Now that the BlackBerry Bold's made its
official North American debut, there's a lot of talk about a video Mobile Computer did of the Bold getting blown away browsing head to head with an iPhone 3G over WiFi -- but there's a slight problem there: the Bold was actually using 3G and EDGE. Yeah, that's not a fair fight -- and given how flaky the iPhone 3G's data speeds can be, it actually reflects quite well on the Bold. Head to head on WiFi, the Bold does seem a tick slower, but we'll let you judge that for yourselves -- videos after the break.
Read - BGR browser vid
Read - Mobile Computer browser vid
The original Mobile Computer vid -- note the lack of a WiFi icon while browsing.
The Bold browsing the same sites on WiFi.
posted Aug 21st 2008 at 1:22PM
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Michael @ Aug 21st 2008 1:58PM
Wow, if you compare the iPhone load time to the Engadget Bold load time (pause right before he hits the link on the iPhone video, and hit play as the bold on wifi hits the link) you see that the iPhone still blows the Bold out of the water.
Way to go proven stuff Engadget.
Alex @ Aug 21st 2008 2:02PM
Looks like the iPhone did it in 20-30 seconds and the BB loaded the same page in 55-70 seconds. Hmm, clear winner.
LaughingMan @ Aug 21st 2008 2:13PM
It's still pretty slow on the Bold. It seems the javascript was where the Bold spent most of its time. It still probably lends itself to improvement through software upgrade though.
Any indication what browser the Bold is using? Proprietary, or one based on Opera, Moz, or Webkit?
Mohammad @ Aug 21st 2008 2:46PM
iPhone : around 20 secs to load the page...
Bold: 55-60 secs to load the page...
Is 55 secs less than 20 secs????!! I must have something wrong here.... :S
Anonomous @ Aug 21st 2008 6:52PM
Loading mobilecomputermag.com on Wifi:
Bold - 1 minute.
iPhone - 30 seconds.
my Black Berry 8100 (that doesn't have Wi-fi, only EDGE) - 25 seconds to load in Opera Mini.
And it's definitely not the Bold's fault that it's slow, Black Berry Browser sucks. RIM seriously needs to step it up with the browser, they've been been in the game much longer than Apple and still can't get web browsing right.
BBWorld Stefano @ Aug 21st 2008 3:26PM
In BB there is java script enabled, if u disabled javascript the webisite will be show as now, and will be faster.. same net, same velocity ...
Randy @ Aug 21st 2008 3:57PM
Edge isn't very fast. Let's see the Bold in EVDO Rev A flavor against an iPhone.
blitzkrieg999 @ Aug 21st 2008 4:44PM
This post on the regular Engadget page is getting crazy, but seriously...
Am I the first person to notice the second video is loading a UK-based website from the US, whereas the first video is a UK-based page loaded from the UK? That alone is going to add some extra load time.
I'd like to see a new full comparison between the two, not just a recorded video of the BBB by itself.
softie @ Aug 21st 2008 5:46PM
don't know why you need javascript anyway. sites look exactly the same with or without javascript. I tested with my curve on wi-fi and its faster than the bold video. Engadgetmobile, can you post a video with the javascript off?
thundershock2007 @ Aug 21st 2008 10:35PM
uggghhhh!!!
i'm so mad right now!!!!
i can't believe that the page mobilecomputing whatever loaded so quickly on the iPhone (like under 30 seconds) but the Bold took a full minute!
although, the british dude should've shown us that he went to the Wi-Fi browser or Hotspot Browser, or if it doesn't have separate browsers anymore, he should've at least shown us the diagnostics page on the wi-fi options on the Bold to prove to us that he was connected to BlackBerry Internet Service or Enterprise through Wi-Fi.
but uggghhh it makes me so mad! the blackberry bold would've been perfect if it weren't for that!
i'm so angry.
but hey, the iPhone still doesn't offer TRUE Push email and peer-to-peer messaging to consumers, like BIS... right? (slap me if i'm wrong) i don't use exchange so that whole exchange support stuff the iPhone talks about won't work. especially that push email is the most important thing a smartphone can do... for me at least.
and HELLO, blackberry attachment service is the bomb. and documents to go from dataviz, which (standard edition) comes with the phone, is also the bomb. i don't even think the iPhone can edit word, excel, and powerpoint documents without 3rd party software not preinstalled on the device! (slap me again if i'm wrong) and again, docs to go and attachment service are both VERY important to me.
okay, looks like i'm still going for the bold. =]
take THAT iPhone, you worthless piece of screen pixels!
and yes, i'm a blackberry fan.
Vic @ Aug 22nd 2008 2:18AM
iPhone offers consumer Push Email, along with wireless calendar and contact sync, through MobileMe.
Valicore @ Aug 22nd 2008 3:16AM
Right.. MobileMe... also known as "God forbid you need any critical message to get to your MOBILE because if you do you'll be saying f- ME
That Mobile Me?
BBaddict @ Sep 10th 2008 2:51PM
WiFi on BB Bold is just great, I'm really satisfied! The problem is in its web browser! I don't know why it's so screwed. Usability there is just hell. It's not even closely comparable with iPhone and iPod touch browser experience.
As to software, I wish there were more freeware apps for Bold.
http://www.blackberryfreeware.org/ is a good start but we need more cool apps, which utilize WiFi!
BBaddict