BB user looking to make the switch

[Wiredin]

I'm currently a BB user with Rogers Wireless in Canada. This is my fifth berry, so I'm a long time user.

Pearl, Curve 1 CDMA, Curve 1 GSM, Storm 1, and last year the new 8900 Curve.

I'm not unhappy with blackberry, but with my renewal/upgrade coming due in a few months I'm keeping my options open.

One of those options is an Android device.

Multitasking, apps, maps, music, and browsing is very important to me. But email and messaging are definatley tops as I am a buisiness user.

I like the way it deals with notifications and such from what I've seen. But email and googletalk are the two most used notifications on my berry (aside from BBM which is mostly used to talk with my wife)

Problem is, I have yet to use a touch screen interface I like (including the iphone) but have yet to own a droid device. (I've had Samsung instinct, Omni, HTC windows phones, BB Storm

I'm kinda confused with the differences between the different models, especially on which one I would perfer.

I currently got a choice of Sony X10, LG Eve, Motrolla Quench, HTC Magic+, Samsung Galaxy, Acer Liquid E (soon).

Now I definatley perfer a physical keyboard instead of a touch one... but they seem to be getting more and more rare!

For those who have switched from BB to Android, which device did you goto?
In addition, what do you miss? what do you love that the berry couldn't do? What hurddles did you have to overcome?

 

[TreyDaPrince]

I switched to a Droid
Only thing I miss is BBM
I love the open-ness. You'll know what I mean soon enough.
Biggest hurdle was getting used to the OS and understand ALL of its features.

Android is a great OS. Stick with any 2.1 device or newer and you can't go wrong.

 

[prometheus]

There's a lot of ex-bb users here. Generally, we're a happy bunch and glad we made the switch (I'm in that group at least).

Pros of switching: increased functionalty, more customization, better browsing, better maps, better look and feel, bigger screen, better media experience, more apps available (free and paid).

Cons of switching: I type slower (that bb keyboard is killer), email not as great (ui, push vs not completely pushed, open attachments), battery life sucks on Droid (compared to bb).

make the switch, you'll love it!

 

[takeshi]

I'm sure there are other ex-BB user threads so be sure to check them out as well.

Also, drop the BB mindset. You'll save yourself a lot of heartache and trouble in the transition if you don't expect things to work on Android the way they did on the BB.

For those who have switched from BB to Android, which device did you goto?

Motorola Droid. I know that won't help you out any...

In addition, what do you miss?

Profiles.
A good physical keyboard (though Swype helps).

what do you love that the berry couldn't do?

Too much to list. Let's just say that it significantly outweighs anything I miss from my BB days. Android is just far more versatile than the BB.

email not as great

Your app and email account type will make a difference. I was on a BB with an Exchange account and BES. I definitely prefer the Droid with ActiveSync (and Touchdown) and the same Exchange account.

 

[prometheus]

takeshi, I've always appreciated your posts and your insight....

tell me more about activesync and touchdown please.

 

[Kyle Gibb]

Profiles.

Do you mean something like this?

 

[FromBBtoDroid]

I thought this might be a good place. I've purchased the Droid X (still waiting for it to ship). I've been a BB user for the past several years and am looking for a place to start to sort of get some good transition and capability of Droid X info (more than what I've read thus far). Is there a good place to start? Maybe a particular forum in here or outside of here, etc.

 

[Dubbin1]

Add me as a BB user, our new Droids will be here Friday. My head is just spinning trying to figure out how this phone works before I get it.

 

[PvilleComp]

So this may be a little off topic, but have you BB users ever experienced repeated e-mail dumps to your phone? I have someone with a BB who intermittently gets dumps of e-mail to his phone from months ago.

He’s on AT&T and using an Outlook Webmail connection to AT&T’s BB server. I have configured my DInc to monitor his account and I can’t replicate the dumps. Sometimes he goes for weeks and everything is fine then we will get 3 dumps in a week or even 3 dumps in a day.

AT&T is naturally trying to blame Exchange, but I can’t replicate in Android on the same account.

Just curious if this is a common problem on BB.

 

[Dubbin1]

So this may be a little off topic, but have you BB users ever experienced repeated e-mail dumps to your phone? I have someone with a BB who intermittently gets dumps of e-mail to his phone from months ago.

He?s on AT&T and using an Outlook Webmail connection to AT&T?s BB server. I have configured my DInc to monitor his account and I can?t replicate the dumps. Sometimes he goes for weeks and everything is fine then we will get 3 dumps in a week or even 3 dumps in a day.

AT&T is naturally trying to blame Exchange, but I can?t replicate in Android on the same account.

Just curious if this is a common problem on BB.

I can say that I have never seen that problem with any of the BB I have owned.

 

[cloak.n.dagger]

If you can figure out the BB OS, then learning Android will be a snap. I owned a BB Curve for about a year. It was very difficult to use at first, but very powerful once I learned my way around. Android is very easy to use at first and also becomes more powerful as you learn more about it. Getting use to a touch screen will be your biggest challenge. Holding the phone so that you're not pressing something on the screen and typing on a virtual keyboard take some getting use to. Give it some time, it will grow on you. As you become better with handling the device and using the VKB, it will make your user experience all the better. I have used many mobile OS's (Palm, WinMo, Brew, BB, WebOS and Android) and Android is, by far, the best and easiest I have used to date.

 

[FromBBtoDroid]

So this may be a little off topic, but have you BB users ever experienced repeated e-mail dumps to your phone? I have someone with a BB who intermittently gets dumps of e-mail to his phone from months ago.

He?s on AT&T and using an Outlook Webmail connection to AT&T?s BB server. I have configured my DInc to monitor his account and I can?t replicate the dumps. Sometimes he goes for weeks and everything is fine then we will get 3 dumps in a week or even 3 dumps in a day.

AT&T is naturally trying to blame Exchange, but I can?t replicate in Android on the same account.

Just curious if this is a common problem on BB.

I personally have never had this issue. I'm on Verizon though, so that may have something to do with it. However I have heard that complaint before. I don't recall if it was specifically from AT&T customers and/or Exchange users on AT&T.

 

[FromBBtoDroid]

If you can figure out the BB OS, then learning Android will be a snap. I owned a BB Curve for about a year. It was very difficult to use at first, but very powerful once I learned my way around. Android is very easy to use at first and also becomes more powerful as you learn more about it. Getting use to a touch screen will be your biggest challenge. Holding the phone so that you're not pressing something on the screen and typing on a virtual keyboard take some getting use to. Give it some time, it will grow on you. As you become better with handling the device and using the VKB, it will make your user experience all the better. I have used many mobile OS's (Palm, WinMo, Brew, BB, WebOS and Android) and Android is, by far, the best and easiest I have used to date.

I used touchscreen with the Storm1 before -- I liked it initially. My problems with the Storm1 started when I dropped it and needed a replacement. THe replacement was worse than the first one. Anyway, I've looked into Android phones, like them, have tried different ones (albeit briefly) at Verizon over the past few months (eris, incredible, x). I like the X, the size, everything from those trials. Still waiting for my X, though. But I like the promise of the functionality and, from a basic standpoint, that I already use Gmail, Voice, Maps, etc. on my BB seemed like the first push towards Android. Besides the forums there, are there any good recs for things to read up on, learn some more about Android, its capabilities, etc.? (Also, I'm fairly new to actually posting in Forums, so if I'm wordy, tell me.)

 

[cloak.n.dagger]

You're good. Don't worry about being wordy, it's a forum ;-) Forums really are the best place for obtaining information on technology. There are hundreds out there, so it's hard to recommend any in particular. For general info, this is the best place to look. If you are looking for in depth developer level stuff then you might want to check out XDA Developers forum. Gadget sites, like Engadget, report on a lot of topics from this forum.

xda-developers

 

[Wiredin]

Took a while, but I grabbed Rogers Galaxy S II LTE yesterday. So far, overall... I love the thing. What does drive me nuts is that my SD card keeps unmounting itself. I also miss my email client from BB more than I thought I would. Having the ability to "mark all as read" was something that cured my "notification OCD" (can't stand the unread bold/count etc). Now I actually got to "read" the junk.

Trying some other email clients....

 

[madhatter2426]

Using the Gmail app you just put a tick beside the emails then menu button and click mark as read.

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