A BlackBerry Bold and an iPhone

The battle for the hearts, minds and wallets of mobile phone owners enters a new phase this weekend with the launch of the BlackBerry Bold.

RIM, the Canadian company behind the BlackBerry, is making a concerted effort to appeal to a much wider audience — ordinary people, like you and me, rather than hedge fund managers and captains of industry — and the Bold is its most ambitious attempt yet. For once, the “iPhone killer” moniker given to every half-decent new phone these days seems to be almost entirely justified in the case of the Bold. But which should you plump for?

Before you decide, read The Daily Telegraph’s review.

Email

iPhone 3g: The iPhone can collect emails as soon as they hit your computer inbox. Setting up a connection to an email account took 90 seconds.

The iPhone loses marks, however, for lacking some high-end business functions; you can open, but not edit, Excel spreadsheets and Word documents. Typing on the virtual keyboard takes some getting used to.

BlackBerry Bold: The full-sized keyboard means that you can type long emails comfortably, and you can open and edit documents with applications such as “Word to Go”.

Connecting to corporate email accounts is straightforward (assuming you’ve been set up by your company to do so). You can also connect the Bold to your computer and use it as a modem.

Looks and usability

iPhone 3g: Sleek, sexy, dramatic and minimalist, the iPhone has good looks in spades. While not everyone will get along with the touch-screen interface, especially for typing, it really comes into its own when browsing the web or flicking through music, photos and videos.

BlackBerry Bold: The Bold looks sleek and stylish, and the keyboard is superb for typing. But that’s the problem: the iPhone, quite simply, looks better because it doesn’t have all those buttons on the front. When it comes to usability for business, however, the Bold is streets ahead.

Camera and GPS

iPhone 3g: The two-megapixel camera is basic but produces images of acceptable quality. Using the built-in GPS and Google Maps to get around is easy, but the current system is not quite fast enough to support real-time turn-by-turn directions. The sat-nav software can “tag” a photo with the geographical co-ordinates where it was taken.

BlackBerry Bold: The Bold has the same two-megapixel camera as the iPhone and can also “geotag” your photographs. The GPS function is very easy to use, and you can install additional software to turn the Bold into a useful sat-nav device, capable of providing turn-by-turn directions.

Web browsing

iPhone 3g: This is where the iPhone excels. No other device comes close to matching it for the sheer, effortless browsing experience. Pages load quickly over 3G or Wi-Fi, while navigating around them and zooming in and out at the touch of a finger feels like the most natural thing in the world. This is how the mobile web is supposed to look.

BlackBerry Bold: The screen is impressive, but to make any given web page legible you need to zoom in, and that means you then need to use the trackball to move around pages. It can be a frustrating experience, although by comparison with any other handset but the iPhone, it’s perfectly bearable.

Multimedia

iPhone 3g: Syncing (moving audio files) with your iTunes music library is simplicity itself. Videos look brilliant on the 3.5in widescreen display, and the touch-screen makes browsing through your media a joy. There’s the bonus of being able to buy songs on the go from the iTunes store, while the Application Store makes it easy to buy additional software.

BlackBerry Bold: Loading music on to the BlackBerry is straightforward. The free MediaSync software will pull music and playlists on to the device from iTunes, although it will not work with copy-protected files bought through the iTunes store, for instance.

Overall view

iPhone 3g: If the iPhone had the ability to edit documents on the go, it would be the perfect business device. As it stands, it is probably better suited to consumers, but its ease of use, superb multimedia capabilities and the ability to add software make it one of the best all-round handsets on the market.

BlackBerry Bold: The BlackBerry Bold, quite simply, does more than the iPhone. It looks better than any of its predecessors, too, but email and professional uses are always going to be the priorities for this device. If they’re your priority as well, it’s a superb machine — carrying it says you mean business.