Blackberry user, android lust?

[mrmw]

Background
We're longtime Blackberry users. Two months ago, my wife was due for a new phone. I got her an LG Optimus to replace her two year old Curve 8330. She hated it--why? Two reasons: user hostile touch keyboard, neither LED visual msg notification nor an app to perform reliably in its place. As a result, we returned her Optimus and got her the new Blackberry flip. She LOVES it.

Meanwhile, I have a Tour 9630. I'm careful to keep the trackball clean. I added a 1" strip of electrical tape to the thin factory pad that keeps the back cover from becoming loose. The browser is adequate for looking up a phone number or checking in for a flight and maybe just a little, but not much, more. When I'm overseas I drop in a cheap local GSM SIM which gives me a local phone number, cheap overseas calls and local texting.

Yet, I lust after an app phone. And now that there's the HTC Shift with the good slider keyboard and similar footprint to the Tour, albeit 5.99 oz verses the lighter Tour (4.76 oz ) I'm sorely tempted.

Our recent experience with the LG Optimus, however, has taught us not to assume that what we take for granted on the Blackberry will be available on an Android.

Lustful Dilemma:
If you're still with me, allow me to ask if the HTC Shift will do all the things that have become daily must have's:
1. Gmail incoming email, text msg, voicemail notification LED
2. A robust App for PDF viewing similar to BeamReader
3. Microsoft Office Word and Excel file creation and editing on a par with Docs To Go
4. MP3 player that supports folders (don't laugh--my Seagate Media Player does not--you have to copy all the songs in a playlist into one folder!)
5. Slacker
6. True push email from Gmail
7. From within Gmail, the ability to 'save' an email attachment to the SD card (apparently there's a Gmail app, 'AttachSave'...does it work well?
8. An app (such as Tether on the Blackberry) to enable tethering the phone to the laptop
9. A BB quality contact manager
10. A BB quality calendar
11. A BB quality Task app
12. A BB quality Notepad app
13. Nice to have: A world clock app to show the time in multiple cities

In the short time we had the Optimus we found an excellent NY Times app, so that's covered. And Android Nav worked really nicely with Voice input/output.

(Since the HTC Shift is not GSM, the Tour will remain in the stable for non-US use, fixed up with the Anworm fix.)

Thanks in advance to everyone for either helping me cure my lust or preventing the pain that often stems from having acted impetuously.

 

[jscher2000]

I've used Treos for over 6 years, but I did rent a Blackberry to use in Japan. Great keyboard. Which is all to say I can only help with a few of these.

1. Gmail incoming email, text msg, voicemail notification LED
2. A robust App for PDF viewing similar to BeamReader
3. Microsoft Office Word and Excel file creation and editing on a par with Docs To Go

1. The LED flashes green for some notifications. I don't know whether email is among them, since I can't tolerate being bombarded with notifications for every email. (Break the habit... you can do it. )

2. An Adobe reader is pre-loaded. I haven't tested it much.

3. I find the version of Quickoffice included for free with Android 2.2 (Froyo) to be underpowered. You will need to upgrade, or switch to Documents to Go or another app from the market.

Documents To Go for Android Smartphones: Word and Excel on your Android Smartphone

 

[GoneTomorrow]

I'm confident the Shift will meet at least most of your needs on this list. That being said, try it out. After all, you can swap it out for a Blackberry if you're unsatisfied. And Sprint's lack of international compatibility is the sole thing that irks me about this company. I usually just go "old school" when traveling abroad (every summer ), which means a phone card and pay phones! It's kind of nice actually.

Just to address a few things on your list:

1. Yes, all of those. The Shift will irritate you with notifications out of the box. I turn everything off except missed calls, voice mail, texts, and Word Feud.

2. This phone opens and views PDFs as well any typical desktop. Very robust app, which is actually from Adobe and not some proprietary reader.

3. Haven't used the doc reader on the Shift much, but there are plenty of third part alternatives as Jeffro said.

4. Haven't tested the MP3 player much yet (waiting for my 16GB Micro SD card to arrive).

5. Slacker is available for Android.

6. Yes, it has Gmail push.

7. the Shift can easily save attachments to the SD card without an extra app.

8. Tethers without extra apps/software.

9. to 12. Never had a Blackberry so I won't comment, though I feel all these features are very well implemented on the Shift, with the ability to sync with Google Calendar, Google Contacts, etc. I use ColorNote for quick notes and it's well-featured.

13. Comes with different "Scene" modes which includes among other things a world clock which will display multiple time zones on the home screen.

 

[Cyber Warrior]

Also a long time BB user. From going through that list.....you're 99% covered. No Slacker yet but there's Pandora. Also want to add: Check out K9mail....it handles imap, pop3 and exchange email accounts just as good...if not better.. then BB.

 

[Dave Blake]

Background
We're longtime Blackberry users. Two months ago, my wife was due for a new phone. I got her an LG Optimus to replace her two year old Curve 8330. She hated it--why? Two reasons: user hostile touch keyboard, neither LED visual msg notification nor an app to perform reliably in its place. As a result, we returned her Optimus and got her the new Blackberry flip. She LOVES it.

Meanwhile, I have a Tour 9630. I'm careful to keep the trackball clean. I added a 1" strip of electrical tape to the thin factory pad that keeps the back cover from becoming loose. The browser is adequate for looking up a phone number or checking in for a flight and maybe just a little, but not much, more. When I'm overseas I drop in a cheap local GSM SIM which gives me a local phone number, cheap overseas calls and local texting.

Yet, I lust after an app phone. And now that there's the HTC Shift with the good slider keyboard and similar footprint to the Tour, albeit 5.99 oz verses the lighter Tour (4.76 oz ) I'm sorely tempted.

Our recent experience with the LG Optimus, however, has taught us not to assume that what we take for granted on the Blackberry will be available on an Android.

Lustful Dilemma:
If you're still with me, allow me to ask if the HTC Shift will do all the things that have become daily must have's:
1. Gmail incoming email, text msg, voicemail notification LED
2. A robust App for PDF viewing similar to BeamReader
3. Microsoft Office Word and Excel file creation and editing on a par with Docs To Go
4. MP3 player that supports folders (don't laugh--my Seagate Media Player does not--you have to copy all the songs in a playlist into one folder!)
5. Slacker
6. True push email from Gmail
7. From within Gmail, the ability to 'save' an email attachment to the SD card (apparently there's a Gmail app, 'AttachSave'...does it work well?
8. An app (such as Tether on the Blackberry) to enable tethering the phone to the laptop
9. A BB quality contact manager
10. A BB quality calendar
11. A BB quality Task app
12. A BB quality Notepad app
13. Nice to have: A world clock app to show the time in multiple cities

In the short time we had the Optimus we found an excellent NY Times app, so that's covered. And Android Nav worked really nicely with Voice input/output.

(Since the HTC Shift is not GSM, the Tour will remain in the stable for non-US use, fixed up with the Anworm fix.)

Thanks in advance to everyone for either helping me cure my lust or preventing the pain that often stems from having acted impetuously.

1. Got it but only one color so all updates look the same. App development mite make the Wimax notifier available at some point if that happens then there will be more options for different colors for different notifications like on the OG EVO

2. OEM Adobe reader on this screen with this processor makes PDF reading/viewing usable I use it all the time to view prints and instruction in the field.

3. Docs to Go is available on Android. The Shift comes with Quickoffice it can do both view and edit but I think DTG is better.

4. Got it covered

5. Got it but I prefer Pandora both work fine

6. Got it

7. Haven't tried it I just forward those emails to my exchange or open gmail in the browser to download but there are options stupid that Google has not added this already.

8. There are options available some require root access but it is easy to do.

9. Not going to happen BB is just better Android is usable but I'm sad to say it BB is just better at this

10. The Android calender is good on par with BB

11. Same as above

12. I think Android has the advantage here there are many options in the marker even the OEM notes is good

13. Many many options for this

Hope this helps
Dave

P.S. Android comes equipped with the best on line community's but I an a little bias

 

[Dave Blake]

Also a long time BB user. From going through that list.....you're 99% covered. No Slacker yet but there's Pandora. Also want to add: Check out K9mail....it handles imap, pop3 and exchange email accounts just as good...if not better.. then BB.

Slacker is available in the Market and works fine on the Shift.

Check it out,
Dave

 

[mrmw]

follow up

Many thanks to everyone for helping me to clear the air.

It appears that there is just area remaining which could use clarification: the Contact Manager.

Can it be assumed that the Android contact manager is simple, with a single fields for each of phone, email, address, URL, birthday--the same as in browser based GMail?

Is there a more robust BB-like contact manager app(s) with multiple phone/email/company name fields?

 

[dchawk81]

Can it be assumed that the Android contact manager is simple, with a single fields for each of phone, email, address, URL, birthday--the same as in browser based GMail?

You can have multiples.

The only thing I miss from BlackBerry is battery life and push of my domain emails (ie the myemail@mywebsite.com stuff).

If I travel outside the US anytime soon I'll get a cheap SIM phone and local card. World phones are overrated unless you're a frequent flyer.

Oh and if you change phones, do it asap because there's going to be another $10/mo. added to all new smart phone upgrades/purchases soon. Assuming that's not in effect already. I don't remember the date.

 

[ekz13]

Oh and if you change phones, do it asap because there's going to be another $10/mo. added to all new smart phone upgrades/purchases soon. Assuming that's not in effect already. I don't remember the date.

I believe it's 1 Feb, but trust sprint to get froggy and do that ahead of time, however, shift is 4g anyway so it'll include the extra 10,

however (again), you may as well go for top of the line, if your getting close to that date anyway since all smartphones will have that charge

and also, ditto on the above, as an ex bold user, I miss my bb, but not for any feature or fuction that it has (my bbm only had 2 people, both family) and I find my battery life is right about almost par with my bb (shift is of course a bit worse) but I can make it through the day (which is my criteria)

oh and for emails, I have 2 gmails, 1 hotmail, and 1 yahoo... I just use the gmail feature to "fetch" my hotmail, yahoo (set it through the website) and those are push now too and dump into my gmail box, plus you can set the option so it "labels" your outside emails from the respective accounts their coming from.

 

[mrmw]

I believe it's 1 Feb, but trust sprint to get froggy and do that ahead of time, however, shift is 4g anyway so it'll include the extra 10,

however (again), you may as well go for top of the line, if your getting close to that date anyway since all smartphones will have that charge

and also, ditto on the above, as an ex bold user, I miss my bb, but not for any feature or fuction that it has (my bbm only had 2 people, both family) and I find my battery life is right about almost par with my bb (shift is of course a bit worse) but I can make it through the day (which is my criteria)

oh and for emails, I have 2 gmails, 1 hotmail, and 1 yahoo... I just use the gmail feature to "fetch" my hotmail, yahoo (set it through the website) and those are push now too and dump into my gmail box, plus you can set the option so it "labels" your outside emails from the respective accounts their coming from.

it's already $10/month add on for 4G phones. Sigh.

So Jan 31 is not meaningful with regards to the HTC Shift.

But thanks for the alert!

 

[cadavev]

I had a blackberry and i made the switch and ill never go back after getting my shift.

 

[mscottfl]

I was reluctant to make the change for a long time until the shift came along. I even tried the epic for a few days and took it back. After seeing the BB leaks and nothing slated for sprint I bought the shift ...after a few days of adjustment and missing bbm I can honestly say that I LOVE THIS PHONE and am not looking back at all.

Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk

 

[ShippsAhoy]

Good stuff

This is a great post. I too am a BB Bold user and reluctant to make the "shift" (pun intended). Maybe that's why HTC named it the Shift since they were hoping to grab a bunch of BB users with the keyboard??

Anyway, my biggest concern is that after 8 yrs of BB experience that there will be features I'm used to like cut/paste that I won't have anymore.:'( Does that mean I'm brainwashed?

 

[dchawk81]

This is a great post. I too am a BB Bold user and reluctant to make the "shift" (pun intended). Maybe that's why HTC named it the Shift since they were hoping to grab a bunch of BB users with the keyboard??

Anyway, my biggest concern is that after 8 yrs of BB experience that there will be features I'm used to like cut/paste that I won't have anymore.:'( Does that mean I'm brainwashed?

You're not brainwashed...you're content. That's not a bad thing. Chasing technology is expensive and frustrating.

 

[ShippsAhoy]

Actually, I'm less content now than I used to be. Since upgrading my BB's OS it has sucked big time. Major memory leaks and I'm constantly doing a battery pull to reset it. I'm done. My only other reluctance is switching to Sprint form AT&T. I'm wondering if the coverage is going to be a problem. Realistically though, I'm assuming that all of the big carriers are covering most of the major cities. Heck, even my AT&T will guarantee a dropped call when I'm driving past Microsoft HQ at 5pm.

 

[dchawk81]

Actually, I'm less content now than I used to be. Since upgrading my BB's OS it has sucked big time. Major memory leaks and I'm constantly doing a battery pull to reset it. I'm done. My only other reluctance is switching to Sprint form AT&T. I'm wondering if the coverage is going to be a problem. Realistically though, I'm assuming that all of the big carriers are covering most of the major cities. Heck, even my AT&T will guarantee a dropped call when I'm driving past Microsoft HQ at 5pm.

Oh I see. I had to make a few adjustments when I switched over, but I'm not regretting it.

As far as coverage goes, Sprint is pretty solid over my way, but it does roam on Verizon some when you get away from the highways. Then again there are also total dropouts and some places where Sprint has signal but Verizon doesn't. You'd have to take Sprint's 30 day test drive to see if it'll work for you.

 

[Cyber Warrior]

By the way. You can cut/copy and paste on android.

 

[richardah]

By the way. You can cut/copy and paste on android.

The most important question is can you copy and past in emails on the email app not the GMail appl? I've heard no but I'd like to make sure.

 

[richardah]

This is a great post. I too am a BB Bold user and reluctant to make the "shift" (pun intended). Maybe that's why HTC named it the Shift since they were hoping to grab a bunch of BB users with the keyboard??

Anyway, my biggest concern is that after 8 yrs of BB experience that there will be features I'm used to like cut/paste that I won't have anymore.:'( Does that mean I'm brainwashed?

I'm in the same position and feel the same way. From what I've been reading, we have a reason to be concerned. It just depends on what you don't really "need" and what you're able to make a compromise on.

 

[richardah]

Lustful Dilemma:
If you're still with me, allow me to ask if the HTC Shift will do all the things that have become daily must have's:
1. Gmail incoming email, text msg, voicemail notification LED
2. A robust App for PDF viewing similar to BeamReader
3. Microsoft Office Word and Excel file creation and editing on a par with Docs To Go
4. MP3 player that supports folders (don't laugh--my Seagate Media Player does not--you have to copy all the songs in a playlist into one folder!)
5. Slacker
6. True push email from Gmail
7. From within Gmail, the ability to 'save' an email attachment to the SD card (apparently there's a Gmail app, 'AttachSave'...does it work well?
8. An app (such as Tether on the Blackberry) to enable tethering the phone to the laptop
9. A BB quality contact manager
10. A BB quality calendar
11. A BB quality Task app
12. A BB quality Notepad app
13. Nice to have: A world clock app to show the time in multiple cities

I'm currently in the same position. I'm trying to decide between a Blackberry Bold 9650 and an HTC Evo Shift. I currently DO NOT own an Android phone or have ever used one. I'm coming from a Blackberry 8800 on AT&T. Here's what I've found:

1. Android phones seem to revolve around a GMail account so that should be no problem. I'm not sure about the LED. I would like to know myself.
2. Someone else has answered. Adobe Acrobat comes on Android. Big plus. Beamreader seems like is in development for Android. It's on their site but no price.
3. Someone answered this also. Docs to Go is available on Android plus Quickoffice seems fine for basic stuff. You may be able to use Google Docs as well. I don't know if there's an app for that.
4. Shouldn't be a problem.
5. Slacker is available I believe.
6. Again, Android seems to be made for Gmail so should work fine.
7. Don't know.
8. The app that comes on the Shift is an extra service you have to pay for but there seems to be a free alternative.
9. First, I have to say no way. It depends on what you need. If you log in to your GMail contacts and take a look, I assume what you see there is what will sync. You should be able to add multiple phone numbers but I don't know if the notes on each contacts will sync.
10. The calendar seems ok on Android. The HTC Sense version of the calendar that comes on the Shift seems really nice.
11. From what I have found, there is no app for tasks. I hope I'm wrong. Your alternative is to open a web browser and go to google tasks online and use that. Not a good solution for me.
12. There appear to be several notepad apps you can get. The issue is syncing with your desktop if you need that. My solution is to use Evernote since there's an app for that. That would work out better for me. Others have suggested using 3Banana/Catch.
13. I'm sure there are hundreds of world clocks you can find.

A few other things that I have issues with are receiving meeting invitations and having them added to my calendar. If you just use GMail, I think this would work fine for you. I use my company email so I need to use the Email app which seems to be very basic to the point were I can just read the email and have very limited things I can do with it. I can't even copy and past from it. You might also want to look around for information about battery life. You will need to turn off everything you are not using to get a full day. From what I understand, if you have 4G on, you will only get a few hours out of your battery. GPS seems to drain your battery too. Those are things I usually don't need to worry about on my blackberry. Bluetooth is on until I need it and so is GPS. You will need to learn what you need to turn off to make it through out the day. I hope I'm wrong on that too.

I really want an Android phone myself so I'm trying to fit it in but it just seems like it's a big beta experiment meant for people who are more interested in updating their facebook and twitter accounts than actually doing any work on it. I want one so bad that I would even carry a few extra batteries if that's what it took to make it one whole day. I'm still undecided.