Android Newbie: Questions

[xelhabb]

Hey all,

I am planning to switch to the wife and I to the Motorola Android on Verizon next month when my contract ends. We are currently Blackberry users, me on the Storm. Can any experienced users answers some questions as I have concerns.

Email: I currently have my Gmail account synced to my Blackberry. It is my understanding that email is not as responsive on the droid however I am being told that Gmail on the Android runs a distant second to the Blackberry push email services. Can any experienced users tell me what to expect when it comes to Gmail responsiveness on the Android?

Facebook: my wife and I are Facebook addicts/geeks. We upload photos and status updates to our FB accounts incessantly from our Blackberries. Notifications also come quickly to our Blackberries from FB. For us FB has been a tool of inestimable value in keeping connected with family and friends. Is the experience the same with the Android or should we expect any issues?

SMS Texting: I am somewhat used to the click screen on the Storm when it comes to sending text. I also SMS text constantly. What is the experience like in landscape vs the physical qwerty on the Android.

AIM / Yahoo Messenger: I assume these services are available on the Android. Is the experience the same or different?

Speaker Phone: I drive a lot during the day. I utilize the speaker phone on my Storm routinely. I am able to place the phone on the arm rest beside me and chat away. I am heard crystal clear by those on the other end. The speaker on the Storm is also plenty loud. Is this feature accessed easily on the Android? On the Storm I simply touch the screen to activate this option.

I generally answer questions like these often in my Blackberry forum. Now I am back to square one. I hope this forum is as forgiving. This is unfamiliar territory for me.

Rob
Orlando, Florida

 

[acidsamuraix]

Email can be intermittent at times, but i'd say about 95% of the time i get an e-mail within 20 seconds of it hitting my mailbox.

Facebook was one thing the Storm did very well (as far as the notifications). The facebook app/widget for Droid is ok, but the notifications suck(30 mins intervals or so to check). Basically, I just rely on my e-mail as my facebook notification system, and i've grown accustomed to that. The app is fine for checking news feed and looking at/uploading pictures.

SMS is fine, works well. The physical keyboard is my preferred use, but the touchscreen is very responsive as well, and much faster than the storm (as i remember it).

AIM/Yahoo are available on the market and work fine. I use Hi Yahoo (free) for yahoo.

Speaker phone works fine, i've never had an issue, but generally i use bluetooth. To activate speaker is just a button next to mute on the bottom of the call screen.

 

[asdr24]

I would completely agree with acidsamuraix. I have no experience with the Storm or BB at all but figured I'd give you something to ponder on.

Only thing I can add to his answers is that Facebook is absolutely horrid on Android. I pray that they finally realize this and update this app to its full potential but as of now its pretty basic. Coming from an iPhone I was spoiled with an awesome official app from Facebook.

The other thing is that the speaker phone is the best I've ever used. The phone has a dual speaker which makes conversations very clear and loud. Definitely something I love about the Moto Droid.

 

[xelhabb]

Thanks for the answers!

My big concern was being able to take photos and upload them to Facebook. I am somewhat of a social creature with a big FB following. My main activity is sending photos on the fly to FB. If it does that well, I will be satisfied. It's surprising that Facebook hasn't yet produced an official FB platform for the Droid line. The Droid has been around for a minute and is seemingly omnipresent among the major carriers. Ponderous! How goes it with uploading photos? Does that work well?

I don't absolutely need lightning fast email (although Ill miss it on my Storm). I just need to get it in somewhat of a timely manner. I can live with a 5-20 minute lag for the most part. Anything beyond an hour might be a bit of a deal killer. If there is a manual refresh / polling option that would be acceptable.

 

[acidsamuraix]

you can manually refresh the gmail, but if you already are using the gmail account, you shouldnt hit anything more than 5 mins unless something is pretty wrong.

The facebook app uploads photos just fine. I upload all the time. The only annoyance is that sometimes they upload sideways and you cant rotate them from the app, so you have to go on later on a PC and rotate them to how they should be. That may only be with landscape pics though (which most of mine are). Otherwise, it gets them on there just fine and pretty quickly.

 

[asdr24]

Yeah the uploading works good but again I agree with acidsamurai and I have the problem of them being rotated on me. The worst part about it all is that it is an official Facebook app but they haven't put the resources into making it a good app.

The email is really good IMO. You can also buy an exchange client such as touchdown and set up your gmail as an exchange account and get them as fast as possible.

 

[corydunbar]

Email: I currently have my Gmail account synced to my Blackberry. It is my understanding that email is not as responsive on the droid however I am being told that Gmail on the Android runs a distant second to the Blackberry push email services. Can any experienced users tell me what to expect when it comes to Gmail responsiveness on the Android?

I used to have a storm, and its email was great, but i have no complaints with gmail. It is just as good to me as BB push.

Facebook: my wife and I are Facebook addicts/geeks. We upload photos and status updates to our FB accounts incessantly from our Blackberries. Notifications also come quickly to our Blackberries from FB. For us FB has been a tool of inestimable value in keeping connected with family and friends. Is the experience the same with the Android or should we expect any issues?

Uploading to facebook is actually better on the droid. As for notifications. they are not nearly what the storm was. but the homescreen widget makes up for that.

SMS Texting: I am somewhat used to the click screen on the Storm when it comes to sending text. I also SMS text constantly. What is the experience like in landscape vs the physical qwerty on the Android.

the droids physical keyboard actually feels near identical to the storm 1 screen. so you might like the physical more. The virtual landscape keyboard is just like using an iphone with a little less aesthetic appeal.

AIM / Yahoo Messenger: I assume these services are available on the Android. Is the experience the same or different?

the market does have an app for each one of these as well a quite a few apps that do them together. and the native gtalk app is included and does a good job.

Speaker Phone: I drive a lot during the day. I utilize the speaker phone on my Storm routinely. I am able to place the phone on the arm rest beside me and chat away. I am heard crystal clear by those on the other end. The speaker on the Storm is also plenty loud. Is this feature accessed easily on the Android? On the Storm I simply touch the screen to activate this option.

Speaker phone is actually 50% easier on the droid, but the volume is a little less. the storms speaker phone was great. I recommend the cardock. it is very useful.

 

[abocornwall]

You realize that android isn't a phone its an operating system you keep saying the android its not a the like the droid runs android os

 

[abocornwall]

And its google not motorola motorola is a phone manufacturer android os is made by google so you would say the motorola droid/backflip... yeah not the motorola android? And i havent had any problems with email

 

[corydunbar]

And its google not motorola motorola is a phone manufacturer android os is made by google so you would say the motorola droid/backflip... yeah not the motorola android? And i havent had any problems with email

he's obviously a noob. give him a break. we were all their once.