Dr.Wreck loves his BlackBerry devices. So much so, he’s rounded up every one money can currently *legally* buy (and is worth actually buying).
Our BlackBerry Bold vs. BlackBerry storm review from last Fall was a smashing success. We figured we’d one up it and review the whole darn shootin’ match!
What we’ve got here is the current purchasable flagship BlackBerry devices:
BlackBerry 9000 Black (Bold)
BlackBerry 9530 (Storm)
BlackBerry 9630 (Tour)
BlackBerry 8900
In keeping with tradition, we’ll stick to the facts and start off with a pure technical comparison between all of the devices.
Technical Specifications
As we mentioned before, the lack of inclusion of WiFi within the storm and Tour are well documented as mandates from the carriers rather than the RIM itself. It’s easy to tell – I mean in this day and age, why would anyone hoping to launch a device with competitive technical specifications even hope to remain in the heat without wifi?
It’s simple really – WiFi on a BlackBerry is useless without a dataplan – most apps require a direct connection with RIM’s NOC (Network Operation Centre) to even consider allowing you to use it.
We’ve seen many devices before on Qualcomm’s MSM 7600 platform (Storm) using WiFi, there’s no excuse. Thanks to rave reviews from consumers though it looks as if WiFi will be present on the all new and much approved (Dr.Wreck got to play with one!) Storm 2.
Winner: Tour(ish)?Browsers
BlackBerry devices to date have not been very well known for their browsers. I mean, the browsing experience is OK, but nothing to write home about and the one thing that ALL of your iPhone toting friends always BRAG about. We took the liberty of putting each BlackBerry through a tests with some of our favourite and most visited websites.
Bold – 4.6.x
Storm – 4.7.x
Tour – 4.7.x
8900 – 4.7.x
Web Browsing Benchmarks
The results are pretty bang on with what we expected. Unfortunately a lot of the network speeds rely on the provider – we can’t really officially comment on what technology/provider we think is best but this chart makes a pretty solid point. It’s also hard to contend the 8900 as it really is only a 2.5G device. We’ve heard rumours and seen benchmarks that show the improved 8900 browser as being capable of near 3G BlackBerry speeds. Unfortunately, this table does a lot to disprove those previous theories.
Note: Please keep in mind the disclaimer attached to this benchmark. These devices were all connected to active networks and the attempt was made to ensure all tests were in full-bar/full-coverage atmospheres.Winner: Bold – 3G on AT&TCamera
We know the Bold camera is a little bit sloppy. The storm is well known to produce decent pictures. At a glance:
Bold – 1600x 1200
Storm – 2048 x 1536
Tour – 2048 x 1536
8900 – 2048 x 1536
The details should be in these numbers. If you want high quality photos, stay away from the bold.
Loser: BoldSideloading
Dr.Wreck HATES waiting for his stuff to load. Let’s put his issue in perspective:
You use your device as an media player. That means, on the commute to work you listen to music/watch movies, at work you listen to music/watch movies (…), when you work-out you listen to music, and when you commute home you listen to music/watch movies. The device plays a massive part in your productivity and energy for the day. Now let’s say you just purchased/borrowed some new music/movies and your morning schedule is so efficient that you have only a few seconds to load up the new medias. It’s amazing how much speed difference there is between these devices. In fact, the sideloading speed of a device is the most MANDATORY decision making criteria for our beloved Doctor.
Let’s see how these thangs stacked up:
It’s no surprise the Bold performed well and the Storm – not so much. We weren’t expecting the Tour (our new device) to have Storm-esque performance as well. As we already new, the 8900 kicked butt.
Dr.Wreck is fairly puzzled by this phenomena. The GSM devices COOKED! What’s holding up the CDMA platforms?!
Winner: Bold & 8900 (Tie!)Keyboard/Typing
Dr.Wreck has extensive experience with the Bold keyboard – it’s his weapon of choice. That said, before the Bold was the curve – so the keyboard on the 8900 feels great in his hand.
RIM makes a solid PHYSICAL keyboard. We’re not even going to talk about the storm here – we’ve tried it – it’s terrible, RIM has fixed it. End of story.
The Tour is something kinda new though. At first glance, it looks like a Bold keyboard, but when compared side to side it’s significantly smaller. Dr.Wreck’s massive thumbs quivered with anxiety when he first noticed this.
HOWEVER, the keys are actually separately lifted so it actually feels MORE natural than the Bold! Within 5 minutes of texting Dr.Wrecks massive quantity of 5 friends (Ms.Wreck, Momma Wreck and Poppa Wreck included) he was cooking that PCB with intense speed! IF you want a physical keyboard, nothing compares to the BlackBerry Tour.
Winner: TourMedia Playback
It goes without saying, the Javelin and Tour share the same screen. They are bright vibrant and of the highest pixel density.
That said, no external speaker matches the Bold. Now with THAT said, most people using these phones for media playback or handsfree use them in conjunction with the BlackBerry headset that is shipped with the device. Dr.Wreck’s audiophile ears could hear little discernible difference from the audio codecs.
RIM has come a long way with it’s built in media player on the BlackBerry products.
Conclusion
BlackBerry currently has some great devices on the track with some even cooler ones in the stable (Bold 9700, Storm 2 included). Which one is best for you? The decision comes down to your usage habits. The overall size of these devices is similar but the compact and delicious design of the Tour (which will be discussed in our soon to launch Tour Teardown) make it the device for Dr.Wreck.The T-Mobile G1 is a smartphone co-developed by HTC and Google, and released through T-Mobile.
Here at phoneWreck, we tear open, break apart, and analyze the latest and greatest handsets on the market. Most importantly, we do this for free. Why?
To empower you, the reader, the engineer, the network analyst, the ASIC designer, and even the general curious folks out there, with the access, knowledge, understanding of all that is: the mobile phone.
What we’ve got here is the current purchasable flagship BlackBerry devices:
BlackBerry 9000 Black (Bold)
BlackBerry 9530 (Storm)
BlackBerry 9630 (Tour)
BlackBerry 8900
In keeping with tradition, we’ll stick to the facts and start off with a pure technical comparison between all of the devices.
Technical Specifications
As we mentioned before, the lack of inclusion of WiFi within the storm and Tour are well documented as mandates from the carriers rather than the RIM itself. It’s easy to tell – I mean in this day and age, why would anyone hoping to launch a device with competitive technical specifications even hope to remain in the heat without wifi?
It’s simple really – WiFi on a BlackBerry is useless without a dataplan – most apps require a direct connection with RIM’s NOC (Network Operation Centre) to even consider allowing you to use it.
We’ve seen many devices before on Qualcomm’s MSM 7600 platform (Storm) using WiFi, there’s no excuse. Thanks to rave reviews from consumers though it looks as if WiFi will be present on the all new and much approved (Dr.Wreck got to play with one!) Storm 2.
Winner: Tour(ish)?
Browsers
BlackBerry devices to date have not been very well known for their browsers. I mean, the browsing experience is OK, but nothing to write home about and the one thing that ALL of your iPhone toting friends always BRAG about. We took the liberty of putting each BlackBerry through a tests with some of our favourite and most visited websites.
Bold – 4.6.x
Storm – 4.7.x
Tour – 4.7.x
8900 – 4.7.x
Web Browsing Benchmarks
The results are pretty bang on with what we expected. Unfortunately a lot of the network speeds rely on the provider – we can’t really officially comment on what technology/provider we think is best but this chart makes a pretty solid point. It’s also hard to contend the 8900 as it really is only a 2.5G device. We’ve heard rumours and seen benchmarks that show the improved 8900 browser as being capable of near 3G BlackBerry speeds. Unfortunately, this table does a lot to disprove those previous theories.
Note: Please keep in mind the disclaimer attached to this benchmark. These devices were all connected to active networks and the attempt was made to ensure all tests were in full-bar/full-coverage atmospheres.
Winner: Bold – 3G on AT&T
Camera
We know the Bold camera is a little bit sloppy. The storm is well known to produce decent pictures. At a glance:
Bold – 1600x 1200
Storm – 2048 x 1536
Tour – 2048 x 1536
8900 – 2048 x 1536
The details should be in these numbers. If you want high quality photos, stay away from the bold.
Loser: Bold
Sideloading
Dr.Wreck HATES waiting for his stuff to load. Let’s put his issue in perspective:
You use your device as an media player. That means, on the commute to work you listen to music/watch movies, at work you listen to music/watch movies (…), when you work-out you listen to music, and when you commute home you listen to music/watch movies. The device plays a massive part in your productivity and energy for the day. Now let’s say you just purchased/borrowed some new music/movies and your morning schedule is so efficient that you have only a few seconds to load up the new medias. It’s amazing how much speed difference there is between these devices. In fact, the sideloading speed of a device is the most MANDATORY decision making criteria for our beloved Doctor.
Let’s see how these thangs stacked up:
It’s no surprise the Bold performed well and the Storm – not so much. We weren’t expecting the Tour (our new device) to have Storm-esque performance as well. As we already new, the 8900 kicked butt.
Dr.Wreck is fairly puzzled by this phenomena. The GSM devices COOKED! What’s holding up the CDMA platforms?!
Winner: Bold & 8900 (Tie!)
Keyboard/Typing
Dr.Wreck has extensive experience with the Bold keyboard – it’s his weapon of choice. That said, before the Bold was the curve – so the keyboard on the 8900 feels great in his hand.
RIM makes a solid PHYSICAL keyboard. We’re not even going to talk about the storm here – we’ve tried it – it’s terrible, RIM has fixed it. End of story.
The Tour is something kinda new though. At first glance, it looks like a Bold keyboard, but when compared side to side it’s significantly smaller. Dr.Wreck’s massive thumbs quivered with anxiety when he first noticed this.
HOWEVER, the keys are actually separately lifted so it actually feels MORE natural than the Bold! Within 5 minutes of texting Dr.Wrecks massive quantity of 5 friends (Ms.Wreck, Momma Wreck and Poppa Wreck included) he was cooking that PCB with intense speed! IF you want a physical keyboard, nothing compares to the BlackBerry Tour.
Winner: Tour
Media Playback
It goes without saying, the Javelin and Tour share the same screen. They are bright vibrant and of the highest pixel density.
That said, no external speaker matches the Bold. Now with THAT said, most people using these phones for media playback or handsfree use them in conjunction with the BlackBerry headset that is shipped with the device. Dr.Wreck’s audiophile ears could hear little discernible difference from the audio codecs.
RIM has come a long way with it’s built in media player on the BlackBerry products.
Conclusion
BlackBerry currently has some great devices on the track with some even cooler ones in the stable (Bold 9700, Storm 2 included). Which one is best for you? The decision comes down to your usage habits. The overall size of these devices is similar but the compact and delicious design of the Tour (which will be discussed in our soon to launch Tour Teardown) make it the device for Dr.Wreck.The T-Mobile G1 is a smartphone co-developed by HTC and Google, and released through T-Mobile.
