating platform.

Blackberry Bold 9700: the best communicating platform ever:

• Form factor: it’s lighter and smaller than most smartphones out there and fits just nicely in your hand or pocket. Its sleek metal/black/leather finishing leaves a nice quality impression and probably matches any type of audience, from the young trendy college folks to more seasoned executives.
• Call quality: it’s a phone, don’t forget! Reception and audio quality during calls is perfect, whether directly on the device or using it through my car bluetooth receiver.
• The blackberry secret: its keyboard. Not quite as comfortable as its bigger brother the Bold 9000, the 9700′s keyboard still gives you great typing results and performance when SMS’ing, instant messaging, tweeting and emailing. The keyboard also happens to be of great help for shortcuts in various applications: from the home screen, just start typing a contact’s name and it will pop up for direct calling or messaging; in gmail, use the same keyboard shortcuts as on the web (e for archive, r for reply, etc…); in Seesmic, type “f” to mark a tweet as favorite, etc… Also, the Bold natively comes with well integrated apps for most IM platforms (Gtalk, MSN, Yahoo, etc…).
• A long lasting battery will bring you back to the days where you could leave home in the morning without requiring an additional charger at work or in your car! Sure that might well be related to its tiny display which, about half the size and resolution of a Nexus One, eats less power. But whatever the reason, it feels good!
• Google integration: Google Sync and Gmail will allow you to get full realtime push and sync of your Google contacts, calendars and mail. Great if you depend on Gmail or Google Apps services. RememberTheMilk also has a great syncing tool for your tasks and other todo items.
• Most social networking platforms now have a native app for Blackberry: Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter (Seesmic and Ubertwitter are my favorites). I have to admit that most of these apps don’t come anywhere close to their iPhone counterparts. They are actually pretty disappointing if you’re used to Facebook, Tweetie or Foursquare on your iPhone. But well, they exist and do the basic job of letting you update your status, checking in, and viewing your friends’ pictures.

Apps and entertainment is probably why you may wanna keep your iPhone too:

• The App World is no App Store. It can’t even compare with the Android Market. If you’ve enjoyed browsing and searching for new apps on the App Store, expect to feel terribly disappointed with the number of apps available for your Blackberry and, moreover, the quality of those apps. Sure you might find a few famous apps like Facebook, Evernote, or Foursquare, but don’t be fooled. They won’t give you the feature-rich and smooth UI experience that you get on an iPhone.
• What’s wrong with Blackberry and their internet/web browser!! They claim to have imrpoved browsing in Blackberry OS 5.0 but it just looks and feels as bad (and slow) as a very basic Wap browser on cheap entry-level phones. Opera mini will fill a bit of that gasp but there again, keep your iPhone if you need frequent and reliable access to the web.
• Blackberries are meant to communicate, they are no gaming platforms. Nintendo and Sony may fear competition from Apple and the amount of brilliant games priced at 3-10 dollars (where you’ll need to spend 5-10 times that amount on a PSP or a DS) but don’t expect a stunning Fifa soccer, F.A.S.T. or Assassin Creed on your Bold. All you’ll get is an ugly Sudoku and BrickBreaker
• Videos and Music play fine on the Bold but videos surely look nicer on 3.5″ (iPhone) or 3.7″ (Nexus One) screen. As for music and as already mentioned in my previous post, the iPhone (and the iPod Touch) integration with iTunes is killer !

Conclusion:

Try a Blackberry Bold 9700 and you’ll certainly adopt it. It’s a small quality phone which gives you unequalled experience for communicating with your friends, family and co-workers. The OS and the keyboard gives you the perfect combination for keeping in touch through audio calls and various types of messaging. Truly more efficiant than the best on-screen touch keyboard that I have tried. However, if you have an iPhone, I would suggest that you keep it as your internet/multimedia/gaming device. If you don’t, well get an iPod Touch (when Apple releases one with a camera) !

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