Coming from Blackberry - Best Android?

[msglsom]

Hi All,

Looks like we may be coming from AT&T to TMobile soon. I currently have a Bold 9700 and can get the same with TMobile, but I am thinking about coming to Android.

Any suggestions? I really want the physical keyboard, so I am thinking maybe the HTC Mytouch 3G slider?

Thanks!

Mike

 

[packerbacker]

The G2 is really awesome, and has a keyboard. But I would definitely suggest going into the store and playing with all of the Android phones. You might be surprised which one you like the best. Everyone on the forum has their favorite. What's important is what one suits you best. Good luck!

 

[757EliasHZ]

Packerbacker's right. On TMobile with a physical keyboard the G2 is the current creme de la creme. If you don't need a pk there's the My Touch HD coming out soon.

BTW I switched from BlackBerry to Android 1 month ago, and loving it so far!

 

[takeshi]

You really do have to look over them yourself. I mean there's no single Android device that every ex-BB user flocks to. I went for the Droid.

 

[msglsom]

One thing I am concerned about is the push email and messaging on Blackberry. Does the Android compare to Blackberry's email/messaging?

 

[bclinger#IM]

I use it with Exchange and have no real problem. At least it does not go out of service and attract international attention. RIM has the corner on that market.

 

[msglsom]

I use it with Exchange and have no real problem. At least it does not go out of service and attract international attention. RIM has the corner on that market.

Is it true push, or does the phone check for email every so often? I use 5 different email providers, for both home, work (Exchange) and school, so email is an important function for me.

RIM has definitely had its share of email issues. Yahoo email has been very slow off and on for the past year with Blackberry.

 

[Pattinson]

I used Motorola XT702, an awesome slider smartphone. And it's unlocked, I can select any service provider as I want.

 

[takeshi]

One thing I am concerned about is the push email and messaging on Blackberry. Does the Android compare to Blackberry's email/messaging?

Depends on your email account. You can't make a non push account (like POP) into push. The BB worked around this a bit by having BIS intelligently adjust polling intervals for non-push accounts but there's no BIS equivalent for Android. ActiveSync and gmail are push. I'm not sure if IMAP idle is technically push or not but it's delivery times are very quick. Polled accounts are polled on fixed intervals. Short intervals will kill your battery.

I personally prefer Exchange and ActiveSync (with Touchdown) on Android over Exchange and BES on the BB which was as good as it gets in the BB world. Even with BES, email was pushed and reconciled whereas ActiveSync offers true sync.

Is it true push, or does the phone check for email every so often?

Polling is not push. It's either push or polling.

I use it with Exchange and have no real problem. At least it does not go out of service and attract international attention. RIM has the corner on that market.

There have been a lot of BIS outages but it has been an extremely long time since I've seen a RIM outage that has affected BES. I still have BB on BES used for work.

I used Motorola XT702, an awesome slider smartphone. And it's unlocked, I can select any service provider as I want.

Any GSM provider with compatible frequencies.

 

[bclinger#IM]

Exchange when properly set up is true push mail. There are a couple of mail applications that also provide PUSH, though I have not tried them yet. K9 and DroidMail provide PUSH and with a service like Everyone.Net, email service becomes a breeze.

Is it true push, or does the phone check for email every so often? I use 5 different email providers, for both home, work (Exchange) and school, so email is an important function for me.

RIM has definitely had its share of email issues. Yahoo email has been very slow off and on for the past year with Blackberry.

 

[bclinger#IM]

IMAP IDLE has the device logged in and it just waits for the mail server to PUSH the mail to the device. Not all IMAP applications support IDLE. Back in the days of Palm, ChatterEmail provided great IMAP/IDLE service. FlexMail on for Windows does the same and worked very well on my Touch Pro; my Touch Pro 2 though did not care for the application. Since going with the Evo I have stuck with the default email application and will start shortly looking at an alternative.

On the Evo I have Exchange set for peak hours from 0000 to 2359 hours, 7 days a week. Not a problem at all.