iPhone twice as reliable as BlackBerry? Dream on
I love my iPhone and have never felt tempted to return to the BlackBerry, but I was still rolling my eyes at TechCrunch's report of the iPhone being "twice as reliable as the BlackBerry". After all, my iPhone crashed in four different applications in a 45-minute period this afternoon.
Of course, the referenced SquareTrade study covers hardware malfunctions, not software malfunctions. In this, perhaps it is true that the malfunction rate for Apple's smartphones after one year is only 5.6 percent, while Research In Motion's phones crap out 11.2 percent of the time.
But in day-to-day usage, I've found my iPhone software to be far less stable than the ugly-but-reliable BlackBerry software.
As I said, I'm not going back to the BlackBerry, as the iPhone experience, even with less-than-stellar software stability, is still much better than BlackBerry's stodgy dependability. I wouldn't, however, complain if Apple managed to make the iPhone as rock-solid as its OS X software on my MacBook Pro.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
I have not run into native (from apple) apps crash yet in few months of usage.
Of course, 3rd party apps do crash...
I'd love an iPhone. Unfortunately, corporate security policy here is a bit anal about downloads of email onto personal devices - and the price plans for an iPhone doesn't get it on the approved list yet...
Ian W.
I'm responsible for the training and operation of 140+ iPhones here. Since it's original release we've had to return four due to hardware issues. Over half of them are now 3G's running several third party applications. No need to list them since they all work and have not had any down time.
Again, we in the industry would like to know specific issues. Not vagueness. Thank you.
We thought that maybe we had an old version of the OS - but when we went to the "Update" link, it told us that there are no new updates.
So, in my experience, iPhone reliability sucks - at least when it comes to Web browsing.
But then, maybe my standards are too high. I don't have a blackberry and can only compare it to my laptop browsing experience using Firefox/Linux.
Try doing a reboot of the phone when you find you?re getting multiple shut downs with Safari. I know its a pain in the, tookus, but works fairly well for a day or two after restart. I wish apple would address the lack of RAM issue that plagues the current gens of iPhones. Maybe adding some sort of expandable virtual memory would be a good start.
Second, the author here challenges the premise of the article, which explicitly indicates it is addressing hardware failure i.e. is the kind of failure that a warranty provider would cover. This isn't all that complicated; the fewer moving parts a unit has (the iPhone has 4, while the average BB probably has 10x that), the more reliable it is. Butt the way the article is written makes it sound like the author read the headline, said "that's ridiculous!" and began writing a challenge piece. But then, midway in, he actually read the story and realized that it wasn't claiming overall reliability was higher, but rather hardware reliability. But he had a deadline, so he had to follow through with the piece anyway. Nice.
I had BlackBerry before the iPhone. And at that time it was an 8310 Curve. The BlackBerry has very low memory for applications and no file system. OS 4.5 corrects some of this. But Windows Mobile has a lot more features. And before all of the fan boys chime in, check your comments at the door if you have not used it and merely object to anything other than an Apple Logo. This is my first Windows Mobile device and I admit after seeing Steve Jobs take jabs at Windows Mobile I thought the device would be awful. It wasn't and isn't. And in my opinion, it is far better than BlackBerry. Not at all as "pretty" as iPhone. And it doesn't have a browser as nice as iPhone's, but it does have an optional music app called pTunes which is actually very good. I mean really quite good. Stereo Bluetooth by the way, too.
I'm mostly a business user. My true need is the email, the phone, and the ability to detach attachments from email, store them in a file system, send emails and send the saved attachments in new emails, not forwarded emails. That right there is a big deal. And it's easy to do because it's all native to Windows Mobile.
What I found is that not all Windows Mobile devices are created equal either. Windows Mobile 6.1 on the Motorola Q9 works a lot like a BlackBerry. There is no stylus. No need to press Start all the time. It has icons that you just select on the screen through a directional pad. It's completely a one-handed operation. It also has turn-by-turn GPS navigation.
Essentially you give up a great browser but gain an excellent business-user class phone and PIM. Well worth the trade-off in my opinion. I honestly don't know how the BlackBerry got so popular in the face of Windows Mobile. I wish I had given this a serious look a long time ago.
Alex Alexzander
And 2009 is the year of the Linux Desktop too! Hurray for FUD!
It's not me saying that Windows Mobile is losing fast - it's Canalys. You know, the folks responsible for tracking such things? If you don't like that, go yell at them. The enterprise is running to RIM (and has for years), and the iPhone. You don't hear so much about anybody migrating to Windows Mobile these days.
As for the "Linux Desktop"? OSX "on the laptop", sure... but Linux on the desktop will take a bit of time.
Hmmm... According to Canalys HTC (one of the biggest Windows Mobile device manufacturers), is up 171% from where they were last year Q3 in smartphone market share. Sounds like people are migrating away to me... Keep the spin coming; it only enforces your lack of credibility.
I have a Samsung Instinct and an iPod Touch. It's safe to say that if it wasn't for $99 everything unlimited plan, I would switch to AT&T right now after a very positive experience with my iPod Touch 2nd Gen. The whole reason I got the iPod Touch was due to the fact that my Instinct crashes all the damn time. Hardly a day goes by where one of the standard install apps doesn't freeze, crash or reboot my phone. I wanted the iPod Touch for the WiFi and the apps.
Now that I have had plenty of time to play with the iPod Touch, I have encountered multiple times where Safari has crashed. It doesn't change the fact that I overwhelmingly love it still, but face the facts, the iPhone and iPod Touch are not perfect devices. I know that may come as a shocking bitter truth to you, but they do crash as well. Saying this does not put me on the Microsoft payroll or anyone's payroll for that matter. It's just an observation I have made in my own personal experience.
Well I can tell you, PC users, I'm included in that, don't think like that. We don't act like that. We're not that way at all.
Now, I responded to this the way I did because I was a member of the BlackBerryForums for a while, and basically got thrown off for saying nice things about the email on the iPhone as compared to that of the BlackBerry. I stated how much more i liked the email, which led to moderator acting like you Mac users act. He got all koolaid drunk on me and I went off on him privately for which I was granted a nice boot.
My point is, if someone wanted to tell me BlackBerry email is better than iPhone email, you'd hear me chime in and support the iPhone. But if you want to say something like "reliable" and "iPhone" in the same sentence, you bet I will chime in. Because as an owner of a Treo 650, then a BB 8800, then an 8310, then an iPhone, then an iPhone 3G, and now a Moto Q, I can tell you this. In terms of reliable, the BlackBerry and the Moto Q are on top. The Treo is on the bottom for random reboots, trailed by the iPhone for apps that just snap off and close all by themselves.
Sorry if that's not popular, but that is my experience with the iPhone. Great browser, great media device in general, though it is as two-handed non-tactile user interface. And no, I'm not employed in any way by Microsoft. Further more, I don't accuse you fanboys of being Apple employees. Mostly because they tend to hire very smart people.
Alex Alexzander
Love my iPhone, despite the quirks. Best device I have ever owned or used. Now, how about that copy/paste thing, Apple? It's starting to get embarrassing...
I've never had to reboot my phone to make a feature work, and my phone has never spontaneously rebooted itself - which is a lot more than I can say about the Motorola Q and Treo 750 my colleagues use. The Q needs rebooting once a day - and that's "normal" according to my coworker.
I can believe the iPhone has higher reliability than other smartphones. My experience, at least, shows that despite some problems with the web browser crashing, the iPhone is more reliable than other competitors.
Alex Alexzander
Use these logs to determine which apps cause the crashes and remove them from the iPhone. It will make your experience more stable. Most of the apps that I have found causing crashes are usually heavy graphics programs (games) that leak memory like sieves. The developers are still tweaking to get it right...
I have worked on Wall Street and for some of the biggest Tech companies in the world (actually, I take that back, they are still the biggest) for the past 15 years. Everyone from top to bottom agrees that the iPhone has clearly rattled the industry because...(insert your favorite reason here). And, as with any device, Mr. Asay, experiences vary. But there have not been any MORE issues with the iphone than there were with any of the other devices on there initial release. How soon people forget. Especially when you probably weren't around when we were testing the percursor to the original Palm. For the most part, the people I have talked with agree with the quality/reliablity conclusion for the iPhone. Say what you want but I switched a while back and I am not looking back. However, I am looking forward to firing every IT guy that works for me if they don't get on board with supporting what the the corporate people are asking for. When you own the business, you can run what you want. Until then crawl back in your hole and stay there.
Safari has not been a problem for me, or my wife, on the iPhone. It could be a problem with particular sites and/or pages.
I can't compare the iPhone to the Blackberry, I never owned one. I can compare it to the TREO which wasn't much a problem for us either, but by comparison to the iPhone it was crude.
I love kool aid. And apple is my favorite flavor. But what I don't have is every Apple gadget on the market, I only have their computers. Don't need an iPod, or an iPhone, and like most people who care about quality, support and commitment to a product, I choose what's best for the money. My phone is a Treo, and since I am in front of my computer most of the day, with iTunes right in front of me, an iPod is not necessary. So your analogy that "Mac users will often say, "I don't know what they are going to announce tomorrow, but whatever it is, I want it." is full of holes like swiss cheese.
"Well I can tell you, PC users, I'm included in that, don't think like that. We don't act like that. We're not that way at all."
I am so glad that you are the voice of all PC users. You know exactly how all 5 billion of them think and act. Did you even think about what you were saying there? How can you get excited about something that hasn't changed in 20 years? Perhaps if MS had a little more innovation and a little less bottom dollar on the mind, then you PCs would have something to be excited about too.
But all I have seen from MS lately is this rush to hide the failures of Vista under an advertising campaign that does nothing but show the "koolaid" mentality of Windows users. Do you think they will ever get someone with intelligence (and a job) to "upload themselves"? Judging by what they've shown so far as the "typical Windows user", I'd say the world is in a heap of trouble if this is what makes up 90% of the market share, and therefore 90% of the world.
Mojave? I'm still laughing at that one... because I haven't seen anything there that someone else isn't already doing.
- by Warhaven November 10, 2008 3:38 PM PST
- Just out of curiosity, was the whole phone crashing, or just the apps you were using that were crashing? My boss had a Windows Mobile (Palm), and the whole phone would crash if she used it for an extended period without rebooting her phone. By extended period, I mean two or three days.
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(33 Comments)She has an iPhone now, and while the occasional application will crash once in a long while, she just has to reopen it and it'll be fine 98% of the time. She doesn't have to keep rebooting her whole phone.