The Official Blackberry Convert Thread

[aaronhdtv]

I will miss my quicklaunch, Berryweather, and Socialscope. Maybe those developers will decide to make the decision to give some Android love in the future....

Socialscope is getting SOOOO good...it's the only app I miss from my Tour.

Really hope they develop an app for Android!

 

[CBCstillmatic]

I have only had Blackberry phones. Went from a Pearl to a Curve to the Storm and now a Storm 2. I tested other waters when I had a Pre Plus but that only lasted 2 months before I had to go back to my Storm 2. I just ordered my Droid X today and am going to test the Android waters. I am pretty excited and think I will end up sticking with the X. I played with friends and co-workers Droids and Incredibles and really liked the experience. I liked the Pre but it had nothing outside of the awesome UI and browser. The Pre had Zero customization and Blackberry is missing the flashiness and Browser. Android however seams to have both. I Had a hard time choosing myself between the Incredible and the X. I really like the X but really liked the Sense UI.

 

[Rob.G]

My wife and I both have Storm 1's. I loved mine for about the first 90 days and it started going downhill from there. I've been counting the days ever since, and when the Droid X was announced, I knew I had found my new phone. The Storm is the biggest piece of CRAP I have ever used. The software is horrible. I would love to personally strangle whatever a-hole wrote it. The touchscreen is so inaccurate that it's worthless. I can't type on it, and my fingers aren't all that big either.

So far I'm loving my DX (got it on Friday). I even stole the 8GB microSD out of my Storm and put it in my GPS for some extra storage. I'm saving the Storm in case my wife's finishes crapping out. She's still happy with hers, but she's not a techie like me. The Storms ARE pretty tough though... she drove over hers with the car (accidentally) and it still works fine. Even the dead pixels on the screen "healed" after a week or so. Weird.

Anyway... man the DX rocks! So I'm here reading all the HOWTO stuff and tips....

Rob

 

[ottscay]

Yet another BB-expat. Unlike the poster above I enjoyed my S1 for the most part, although it didn't age gracefully, especially as the world grows more app-centric (there were actually a lot of useful apps for BBs...too bad I could have perhaps 3-4 at most on my Storm).

I actually miss a lot of things (mostly email and BBM), and I have some undeniable nostalgia for RIM in general, but that said the DX is a far superior phone (especially as the battery issue seems to work itself out). I've voted with my dollars and am very happy with my purchase, now the pressure is on them (and/or future Android phones) to win the next purchase.

Although my toddler daughter the other day told me she liked my BlackBerry better, and that sort of broke my heart. At least I can let her play with it now!

 

[initialjdg]

i've been a BB user for more than 3 yrs and waited like a mad man for the 9650. Then it came out and it was still the same basic phone. browser wasn't that much better, it was still relatively slow in general, then all the reports of crooked trackpads, flaking pint etc. I gave up.

Picked up a droid X on release day and although I've always hated touchscreen phones, I really like this one. Swype is a breeze to use and the browser is quick. I can open .pdf files with no drama.

I sorta miss BBM. I miss having all the emails from multiple accounts dumped into one folder... but that's about it.

 

[alphanu22]

i think we should have a poll on what was the last phone used before the DX-
i kinda wanna see how many of us used to be on BB's-

 

[alershka#AC]

So, my question to you fellow blackberry converters are...

1. As on all blackberries there's the LED notification light flashes red if I have a message, does that happen with the droid x?
2. This really has nothing to do with the droid x, but rather do students get discounts monthly with Verizon?

The DroidX has a light that flashes green when you have new email. There is also the pull down notification area on the screen which is accessible from almost anywhere.

I can't speak for the student discount at VZW.

I am a former Blackberry Storm user. I do miss the email system from the blackberry but other than that, I wouldn't go back. The Droid X is so much faster and fluid. I have to break myself of the habit of closing apps like a fiend just to keep my application memory from going to zero (which was my major problem with the storm). As far as the Storm goes, the Droid X does what I did and so much more. I'm very happy I made the move.

 

[NickB2005]

The DroidX has a light that flashes green when you have new email. There is also the pull down notification area on the screen which is accessible from almost anywhere.

I can't speak for the student discount at VZW.

I am a former Blackberry Storm user. I do miss the email system from the blackberry but other than that, I wouldn't go back. The Droid X is so much faster and fluid. I have to break myself of the habit of closing apps like a fiend just to keep my application memory from going to zero (which was my major problem with the storm). As far as the Storm goes, the Droid X does what I did and so much more. I'm very happy I made the move.

Thanks for the info! Now the only question I am trying to figure out is the whole discount thing for college students. I've been told by some reps it's 15% and then 1 or 2 saying only for employers discounts are available.. Anyone know?

 

[alphanu22]

http://forum.androidcentral.com/motorola-x/23651-what-did-you-use-before-droid-x.html

 

[Syco54645]

this is night and day compared to my tour...

 

[ClaudiaP]

I just got off the phone from ordering my DX, I currently am using a BB Tour that I haven't had quite a year yet. I'm anxious for it to get here so I can actually see what I am doing on my phone...
I have had relatively little trouble with my Tour, I got one of the good ones the first time around, but from day one the screen has been way way too small for me to see well. My new every two isn't due until April but they still gave me the $199 upgrade price.

 

[Saiyaman156]

BlackBerry Tour to Droid X Experience

I just moved to the X from the Tour and I wanted to share some of my thoughts on the whole thing. Feel free to post your comments on what switching from a BB was/is like. As I think of more, I might post more things. I got it on launch day, so it is still new to me too.

Things I miss:
*BerryBuzz - I loved being able to have different color indicators for different things. It was awesome to be able to know what was incoming without turning the screen on.
*BlackBerry Messenger - This is a given.
*Sound Profiles - I really miss having so many different tones. One ring for SMS, one for MMS, one for BBM, one for Facebook, etc.
*The bundled games - I know this is a little silly, but I loved the games that came with the BB. BrickBreaker, Texas Hold'em, Sudoku, Word Mole

Things I love having now:
*The browser is about 100 times better. Websites load a lot faster. Full pages are loaded.
*The entire UI is just amazing. Everything is so much smoother, I love having different screens for things. The widget system is really cool.
*Change logs in OS updates make me smile. I like actually knowing why I should upgrade.
*Memory memory memory. I feel so overwhelmed! I have 8GB of application space. That is 32x what I had on the Tour.
*Swype. This application is awesome and it makes typing entertaining for me.
*No more battery pulls.
*I don't have to reset my phone to do install/uninstall of applications.

Things that annoy me now:
*I don't like having to sift through the market. The good thing about BB was that there was not a lot of applications. I went to find a widget for an agenda view, and I found like 200 results. I feel like it was way easier on BB.

Tips for making the switch:
*If you use gmail, I highly recommend using Google Sync to get your contacts and calendar over to Google. It makes the move easy.
*I desperately missed the native tasks and memopad applications in BlackBerry. I found Astrid Tasks and Note Everything to fill those spaces.

 

[RConcheiro#AC]

Thinking about making the switch from Blackberry 9700 to the HTC Evo 4G... BBM is my only thing holding me back

 

[CarbonOak]

I agree with everything you mentioned here, dude. But I'm thoroughly glad I made the switch; the positives significantly outweigh the negatives, and most of those negatives can be fixed or replaced with apps.

 

[RConcheiro#AC]

I agree with everything you mentioned here, dude. But I'm thoroughly glad I made the switch; the positives significantly outweigh the negatives, and most of those negatives can be fixed or replaced with apps.

I wish they could find an app for BBM... I know their are similiar ones like fring and all that, but I wish I could actually add real PINs

 

[Saiyaman156]

I agree with everything you mentioned here, dude. But I'm thoroughly glad I made the switch; the positives significantly outweigh the negatives, and most of those negatives can be fixed or replaced with apps.

I agree. I think the things that annoy me or I found negative are completely outweighed by the positives. I like that I can uninstall and install applications without restarting my phone every time. I am adding that to the list.

 

[RConcheiro#AC]

I agree. I think the things that annoy me or I found negative are completely outweighed by the positives. I like that I can uninstall and install applications without restarting my phone every time. I am adding that to the list.

good point

 

[salanester]

Things that annoy me now:
*I don't like having to sift through the market. The good thing about BB was that there was not a lot of applications. I went to find a widget for an agenda view, and I found like 200 results. I feel like it was way easier on BB.

You are the first person I have ever heard complain about this...lol. One of the biggest reasons to switch is the number of apps in the market.

 

[CarbonOak]

You are the first person I have ever heard complain about this...lol. One of the biggest reasons to switch is the number of apps in the market.

Similarly, I do wish the Android Market was better organized, and that you could use an Advanced Search.

 

[Dostovel]

I'm still using the Tour, I have to wait about a month before I can upgrade.

I was curious if the startup time for the DX is about the same, or faster than the 8+ minutes the Tour takes to start?