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3 Reasons I Won't Leave My BlackBerry For An iPhone

This article is more than 10 years old.

My iPhone friends are always concerned about my wireless well being when they see me pull out my BlackBerry. Hell, even folks I've known for mere minutes comment about the lack of smarts on my smartphone.

"It will change your life," they say about the iPhone. While I'm not sure about that I am sure that the iPhone is plenty faster than my little BlackBerry which until a year ago didn't have a working spacebar SoIWasTypingLikeThisToAllMyFriendsForAGoodTwoMonths.

I have my reasons for not switching over to the iPhone beyond not wanting to give into to the  arrogant taunts of all you iPhone users. In fact, I have 3 reasons. Three reasons that many of you will find ridiculous but here they are:

Image via Wikipedia

  1. Red Indicator Light: I've noticed that the iPhone doesn't have that tiny flashing light to indicate that you've got an unread message, text, e-mail, etc. I know a little message pops up on your super, vibrant screen when you first get a message but I'm pretty sure that pop-up goes away after a few seconds in which case the only way you'll know you have a message after that is by actively checking for yourself. Not the case with my BlackBerry. Say I've left my phone on my desk for the last hour. My little red light will tell me there's something new waiting for me without having to look for myself. Sounds simple which makes me wonder why the hell there isn't one on the iPhone.
  2. Full Keyboard: I've never lost a typing race to an iPhone user. Ever. Not to mention my messages are coherent 100% of the time (the exception of course is when I've been drinking) while my iPhone friends are busy correcting their auto-correct. Touchscreens are great and all but it honestly pains me to walk into the Verizon store and see the the slow extinction of the full keyboard. I've never met someone with a touch keyboard who says they love it. The folks who have made the switch all say the same thing: "You get used to it." Guess what? I don't want to get used to it. I'm over the cool factor of the touchscreen. I need fast, simple, easy and there's nothing fast simple and easy about typing with one finger. Don't believe me? Check out all the people in coffee shops with external keyboards hooked up to their iPads. In fact, the touchscreen keyboard is among the reasons I'm hesitant on the new Samsung Galaxy--that and its sheer size.
  3. BBM: I'll be honest. This is my weakest argument for holding onto my BlackBerry. Nonetheless, the BlackBerry Messenger has been good to me.  I know when my messages are delivered and read, and I don't incur any fees regardless of the number of BBMs I send about my 24-hour hangover. Apparently there's a similar App on the iPhone but I still have a number of BBM friends I'm not ready to abandon. I should note that my list of BBM buddies has been getting smaller as they make the switch to the Droid or iPhone but I'm hanging on for my people who love their red indicator light as much as I do.

Eventually I'll likely end up giving up my BlackBerry because as my friend and former Forbes colleague Tyler McKee would always remind me, "Research In Motion is a dying company." Tyler has an iPhone.