BlackBerry maker RIM has been losing smartphone marketshare since the day the iPhone arrived in 2007, and that erosion will grow by leaps and bounds with the arrival of the iPhone 5 on three U.S. carriers; longtime BlackBerry holdouts’ most often cited reason for staying put had been “the iPhone isn’t on Verizon or Sprint.” With that about to change upon the launch of the next iPhone, here’s a primer for what BlackBerry veterans need to know about switching to the iPhone 5.
Type away: BlackBerry users are accustomed to a physical thumbboard for typing. It’s taken years to get used to, but they’ve mastered it. The iPhone 5 employs a virtual keyboard. Long cited as a reason for not switching, the virtual keyboard actually becomes an asset eventually. But there is a transition period, and BlackBerry users do tend to take longer to get used to typing on an iPhone than even someone who’s never previously used a smartphone. Stick with it, however, and you’ll find that not only does it become fully normal, there are also bonuses: the iPhone’s operating system determines your most frequent typos and fixes them on the fly (despite occasional humorous autocorrects, the feature is a friend not a foe the vast majority of the time). Plus the keyboard adjusts itself on the fly, magically adding a “.com” button when you’re typing a web address, for instance…
Apt apps: The 3.5 inch, higher-than-HD resolution of the iPhone 4 is about to give way to even more screen real estate with the iPhone 5. So much for Angry Birds only being an inch or two tall on your BlackBerry screen, which was halved by the presence of a physical keyboard. Take advantage of the better screen with some high quality games, and some HD video content. You’re also going to find that a higher percentage of web pages look good in their standard form, meaning you won’t need to rely on stripped-down mobile versions of websites as often. Hint: many popular websites load up in the mobile version on an iPhone by default, but it can usually be turned off at the bottom of the web page, allowing you to view the page the same as it would look on your computer…
Keep it free: Don’t go crazy, however, with paid apps right out of the gate. Until you figure out how you want to put your new iPhone 5 toy to use, no need to overspend on “cool” apps you may have no use for. There are plenty of free apps in the App Store to tide you over while you figure out what you really want to do with your new toy. The official apps for social networks like Facebook and Twitter are free, while many popular games come with “lite” versions for about a dollar which include the first level or two, allowing you to try them out before you commit to buying the whole thing. Many of them include the ability to purchase the rest of the game from within the app itself, without having to go back to the App Store…
Music: Now that you’re on an Apple device, getting your music onto your iPhone 5 literally requires zero steps: each time you connect your iPhone to your computer, iTunes puts your music onto your iPhone for you. No steps required at all, unless you want to only sync part of your collection or certain playlists. The process works just like a classic iPod. No more carrying an iPod nano in your other pocket to work around your BlackBerry’s content limitations.
Accessories: Because all iPhones (and all iPods except the shuffle) include the same dock connector port on the bottom, there’s a large third party market for accessories such as dockable stereos and dockable alarms. While you’re awaiting its release .
Source - [
beatweek.com ]
