Ultimate adaptable deathmatch: iPhone vs. BlackBerry vs. Droid vs. Pre

The latest Android 2.0-based "iPhone killer" won't annihilate the iPhone or the BlackBerry -- and the cheaper HTC Droid Eris is the new smartphone that I anticipate Angel should be anxious about. But there are now six smartphones on the bazaar that will abode to business and able users, anniversary with altered strengths and weaknesses. This commodity gives InfoWorld's ratings for all six -- the Angel iPhone, HTC Droid Eris, Motorola Droid, Admission Pre, Research in Motion BlackBerry Bold, and RIM BlackBerry Storm 2 -- additional an interactive ratings form in which you can admission your own weighting for anniversary class in our absolute Adaptable Deathmatch Calculator and get a customized account for anniversary smartphone.

Our affairs admonition is simple:

• If you appetite a adaptable accessory that takes abounding advantage of Web connectivity, applications, and claimed media that you can additionally use for business connectivity such as e-mail and calendaring, get the iPhone, alike with the inferiority of AT&T's 3G network.
• If you're accountable to aerial aegis requirements, such as for authoritative compliance, charge to administer lots of devices, or aloof can't handle appliance a touch-based awning keyboard, you appetite the BlackBerry Bold, which is accessible from several U.S. carriers.
• If you can't angle the anticipation of appliance the AT&T 3G adjustment and don't charge to admission accumulated e-mail (outside of POP and IMAP mail servers), you appetite the HTC Droid Eris, which, like the Motorola Droid, is accessible alone from Verizon Wireless.

The WebOS-based Admission Pre was avant-garde aftermost bounce but has been baffled by the new bearing of Android devices. (Its sole U.S. carrier, Sprint, appears to accept confused on from the Pre, now absorption on Android devices.) The Motorola Droid's keyboard is unusable, and its abridgement of a multitouch awning makes its few abstruse advantages over the HTC Droid Eris -- basically, a few added aegis appearance -- a abominable bargain. The BlackBerry Storm 2 was declared to fix an abstract clickable touchscreen in the aboriginal version, but the band-aid doesn't abode the amount issue: Borer is actual apathetic on the screen, to the point that abiding argument admission is out of the question. It's not hasty that aural weeks of its release, carriers are affairs it as allotment of two-for-one specials.

Windows Mobile and Nokia Symbian accessories are additionally out of the picture. Microsoft's long-delayed Windows 7 Adaptable charcoal vaporware, and authoritative acquirement decisions on Microsoft's affiance is foolhardy. Nokia's Symbian OS has acquired boring in the aftermost decade and artlessly isn't in the aforementioned alliance as avant-garde adaptable OSes; Nokia knows that and has a plan to move -- over several years -- to a new OS alleged Maemo. Someday we'll see what Maemo has to offer; in the meantime, Nokia has been clumsy to get U.S. carriers to advertise its smartphones.

[ If the InfoWorld Analysis Center allusive agenda does not affectation appropriately below, see the original adventure at InfoWorld.com. ]

Test Center Scorecard
								For midsize and ample business (InfoWorld standard)	For claimed use	For baby business	For adapted business
	15%	15%	10%	20%	10%	15%	15%	Overall Score
Apple iPhone 3G S	9	7	9	7	5	9	9	7.9 Good	8.4 Actual Good	8.0 Actual Good	7.4 Good
	15%	15%	10%	20%	10%	15%	15%	Overall Score
HTC Droid Eris	7	5	7	5	9	7	7	6.5 Fair	7.3 Good	6.7 Fair	5.7 Poor
	15%	15%	10%	20%	10%	15%	15%	Overall Score
Motorola Droid	7	5	7	5	9	5	7	6.2 Fair	6.9 Fair	6.4 Fair	5.5 Poor
	15%	15%	10%	20%	10%	15%	15%	Overall Score
Palm Pre	9	6	6	6	9	6	7	6.9 Fair	7.5 Good	7.3 Good	6.8 Fair
	15%	15%	10%	20%	10%	15%	15%	Overall Score
RIM BlackBerry Bold	4	9	5	10	9	5	5	6.9 Fair	5.8 Poor	6.0 Fair	8.1 Actual Good
	15%	15%	10%	20%	10%	15%	15%	Overall Score
RIM BlackBerry Storm 2	4	9	5	10	9	1	5	6.3 Fair	5.0 Poor	6.6 Fair	7.7 Actual Good

Web and Internet support
One of the iPhone's advocate advances was in bringing the Web to adaptable accessories in a capable, able way. All of a sudden, the adaptable Web was real. The WebKit browser that underlies the iPhone's Web acquaintance is now acclimated by the Admission Pre and Android devices, and it seems destined for BlackBerry. For now, however, the BlackBerry alternation are the alone holdouts for the old, hard-to-use adaptable Web. The BlackBerry OS's adeptness to reformat Web pages into a assemblage helps affected some of its disability to accord with absolute Web pages, but it's no acting for the absolute thing. The Motorola Droid's abridgement of multitouch abutment makes abyssal Web pages awkward; furthermore, the Droid's multistep activity to archetype argument and the disability to archetype cartoon abatement abbreviate of the iPhone's standards.

Likewise, the adeptness to admission Internet casework like Facebook, search, YouTube, and so on (another breadth iPhone pioneered) is appealing abundant accepted beyond all avant-garde adaptable accessories today. The aforementioned is accurate for JavaScript support, admitting this adequacy is angry off on abounding BlackBerry models by absence and charge be activated by the user. Some carriers attenuate JavaScript abutment completely.

The one accepted Web technology in which the iPhone OS is at a disadvantage is Beam Amateur abutment -- it doesn't accept it. Neither do the Droids. The added accessories can affectation Beam video. All but the BlackBerrys can affectation QuickTime Video, admitting there's a third-party app that lets the BlackBerry appearance QuickTime videos.

Business connectivity
Where abrupt differences amid the accepted adaptable contenders appearance is in abutment for accumulated e-mail, calendars, and contacts. The BlackBerry, if you use the extra-cost BlackBerry Enterprise Server, lets you admission these casework whether your business uses Microsoft Exchange, IBM's Lotus Notes, or Novell Groupwise. It's the best enterprise-capable adaptable belvedere for business connectivity.

The iPhone is second-best for business connectivity. It supports Exchange ActiveSync for e-mail, calendars, and contacts, admitting there are no audience as yet for Notes or Groupwise. The iPhone OS 3.1 fixes a bug that falsely arise abutment for ActiveSync on-device encryption policies; the 3G S supports such encryption, but beforehand iPhones do not and appropriately can't admission Exchange if encryption is set as an ActiveSync activity requirement.

The Admission Pre claims to abutment Exchange, but it supports alone a few ActiveSync behavior and appropriately can admission alone low-security Exchange servers. The two Droids additionally affirmation Exchange support, but I could not get the HTC Droid Eris to affix at all, while the Motorola Droid could alone accelerate messages, not accept them, a accepted complaint on the Droid user forums as well. The likely culprit is abridgement of abutment for ActiveSync policies. (My aide Paul Venezia was able to authorize a affiliation amid a Droid Eris and an Exchange server that had no ActiveSync behavior enabled.)

Agenda that Verizon enforces an added $15-per-month fee to admission accumulated e-mail; if you don't acquaint Verizon you're appliance Exchange and don't alarm tech abutment for advice on appliance Exchange, you can apparently abstain the fee. But accustomed the poor Exchange compatibility, it's appealing abundant a arguable issue. The Motorola Droid does assignment with Exchange calendars through ActiveSync, but it won't let you acknowledge to invitations.

All six accessories abutment POP and IMAP e-mail accounts, so they're accomplished for claimed and small-business e-mail access. They all abutment Google's Gmail as well, admitting BlackBerry owners will appetite to download RIM's "enhanced" Gmail client. To accompany the iPhone to your PC's e-mail and agenda (as against to an Exchange server), you accept to use either iTunes or the $99-per-year MobileMe service. The two Droids will anon accompany to Outlook calendars and e-mails over a USB connection, as able-bodied as via Google Apps. BlackBerrys additionally can accompany to Outlook on your PC, and to iCal and Abode Book on your Mac, via a USB cable, appliance the BlackBerry Desktop software.

Application support
Two billion downloads and counting -- that appealing abundant says it all about the abundance of accessible iPhone apps. No accessory comes anywhere abutting to the iPhone apropos the array of third-party apps, and Angel keeps acceptable what apps can do, such as by enabling in-app purchases and subscriptions this summer.

The Google Android Bazaar is adorable acceptable in its aboriginal days, with several high-quality programs accessible that bout the bigger iPhone apps' quality, admitting generally with beneath capabilities than their iPhone equivalents. HTC endless the Droid Eris with added than a dozen air-conditioned widgets that assignment alone with its Faculty UI enhancements to the Android OS; these accompany absolute composure to the Droid Eris. Examples accommodate a weather-and-time accoutrement for the home screen, an chip animate for accessing all your messages, a favorites quick-access accoutrement for contacting bodies with one click, and a mail-preview accoutrement that agency you don't accept to accumulate aperture the Email app.


Ultimate adaptable deathmatch at a glance


Apps for the Pre accept abundantly stalled, admitting the aboriginal ones showed promise. The BlackBerry has the weakest alternative of apps, abounding of which are ungainly and adamantine to use, absorption the platform's abridgement of account for usability.

The BlackBerry does abutment unzipping of ambiguous book accessories in e-mail, clashing the added devices. The iPhone supports examination of added certificate types than any of the devices, by cavity of acknowledging its iWork abundance apps in accession to Microsoft Office and PDF documents. The two Droids and the BlackBerrys crave that you use a third-party app to appearance such documents, but they arise with this software pre-installed (Quickoffice for Android and Abstracts to Go for BlackBerry, respectively). The Pre, like the iPhone, comes with its own app for book viewing.

[ Back you're on the go, apprehend InfoWorld at our beta adaptable site: iphone.infoworld.com. It's accordant with the iPhone, Admission Pre (WebOS), Android-based smartphones such as the Droid and Droid Eris, and added WebKit-based devices. ]

In some -- but not all -- cases, these admirers can additionally adapt documents. Further, alteration capabilities can be absolutely limited. For alteration documents, DataViz Abstracts to Go for BlackBerry is the easiest to use, as it works with e-mail accessories and zip files. The Quickoffice app for the iPhone is a bigger editor, but it assignment alone with files stored on the iPhone, not anon with e-mail attachments, due to an Apple-imposed limitation. However, Quickoffice for Android is added bound still -- it alone supports certificate viewing. The sole alteration app for the Android platform, Abstracts to Go, can alone adapt e-mail accessories in Gmail messages.

The iPhone's archetype and adhesive is the best of the bunch; it's automatic and works on all sorts of agreeable in about every app. The BlackBerry's copy-and-paste capabilities are commensurable to the iPhone's, but the menu-based interface is harder to use. The Admission Pre and the two Droids accept bound copy-and-paste capabilities.

The Motorola Droid boasts an included turn-by-turn aeronautics app that doesn't crave a account subscription, clashing the added devices. You can buy such apps for the iPhone and BlackBerry, for amid $80 and $130.

All six accessories activity the basics back it comes to apps: e-mail, calendar, abode book, amusing networking, analysis messaging, maps, media player, and photo gallery.

The Admission Pre and HTC Droid Eris go a bit added than the others in their communications-oriented apps in absolution you calmly administer your contacts beyond communciations channels. You can alike accept a chat that moves from one admission to accession with the Pre. Alone the Pre makes it accessible to move amid apps back you accept several running, acknowledgment to its "cards" interface.

Security and management
Although aegis and administration apropos can be acclimated as an alibi not to accord with article new, the accuracy is that companies accountable to authoritative requirements -- such as hospitals, aegis contractors, and banking admiral -- accept to chase those requirements. If those needs administer to you, no added accessory capabilities can trump security, and that agency you're all but assertive to accept a BlackBerry. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) can clue and accomplish aegis policies, such as requiring that abstracts stored on the accessory be encrypted, and it can initiate a alien clean of a accessory afterwards a defined cardinal of bootless countersign attempts, for example. Plus, BES can beforehand security, policy, and app updates, as able-bodied as adviser accessory usage.

The iPhone comes in additional abode for aegis and manageability, admitting its poor reputation. It supports Exchange ActiveSync policies, such as acute a circuitous countersign or on-device encryption. The iPhone 3G S and the late-2009 iPod Blow abutment on-device encryption, a accepted aegis requirement. The iPhone offers added aegis capabilities than are initially apparent, because abounding behavior can alone be set through Apple's iPhone Configuration Utility, a chargeless download. The account creates behavior that iPhone users can install via e-mail, URLs, and USB syncing -- but there's no way to force, confirm, or clue installation, so abounding enterprises can't prove aegis acquiescence afterwards physically blockage anniversary device.

The Pre, Droid, and Droid Eris accept bound aegis capabilities (the Pre has the best and the Droid Eris the least) and no administration tools. Companies that activity adaptable administration accoutrement are added abacus iPhone and Android support, but the ambit of these accoutrement charcoal beneath than regulation-concerned enterprises require.

The BlackBerrys, iPhone, Pre, and Motorola Droid all abutment VPN connections; alone the HTC Droid Eris doesn't. The BlackBerry's abutment is superior, as its VPN settings can be remotedly managed by IT. Appliance the chargeless iPhone Configuration Utility, IT can additionally accelerate iPhone users VPN profiles to install, but can't accidentally administer them.

Voice capabilities
Although what distinguishes smartphones from corpuscle phones is abstracts access, smartphones still charge activity as phones and handle articulation calls. Except for the iPhone, all accept acceptable articulation and apostle quality. The iPhone stands apart: Alike berserk admirers accuse about its poor articulation affection and accepted alone calls. It's appetizing to accusation AT&T for that, except that the BlackBerrys don't ache these issues on AT&T's network.

All the accessories accommodate the buzz with their abode books and chase functions. But the Droids' chase capabilities are added archaic than those of the added devices, You can't chase aloof your contacts, for example.

Usability
The iPhone set the bar for adaptable account aloft its admission and has connected to accession it with the two above OS releases since. The gestures accomplish sense, and the OS and apps are abounding of little enhancements that bolster ease-of-use, such as the quick-delete bash and adeptness to bulk-delete and bulk-move messages, as able-bodied as the adeptness to add Web pages to the home screen's apps filigree for accessible access. Added recently, the iPhone added actual intuitive, "smart" archetype and adhesive that works for argument and graphics. Area the iPhone avalanche abbreviate is its abridgement of abutment for active assorted apps simultaneously, which agency switching apps can about abutting an app rather than benumb its accepted accompaniment for afterwards resumption; this one-app-a-time limitation prevents the iPhone from actuality able to accessible book accessories and adapt them from e-mail, for example. As ahead noted, the Pre is the alone accessory that makes it accessible to move amid assorted apps accompanying -- as if you're appliance Mac OS X or Windows.

The HTC Droid Eris is decidedly accessible to use and abounding of well-designed applications that arise in actual handy. HTC has created its own Faculty UI that extends the Google Android UI. While there are a lot of naked rip-offs from the iPhone, the UI is no bald accumulating of robotically baseborn features. As mentioned earlier, the abounding widgets accompany capabilities calm intelligently, with abounding affable surprises in agreement of options and display. The Motorola Droid has none of these, appliance the raw Android UI instead. It's a appropriate OS, but rougher by allegory to what HTC has done. But do agenda that the HTC Drid Eris has a slower processor than the Motorola Droid, so it's not as abrupt switching amid or active circuitous apps.

The Admission Pre's UI is clunkier than either the iPhone's or the Droids'. It shares abounding of the aforementioned principles, but is beneath constant in, for example, its use of scrolling and agenda access. Also, the abstracted bash breadth for some gestures is confusing, as it's adamantine to bethink which swipes assignment area on the breach screen.

The BlackBerry UI is vintage, and not in a acceptable way. Actual evocative of Windows 3.0, it uses bulky menus, keyboard shortcuts, and archaic imagery. The trackball is agitated and inaccurate, so scrolling, selecting, and zooming are estimated activities. Keyboard aficionados like its all-encompassing use of shortcuts, but there's no acumen the BlackBerry OS couldn't absorb those while introducing a avant-garde graphical UI.

Beyond UI, the iPhone has additionally alien some air-conditioned capabilities that let it and its apps do more. For example, an accelerometer allows player-style amateur and alike accoutrement such as carpenter's levels. Also, the congenital ambit lets map-based applications become administration assistants. The Admission Pre and the two Droids accept affected both capabilities, and the BlackBerry Storm has an accelerometer.

For some users, one above account affair on the iPhone is the abridgement of a disposable array and anamnesis card. I haven't had a charge for added anamnesis or to alter the array on my two-year old device, but the admeasurement of SD cards for autumn and administration photos -- alike the newest Angel MacBook Pros accept SD agenda slots -- makes the anamnesis agenda blank a accepted bankrupt for the iPhone's usability.

But the best alienated affair for account is the keyboard. Abounding bodies abhorrence blow keyboards, such as that pioneered in the iPhone. The BlackBerry Bold's QWERTY keyboard is abundant easier to use off the bat, admitting I became as accomplished on the iPhone's blow keyboard as I am on the Bold's concrete keyboard afterwards several weeks.

The Motorola Droid's blow keyboard is agnate to the iPhone's, defective alone the latter's multilingual capabilities. The HTC Droid Eris's QWERTY keyboard is easier to use than either the Motorola Droid's or the iPhone's, acknowledgment to a air-conditioned hold-and-press affection to get fast admission to accepted appropriate characters such as numerals, $, and !. The Motorola Droid's concrete keyboard is actual adamantine to use, with low-travel keys and collapsed surfaces that accomplish touch-typing difficult due to abridgement of concrete feedback. Appliance it slowed me bottomward immensely, and I bound alone it in favor of the abundant faster blow keyboard. The aberration amid the Motorola Droid's concrete keyboard and the BlackBerry Bold's is night and day.

The Admission Pre's keyboard is agnate to the BlackBerry Bold's, but the bright keys and red-on-black book accomplish it harder to use, abnormally back you're hunting for a symbol. The BlackBerry Bold's matte accomplishment and clearer argument abstain that problem. But the Storm 2's acceptable multiple-characters-per-key BlackBerry keyboard is difficult to assignment with, as the accessory has to adumbrate which letter you appetite on anniversary key. There's no acumen RIM couldn't use the Bold's keyboard on the Storm 2, and it should have, abnormally because its blow keyboard is unusable, due to how the awning charge angle and backlash as you tap anniversary character. That creates a adjournment for anniversary and every character, so it's apathetic as molasses. (The aboriginal Storm's awning absolutely had to bang for anniversary character, and the angle activity was meant to be beneath advancing -- it isn't.)

The added above ascribe beforehand from the iPhone was the use of a multitouch screen, which lets you do gestures involving added than one finger. The use of gestures opens up about absolute possibilities for what you can ascendancy via touch. Best of the added touchscreen competitors (the HTC Droid Eris, BlackBerry Storm 2, and Pre) accept adopted the aforementioned admission -- with the audacious barring of the Motorola Droid, whose single-touch awning doesn't abutment gestures. That brash accommodation puts the Motorola Droid at a above account disadvantage.

Finally, the concrete accessories alter in size, shape, and button arrangement, but by and large, they all accept acceptable designs. The Admission Pre feels the cheapest of the agglomeration in agreement of accomplishment and abstracts quality, and its down-covered awning is an issue. The Motorola Droid auto-adjusts for brightness, appliance a ablaze sensor to actuate the awning intensity, but I begin that it generally flickered as it always adapted accuracy in artlessly lit rooms. Its on/off buttton is additionally adamantine to access.

Personal technologies
Although these accessories are adorable for abeyant business or able use, they're additionally meant to be fun claimed devices. The iPhone leans heavily on iTunes for admission to music and videos -- afterwards all, the iPhone is additionally an iPod. There's a acumen the association at Admission accumulate aggravating to drudge iTunes to acquiesce syncing to the Pre.

The added accessories can all comedy music and videos, appliance Internet and carrier casework for over-the-air admission and USB syncing and SD cards for admission to PC-based files. (Android users should get the DoubleTwist app for Macs and PCs that syncs Android accessories with iTunes libraries.)

The Motorola Droid boasts a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, giving it the best able congenital camera based on the specs. But as my Chicago Sun-Times aide Andy Ihnatko has shown, the iPhone 3G S's 3-megapixel camera takes bigger pictures best of the time, acceptable due to its software's alteration capabilities. The Pre, BlackBerry Storm 2, and HTC Droid Eris accept midquality 3-megapixel cameras, while the BlackBerry Bold has a low-quality 2-megapixel camera. All but the Bold's are able of video abduction as well.

The iPhone stands out for its gaming and ball capabilities. There are hundreds of air-conditioned amateur and breach apps that can charm you for hours. The added accessories accept a abundant added bound alternative of playthings.

[ If the alternate ratings calculator does not arise below, you can access it from InfoWorld.com. ]

Select a contour that matches you to get a alone score: Abominable adapted business Midsize to ample business Baby business Claimed use Use custom ethics beneath and bang Calculate Or change the weightings beneath and bang Calculate to get a alone account that matches your exact needs: Web and Internet support Business connectivity Application support Security and management Voice capabilities Usability Personal technologies

Your Alone "Mobile Deathmatch" Recommendations Smartphone   Score Rating Apple iPhone 3G S   HTC Droid Eris   Motorola Droid   Palm Pre   RIM BlackBerry Bold   RIM BlackBerry Storm 2

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This story, "Ultimate adaptable deathmatch: iPhone vs. BlackBerry vs. Droid vs. Pre," was originally appear at InfoWorld.com. Chase the latest developments in Google Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, and WebOS at InfoWorld.com.