RIM BlackBerry Storm vs. Apple iPhone 3G

• The Contenders
• Sexiness
• Navigation
• Features
• Web browsing and multimedia
• Call quality and performance
• The winner is...

Round 5: Call quality and general performance

Can you hear me now?

Apple iPhone 3G

Cell phones aren't worth much if they don't make good calls or can't keep up with your demands. In the final round, we check out the call quality of these handsets.

Player	Kent	Bonnie	Brian	Total
RIM BlackBerry Storm	4 Its speakerphone isn't the best, but the Storm offers excellent call quality. It takes this round, even if its menu performance was slightly slower than the iPhone's.	3 The BlackBerry Storm offers great call quality, with crisp-sounding audio on both ends; and I didn't have any dropped calls. Unfortunately, the speakerphone is a bit choppy, but my bigger issue with the Storm is its general performance. The firmware update improved some issues, but the smartphone is still slow and buggy and just makes for a frustrating user experience.	3 The weather report: this is a slow-moving Storm. Verizon's crisp call quality stands out, and its EV-DO Rev. A is a faster flavor of 3G. Talk-time is about 7 hours, but that's not enough to save it and neither is the firmware update.	3.3
Apple iPhone 3G	3 See comment above.	4 The iPhone has its own performance issues. The accelerometer can also be slow and there have been numerous reports about the 3G problems. However, in general, the iPhone is a better performer and has fewer issues than the Storm.	4 Call quality is solid, but AT&T can't hang with Verizon. Talk time is about 5 hours, but this is a snappily performing phone; you take that for granted until you compare it with the other.	3.7

Winner: Apple iPhone 3G