Battle of the Smart Phones - Apple IPhone 3GS Vs BlackBerry Bold

Mobile phones have changed the way people communicate. In the same way, smart phones, which provide computer-like functions, have changed the way people use their mobile phones.

Smart phones differ from ordinary mobile phones in two simple ways: how they are built and what they can do. Currently, the Apple 3GS iPhone and the BlackBerry Bold are arguably two of the best smart phones available in the market. Here's how they match-up against each other:

DESIGN
The iPhone's revolutionary touchscreen design has set the standard for future generations of smart phones. Nokia and Samsung have developed similar designs for their smart phones. There are also more than a hundred iPhone clones out in the market, all trying to cash in on the iPhone's status. The 3GS iPhone looks virtually the same as its predecessor, the iPhone 3G. The Blackberry Bold is the best looking BlackBerry so far, but the iPhone's design is an instant classic. Winner: iPhone 3GS

OPERATING SYSTEM
It takes a bit of time to get used to both the 3GS iPhone and the BlackBerry Bold. BlackBerry has always been known for usability focused on business applications. The BlackBerry phone has shortcut keys to get things done quickly, however, it's still easier and faster to master the iPhone 3GS. Winner: iPhone 3GS

DISPLAY
The iPhone 3GS has a 3.5-inch screen with 320 x 480 pixels resolution and 16M colors. With a small 2.6-inch screen and only 16K colors, the Bold lags behind in this department not just against the iPhone but with other top smart phones as well. Winner: Apple iPhone 3GS

KEYBOARD
The BlackBerry Bold's large keyboard took up some of the space that could have been used for the display but it's worth it because it's a pleasure typing in the full QWERTY keyboard, which has a sure and fast response. The iPhone's virtual keyboard is flashy but it takes time to master fast and accurate typing. Though there's an error correction system, it's not reliable if there are a large number of mistakes. Functionality beats flashy in this round. Winner: BlackBerry Bold

APPLICATIONS
When it comes to applications, no smart phone comes close to the iPhone because it is the easiest platform to develop applications for. With thousands of developers creating millions of applications for the Apple App Store, the sky's the limit for the Apple 3GS iPhone. Winner: Apple iPhone

SPEED & CONNECTIVITY
With an ARM Cortex A8 processor clocking 600 MHz and HDSPA speed up to 7.2 Mbps, it's no wonder the 'S' in Apple iPhone 3GS stands for speed. However, the BlackBerry Bold is no slouch as it has a 624 MHz processor. Both smart phones are capable of communicating over Quad Band GSM network supporting frequency bands of 850/900/1800/1900, both are GPRS, EDGE and WiFi enabled, and both have Bluetooth A2DP support and USB Connectivity. While the BlackBerry Bold only has an HSDPA speed of 3.6 Mbps, there's really no speed difference because there are currently no service providers that give 7.2 Mbps. Winner: Draw

CAMERA
The camera has been the iPhone's "weakness" as a smart phone, but not over the BlackBerry Bold. The iPhone 3GS features a 3-megapixel camera with autofocus, a decent 640 x 480 resolution at 30fps and excellent audio. The BlackBerry Bold has a standard 2-megapixel camera with an LED flash. Winner: Apple iPhone 3GS

STORAGE
With 16GB and 32GB models, there's no question that the iPhone 3GS trumps the BlackBerry, which only has 1GB of internal memory and can only support up to 8GB of external memory. Winner: iPhone 3GS

CALL QUALITY & BATTERY LIFE
Winner: Draw

THE VERDICT
The Apple iPhone 3GS is a worthy successor to its predecessors and the BlackBerry Bold is the best BlackBerry phone ever made. The iPhone 3GS is a consumer phone with something for everyone while the BlackBerry Bold maintains BlackBerry's reputation as a business gadget. At the end of the day, it's what the user needs that matters the most.

Jewel Cole writes articles for BlazinTech, a trusted online computer store that offers several computer parts and peripherals, as well as electronic gadgets.
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Palm Inc grab back smartphone business from rivals.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Palm Inc on Thursday said its upcoming Pre phone needs "more polishing" but that it was on track to start selling the high profit device in the first half of the year as it looks to grab back smartphone business from rivals.

The company gave the update while it reported a wider loss and revenue that fell 70 percent from a year ago, in line with its recent warning for a weak fiscal third quarter.

Its shares fell 4.7 percent after the report as some investors may have hoped for a specific launch date for Pre.

The Pre is seen as Palm's best hope to fight rivals such as Apple Inc and Research In Motion, which have hurt Palm's smartphone sales in recent years.

It said it is working hard to have Pre ready for a launch before the middle of the year at its exclusive U.S. carrier partner Sprint Nextel.

"There's no showstoppers," said Chief Executive Ed Colligan in a call with analysts. "We plan on delivering on the time frame we said we would."

Colligan also told analysts that he already uses Pre as his personal device every day and that it works well but just needs some polishing before it can go on sale. The company also said it has enough money to support the phone's launch.

Pre, which will be up against Apple's iPhone and RIM's BlackBerry, is based on a new software system known as webOS and has touchscreen controls.

Colligan told analysts that the company has a whole set of future products planned for the system.

He said some of these webOS devices could be simpler than Pre and some of them more advanced so that it can target different parts of the market.

"There's certainly opportunity for going down stream and taking functionality out and clearly there's things we can do going upscale" he said, adding that carrier customers that had seen its future product plans were impressed.

PRE TO HELP MARGINS

Once these new products are on sale the company said it aims to be able to report non-gaap gross profit margins of 30 percent plus, similar to margins it had seen in the past for its Treo smartphone line up.

Palm said its gross profit margin was 5 percent in the third quarter, ended Feb 27 and 20 percent in the second quarter.

In the current quarter it still expects to be hurt by price pressure on its legacy products and weak consumer demand due to the recession.

Palm's loss widened to $98 million, or 89 cents per share for the third quarter ended February 27, from a loss of $57 million or 53 cents per share in the year ago quarter.

Excluding items such as stock-based compensation its loss would have been 86 cents per share, roughly in line with estimates from two analysts contacted by Reuters.

Revenue fell to $90.6 million from $312.1 million, very slightly ahead of Palm's March 3 warning that revenue would be in a range of $85 million to $90 million.

However, it was still well below the $155 million average analyst estimate prior to the early March warning.

The company had warned of a bad quarter as the poor economy aggravated already weak demand for its older phones, and shipments of its new Treo Pro phone were delayed.

"The quarter looks very much like what they said," said Avian Securities analyst Matthew Thornton. "I've a tough time seeing how many people care about this quarter because the story is about the Pre and fiscal 2010."

Palm's shares fell about 4.7 percent to $7.35 in late trade after closing down another 4.7 percent in the regular Nasdaq session on Thursday.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Telkomsel Resmi Luncurkan Apple iPhone 3G

Jumat, 20 Maret 2009 Telkomsel resmi menghadirkan Apple iPhone 3G di pasaran Indonesia. Operator seluler terbesar tanah air itu menjalin kemitraan eksklusif dengan Apple sebagai partner jangka panjang.

Apple minati pasar Indonesia karena negeri ini memiliki pasar yang unik. Potensi pasarnya juga sangat besar. "Kalau ada 24 kota besar di Indonesia dijumlah, total penduduknya melebihi penduduk Singapura, HongKong, bahkan Malaysia. Potensi ini yang dilihat Apple," kata Sarwoto Atmosutarno, Dirut Telkomsel pada jumpa pers peluncuran iPhone 3G Telkomsel.

"Telkomsel melihat potensi yang besar dalam pengembangan komunitas," kata Sarwoto. "iPhone di luar negeri memiliki komunitas yang sangat besar. Di Indonesia komunitas tersebut memang belum terlihat, tetapi trennya akan ke sana. Saya optimis akan hal tersebut," ucapnya.

Sekarang ini Telkomsel menjadi mitra ekslusif Apple di Indonesia. Sarwoto yakin kontrak kerjasama tersebut akan berlaku jangka panjang.

"Bila Apple menelurkan produk-produk versi terbaru, saya kira Apple akan tetap bekerjasama dengan Telkomsel di Indonesia," kata Sarwoto. "Saya tidak tahu menahu soal penjajakan kerjasama apple dengan operator lain," ucapnya.

(Sumber: VIVAnews.Com)