A lot of people has been asking the same question on which phone should i get; the iPhone 3GS or the Blackberry Storm? There are advantages and disadvantages of both the iPhone 3GS and the Blackberry Storm.

Wi-fi: One key difference is that the blackberry Storm model currently available in Malaysian market i.e. the 9500 Storm does not support wi-fi. If wi-fi is an absolute must for you, then you may want to go with the Blackberry BOLD or the iPhone 3GS. After using the Blackberry BOLD and iPhone 3G for sometime, i do realized that the ability to hook onto the wi-fi network is definitely an essential component for any smartphone.

Speaker and Multimedia: The quality of the speakers are quite impressive on both the iPhone 3GS as well as the Blackberry Storm. i would say that both are pretty close or if i have to vote for one, i will probably say that the Blackberry Storm is “a little” better in this area.

Camera: Pictures taken are pretty much similar under the same lighting conditions. In terms of resolution, the iPhone 3GS has a 3Megapixel camera vs the Blackberry Storm with 3.2Megapixel camera. Both have zoom capabilities. For the video camera, i will have to say that the iPhone 3GS is “a little” better compared to the Blackberry Storm.

Emails and calendaring: This has always been the stronghold of the Blackberry and my vote will go to the Blackberry Storm(for BES) although the iPhone 3GS is catching up with the OS3.0 release and is getting closer. So, if you are going to use a company server(Blackberry Enterprise Server), the Blackberry Storm will be your choice device. If you are using the email for personal access eg gmail, yahoo, pop3 or imap, i don’t think there is much difference between the two. i personally find setting up and configuring the emails on the iPhone to be easier compared to setting up the BIS(Blackberry Internet Service) on the Blackberry devices.

Internet Browsing: i personally prefer the internet browsing experience on the iPhone 3GS much better compared to the Blackberry Storm because of the better sensitivity of the touch screen as well as the ability to “pinch” to zoom.

Cost of ownership: The retail price for both the Blackberry Storm and the iPhone 3GS 16GB are pretty close at the time of this posting. Both devices are in the range of RM2,400-RM2,500(without any contractual subsidy).  So, in terms of device pricing(at the time of this posting), they are about the same. Monthly usage cost on the iPhone will be a little lower because there is no additional licensing fees(for BIS or BES which is applicable for the Blackberry) that is applicable for the iPhone.

Applications: This is the stronghold of the iPhone 3GS where there are more than 60,000 applications that are downloadable from the Apple AppsStore. This will be the key differentiator that separates a device from being just another device to an awesome multi-purpose gadget. Blackberry is  just starting to develop more applications on their devices and it will take a long time for them to catch up(if they ever will) to iPhone.

Below is a video on the comparison of the iPhone 3GS vs the Blackberry Storm. This is quite a good and fair comparison in terms of speed and functionality of both devices. What this video does not show are the difference in the applications that are available on both of these devices. Check it out!  :-)

So, which device do you think is the overall winner? In my personal opinion, the iPhone 3GS will get my vote on this simply because it meets my requirement for emails and calendaring and it provides a much better internet browsing experience as well as the wide range of applications which are downloadable from the Apple AppStore. This is what really makes the iPhone 3GS stand out from the rest of the pack and is often labelled as a “cool” and “sexy” gadget!.  :-)

Since the launch of the iPhone 3GS in Malaysia, it has given the consumers an added option to choose when they want to get an iPhone. So, the biggest question is which one should i get? This is really a personal choice as you need to really know what you want to use the device for. Obviously, the iPhone 3GS will be more expensive than the iPhone 3G. The new iPhone 3GS does come with some cool things which the iPhone 3G does not. If you want to know more about the difference in feature between the iPhone 3GS vs the iPhone 3G, i have posted a video on this site as well. It is located at the “Great iVideo” tab above. Do feel free to check it out if you are planning to purchase the iPhone and wanted to know the major differences between the 2.

This posting is going to focus on the speed test for both these devices only. Below is a video that compares the 2 devices head-on to see which device is faster and by what margin. After watching this video, you may be able to make a better decision on which one to purchase despite the price difference.

Results: Based on the speed test only, the winner is……….the iPhone 3GS(nothing unexpected here!)