Best Blackberry Mobile Review
BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more. They are primarily known for their ability to send and receive (push) email and instant messages while maintaining a high level of security through on-device message encryption. BlackBerry devices support a large variety of instant messaging features, including BlackBerry Messenger.
BlackBerry's fall from grace is well documented, going from the heights of being the only business phone option, to a point where rumours about a split between OS and handset functions have to be denied.
As we all know, Apple came in and stole the limelight, with a phone that RIM said was impossible.
Looking to the future, however, RIM is pushing BlackBerry forward, determined to not be bogged down by poor fiscal earnings.
BlackBerry 10 devices are on the horizon, although word is there are only going to be a few initially, prompted by accusations of having too many devices at any one time.
Check out our hands on:
BB10 review
Whilst BB10 is still some way off, BB7 graces today's BlackBerry devices.
This is by no means a bad thing; BB7 is a strong operating system and comes on some high-end hardware too.
BlackBerry handsets are still at the forefront of burgeoning technology, such as near-field communication (NFC), with reports that BlackBerry devices make up 80% of all NFC- enabled devices.
Plans are to grow NFC even further, with Geoffrey MacGillivray, Manager for Security Services, Payments and NFC at RIM telling us at BlackBerry World 2012, that RIM is "looking to put NFC technology into every upcoming BlackBerry handset."
So what devices are available for you today? We've assimilated our vast knowledge into one handy guide, so here they are.
BlackBerry Bold 9900
Following in the footsteps of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and 9780 devices, comes a worthy successor in the form of the BlackBerry Bold 9900.
Alongside a sharp touch-screen comes NFC, all built on top of the tried-and-tested (and exceptional on the BB Bold range) keyboard.
All round, from the web experience to general use, we can say this is the best BlackBerry phone to date.
BlackBerry Torch 9810
Brother to the Torch 9860, RIM decided to make this offering more in line with the original BlackBerry Torch device, providing a slide-out keyboard to go with the touch screen.
Whilst we can't work out the exact demographic for the BlackBerry Torch 9810, we can say that it comes with a decent screen and battery life - ideal for media - and a fast processor to make web browsing smoother.
BlackBerry Torch 9860
Released alongside the BlackBerry Torch 9810 comes RIM's first purely touchscreen device.
The 3.7" touch screen with Liquid Graphics technology helps to make the interface seem fluid under touch, with the 1.2GHz processor working behind it to keep everything going.
All this together means the BlackBerry Torch 9810 works well as a mid-range media phone - although there are few who will be willing to ditch the keyboard on a BlackBerry.
BlackBerry Curve 9380
RIM didn't stop with just the Torch 9860 for a full touch-screen device.
Coming a few months after, BlackBerry brought the touch experience to the budget end of its Curve range, coming in at around the same price as the Curve 8520.
For such a modest price, you do get 3G and A-GPS functionality thrown in as well, balanced with compromises on the CPU and lower-resolution screen.
BlackBerry Curve 9320
Should you decide that you have a few extra pennies lying around, the BlackBerry Curve 9320 is still a very creditable alternative budget phone.
It even brings along some high-end features such as DNLA, FM Radio and Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities.
For the price, we weren't expecting the Curve 9320 to rock the world, but it does a decent job for such a low price tag.
BlackBerry Bold 9790
Whilst we may not have been as excited about the BlackBerry Bold 9790 as we were the Bold 9900, we were still left with a smile on our faces.
RIM made a smaller device here, meaning that there is less of a bulge in your pocket, perfect if you enjoy skinny jeans.
The BlackBerry Bold 9790 doesn't skimp on the specs either, managing to cram a decent touch screen, as well NFC, into the smaller chassis.
BlackBerry Curve 9360
Being another Curve device, you'd probably expect the BlackBerry Curve 9360 to be another budget handset, and you wouldn't be far wrong.
Whilst being the most expensive Curve on this list, you are rewarded with some significant upgrades - plus it's one of the most smartly-designed mobiles out there in our opinion.
On top of other features, the BlackBerry Curve 9360 brings a nice sharp screen, as well as a 5MP camera and NFC technology.
BlackBerry Curve 8520
Despite having been around for a while in smartphone terms (our original review is fast approaching its third birthday), the BlackBerry Curve 8520 still remains a relatively decent budget device.
Don't expect the world though, as you'll find no 3G or GPS – these have been omitted to keep costs down.
Available on PAYG for under £90, and on contract for around £10pm, the Curve 8520 is an ideal phone for beginners, those on living on a shoe string, or as a backup device but be wary: this is starting to really age as a handset.
Best I-PHONE review
Apple's iPhone 5 is the best iPhone yet, and not by a little bit, either. It blends a strong platform update with a brilliantly designed piece of unified hardware to create a sharp contrast with a legion of palm-busting, giant-screen Android and Windows Phone devices.
While the look is different, there is much about the Apple iPhone 5 that remains familiar. For iPhone fans, this will come as a comfort. For Android fans, it's unlikely the iPhone 5 will prompt anyone to switch.
It bothers me more than a little that I have to defend the fact that I like the iPhone. Android fans assume this is some sort of nefarious plot to subvert Android's steady growth in the smartphone market. They find it inconceivable that anyone could judge Apple's still alluring mobile gadget on its own merits, and yet, that's how I do judge it.
This is an iPhone for the fans. It's as good, and sometimes better, than some of the best Android devices on the market today. Here are some of the reasons why.
A Better Design
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Many once believed that the iPhone 5 would be a radical re-imagining of Apple's iPhone. It would feature "LiquidMetal," they promised, and likely offer a curved body. Some believed the screen would get much larger. What we got instead is an instantly recognizable smartphone. For all the changes Apple put in the iPhone 5, virtually anyone will be able to discern its lineage at 20 paces.
Personally, I love the new look. At 2.31 inches wide — virtually identical to the iPhone 4S — the iPhone feels like, well, an iPhone in your hand. Actually, it feels like an iPhone that went on a radical diet. It's now 0.9 ounces lighter than the original iPhone 4 and almost 0.08 of an inch thinner. In my pocket it was like a ghost. The steady pat against my leg as I walked was gone.
That thinner frame has one drawback: Add-on devices designed to slip snuggly over the iPhone body will, on the slim iPhone 5, float like a size-17 shirt on a skinny guy. One casualty, my Olloclip macro and fish-eye lens clip. Guess I'll be buying a new one.
I always liked the smooth, shiny shell of the iPhone 4 and 4S but quickly fell in love with the iPhone 5's brushed aluminum back and slightly sharper edges. I did notice that the back — at least on the white and brushed aluminum one — got scuffed and dirtied up a bit more easily than I'd prefer.
It remains to be seen if this design is, in fact, sturdier than the iPhone 4. Thankfully, I never dropped the phone, but I have seen videos of it taking a pretty good beating and surviving.
The iPhone 5's new 4-inch diagonal display offers the same pixel-per-inch resolution as the last retina-resolution iPhone, but this screen is considerably longer, allowing for another row of app icons and more room for content, such as full-screen HD movie playback. Apple told me they've removed a layer from the LCD screen so the pixels and the touch sensor are on one layer. The result is that icons and other onscreen objects look as if they're right under your finger, instead of a layer of glass. It's a nice upgrade, but not life-changing.
Apple made a few other notable design changes. The speaker and microphone are both behind more substantial metal grilles, the audio jack has been moved to the bottom of the phone and the 30-pin dock connector is out and a new, tiny digital Lightning connector is in (you can see it below compared with the bottom of the iPhone 4S).
The last change is a source of some consternation for those who own a collection of peripherals and extra chargers. They'll want the $29 Lighting-to-30 pin adapter, which Apple did not have for sale in-store when they started selling the iPhone 5.
I'm not happy that I have exactly one charging option for the iPhone 5 and if I forget the cable at home, I'm out of luck not only for a recharge, but for connecting the iPhone 5 to any computer. On the other hand, I can still email and share content without the cable and I typically play music via Bluetooth (which still works perfectly with my Jawbone Jambox) or over Wi-Fi to my Apple TV box.
Winning Performance
Just as with people, though, it's what's inside that counts. The iPhone 5's combination of the powerful, dual-core A6 chip and new LTE 4G wireless make this a pleasingly nimble and spectacularly fast smartphone. For the record I tested a white 64GB Verizon LTE model. Apple doesn't list the amount of RAM, but an iFixit teardown revealed a robust 1GB.
Games like Temple Run and Infinity Blade II look great and are as responsive as ever. I did run into some issues with the larger screen and apps that have not been updated to accommodate it. The iPhone 5 automatically letterboxes and centers the games, but that doesn't really help. On one of my favorite games, Little Wings, I had to guess at where to touch the screen to make the bird dive into canyons. On Infinity Blade II, I couldn't dodge hits properly because the control was out of alignment with my touch. Most app developers are delivering updates to accommodate both iOS 6 and the iPhone 5's longer display, so I expect this to be a short-term problem.
I used to be pretty happy with the 3G performance on my iPhone 4 and 4S, but as more and more people have hopped on the Verizon network, I've noticed that it's not as fast as it once was. That said, I wasn't itching for a power-sucking large-screen 4G device. After a few days with the iPhone 5, however, I wonder how I'll ever go back to 3G.
In the New York Metropolitan area, Verizon's 4G LTE coverage is pretty much ubiquitous, which meant I enjoyed blazing fast downloads and web browsing. Pages didn't flow in — they blinked in. Every action, whether it was downloading apps or sending and receiving hundreds of email messages was fast and hiccup-free.
In no area, however, was LTE's fat pipe more in evident than on the new FaceTime over cellular feature enabled by the new iOS 6.
To test it, I took the phone outside, plugged in the new EarPods (I love them — they're super-comfortable, and, while they don't cancel external noise, they do provide lots of crisp and deep head-filling audio), selected FaceTime for my wife's contact information (she has an iPhone 4) and then initiated the call. Within seconds we were enjoying stutter-free video on both sides. The audio was crisp and clear, and the video was surprisingly sharp (on both sides).
Camera Gets Better
What do we do with our smartphones? Take pictures. Apple achieved some parity with all the Android phones of the world when it finally added an 8-megapixel camera that can also record 1080p video at 30 frames per second to the iPhone 4S. So I had to wonder what else Apple could do to improve the images the iPhone 5 captures (I don't think we need 10 megapixels on a smartphone).
Instead of focusing on the numbers race, Apple turned its attention to performance. The iPhone 5 shoots photos almost twice as fast as the iPhone 4S. Why does this matter? It could mean the difference between catching a moment and missing one. I took this shot of Senator Chuck Schumer greeting a constituent. I didn't stop and set; instead I lifted the phone and quickly tapped the camera icon. I was shocked at the clarity of the candid photo I captured.
The iPhone 5's camera also promised better low-light performance. I find the low-light performance of the iPhone 4S pretty strong and can't say I saw a noticeable difference with the iPhone 5. Similarly, video looked great on the iPhone 4S and looks just as good on the iPhone 5; the most notable difference being that I can now grab still images while capturing video.
Making the Connection
A word about calls. They sound great and those on the other end of my calls said I sounded good, as well. Part of this is likely due to the multiple microphones and noise-canceling technology. I only wish I made more calls (don't look at me — most of us use our phones for everything but calls).
System Support
iPhone 5 benefits hugely from a fresh mobile operating system. Not everyone is a fan of the redesigned keypad, spare App Store interface and Google Maps replacement, but the majority of iOS 6's changes count as improvements.
One of my favorite updates is the new Panorama camera shooting mode. I collected countless 180-to-300 degree shots thanks to the spiffy interface. These images look good (from both the iPhone 5 and iOS 6-upgradeable iPhone 4S), but the files are huge — 16MB — so be sure to offload them every once in a while if you don't want to run out of space in a week.
I'm also enjoying the re-education of Siri. She's just as polite as ever, apologizing with "I'm trying here" when she couldn't successfully find me a nearby apple orchard (she kept directing me to Apple's headquarters). Her sports acumen, though, is quite impressive. I asked her "How the Mets did today?" and she quickly responded with "New York narrowly defeated Miami by a score of 3 to 2."
She's also the voice of the iPhone 5's new turn-by-turn directions. The maps may not be great, but I found the iPhone 5 and iOS 6's built-in travel guidance clear and spot-on.
iOS 6 also adds Passbook, but this coupon-and-ticket app will take weeks to truly assess. For now, I'll say that it does integrate smoothly with apps from Target, Walgreens, Fandango and others and I already have some coupons in my Passbook. I look forward to testing it more in the future.
Battery Life
One reason I didn't jump to buy a 4G phone is that most people I know who own big-screen 4G Android phones are usually searching for a power outlet before the day is over. The iPhone 5 has a smaller screen than, say, the Motorola Droid Razr or Samsung Galaxy S III. That likely helps it survive into the nighttime hours. Still, after a day of calls, email, texting, web browsing, FaceTime and listening to music, the iPhone 5 barely made it to the end of the day. My iPhone 4S, by contrast, is usually still one-third charged when I plug it back into the wall.
I would say you can reasonably expect 10 hours of solid performance for an average day.
Today's smartphones are really tiny computers and, as such, they pack in more features and functionality than I could ever cover in one review. The iPhone 5 is no exception. Other notable features among the countless ones I've encountered include the 3D Flyover, which looks amazing when Apple Maps has complete data; a 720p-capable front-facing camera that enhances the FaceTime experience; the new VIP email box, which was perfect for mail from my wife; Facebook integration, which I like except for it sucking in my contacts by default; and a pair of new Do Not Disturb features that can not only silence the phone, but also all of your notifications. That last feature comes in handy since virtually every single app wants to deliver push notifications.
Would I Buy One?
Apple's iPhone 5 is, by any measure, an excellent smartphone. It's also a catch-up device, adding features resident on most of the leading Android and Windows phones. It lacks a 4.5-inch screen and NFC, but I doubt that will matter to iPhone fans. The better and more pertinent question is: Should you trade in in your iPhone 4 or 4S for an iPhone 5? From my perspective, if you are eligible for an upgrade, run, don't walk to get the iPhone 5. It, thanks to more powerful components and iOS 6, is a better experience on almost every level (with the notable exception of maps). If you're not eligible for an upgrade, wait. The iPhone 4 and 4S are great phones that will satisfy your needs for now.
