iPhone vs. Blackberry

My iPhone broke mid-afternoon today, during the conference. It was one failed part– the button no longer works, meaning that I’m frozen inside the telephone options and cannot get back to the main screen for email or anything else.

My Blackberry also eventually broke, again due to one part– the thumb-operated selector wheel on the right-hand side, which I believe no longer exists on the Blackberry. Good if not, since it was an ergonomic disaster leading to much stress on the thumb.

*The iPhone lasted for 1 year and 7 months before breaking down.

*The Blackberry lasted for 2 years and 3 months before breaking down.

Blackberry service is better in Egypt, for whatever reason. The iPhone does this weird thing with email downloads where it will show you the name of the emailer and the title of the email, but then the little wheel will spin for sometimes another 3-5 minutes before the message appears. It’s frustrating.

Blackberry never does that here, and I also like the red flashing light to alert you to new email, which the iPhone doesn’t have. I’m also not someone who uses a lot of iPhone apps.

So, after dinner I’m going out to buy… a Blackberry. The rush purchase is necessary given how much multimedia presence I need while running this conference for two more days.