That being said – I agree with you more than disagree. I have paid less than $5 total for digital books during my 3 years of using E-readers. I’m using my $79 Kindle 4 primarily for the simplicity of Instapaper to read articles, while I’m using the Nook to read free books.

Until I can be assured that my book purchases confer me the same rights I’d have with a physical book (that I will be able to keep it as long as I like, and lend it out to whoever I want for as long as I want), I can’t see myself paying prices for e-books that are comparable to physical books. Perhaps a $1 or $2 for a book, but no way $9.99 for a book that I may or may not be able to read 10 years from now on the hardware/platform of that time.

That said, I’m surprised there is no mention of Kobo’s line of e-readers. Nobody beats the out-of-the-box file format support of Kobo’s units, and from what I can tell, the Kobo Touch uses the same display as the Nook Simple Touch.

In the end, I still went with the Nook over the Kobo Touch solely due to the hardware page turn buttons, and then I just use Calibre to load up all my epub files.

This article seems to imply that Calibre is a complicated piece of software just for converting ebook files, but nothing could be further from the truth. It’s a wonderful program for managing your ebook library (of non-DRMed files–which isn’t a problem for me), and whenever your reader is connected to the computer, a single click will transfer the file over to your reader, which is ultimately even easier that copying the file over using Windows Explorer (or whatever file manager application you use depending on OS).

But in the last month, I’ve been using my Blackberry for some of the Google Voice calls by using inexpensive prepaid options from T-mobile. Better yet – I just started using Google Voice through my Gmail/Chat window and it’s far better quality than the iPhone 4s using a head set. The speakerphone quality isn’t all that great just because of my mediocre laptop but if I wanted to upgrade that I easily could by hooking something up to my laptop.

Other than voice quality, I’m happy with the iPhone 4s so now I’m just supplementing it with Blackberry or Computer/Gmail/chat use for longer business calls.

So for my next international business trip I purchased and took with me an iPhone 4s– because I was concerned that the Bold was not reliable. On this next trip, earlier this year, my Blackberry kept losing the connection with the Blackberry e-mail serviice — this occurred both when I was roaming on the cellular system and also when I was using Wi-Fi. Neither Verizon nor RIM could figure out why this was happening. My iPhone, however, had no problem sending and receiving e-mail either on the cell phone network or via Wi-Fi.

When I returned to the U.S., I was initially convinced that I could stop using the Blackberry and use only the iPhone. However, I used the iPhone speakerphone a couple times for business conference calls and everyone complained that my voice was unclear and that they had difficulty understanding me. I then used my Blackberry speakerphone and folks couldn’t even tell I was on my speakerphone.

So I am now in a situation where my Blackberry is not reliable when I am out of the U.S. — but my iPhone is not acceptable as a voice communication device. I can’t be in a situation where I don’t have reliable e-mail access wherever I am in the world — and I also can’t be in a sitution where I don’t have a phone that let’s me clearly communicate via a phone call. So, I find that I am having to keep both phones. It’s pretty frustrating — and a bit expensive — to find that I don’t one phone that can servce both as a reliable mobile e-mai device and a phone!.

On the other hand, 10.4.11 is old for a Mac. My guess is that you may be having other frustrations besides just Firefox. Apple and the Apple development community tend to abandon Apple systems that are older than about 4 years or so. Windows systems tend to have a longer life – I just a few days ago finally retired a Windows XP Dell I purchased in 2004. And my new Windows Professional 7 system has an XP mode, so I’m able to run a piece of software I purchased in 2000.

If you haven’t experimented with the latest E Ink Kindles or Nook Simple Touch, you should. Some people find these kind of displays much easier on their eyes than traditional LCDs.

Many thanks for an interesting article

I think the NST will suit me much better than the Kindle, especially since rooting the NST is so simple that I’ll easily be able to also install Kindle for Android.

For the usage scenario you outline, I would recommend the BB 9900 over the iPhone 4s. It is better at messaging in so many ways, and not just due to the keyboard for those who type longer messages. Personalized/customized notifications, keyboard shortcuts, profiles – all these things are great for the highly mobile professional who doesn’t care all that much about the pocket computer functions and great camera.

For the work that I do, particularly on this blog, the pocket computer functions and camera are very helpful so clearly my usage scenario is different from yours.

I was kind of surprised that your only real gripe with the iPhone was the voice/call quality. Agree with you on this point, but seriously – you have NO problems with typing on glass? I found the typing on the iPhone to be PAINFUL – especially when trying to send a professional/work email. Yes, for texting or communicating with friends, typing “where r u” is fine, but no way can I do this for work. Given the autocorrect and inherant lower typing accuracy rate on the iPhone, I’d find myself taking twice as long to write an email, then having to double check it multiple times to make sure autocorrect didn’t gaf and make me say something obscene.

Another thing on the typing – there is a big difference between the iPhone and the Blackberry due to the physical keyboard. I didn’t realize this but given my familiarity with Blackberry, I can actually type on it without looking AT THE KEYBOARD because I can feel the keys, etc. This allows me to compose highly accurate messages (email/text) very very quickly. This is virtually impossible with the iPhone – you HAVE to look at the keyboard when typing. This is a huge drop in efficiency for me.

Agreed with you and everyone else – the iPhone is like a mini-computer in your pocket, and truly excels in the MEDIA space. Yes, it has a better camera. Yes, it has better apps. Yes it allows you to stay updated with your friends. And if you only need to consider communication, in any form (IE: where r u), iPhone does great. I think it’s a great device for the social aspect of people’s lives – taking pictures, keeping up with facebook, listening to music, browsing the web. I can’t imagine how great it is for people who work in the arts.

But for professionals, who are on the go, and primarily use their phones to send accurate, quick, professional messages and don’t use all the social capabilities (don’t take pictures, browse the web, etc.) – I personally think the Blackberry 9900, which in my experience is the best Blackberry to date, is still far superior. I fall into this category, which I quickly found out while trialing the iPhone. I rarely used any of the apps, and found myself consistently frustrated with the time and focus needed to type messages. I primarily text/email with my phone – that’s what I do.

Then in spring of 2011, employer gave me a BBerry Torch – while I am still suing the iPhone (now a 4S) in parallel for private use.

The BBerry has a better radio, and amazing battery life!
BUT, that’s where the advantages stop. EVERYTHING else works better on the iPhone. Not sure how many times I get hopelessly frustrated on the BBerry when the menus and functions change totally, depending if you have the “slider” open or not. The “trackpad” on the BBErry is AWFUL (the old trackball was actually much better) as it seems impossible to get the sensitivity correct (important when editing/change text or e-mails).

Also, I have no idea what the BBerry designers were thinking when they put the “lock” button on top of the phone. You drop it “upside down” in a pocket, phone will unlock itself. You drop it “right way up” and phone will unlock itself when you are pushing it down – and call someone or compase and e-mail in the process.

The Torch with the “slider” also gave up on what set the old BBErries apart: a great keyboard! On the Torch, in order to keep the thickness down, they developed a very “flat”, or without structure, keyboard. I do not have fat fingers, but I will say that I type faster on the iPhone than on this BBerry. And, it did not use to be like that. BBerries WERE the best for composing mails.

I think RIM would do “OK” if they tried to stay with what they are (or were?) really good at, instead of trying to cram too much into a phone, and ending up being good at nothing.

As for the iPhone 4S, I’m still very happy. Have over the years nailed it down to a few very very useful apps, and weekly venture out to see what new (and free) to try out. Over the past 2+ years, I still have to “buy” an app.
Also, I never thought I would entrust iTunes with my contacts, but I have to admit that I am impressed how iTunes integrates and creates the “funnel” for information between the phone and Outlook. In fact, it does that far better than the comparable syncing of Outlook and WinPhone7.
And yes, iTunes on Windows is a processor hog, but I only run it when I need to, so no real issues there.

Battery life on the iPhone 4S. Not bad at all. Charge nightly, and can do one full day with a fair amount of “data services”. Wife’s 4S that was picked up at the same time drained horribly. A couple of SW loads did not help it, so she eventually had hers replaced, only to drain again. Yet more SW patches, and her phone is as good as mine. But she was very frustrated – until it was all fixed (three trips to the Apple store).

For reading a book on the computer (.e.g a PDF), I’ve found that two pages side-by-side view greatly enhances my reading experience.

Recovering deleted email from Inbox

Comcast has been having a lot of problems in the past year with hackers breaking into customer email accounts but I suspect it has more to do with the Sony hack than Comcast. My guess is that many people were using the same password for both their Sony Playstation account and their Comcast account. The stolen Playstation passwords could therefore be used to get into peoples’ Comcast accounts in cases where the 2 passwords were the same.

One thing you might have considered though is locating them. In blackberry, you go to the website, log in and then locate your phone. No need for another blackberry device. You can use any computer+internet. There is also no way for anyone who may be carrying the phone to disable being located (unless they switch off of course).

For iPhone, the missing device should have “Find iPhone” configured in iCloud, then find another device (iPhone or iPad), then install “Find iPhone”, then launch and login. But then, the person who may be holding the missing iPhone can easily just disable being tracked.

But then this BB advantage may not matter to you, just like multitasking wasn’t also considered in your comparison.

I like both… I wish I could afford them. At the moment, I love my BB but will need iPhone for what BB lacks like hotspot, autofocus camera, map (yeah iPhone beats BB on this), multiple alarms, apps, etc.

That being said, the Bold 9900 is not lightyears ahead of the 9700. It literally has a worse camera (no autofocus) and for the first few months of release had no UMA, which was a critical feature for me that helped make the 9700 the best phone choice for me 2 years ago. Obviously it’s much faster, has more memory, has a bigger screen with more pixels and a bigger/better keyboard. But it didn’t fundamentally change the fact that Blackberries are lousy pocket computers – the O/S is just a minor skin surface update from everything I read. Maybe QNX will change all that but it’s not a current choice.

So in my particular case, the Blackberry 9700 was a reasonable proxy for the BB 9900 in terms of the things I really cared about. As I said in the post, I’m preferring the iPhone 4s over the 9700, even though the use of the 4s for voice phone calls leaves much to be desired.

Perhaps a comparison with a bold 9900 would be more relevant?

Blackberry vs. iPhone 4s After 2 Months of Use

The iPhone 4s has inferior voice call quality and is less customizeable around notifications. So if you’re in a call intensive profession you’ll be better off with Blackberry. If not, you’ll likely prefer the 4s.

And, about the iPhone4S battery issues, you may want to google that ’cause there are plenty of fixes that actually works. Please keep in touch and help me survive the coming days while waiting for my iPhone! Hahaha.

On my BB, I used my Calendar as a combination of a calendar and a to-do list. I had a standard 15-minute-before reminder set up, and that reminder would ring (Normal profile) or vibrate (Silent profile). I could clear or snooze any reminder.

On my iPhone, I don’t find it nearly as friendly. I can’t snooze ANY notification/ reminder/ alert for anything from my calendar, and if I don’t happen to catch a reminder when it pops up, I often miss it altogether.

I’ve been trying to figure out a better way to set things up, but so far I’m not having any luck.

I was wondering regarding your monitor of choice, have you not been disturbed by the heavy anti glare coating of the Dell monitor? I have just purchased Dell U2212HM yesterday and I feel a little uneasy as to wether or not I can get used to the anti glare coating that brings this graininess/sparkling effect especially on white backgrounds. Like you, I also will be using the monitor for reading, thus spending most time reading pdf’s or word documents with black text on white background.

Have you overcome the anti glare coating?

Cheers
Martin, Denmark

But a broader point with cell phones in general is that what works for one person won’t work for another. I tried hard to lay out what worked and what didn’t on the iPhone in the areas where Blackberry is traditionally strong – and continues to be strong. Armed with that information, some considering the 9900 vs. the 4s will choose one model, some the other. As I mentioned in my conclusion, I would have gone with the 9900 if I were in a profession that required frequent voice calls and messaging throughout the day, such as a real estate agent.

There are, from my perspective, three important downsides for the nook. First, arranging books into shelves, or collections in Kindle’s parlance, is much more painful than on a Kindle. When I create a shelf, I load book on it by entering an edit mode, then scrolling through all of my books until I find one(s) I want to add to the shelf. That’s OK until I have 35 pages of books to scroll through, and want one that starts with a letter that is later in the alphabet.

Second, Nook does not offer a way to get samples and side-loaded books off the Kindle without connecting to my PC.

Finally, B&N’s bookstore occasionally does some weird things on pricing. Normally, I can count on B&N books being a bit more expensive than on Amazon, and about the same as from the Sony and Google bookstores. Every once in awhile their pricing is way out of line. One book I wanted to buy was priced at $7.99 on Amazon, $8.99 on Sony and Google, and $16.08 on B&N. I am willing to pay a modest premium to get a book on my Nook, but not $7 – $8 relative to non-Amazon vendors. So with that case, B&N made me a price shopper, especially after their support told me that B&N has no control over pricing.

In any case, the only browser that no longer annoys me is Opera. Everything else seems to either be unstable, bloated, lacking in user control, or just plain gimmicky. (Sadly, these are not mutually exclusive categories.) I really do hope the people at Mozilla can get their house in order again, because Firefox was my favourite for years. In my opinion they destroyed it with this new rapid development cycle that makes browser updates outpace addon updates.

The problem is, as you pointed out, the browsers change so frequently that any comparison is likely to be out of date before you can publish it.

I have tried altogether 6 different reading devices and 4 of them are Kindles. Of all the Kindles, my favorite is the least expensive one without touch or keyboard. I found the Kindle Touch so difficult to use that I returned it.

I haven’t tried any of the color readers from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

More annoying is Barnes and Noble content which you have purchased, or, worse, has been pushed to your device as a book excerpt (an ad, really). You can easily archive it. But the only way I know of to delete is to log into your Barnes and Noble account on a computer and navigate your way to the delete option, which requires a separate click for each book you want to delete.

Here’s a whole thread on Barnes and Noble’s site with more details about the cumbersome deleting procedures:

http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/NOOK-First-Edition-Technical/Nook-Delete-Books/td-p/427142/page/4