Blackberry to D3 recs

[bfaillini]

Newbie to Android here!
Long long time blackberry user, very happy with keyboard, fed up with RIM.
Looking to jump to Android. Feel need to retain security blanket of physical keyboard for high business
email use.
I know about SWYPE, but that aside, has anyone made this jump and have advice/reassurance on the keyboard quality?

Thanks much!

 

[mbrouill]

I came from a Curve to a D3 and am not even looking back. Make the jump, the water is fine...

 

[richardah]

I still have a Bold 9650 on Sprint as well as a Droid 3 I bought yesterday. There are somethings you will need to get used to. I have the dial from the home screen disabled on my Blackberry so I can use shortcuts like "c" for calendar, "m" for monthly view, "m" for messages, "c" for compose, etc. but attempting to have something similar on my Droid 3 involves having a bunch of shortcuts all over my screen. The keyboard will take some getting used to and feels a little "flat" to me. I mean the whole half with the keyboard, not the keys. The keys are great. Some apps like maps, Evernote, my Bank, etc. are much nicer on the larger screen. The youtube video's I've seen don't do the UI justice. On the videos, it always seemed really cheezy. It's much better in person. The battery life so far seems to be about the same. Maybe just a little bit better and I'll get better as the batteries goes through a full discharge and charge cycle.

 

[bfaillini]

I still have a Bold 9650 on Sprint as well as a Droid 3 I bought yesterday. There are somethings you will need to get used to. I have the dial from the home screen disabled on my Blackberry so I can use shortcuts like "c" for calendar, "m" for monthly view, "m" for messages, "c" for compose, etc. but attempting to have something similar on my Droid 3 involves having a bunch of shortcuts all over my screen. The keyboard will take some getting used to and feels a little "flat" to me. I mean the whole half with the keyboard, not the keys. The keys are great. Some apps like maps, Evernote, my Bank, etc. are much nicer on the larger screen. The youtube video's I've seen don't do the UI justice. On the videos, it always seemed really cheezy. It's much better in person. The battery life so far seems to be about the same. Maybe just a little bit better and I'll get better as the batteries goes through a full discharge and charge cycle.

Thanks. Moving from Bold 9650 also. Still thinking about the new Bold 9930, but RIM is sooooo frustrating with technology updates, and lagging so behind...

 

[emt834life]

I am switching from BB bold 9650 to D3 as well. Waiting for my phone now..its on backorder. Wont get it til sometime next week.

 

[mbrouill]

I am switching from BB bold 9650 to D3 as well. Waiting for my phone now..its on backorder. Wont get it til sometime next week.

Wow, D3s are backordered? Didn't expect to hear that...

 

[lotzakritters]

Thanks. Moving from Bold 9650 also. Still thinking about the new Bold 9930, but RIM is sooooo frustrating with technology updates, and lagging so behind...

I made the jump from a Bold 9650 to the D3 as soon as it came out. It was the best thing I could have ever done. I agree with you, that rim is so far behind with there phones, it's not even funny anymore. I was thinking about waiting for the 9930 also. Glad I didn't. If you haven't made the jump, do it, you will be very happy with an Android phone. "Just saying"

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

 

[mtva24#WN]

Came from Bb Storm 1 & 2 and def not looking back. Even the new BBs are lacking big time.

 

[Suntan]

but attempting to have something similar on my Droid 3 involves having a bunch of shortcuts all over my screen.

You can have the keyboard launch apps.

Menu>Settings>Applications>Quick launch

Assign an app to whatever letter. Then just hold the search button while pressing that key down.

-Suntan

 

[blm1219]

I came from a 9650 as well. Keyboard obviously isn't as amazing, but it's still good and easy to adjust to. I find the keyboard a bit big, but my hands are small (bb keyboard fit perfectly). The fact that I can use apps and the browser without banging my head against the wall because it takes so long/is so difficult to use definitely makes up for that though.

 

[djrakowski]

I came from a 9650 as well. Keyboard obviously isn't as amazing, but it's still good and easy to adjust to. I find the keyboard a bit big, but my hands are small (bb keyboard fit perfectly). The fact that I can use apps and the browser without banging my head against the wall because it takes so long/is so difficult to use definitely makes up for that though.

And that's exactly why I ordered a Droid 3 instead of a Bold 9930.

I moved from Bold 9650 to iPhone, and gave that to my wife when her LG Ally stopped working, and now I'm on a Thunderbolt, and I'm switching to D3 for the keyboard.

 

[lotzakritters]

You can have the keyboard launch apps.

Menu>Settings>Applications>Quick launch

Assign an app to whatever letter. Then just hold the search button while pressing that key down.

-Suntan

I use a app from the market that's called Circle Launcher. One button that opens up multiple shortcuts. Works perfect for me. Give it a try

 

[knowledgesbabigrl]

Newbie to Android here!
Long long time blackberry user, very happy with keyboard, fed up with RIM.
Looking to jump to Android. Feel need to retain security blanket of physical keyboard for high business
email use.
I know about SWYPE, but that aside, has anyone made this jump and have advice/reassurance on the keyboard quality?

Thanks much!

Made the jump from the BB 9650, and I absolutely love the D3. I went through a little withdrawal from BBM, but am now over it!!!!. I am still learning to work the new OS, but don't think I will ever go back!!

 

[astro_zombii]

Making the jump in about 2 weeks, had a blackberry for years, super excited! but going crazy waiting

 

[lotzakritters]

The wait will be so worth it, you'll see.

Sent from my Rooted Droid3 using Tapatalk

 

[nathanb131]

You can have the keyboard launch apps.

Menu>Settings>Applications>Quick launch

Assign an app to whatever letter. Then just hold the search button while pressing that key down.

-Suntan

Thanks, that decides it for me. Was debating whether or not I wanted a real keyboard again. I like everything about android except the data entry. I know that the side keyboards require two hands but at least it will be nice to quickly input text and forget like the good old days with the Treo.

I've been increasingly annoyed at the process of putting a simple thing into my Continuum.

Now I have to:
1. swipe to unlock
2. swipe to the homescreen with the icon I need,
3. open...sometimes a little pause, depending on how she's feeling today(I'm still learning how to keep android optimized, a bit of a chore)
4. tap the data field sometimes wait a second or two....
5. then I have to focus to avoid hitting the home/back/search buttons AND, on the Continuum, also avoid even getting near that dang ticker....
6. Enter data, a few more steps if it involves symbols and numbers
7. tap back to hide soft kb,
8. scroll to find the save button, done.....

That's a LOT of friction for adding a single item to my grocery list when it occurs to me. Not having to remember that little crap that pops up at random times throughout the day is probably the best thing a smartphone does for me. Now I find myself not wanting to bother anymore. With D3, hopefully it will go like this:

1. slide out keyboard (this bypasses the screen unlock, right?)
2. hotkey to what I want to do (which for me would be about 5 different apps for quick type-and-forget stuff)
3. just start typing because the cursor would be in the right field, big bonus if I could start typing as the app was opening and it populates that data field with stuff I typed while it was lagging....
4. press enter, done.

I hope this isn't wishful thinking. It's really odd to miss my Treo 680 so often. It didn't have a billion amazing apps available and a gorgeous screen... but getting 'buy dogfood' out of my head until I'm at the store was absolutely frictionless. Now it's an annoyance again.

And yes, I know that speach-to-text works pretty awesome on Android and I've been impressed. However, since I'm never quite sure when my phone is going to decide to be laggy or have slow data connection, then this feature for quick items loses it's advantage. Once you are in the data field in the program with both hands and eyes on your phone....most methods are on par with each other. It's getting to that point and back out that makes a huge difference to me.

 

[escentz#AC]

Quick question, is there an app that will turn the phone on if there's an alarm set? I love this on my bb. I turn it off when I go to bed and don't have to worry about my alarm not going off in the morning. Petty, I know, but its actually a big deal to me.

 

[ItnStln]

I have the Droid 2 Global that my company issued me. My personal phone is still the BlackBerry 9800 "Torch." They both have their pros and cons, but I like how you can customize Android basically however you want it. Plus Google Navigation is awesome!

 

[darthakakios]

I came from the Storm line, I had both U.S. models, and am VERY pleased I made the switch.

 

[NormanGC]

Newbie to Android here!
Long long time blackberry user, very happy with keyboard, fed up with RIM.
Looking to jump to Android. Feel need to retain security blanket of physical keyboard for high business
email use.
I know about SWYPE, but that aside, has anyone made this jump and have advice/reassurance on the keyboard quality?

Thanks much!

I upgraded from 8830 and have absolutely no regrets around 1 week after it was released! I love this keyboard! In fact, I mentioned this in another post, I have used the screen keyboard may 5 - 10 times. 99.5% of the time I just slide the keyboard out. I can't stand using a screen in portrait mode.

Manage the battery and you can get a good day with a charge. I have to admit, the battery life went from 4-3 days down to 20-30 hours depending how much I use it. That was my only concern. If you're a heavy user, I would suggest getting the extended battery immediately.

I couldn't see myself with a phone without a physical keyboard and this was the perfect phone for me!

I burned the RIM bridge within one day!