Both the Blackberry Tour and Motorola Droid are terrific phones. Asking which is a better is akin to asking whether chocolate is better than jelly beans. They are very different phones in many respects. While they both have significantly overlapping functionality, depending on how you use your phone, one may be preferred to another. I have been a Tour user since launch but I have been intrigued by the Droid. Today I took some time to play with a Droid. Below are my impressions.
First and most obviously, the navigation is completely different. On the Tour, a trackball and buttons are used to navigate. On the Droid, a touchscreen is the primary mode of navigation, although the slide out keyboard also has a navigation pad. I found the navigation on the Droid to be very good but I was not acclimated to a touchscreen.
Second, text input is quite different on the Droid. While the on screen keyboard was better than I expected, I found the physical keyboard difficult to use. The buttons were not differentiated from one another and it was easy to strike two keys at once. I am sure that with some time a person could become accustomed to either style keyboard but I actually prefer the small differentiated keys on the Tour to the Droid.
Third, app development for the Droid appears to be far superior to the Blackberry. Considering how many years Blackberry devices have been around, this is somewhat surprising. According to developers, it is much easier to program for the Droid than a Blackberry device. While Google programs many apps for the Blackberry, it is unclear whether this support will continue. Will Google code up turn-by-turn navigation for the Blackberry devices? Google did recently upgrade Google Maps for Blackberry to include many new features, including street views and better traffic/accident data. Despite this upgrade and a number of apps for the Tour supporting turn-by-turn navigation, none appear to be remotely comparable to Google Navigation for the Droid.
Fourth, the Droid seemed to be a snappier phone. It ran multiple apps fine and seemed to be a much more responsive system. I did not encounter the frequent hourglass processing notification that seems to pop up on the Blackberry all the time.
If you are in the market for a new smartphone, I would consider both devices. Frankly, using the Droid left me somewhat envious. It is a “fun” phone with lots of bells and whistles. On the other hand, if you are primarily a communicator, I would seriously consider the Tour. Both are solid devices.
P.S. Many reviews will compare the Blackberry Storm 2 to the Droid. In my opinion, that is closer to an apples-to-apples comparison and the Droid wins easily. What might keep RIM competitive in the consumer smartphone market (as opposed to the corporate market) is the rumored device codenamed “Mr. T.” It is a Blackberry device with a Storm 2-like touchscreen and a slide out keyboard. If the keyboard is better than the Droid, this device might win over some consumers considering a Droid or, at a minimum, help Blackberry retain some market share. For a good read about market share predictions on mobile devices, head over to this article in PC World.
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