Anyways, check back soon to see what I’m up to on my new blog, and please give us a call if you have any web development or marketing needs. : )

As a side note, I just updated to the new iTunes 9. After which, I did not have to restart my computer. It seems that lately I have had to restart my computer for every update. I hope that Apple is going back to not having to restart for every little update.

My associates and I are about to launch to coolest car site in the world. I recently had an idea for a more simple website design. And though I only have the time to show you the home page, I would like to know what people think. Do you prefer the original bold images, full color site? Or do you prefer the more minimalist approach? The new, more minimalist concept is not even close to looking like craigslist, but I think its less distracting, more obvious what is going on.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Here is the new concept: CLICK HERE

Here is the old concept: CLICK HERE

Sure, you can make the BlackBerry Storm do a lot of cool things. And yes, the BlackBerry Storm has a lot of the same features that the Apple iPhone has but the iPhone does everything in a very streamlined, easy to use manner.

Here is my post about the Pros & Cons of the BlackBerry Storm.

Tonight, after messing with an iPhone again, and being frustrated that my expensive piece of wannabeiphone is as stellar as a Tiger Tank, I’m going to list my griefs.

Grief #1: Even with the latest and greatest BlackBerry update, the BlackBerry Storm still takes forever to think about doing simple tasks, even when you shut down all of the applications running in the background. I messed around with an iPhone today, with more applications running in the background, with no slow downs or hangups.

Grief #2: Settings are a mess. It is so hard to figure out how to change simple settings with the BlackBerry Storm. The settings menu is just about as user friendly as Craigslist without a stylesheet.

Grief #3: “BlackBerry Chat”, is a feature that probably not many people use. Yet, its constantly running in the background, slowing down my phone. I think I know how to delete it, but I’m afraid my phone will fall apart.

Grief #4: Best Friend Button. Ah, yes, the best friend button. They should call it the worst friend button. Its a friend that shows up when you dont want it and disappears when you need it most. Its kind of cool to have this button because you eventually figure out that its the button you need to press to do anything, but it definitely could be better. Whenever you need to switch applications, or close the application your in, you have to scroll down to the bottom of the best friend menu. This could have been made simpler.

Grief #5: Having a BlackBerry costs $35 a month! If it was the best thing in the world, I would be happy to pay $35 a month, if it saved me time and made me money. However, the BlackBerry is not the best product in the world. It actually wastes time with how long it takes to do things, and then you have to pay for it. Its like having to pay $35 a month for a MySpace page when Facebook is not charging, and is way better.

Grief #6: So the way cool feature on the BlackBerry Storm(which was originally introduced on the iPhone), is the Visual Voicemail feature. It allows you to select the messages you want to listen to, and play them on your phone without having to dial your voicemail. Awesome. BlackBerry actually did a good job of this. In fact, the features that have to do with calling people, are very similar to the iPhone. They are actually acceptable. However, when you pay the BlackBerry subscription, your data plan, and your unlimited texting, and your select plan, you expect that to be it. You expect the main features that come with the phone, like Visual Voicemail, to work! NO! The first time you try to use the Visual Voicemail, you are forced to subscribe to that feature for $3 a month! Not that $3 a month is the worst thing in the world. But its like the only cool thing about the phone at this point, and you are not warned at Verizon that after you pay all this money to have the BlackBerry, that you will be forced to pay even more to use the one cool feature it has.

Grief #7: The BlackBerry Storm has only been out 6 months, and they are already trying to release the BlackBerry Storm 2. Which means that there are some serious hardware flaws that they cannot fix through patching and updating.

Grief #8: Verizon wont release the latest official BlackBerry Storm patches and updates that fix some of the poor functionality and poor performance. In fact, Verizon has not released one of BlackBerry’s official updates in a long time. The sad part is that I believe you void your warranty if you download and install the manufacturers update before Verizon makes it official. When the BlackBerry Storm 2 comes out, with Verizon forget about helping the BlackBerry Storm altogether?

Grief #9: The App store for the BlackBerry Storm is horrible if you compare it to the iPhone app store.

Grief #10: Email is “ok”. However, the BlackBerry gets some things confused if you try to add more than 1 email address.

Grief #11: Browsing the internet is way better on the Storm than any of the other BlackBerry’s. However, the iPhone for internet browsing is still 100 times better. I compared the time it took me to login to my favorite website (cj.com), with the iPhone and the Storm. At this point, I’m way more familiar with the BlackBerry Storm, and I was still able to login and check my stats on cj.com with the iPhone in about 1/4 of the time that it would normally take me to login and check stats with the Storm. Not only that, but the iPhone was running 5 other websites in the background. The Storm can only show 1 web page at a time. I only visit about 3 websites, so I’m constantly having to reload each one. The iPhone lets me keep all of my favorite sites open at the same time. And not only that, but the safari browser on the iPhone renders the pages way faster than on the BlackBerry Storm. The Storm is clunky, in everything it does.

Conclusion: When I bought my BlackBerry, I was actually excited. I had friends that seemed to think the BlackBerry was decent, and when I tested it in the store, it seemed to be ok. There were no ill feelings towards the product for not being Apple or anything like that. In fact, I was excited that there might be something on the market that was better than Apple for a change. I was not looking for flaws. I did not switch to the AT&T Apple iPhone when I had the chance. Now, I have another 2 year contract with Verizon, and I’m so frusturated that I think I might join AT&T anyways.

A few days ago I would say, “If your with Verizon, the BlackBerry is a great alternative to the iPhone”. Now I say, “If your with Verizon, cancel your plan and get the iPhone through AT&T”.

I am convinced that for the most part, the BlackBerry Storm is a time waster with how long it takes to do simple tasks.

Con: The BlackBerry Storm with the stock update from Verizon is a clunky piece of junk. The sad thing is that BlackBerry releases really good updates that fix almost all of the clunkiness, but Verizon wont make them official. So, if you install one of the unofficial updates from BlackBerry, it removes your Verizon warranty. I could care less about the warranty, so I installed one of the most recent updates from BlackBerry, and my phone now runs smooth.

Con: It costs $35 a month just to have a BlackBerry. That does not include a data plan.

Con: You are made to think that the “Visual Voicemail” feature that is built into the phone, comes with your $15 a month data plan and $35 a month BlackBerry subscription. You find out later its an extra $3 a month when you go to use it on your phone.

Pro: The touch screen is awesome. Really reactive and fluid unlike the other “wannabe” iPhone and Storm type’s on the market.

Pro: The Camera is awesome, and from what I hear, works several times better after installing the most recent unofficial update from BlackBerry.

Pro: I love being able to view and edit things like spreadsheets.

Con: The app center is cheeseball compared to the iPhone’s app center.

Con: The Storm 2 is rumored to coming out next month. …And the BlackBerry Storm has been out for only…6 months? Does that mean that the Storm had so many problems with hardware that they are having to start from scratch with the Storm 2?

Pro: Even though it is a nice little block of technology, the phone fits well in my front pocket.

Pro: BlackBerry did a good job of not copying Apple’s iPhone and adding their own flare and coolness to things. However, I think that the bugs have been worked out of the iPhone way more in comparison.

Con: The browser, which is one of the most important things to me, is clunky in comparison with the iPhone. One of the “non-official” updates made it much better, but its still a clunky piece of crap. You also have to view one web page at a time. The Apple iPhone allows you to open a lot of windows at a time, and it runs way smoother.

Conclusion: If I had already been with AT&T, there is no way in the world that I would leave the iPhone for the BlackBerry. However, the BlackBerry is a great alternative, if you happen to be with Verizon.

However, if you have already had the pleasure of messing around with an iPhone, you may be disappointed with how sluggish the Storm is. At this time, I’m considering taking it back under my 30 day satisfaction guarantee, and switching to AT&T to get the iPhone.

I’m also not sure that the BlackBerry Storm is a time saver. When I’m out and about, the time it takes to email, check websites, etc, is way longer than it would be on my computer. So, if I didnt have this BlackBerry slowing me down while I’m running errands, maybe I could get home and get serious business done, more quickly.

Note: After a frusturating week comparing the BlackBerry to the iPhone, here is my conclusion: http://www.andyisaacson.com/blackberry-storm-vs-iphone/