Do you like your S3? Current Blackberry user ponders upgrade...

[fotyc]

I have been a devoted Blackberry user for about four years, but I'm due for an upgrade from AT&T this spring and will have to choose between Blackberry 10 devices and hopping to Android (no iThing for me). How are people liking the S3? How is your battery life? If you came from Blackberry, what has been the best (or the worst) thing about the transition? I am looking for food for thought. Thank you...

 

[Athenazoe78]

Hi.
I came from iPhone to the GS3. Like it? No. I LOVE it. The camera is awesome and I really like google now and all the customization. And the screen is wonderful. I can definitively recommend it.

 

[codeda]

Coming from a blackberry to any other kind of smart phone is going to make you very sad in the battery department. Those things lasted forever on a charge. Though if you are waiting until spring to upgrade It might be better just to wait for all the new devices to come out this summer. Sg3 was released June of last year and it's successor will probably be released around that time this year. Other than the battery, and a couple weeks learning curve, I didn't miss anything about my blackberry. I switched over a few years back. Though the blackberry 10 devices look interesting too if you want to have a look at them.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[rpearce1475]

foytc,
I had a blackberry curve for about 4 years (same phone!) and switched to a gs3 this december when the blackberry finally died on me. I must say I absolutely love my gs3. I will admit that it took some time to get used to the touchscreen from my old physical keyboard (A good keyboard program helps a ton, I use swiftkey which I would highly recommend). However, this phone can do so much more than my blackberry it's not even funny. It's faster, much more apps, and I still get a full day's use off the battery (with power saving mode enabled). If you think you could hold out until June for the gs4, do so, but if you get the gs3 I promise you won't regret it. Feel free to message me if you want more info. My curve was the 8330 fwiw.

 

[whammer1249]

I was a Blackberry devotee for about 4 years as well before I moved in July to the GS3. I went from the Curve 8300 to the Curve 8900 to the new Bold. I am an enterprise user and lover of a physical keyboard, so I was nervous about the switch. I have NEVER regretted it. It is very easy to see why Blackberry is a dinosaur once you switch. I highly recommend a keyboard program like Swiftkey, because the change to touchscreen only does take a bit of practice. I also highly recommend an extended battery. I bought a Hyperion 4200 and now go about 24 hrs between charges with moderate to heavy usage. I have DirecTV Sunday Ticket To Go, which is not available w/Blackberry, as well as watching Netflix. The screen size is a huge benefit as well.

 

[fotyc]

Thanks! I appreciate all the input and I figured I'd have a sad about battery life - With my Torch I usually recharge every 36-48 hours (I am not a heavy phone user).
Actually I am eligible for an upgrade now and want to see the BB10 devices before I decide.

 

[trucky]

Long time Blackberry user here too. I'd get the S3 and never look back. Get Swiftkey Flow or Swype keyboard and you'll be "typing" faster than you ever did on your BB. You'll find a lot of BB converts around here.

 

[badhabit_wb]

fwiw i got an s3 32gb in july. i had a 9650 bold prior to that. love the s3 but.. if you use and have to sync outlook it sucks. once you get everything set up email, etc. i think you will be pleased with the s3. if uscc carries the bb10 then i will give it a try as soon as it comes out. it took a few weeks to get used to not having a keyboard but at this point i wouldn't go back to a phone with a keyboard. the screen real estate is worth giving up the keyboard. internet on the s3 is 1000 times better than the blackberry. i actually use my phone to do web searches now and don't have to wait forever for a page to load. the onboard navigation works great and other than the problems i've had with outlook i really like the phone. i've tried myphone explorer and have had contacts disappear or be replicated several times and it's a pain. overall the s3 is a giant step up from a blackberry 6 device. if blackberry 10 works as well as i've been led to believe i think it will be an even better phone. if not i think blackberry is done.

 

[ttwiitch]

Battery will be the ONLY let down.
Everything else is 5x better than any Blackberry.

Sent from my Galaxy S3?

 

[MobileMadness002]

Former devoted BB user of 7 years here. Made the change I think about 3 months ago to my S3 and I love it. The battery life is by far not even close to my 9810 or 9800, even the 8310 and 9530/9550 outlasted this thing by days. But then again none of my BBs were able to be overclocked to 2100mhz nor could they display HD video on screen. Now maybe BB10 will bring them a little closer to the media experience I have now, but I wont be holding my breath. And NO, I am not bitter to RIM, I love RIM as a company.

 

[mssca]

I witched from Bold 9900(before this 9700, Pearl) to S3 on Telus The improvements are huge and I over came the battery life issue by buying Seidio 3500 mAh high capacity battery. Yes, it makes the phone bit thicker, but this "smaller is better" idea on smartphones doesn't hold up when I have school for over 15 hours per day!

Any yes, I love the S3 with better web support, faster Internet (loading times of a web page) and so many great custom features.

Unless something dramatic happen with BB 10, I won't be going back to RIM.

 

[toilet-handle]

I came from an Iphone 4. And I absolutely love this phone. Although I kind of wish I waited a bit and got the nexus 4 instead just for the pure Google experience, and faster processor.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 running CyanogenMod 10 and lean kernel.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

I like almost everything about the S3. About the only thing I don't like is the placement of the power and volume buttons, and how slippery it is.

But take my opinion with a grain of salt. I hated the BBs that my client made me use.