I currently have a Blackberry Tour 9630. I use my phone mostly for work- typing e-mails, messaging, etc. I surf the web and play games on my free time, but as you know, there are not many games for Blackberry.
I am trying to figure out if I should go ahead and get the Droid 3 or wait for the Bionic or SGII. I am not sure if I could get used to using the touch screen as a keyboard or not. My wife currently has a Iphone 4, and I just seem to type a lot slower with it, and I mess-up all the time while typing.
After reading the forums it seems like a lot of people get used to typing on the screen, and say they would never go back. I am just worried that I would get a full touchscreen and never get used to it.
I also have a Droid 3 specific question- Is the keyboard significantly better then the Droid 2? I was at a Verizon shop a few weeks back and looked at a Droid 2. I hated the keyboard. If I remember correctly, the keys were all covered with the same plastic- ie, no separation between the keys. I had a heck of a time typing on the Droid 2 vs. my Blackberry. After looking at the pictures of the Droid 3, it looks like the keys are separated and look more like the Blackberry keys.
Also, LTE will most likely not be a concern since I live in rural Oregon, and I cannot see when and if Verizon will ever upgrade to LTE.
I would appreciate any feedback or help!
I've been a loyal BB user for years, and I had a BB Tour on VZW for two years. I like the keyboard on the D3 about as well as the keyboard on the BB. Its actually much easier to use overall, has a nicer layout, and nearly ideal feedback. I can easily type just as quickly on it as I did with the Tour and I think it is probably the nicest smartphone keyboard I've yet to encounter. The only reason I don't rate it above the BB outright is that it is slightly less convenient given that it is a slide-out. For fast answering of e-mails, the Tour was a little quicker on the draw.
Actually, I had a D2 G for a little while and I thought that keyboard was pretty nice too. It had the identical layout as the earlier version of the D2 (the one without the GSM radio) but the keys seem to have better feedback.
Bottom line, coming from a Tour, you won't miss a beat in terms of adjusting to the D3's physical keyboard. Its superb.
I really can't answer the question about whether you'd get used to an on-screen keyboard. I have friends with iPhones etc who love them and will never go back to a keyboard. Personally, I'd rather not have to carry my laptop with me whenever I'm away from the office and I don't see myself responding to longer notes by taping out keys on a screen. The keyboard just makes everything a lot easier. In the end, the major reason I opted for the Droid over something like an iPhone was the keyboard.
My guess is that most of the users who say they got used to the on-screen keyboard and stopped using the physical one are using the phone primarily for reasons other than business. I'm not saying that is true for everybody, but if you're in a line of work where you are responding to a lot of message on the go, a virtual keyboard will probably prove frustrating. Definitely a situation where the old adage, YMMV holds though.
A few other observations about the switch from the BB Tour to the D3:
1) The Tour is far more idiot-proof and easier to use. It takes less work to set it up, and its much more intuitive to manage e-mails. Part of that is because BES kicks the snot out of any exchange server I've seen. However, there are all sorts of little features, like pressing the "M" key to get to mail, that you will quickly miss.
2) The calendar and basic organizing applications are mostly superior on the Tour. There are also some day-to-day features that I miss. Most notably, the Tour let me have more control over Bluetooth. When I sync to my car, the Tour would sent only the names and phone numbers in specific categories. The D3 sends everything.
3) The browser on the D3 is in another league than the Tour. Way, way, way better. Its not even close.
4) I don't play games or do much multimedia stuff on the my phone (I have an iPad for that) but all the location oriented stuff and google apps make this one heck of a useful tool for my daily life.
5) I was suspicious of battery life because of my bad experience with the D2 G. I've been pleasantly surprised. With the extended battery and juice defender, the D3 lasts about as long on a single charge as my Tour. I easily get through a work day without having to think about the battery.
6) Installation and deletion of applications is way easier on the D3 than the Tour.
7) The D3 is far less buggy than the Tour was when first released. It took about three or four releases of the BB OS before my Tour became stable.
8) Coming from the Tour, which was a nearly ideal size for a smartphone, I find the D3 to be pretty chunky. It may not seem big in comparison to those monster 4.3 screen 4G phones, but it pushes the limits in terms of a practical size. I'm not finding it hard to live with at all, but I would certainly not want to go the next size up - to phones like the Samsung or HTC 4G Droids.
9) I miss the launcher feature of my Tour. The Tour was set up to turn itself off when inserted into the case, and then turn itself on as soon as you pulled it out. With the D3, there are a few more steps. Again, not a big deal, but one of those day-to-day things you might notice.
10) The beside cradle that I got with my Tour cost me $9 and (for my limited needs) was functionally equivalent to the $50 D3 multimedia dock.
Overall, I'm glad I made the switch and would recommend the D3. But, the BB naysayers not withstanding, the Tour did have some advantages over the Droid.
Good luck with you choice!
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