Arthur Freydin’s Blog

Online marketing, gadgets, business, and thoughts.

Was activating my new iPhone (more on this later) in iTunes and saw this gem before syncing my music:

Clearly Apple doesn’t want its users blaming them for not being able to make ringtones out of their purchased songs from the iTunes Store.

I’ve been using a BlackBerry 8820 for almost a year now and have found that it is perfect for my needs: email, calendar, texting, phone. Even with that aside, I can’t avoid the lure of new, prettier cellphones to potentially off-seat my trusty BlackBerry. I don’t know why I do this since I am fully aware that the BlackBerry does absolutely everything that I need it to do and then some. What can I say, I love gadgets.

Some of you may be aware of that strange iPhone 3G device that reared its head on July 11th. Naturally, I lined up and shared my story. Aside from the battery draining issues, I loved my new toy and wrote off the battery performance as a victim of its own creation. I played with the iPhone all damn weekend and found it an absolute joy to use. Come Monday however, it was an entirely different story. The iPhone 3G was clearly not ready for true business use since it lacked many business-centric features such as cut-and-paste (duh), calendar invites, no sub-folder sync, no extension dialing, and so on (I know that only BlackBerries really offer some of these features but keep reading, i’ll address it). So, no more iPhone for me and it’s back to the BlackBerry I went.

I’ve also tried a handful of Windows-based devices to no avail. While most of them offer a decent feature set, I find that all lacked in one or more major areas. Lets take HTC for example. Their devices can be downright gorgeous at times but are always hampered by the Windows Mobile OS. Windows Mobile introduces serious hang-ups, downright crashes, random restarts, and security issues. Because the operating system is the root of the problem, these issues carry over to Palm, Motorola, Samsung, and any other device that go with the WinMo route. Also, many of the Windows Mobile devices tend to go for a longer horizontal keyboard which makes single-hand typing impossible. I’ve tried alot of WinMo devices over the past few years and have never really had much luck with them.

The closest replacement candidate that I have seen is the Nokia E71. The device has gotten awesome reviews by almost every respectable online publication so I was naturally curious enough to try it. I purchased my Nokia E71 at Nokia’s flagship store in NYC and immediately tore it open once I got home. Having had uninspiring experiences in the past with the business features of QWERTY phones in the past, the first thing that I did was connect to my company’s Exchange server. The process was relatively smooth but, once complete, I already had reasons to miss my BlackBerry. A few of my contacts did not sync over, no extension dialing, no sub-folder syncing (or viewing for that matter), no way to invite attendees to meetings, etc. Also, the Symbian operating system used by Nokia phones just lacks polish entirely. There are strange abbreviations (mangment?), convoluted menus, grammar mistakes, and way too many features such as video calling that are just not available in the USA. Overall, the device looks and feels amazing but lacks quite a few key features that I have grown to depend on in my BlackBerry.

With all that said, would I still try other QWERTY (love typing that) devices in the future? Probably, but it is becoming more apparent that no one can replicate what RIM has done to make their devices the true king in business. I don’t care how many manufacturers decide to release a device that targets the BlackBerry marketshare; there is just no equivalent to a BlackBerry other than a new phone directly from them.

I was a huge iPhone fan since the first one came out and owned one since firmware 1.0. Unfortunately, however, I’ve never been able to use the iPhone for business since it had no enterprise features to speak of.

When word of iPhone 3G and firmware 2.0 leaked out, I was ready to hop on line (I had given my girlfriend the original iPhone and bought a BlackBerry almost a year ago) to pick one up. So I bought a white 16gb iPhone 3G. I loved it and had played with it non-stop for 3 days, completely draining the battery twice.

Once the initial novelty wore off, however, it was time to get to business. I hooked up Exchange and was off and running in no time. My contacts, calendar, and email synced up as promised with no issues. Right away, I noticed an immense battery drain. I also noticed all the things lacking on the iPhone that I have become to rely on in the Blackberry.

Now, I know what you are saying: “If you love the Blackberry so much, why did you switch?” It’s because I had faith in Apple. I believed that if they were to tackle a new enterprise market, they would do it right. Well, I was wrong. I know that Blackberry has had years of experience in the enterprise market and that Apple can’t just leapfrog all of that and introduce a superior enterprise level device. But why not? Isn’t that what Apple fans expect? Look at what they did to the consumer cellphone market after they introduced the original iPhone! Surely, Apple wouldn’t falter this giant step.

Well, they did. No inbox folder push. No capability to setup meetings. No way to see meeting responses. No folder collapsing. Abysmal battery life. No copy & paste. No capability to create folders. No auto-shutoff. No way to dial extensions embedded in phone numbers. The list goes on and on and I’m sure there are things that I have forgotten about.

I understand that an iPhone is not a Blackberry. But come on, the Motorola Q had better business features! I love the many extras that the iPhone has that my Blackberry didn’t, but it just isn’t enough to keep me on it. So, it is with great lament that I will be returning my iPhone and turning back to my Blackberry.

For the past 3 days, I have taken my shiny new iPhone 3G through its paces. I’ve messed around with WiFi, GPS, push mail (receiving corporate mail through Exchange) & personal email, applications, web browsing, youtube, etc. Suffice to say, I’ve done it all.

Now that my iPhone can proudly boast 3G speeds, I intend to make the above list the norm of my everyday use for my poor iPhone. Unfortunately, however, this is going to reek havoc on the batter and already has. I have had to consistently keep charging my iPhone for the past 3 days and have actually seen the 10% battery warning twice already. This can be a serious problem for me since this is how I intend to use the gadget moving forward.

After giving it some though, I came to the conclusion that you can’t actually fault the battery itself here. The battery is not weak, it’s quite capable (and easier to replace!). The problem is that the device is really amazing. It’s so amazing in fact, it has replaced several reasons of why I would have to use my laptop and may actually render my PSP a paperweight. I exaggerate a bit but for good reason. See, the iPhone is so damn conveniently small, so I am able to fore-go any extra functionality I may be losing in my laptop and PSP. I don’t need to play GTA4 when I have free games in the app store on a gadget that also functions as a phone/pda/web browser/multimedia hub/steam iron.

With all that said, as convergence devices begin to, umm, converge (?) more devices, where does that leave battery technology? A laptop is ok if it only has 3 hours of battery life. A phone is fine with the same. A PSP doesn’t really need more than 3 hours. But what happens when you combine all three of these devices and then some? Three hours just isn’t enough when you can use one device to accomplish the tasks of many.

The new iPhone (iPhone 3G) is coming out on July 11 so that just leads to one question: How are you going to sell your old one?

Lucky for you, there are plenty of ways you can sell it:

• Cell For Cash – $100-$280 depending on iPhone model
  I have actually used Cell For Cash to get rid of my old phones and they are very dependable. You tell them what phone you have and they tell you how much they will pay you. After you submit your info, they send you a postage-paid box to be used to send them back your phone. Within approximately 1 month, they will have verified that your phone works and will then cut a check back to you. Simple.
• simplysellular – $84-$150 depending on iPhone model
  This service works the same as Cell For Cash above but pays out a bit lower, especially for the 16gb model.
• eBay ~ $350 depending on model

I for one will probably go the eBay route and let it completely pay for a new 8gb 3G iPhone. It’s a bit more hassle than Cell For Cash but worth it.