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8 Reasons To Pick The BlackBerry Storm Over The iPhone?

CIO offers up eight reasons to pick the forthcoming BlackBerry Storm over the Apple iPhone 3G. At least one of them is invalid. What about the others?

The reasons given by CIO writer Al Sacco to skip the iPhone 3G in favor of the BlackBerry Storm are as follows:

8. Stereo Bluetooth
7. Removable battery
6. Expandable memory
5. Digital camera, video recording
4. Storm works as a tethered modem
3. Touch screen provides tactile feedback
2. Cut-and-paste
1. Multitasking champ

How do these reasons really stack up? I can't disagree with the first one. I wish the iPhone came with stereo Bluetooth and am still disappointed that Apple hasn't seen fit to include this feature. It could easily be added to the iPhone as part of a firmware update. C'mon, Apple, where's stereo Bluetooth?

What about the removable battery? Almost all other smartphones have removable batteries. The Apple iPhone doesn't. To this day it causes frustration for some users, especially since the battery life of the iPhone 3G isn't exactly superlative. Being able to swap in a spare would be great. Will it ever happen? Not likely.

Sacca argues that the iPhone is limited to either 8 GB or 16 GB of storage, depending on which model you choose. The Storm can accept microSD cards up to 16 GB, matching the iPhone's capacity. Sacca is right in pointing out that users could purchase as many microSD cards as they wish and swap them out at will, meaning the Storm has virtually unlimited storage capacity. However, it is very easy to create multiple playlists and just sync different playlists with the iPhone so it holds different content. This one could go either way, depending on how you look at it.

The iPhone's digital camera has good days and bad days. That it is limited to 2 megapixels is disappointing, but what's worse is that it won't record any video. The Storm ups the ante to a 3.2-megapixel camera and also offers video capture. That's a big plus in favor of the Storm, no doubt.

It's the No. 4 point that I say is totally moot. Sure, the Storm will be able to serve as a wireless modem, but so will the iPhone. AT&T has said that it is working with Apple to bring that functionality to the iPhone. While they haven't provided an exact date, it is coming, and thereby Sacco's argument here doesn't quite hold water.

Sacco's argument that the Storm's haptic feedback is better than the iPhone's lack of haptic feedback is probably debatable. I've used the iPhone and many devices that provide feedback. The type of feedback that is supplied and how well it works are big factors that contribute to its effectiveness. Quite honestly, as an iPhone user, I do not miss haptic feedback in the least and it isn't a feature I am eager to have added at any point. In fact, there are many phones that execute haptic feedback poorly and wish you make you could turn it off.

There's no debating the cut-and-paste argument. Apple, you're behind the ball on this one. Fans have asked for it since day one. Get with the program.

As for multitasking, it is something that BlackBerrys, Windows Mobile devices, and Symbian S60 devices do well. It means you can minimize one application and open another for a while and return to the previous app without losing where you were. The iPhone does this to some degree. You can, for example, listen to music while browsing the Web or composing messages. You can't, however, run most other apps at the same time. Is there a real benefit to this? There is if the application is something that you need to sign in/out of, such as an instant messaging program.

Overall, though, I use Windows Mobile and S60 devices regularly along with the iPhone. I don't think iPhone users are missing all that much with the lack of multitasking.

Stay tuned for InformationWeek's full review of the BlackBerry Storm next week.

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