After having my trusty Blackberry 8830 for two years, the trusty-ness was starting to deteriorate and I started looking to upgrade. Let me just preface this by saying that I am well aware that comparing a two year old device to a brand new device isn’t entirely fair. On the other hand, Android is a new operating system so it isn’t as polished as the Blackberry OS, and for the most part the Blackberry operating system hasn’t changed much in two years to begin with.

The Blackberry has stood up to some pretty rough abuse without breaking or scratching significantly in its two year tenure. Most of that abuse is flying out of my center console of my car as I get a little too “enthusiastic.” However, out of the box it’s never been a speed demon. Verizon Wireless handicaps the devices internal GPS and forces you to sign-up for its VZNavigator service. Which is kind of a joke, because the minimum payment of a Blackberry package is around $90 a month, if you want to use the GPS it’s another $10 a month, if you want to tether it’s another $10 a month. For things the device does natively, that’s un-abashed price hosing. The T-Mobile plan is similarly price, but it looks like turn-by-turn GPS directions are going to be developed by Telenav and cost you… $10 a month. So there is no escaping $10 up-charges across carriers.

Hardware

The T-Mobile G1 is a longer but narrower than the 8830, and considerably thicker. Pocket space and heft suffers some, but if you’re used to carrying a blackberry the G1 isn’t any more inconspicuous than the 8830. Still, the photos I have seen online make it seem larger than it actually is. For the non-corporate user (those who aren’t worried about server integration) the pluses of the G1 are pretty high; a camera, large touch screen, wifi, YouTube and the Android Market. Both phones have internal GPS, trackball, bluetooth, micro SD expansion and a qwerty keyboard.

As said before the Blackberry has stood some abuse. Thanks mostly to the metal sides and good quality plastics. The G1 is not slouch either, but the movable screen is naturally a week point. The hinge feels sturdy and robust. However, the matte black model apparently squeaks because it is slightly thicker than the bronze or white models. Apparently this can be fixed by trimming a bit from the housing and when done correctly doesn’t noticeably ruin the finish. I’m not annoyed by it enough to attempt to fix this.

Keyboard vs. Keyboard
There is a fairly distinct difference in the two keyboards. The G1 keys don’t have a lot of height to them and require little force. Compared to the click action it is a little mushy. The 8830 keys require more force and have raised edges which make typing slower for me, but more accurate. Overall, it’s a wash on my opinion.

Screen
Obviously the G1 wins this hands down. A physically larger screen, more resolution and it’s a touch screen. To be fair, the 8830 Screen isn’t bad. It’s certainly up to the task for the device. The G1′s screen is 480×320, or iPhone size, but it is physically a bit smaller. The Blackberry sports 320×240 which is quickly becoming sub-par for Smartphones.

Operating System and Default Applications
The Blackberry OS is supposed to be tried and true. However, it seems that to get things to function correctly it will occasionally require a battery pull. In the two years I had it I had to call a few times to resend to the service books or to have the device re-added to the network. Although it seems this is a problem with Blackberries, mine seemed to be more annoying than most. The Blackberry interface is nice and rather adaptable. It’s possible to adjust everything and keep it in the order you want. This might not sound like much, but it would be welcomed on Android. Copy-and-Paste, the often claimed feature of several phones, but never truly done is a handy asset to the Blackberry. Initially, the mechanism of changing to select mode, using the trackball to copy and then going to paste seems a bit clunky but it just makes sense after you get used to it.

Android fails miserably at copy-and-paste. It’s really a half baked joke. You can only copy and paste from certain fields, but if you want to copy and paste from an email forget it. It’s particularly aggravating if you’re trying to add a 64 character WPA key for a network in. Because there is no computer interface you have to manually enter it, and if you get it wrong you go back to start. It’s a painful process. However, that is really the only aggravating aspect I found. The interface is snappy and responsive the drop-down “notification” bar links you to incoming messages and alerts so you don’t have to hunt for the correct icon like you do on the Blackberry.

Android Market is loaded with mostly free applications that provide weather, games, news, and communication tools that the Blackberry just can’t match. The biggest gap though, is the missing official Facebook app. Supposedly, you can hold you breath for this because Google and Facebook are having a bit of a spat over Facebook choosing Microsoft as its ad partner. However, the G1 renders the actual Facebook page just fine compared to the older Blackberry OS so if you are addicted to Facebook you are safe.

Both the G1 and the 8830 have voice dialing. The G1′s voice dialing is just as bad as it’s copy-and-paste, while the 8830′s has been dead on. It is really odd because I recently got updated to the RC33 firmware which includes voice search for Google which works excellently.

Battery
The 8830 is the clear winner here. Lasting the better part of a 3 days even with the original battery it trumps the G1. When I first received the G1 I killed the battery in 6 hours, but the battery life has continued to grow. So the jury is still out on what lasts longer. The 8830 has a 700mAh, while the G1 is at 1150 mah. THe hope among the Android community is that further firmware updates (IE “Cupcake”) will increase battery life. Right now, average use gets me the course of the waking day, ~6am to midnight. While I have enough to get me through the morning, throwing it on the charger at night is easier than remembering the charger for work.

Although I have switched to the G1, I’m not ready to dismiss Blackberry devices. They both have great points but the bottom line is that they aren’t mean’t for different people. For the average and internet surfer the G1 wins with the touch screen and camera, but for corporate users the lack of Exchange or BES support means the 8830 is better those users.