You left BB for Android What's better? What isn't?

[tunie]

I've been a BB users for years. As far as I'm concerned, RIM's products have fallen short since the early Curve days and their CS is non-existent. My first and second Bold's don't ring. The trackball failed long ago and since I have to take the phone apart to clean it, that hasn't happened. I hate the back-flips I have to go through just to get the phone to function at all. Battery pulls drive me crazy, along with the worst browser I've ever used. So, now that I've gotten all that off my chest , I'm looking at making the switch to the Atrix. Since so many of you have already taken the plunge, I'm interested in knowing how you feel about your decision.

Did you sync with Outlook on your BB and if so, are you syncing with Outlook on your Atrix? Does that work well for you?

Do you backup your Atrix regularly and if so, how? Even though RIM's desktop software isn't the nicest app around, it does work well when backing up.

Do you miss the physical keyboard?

How long does the Atrix battery last vs. your former BB?

Were you able to transfer your BB data to your Atrix i.e. memos, browser history, appointments, contacts, texts, saved docs? If so, was it seamless or did you have issues?

The sound on my BB has always been quite good. How does Atrix compare?

I currently run 6 different email addresses on my BB. If you had several different email addresses on your BB, were you able to run them on your new Atrix? Do they sync to one messages folder on your Atrix like they do on BB?

Is there a search feature on your Atrix like there is on the BB so you can search calendars, emails, memos, texts etc. from one search field?

I run YouMail on my BB. Can I run it on the Atrix?

I run a feature called "message to Task" on my BB so that when I receive an email or phone call, I can almost automatically add it to my task list. Is there anything like that for the Atrix?

How is the voice recognition on the Atrix? It's terrible on the BB.

If any former BB users can answer any of these, it would be greatly appreciated. I'm wary of diving into Atrix having just spent 2 years with bad Blackberry's. I need a vacation from cell phone hell.

Thanks for any help. The Atrix certainly is a fast and pretty phone. I'm just not sure yet, if it's a business and/or user friendly phone.

 

[MrszBerry]

The Atrix is DEFINITELY a great phone. I love it! I owned a Blackberry since 2006. But I had to leave. It was too slow and the browser was terrible. I had the 9700 Bold. I think the Atrix is better than the Blackberry. I do miss the blackberry though. The keyboard on the blackberry is great but touch screen is better. The batter life on the Atrix is better than any other android phones I've ever used (Samsung EPIC - terrible battery life and the G2 not as bad as the EPIC but last longer than the EPIC). I could go all day on one charge. from 10am to 11pm. Not bad.

I didn't bother transferring my BB data to the Atrix so I don't know if that can be done.

The sound on the Atrix is pretty loud. At least on mine. lol

 

[Jim Ahrman]

I had a curve and then a 9000 and jumped to Atrix...glad i did..no second guessing at all. I never did sync with Outlook and my email and contacts were already in gmail, so since i had gsync installed on bb, didn't have to worry about moving those. As for the keyboard, it took about 1-2 weeks to adjust..but after that..no problems at all, but it is an adjustment.
i couldn't even hear my 9000 ring any more, i had to many issues with the 9000, that stupid speaker glitch/bug/issue..got me twice.

As for battery...not as strong as the curve/9000..BUT with the Atrix or any Android phone..much much more use things to do with so..it's a give and take thing. I'm happy with it...not sure if I could go a whole day with out a charge..it would be close..but again depends on how heavy of a user.

I do know of 1 person who had a curve, got a droid, and after 2 weeks, went back to curve. His reason was only email and keyboard..don't know why..but that is what he said, have no other details. I do know he doesn't use it for much of anything else..or get into apps or anything else you can do with it.
I've had this for just under 1 month..and still finding/learning all that you can do with this thing. Not a huge learning curve to learn how to use it..but to learn everything you can do with it.
but..no second guessing changing and happy i did.

 

[Tre Lawrence]

I am a huge BB fan... but there is nothing that the BB does better for me at this point. Communication, networking, surfing, time management... nothing.

 

[EJL1980]

-- Before I answer, I had a Curve 8530, Storm 9530, Tour 9630, Bold 9700, and a Torch 9800

Did you sync with Outlook on your BB and if so, are you syncing with Outlook on your Atrix? Does that work well for you?

-- I only use my work's exchange server, and it syncs fine.

Do you backup your Atrix regularly and if so, how? Even though RIM's desktop software isn't the nicest app around, it does work well when backing up.

-- There are fewer reasons to back up an android phone. Your apps stay on the cloud, gmail, contacts, exchange, etc all sync wonderfully. I believe RIM is capable of doing this, but don't because that would hurt their sales of BES.

Do you miss the physical keyboard?

-- Sometimes, but not as much as I missed it with the storm.

How long does the Atrix battery last vs. your former BB?

-- The battery life on the Atrix is nothing compared to the BB. As long as you get decent wireless signal, you'll probably get a day out of it. Turn the brightness down when not outside, and don't play a lot of games. Also, watch which widgets you use. I tried the MLB At Bat widget, and it killed my battery in hours.

Were you able to transfer your BB data to your Atrix i.e. memos, browser history, appointments, contacts, texts, saved docs? If so, was it seamless or did you have issues?

-- I didn't really try. I kept almost everything on Google Calendar/Gmail and that all sync'd perfectly on its own.

The sound on my BB has always been quite good. How does Atrix compare?

-- I find the sound on my Atrix to be better.

I currently run 6 different email addresses on my BB. If you had several different email addresses on your BB, were you able to run them on your new Atrix? Do they sync to one messages folder on your Atrix like they do on BB?

-- Im sorry, I just run one GMAIL, and one Exchange. One area Android really lacks is in notifications, just as a warning. The notifications on BB are far superior. The ease of changing ringers for each contact and each type of message were far more reliable and complete on BB. I often dont' get alerts on my exchange messages.

Is there a search feature on your Atrix like there is on the BB so you can search calendars, emails, memos, texts etc. from one search field?

-- I haven't really tried or felt the need to since switching. I used to use that feature on my Torch all the time.

I run YouMail on my BB. Can I run it on the Atrix?

-- Google Voice is the default VM app, so I haven't tried YouMail on Android. Google Voice is a visual voicemail product as well, and performs transcription (not very accurate yet though if your friends mumble like mine)

I run a feature called "message to Task" on my BB so that when I receive an email or phone call, I can almost automatically add it to my task list. Is there anything like that for the Atrix?

-- Sorry, not sure.

How is the voice recognition on the Atrix? It's terrible on the BB.

-- Far more accurate than on my BB, but its still in its infancy.

If any former BB users can answer any of these, it would be greatly appreciated. I'm wary of diving into Atrix having just spent 2 years with bad Blackberry's. I need a vacation from cell phone hell.

-- I don't know that I could go back to Blackberry. I had to set a friends up for them the other day and it felt so... antiquated. However, if I was running a business, I'd still set everyone up with Blackberrys. There is still nothing out there as secure. For someone not computer literate at all, I'd suggest something iOS. For someone diehard about security and email usage, I'd suggest BBos. Finally, for someone who just wants to enjoy their phone, and can figure out a computer, I'd suggest Android.

 

[tunie]

Thank you for this great feedback. It's a dilemma for me. Blackberry's OS works perfectly for business when the phone actually works. Unfortunately, their phones are plagued with design flaws so they're down more than they're up.

Atrix - more reliable, faster, beautiful browsing/social networking interface, but lacks the finesse of a Blackberry when it comes to messaging, security and document management/manipulation and, it's delicate.

Blackberry - Excellent messaging, document management/manipulation, outstanding contact management, great memo feature and task list management, incredible physical keyboard, very sturdy casing limiting damage when dropped and ready to go out of the box. At the same time, this phone is slow, reboots on its own, needs regular battery pulls, doesn't ring, trackball/trackpads fail, back covers fall off, OS upgrades are feeble improvements.

Blackberry has the OS I need but it's contained in a substandard piece of equipment while the Atrix is missing some of the business related things I need, contained within a more reliable, albeit, much more delicate phone.

Why can't they get all this stuff together on one phone! Well, I can't go back to Blackberry because, despite its business friendly OS, reliability has to be #1 on my list. I would enjoy having a phone that rings, among other things. So, if I can set up the Atrix to do what I need it to do, even if it does them clumsily, it's better than dealing with daily Blackberry issues. I'm sold.

 

[devito80]

Atrix works well for business, too

I had a BB 9000 & like you, grew very tired of all the regular battery pulls & nonsense that came with owning one. But I've moved on & never looked back since stepping into my Atrix. I really do love it. I think that if you use the right apps, adjust the settings (which Android is AMAZING about), & get an Otterbox Defender or similar case for it, the Atrix is a great business phone. I use a Defender case, Office Suite Pro, Evernote, my work's Exchange Server email, + hotmail & Gmail accts synced to one folder (yahoo doesnt sync to it, though you can dl the yahoo mail app), & tons of intuitive & useful widgets that enable me to use it as my business/personal phone without fail. I've changed my launcher to ADW & made the experience even better. Launcher Pro was great but force closed to often. Reminded me of those blasted freeze ups from my BB days. Launcher Pro had to go! I still use my BB9000 as a paper weight though... I was rooted but unrooted for this last update. Waiting for the new root method so I can hotspot again. I miss it very much But to all of your questions: pretty much- Yes... and THEN some;-)

 

[sk8trix]

I switched over from a storm 9530.
Email for BB is unmatched by android.
You can copy paste and save attatchements in an easier manner where as android it take s a little longer.

You dont get those complementary battery pulls we all love and miss(lmao)

Android is more relaiable,the apps are really good and actuallly useful.You get office app with it which is great,and you can move apps to sd cards.

BB os is good but their phones tend to just mess up sometimes out ofthe blue and i was really tired of having to restore backups everytime the phone screwed up and pulling the battery or having an unresponsive keyboard......only would go back to BB if they can pull it together and get up to par with android but with the bb appearance and quick e mail

 

[sublime187]

Blackberry QWERTY keyboard is a champ and much easier than a touchscreen for typing.

Blackberry mail is more reliable.

Blackberry call quality was much better.

Blackberry had better battery life
(i always left 3G off on my 9000 and 9700) (there's also another reason for this- my old blackberry only had a few apps that i actually used, and they weren't very data intensive. My Atrix has MANY data intensive apps that I actually use on a daily basis. In short, the Atrix is working a lot harder than my 9700 ever had to.)


----------------

Android browser, gaming, app availability, and overall app experience is a MILLION times better.

Everything is faster, prettier, and more fun.

Android allows more customization..

Touchscreen sucks for typing , but is a champ for everything else.

------------------

To me, my old 9700 would be better for an email/business device, NO DOUBT.

The Atrix is better for apps, gaming, web browsing, FUN.

 

[Terrigno]

My expierence. BlackBerry was the best with typing and Email. There Keyboards on BlackBerry phones are the best hands down. Now Android, Took my win on just about everything else . I love BlackBerry dont get me wrong, but Android is on the Rise and is the true competetor to Apple. I cant stand Apple with a passion. lol

 

[Johnly]

I am a very proficient user of android. Is BB more reliable email wise? I have had android for two years (moto style) and never had a late/missed email. Copy paste works awesome with swype. I don't use that hardly, as I am not much of a copy kind of user. BB keyboards are first class. I am now better with the virtual ones though as far as speed goes, but I was more accurate in a physical one. Most people will say email is better on a bb, but I am not sure what they are comparing it to. Exchange works great on android. I may get shot with a flame, but bottom line, android does everything a bb does, and then some. I am in school and email and messaging are a priority, android delivers. Miss that plastic keyboard at times no doubt. I don't miss bbs UI, I just don't.

 

[npaladin-2000]

I switched

I went from a Bold 9700 to the ATRIX, and my family has Torches and Curves, so I've had plenty of chance to compare. I also manage my company's email infrastructure, including the Blackberry Express server and the Exchange ActiveSync services. So let's start with email.

Exchange - Android doesn't require an add-on charge on the data plan which is nice. Android also allows easier access to non-Inbox folders, if you need to periodically look at one. Blackberry offers a host of security and management features....that 90% of the world doesn't use or need.

Email - as far as email in general, the big thing about Android is flexibility. There's extra email apps out there that support multiple mailboxes, unified inboxes, etc. ATRIX comes with one. You can also turn off "push" email if you don't want it, something you can NOT do with a Blackberry (I got tired of getting dinged for each email pretty quickly since I get over 100 a day between my accounts).

Battery - thats one place Blackberries shine, their battery life is spectacular. Androids need to be tweaked a bit to get through the day...if you turn the brightness down to zero and don't do push notifications for Exchange, you can get through 24 hours. I just charge it while I'm at work though.

Screen - The Atrix's screen is bigger and much easier to deal with than even a Torch. It gets smudgy, but I put on a matte screen protector, which blocks that AND glare.

Input - Typing on a Blackberry is faster than typing on any touchscreen, and that will never change. However, typing is different from SWYPING, and Swype is an incredibly fast input method once you get used to it, and that actually makes a touchscreen-only phone feasible in my opinion.

Apps - Lots more apps for Android than Blackberry, and the large screen makes multimedia more worthwhile as well.

Backing up - I don't bother either. Everything's in my Gmail or Exchange server. I do periodically sync the photos I've taken of course. Since everything was in Exchange and Gmail from my Blackberry I didn't have to transfer anything.

Sound quality - The Blackberry 9700 was good. The ATRIX is better.

Voice Recognition - The ATRIX comes with Vlingo, which is a fantastic voice recognition system. I've written whole emails with the thing and at worst had to only do minor edits. It follows commands well also, when told to dial or send email or SMS.

 

[sk8trix]

personally BB had the same battery life for me as with my atrix.Only real thing was the e mail.Touchscreen storms had click screens so annoying.I never got to enjoy a nice keyboard lol

 

[Terrigno]

personally BB had the same battery life for me as with my atrix.Only real thing was the e mail.Touchscreen storms had click screens so annoying.I never got to enjoy a nice keyboard lol

Ahh the Storm. And remember how the Storm 2 tried to improve on that? I remember getting a Storm and Storm 2 and being like WOW, BlackBerry is finally stepping it up. Then when I switched to Android, I was like ehh. BlackBerry has a ways to go lol

 

[plasticglock]

I've been a BB users for years. As far as I'm concerned, RIM's products have fallen short since the early Curve days and their CS is non-existent. My first and second Bold's don't ring. The trackball failed long ago and since I have to take the phone apart to clean it, that hasn't happened. I hate the back-flips I have to go through just to get the phone to function at all. Battery pulls drive me crazy, along with the worst browser I've ever used. So, now that I've gotten all that off my chest , I'm looking at making the switch to the Atrix. Since so many of you have already taken the plunge, I'm interested in knowing how you feel about your decision.

Did you sync with Outlook on your BB and if so, are you syncing with Outlook on your Atrix? Does that work well for you?

I don't do that.

Do you backup your Atrix regularly and if so, how? Even though RIM's desktop software isn't the nicest app around, it does work well when backing up.

I was very worried about this at first, but it's really no big deal. Android can sync all the stuff you need to your gmail. You DO have to back up any pictures and other media but not very often.

Do you miss the physical keyboard?

At first I missed it daily. Now I think I miss it about once a week. Swype is the best.

How long does the Atrix battery last vs. your former BB?

I only had the 8900, and when it was about a year old it stopped making it through the day. After I jacked os 5.0 from an east asian carrier and debranded it, and installed it on my phone the battery life went up to about a day and a half. My atrix had trouble making it through the day at first. Then the first update came out, and I found a rogue app cranking my cpu while off... Now I get through long days of medium to hard use without a charge. If you find your android phone running the battery down you just have to go in and find out why. With a little know how and a little trial and error it will be fixed.

Were you able to transfer your BB data to your Atrix i.e. memos, browser history, appointments, contacts, texts, saved docs? If so, was it seamless or did you have issues?

I downloaded a program from bb app world called google sync. I ran it one time and when I booted my atrix back up it had all my contacts (280+.) I think It backed up more than that but just can't remember what right now.

The sound on my BB has always been quite good. How does Atrix compare?

No problem with the bb but the atrix is better.

I currently run 6 different email addresses on my BB. If you had several different email addresses on your BB, were you able to run them on your new Atrix? Do they sync to one messages folder on your Atrix like they do on BB?

Yes, to a point. I had 6 emails on my bb and it was very easy to manage them. On the atrix my gmail has an app of it's own, and my other emails have their own app, but my work email had a problem. I could receive but not send emails. I finally figured it out. The stock email app does not allow "my server requires authentication." I checked the android market and found an app called "K-9 Mail." It's an open source app developed by contributions from the community and it's great. It has so many options it could almost drive you mad. It allowed me to send emails on my work email to say the least. I still have 3 icons on my 2nd home screen for email, and I have thought about moving them all into k-9, but haven't had time to try it yet. There are a lot more email programs out there, and there is sure to be one that you will like.

Is there a search feature on your Atrix like there is on the BB so you can search calendars, emails, memos, texts etc. from one search field?

Yes. By text or voice.

I run YouMail on my BB. Can I run it on the Atrix?

I've never used it, but I'm sure you can.

I run a feature called "message to Task" on my BB so that when I receive an email or phone call, I can almost automatically add it to my task list. Is there anything like that for the Atrix?

There are messaging apps that can do that, but once again I never use it.

How is the voice recognition on the Atrix? It's terrible on the BB.

My bad experience on the blackberry has caused me to avoid all voice recognition software on this phone too. I know people say it's great.
-actually, I did use it while my phone was in car dock mode a couple times. I searched the place I was going to and it found it like a champ. Navigation took me straight there. Still I have never agreed to the TOS for either of the voice apps that are on my phone.

If any former BB users can answer any of these, it would be greatly appreciated. I'm wary of diving into Atrix having just spent 2 years with bad Blackberry's. I need a vacation from cell phone hell.

Thanks for any help. The Atrix certainly is a fast and pretty phone. I'm just not sure yet, if it's a business and/or user friendly phone.

It will be great after you learn about the software some. I have had mine for about 6 weeks and I still learn something every day. Let me say that your android experience will be as good as YOU make it. These phones are for the "do it yourself" crowd and not for the "do it for me" people. They would be better served by apple's cookie cutter devices. If your android device has a problem or something you don't like about it it's up to YOU to fix it. That said there is very little that these devices cannot do.

 

[ItnStln]

I've noticed K-9 Mail mentioned a few times in this thread. Will K-9 push my AOL e-mail?

 

[sk8trix]

When I first got the storm I was pretty stocked on it.Before it I had an LG dare.Coming from a LG dare i was angry because the camera and videocamera on the non smart phone was better than the storm.I could also choose contacts I didnt want to talk to and it would go straight to Vmail.
They promised too much with the storm and I got burned.It was a kool phone but even with the never ending amounts of hybrids I couldnt keep it and so gave it to my younger brother.This Atrix is good but I've also used various other android phones and found them to be pretty good too.Pre is good too but i think one of the most annoygin Os ive used and had to fix friends phones is Windows mobile.....what a headache that was.I'm not hating on microsoft or anything but their Os always tends to freeze on my two friends phones and battery life isnt as good as the atrix for example.

 

[tunie]

I see that I'm not alone in my issues with BB. I loved the ease of use when it came to typing, email, scheduling, even moving docs in and out of the system, but the problems with construction almost made the phone useless. Sooo, I picked up my new Atrix 3 days ago. It was culture shock! It was like going from an old PacMan game on an Atari game system, to Metal Gear Solid 4 on the PS3! I'm still learning, but I've gotten it to a point now where I have some of the basic apps I need. It doesn't always seem very responsive, but I'm chalking that up to the learning curve. I downloaded GoLauncher and love it. It gave me extra desktops so I can separate each into categories. It also gave me more short cut keys at the bottom of the screens. I have several more things to work on with this phone to get it where I need it, but it's a pleasure working on it. With my BB, most of the work I did on it was trying to get it to function.

So far so good. I'll only say that I -really- miss my old Bold keypad. Really, really really miss it, but I'll get used to the touch screen.

Thank you for all your feedback. I listened and I'm glad I did.

 

[iGalione]

My Thoughts on it

If you're looking for great productivity and task and office management, then hands down, the BlackBerry platform is the way to go, i recently switched from my torch (which i sold to purchase this, only paid 25, out of contract).. Email push (had 12 accounts, w 1 exchange [exchange was slow because it wasn't push on their server]), memo/calendar/task/contacts, all synced with outlook flawlessly, and then transfered to plaxo for even more storage... media was a work in progress, but not the best, and wasn't recommended for games because its a productivity phone...

Now as for Atrix, it's what you want in an all around phone, tailored for entertainment (even though media player sucks), good communication program availability... all around solid phone... but what i do miss personally is:

- non-universal notification changing
- BBM (better than live profile, kik, whatsapp, etc... nothing like it)
- the ability to see full size pictures in mms message without having to savfe it to your phone
- PUSH EMAIL - is a must when not using google as your only email address... even the hack/cheat to set external email addresses in gmail still doesn't do the job
- simplicity of alarms... even a wide range of notification sounds

All in all, would i trade my Atrix for a torch again? probably not because it has much faster response and computing power... but yet and still they are two different platforms, if they get a full QnX based platform with dual core tech, then i will def jump ship... BUT... if BBM is released to android as they anticipate it will... I may stay on board, and pay for it if i have to...

Just my thoughts... oh and Hi, i'm new!

 

[tunie]

I'm right there with you MrGalione973. I've only had the phone for 3 days now, but I'm still working on Push email and wifi connectivity. The BB made email and notification alerts so incredibly easy. Since I haven't had enough time to delve into this deeply enough, I can't comment yet on how difficult this will be to accomplish on the Atrix. I know this phone isn't considered a true business phone, but a lot of people are using it as such sooo, if it can work for them, it can work for me. I just have to get a bit more acclimated to the OS.

I would go back to BB if and only if, their product quality and CS improves. I mean really, having a -business- phone that doesn't ring with a trackball that doesn't work, over and over and over without RIM admitting to an issue? They've taken the business community for granted and now they're paying for it. Unfortunately for RIM, their phones over the last 2 years were so bad that customers who were once loyal to them have jumped ship. A broken phone loaded with an antiquated OS doesn't make for a good business phone.

So far, the Atrix is making me go "Ahhhh...";a nice change from BB.