Kevin just finished launching a metric ton of BlackBerry Storm coverage over on Crackberry.com, including the compulsory unboxing pr0n, bumpy typing test, and an iPhone 3G vs. BlackBerry Storm browser battle. If we recall the last time an iPhone 3G met a BlackBerry (Bold) in single web combat, the buggy Bold caused Kevin himself to throw in the towel.
This time?
The Storm still lacks Javascript chops (attn: RIM, see SquirelFish, Tracemonkey, V8, etc.!) so turns it off by default. The iPhone OS 2.1 browser is a tad crash prone. Fair fight? Well, let’s not forget the Berry’s is likely still itching to brawl over the most recent sales, satisfaction, and reliability figures, b’okay? But it’s the fastest fight Kevin had time for… for now.
The results?
iPhone did better when the Storm had Javascript on, but took a beating and crashed and burned twice when the Storm defaulted to Javascript off (and the iPhone still had it on).
How much of a role was played by the difference in network speed between Verizon’s EVDO rev A and AT&T’s HSDPA we don’t know, and since the Storm completely lacks WiFi, a pure browser test may forever elude us. (Early bird Walt Mossberg claims he got different results in different locations where each network had stronger or weaker signals, of course, but that the iPhone on WiFi was consistently the fastest — we’d add to that WiFi enables all sorts of additional networking features as well, like file exchange and remote control).
In either case, judging by how fast the blogerati have jumped on the Storm wagon, and how often the iPhone is coming up in the coverage, that this rivalry has only just begun!
