Blackberry user, android lust?

[dchawk81]

I have a tasks app. Check the market.

 

[mrmw]

I'm currently in the same position....

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'm still undecided.

Right--Accepting/issuing Outlook compliant meeting invitations--and their getting entered automatically into your calendar! A must have! Does Gmail do this? (ok--google is our friend. the answer is yes. the answer is no. read for yourself).

But at least we have one more item for the list.

The g_d_mn blackberry--it really is very good at what it does. Maybe the answer is to get an iPad (shudder) and keep the Blackberry LOL?

 

[Cyber Warrior]

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.

Yes you can. I do it from Gmail and K9mail. I use k9mail for my pop3, imap and exchange accounts. It handles email better than the stock and pushes email faster and with more settings then BBs. K9mail is what made my final decision when switching from BB to android.

 

[richardah]

Yes you can. I do it from Gmail and K9mail. I use k9mail for my pop3, imap and exchange accounts. It handles email better than the stock and pushes email faster and with more settings then BBs. K9mail is what made my final decision when switching from BB to android.

Have you noticed if K-9 drains the battery any more than the default application? From what I read on their website, it seems like it keeps more of a constant connection to the email server.

Thanks.

 

[richardah]

Right--Accepting/issuing Outlook compliant meeting invitations--and their getting entered automatically into your calendar! A must have! Does Gmail do this? (ok--google is our friend. the answer is yes. the answer is no. read for yourself).

But at least we have one more item for the list.

The g_d_mn blackberry--it really is very good at what it does. Maybe the answer is to get an iPad (shudder) and keep the Blackberry LOL?

One of my clients bought an Evo. He complained that after he synced his contacts, some of the information he has for his contacts did not transfer over from Outlook. This might be another issue. Not a big one but you might have to do some manual entry.

I'm leaning towards an Android despite all of this. I kind of like the Motorola Defy on TMobile but I am more confident in Sprint's network.

 

[jscher2000]

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.

I have the default email app set up with an Exchange account.

Text of received messages: long press text to call up selection sliders. These are begin and end markers you slide with your finger to select what you want. As you work, a bubble shows a zoomed view of where the selection begins or ends. When you lift your finger, a toolbar appears with copy, lookup, or share.

Earlier message text in reply or forward: The above still works, if you are patient considering the smaller text.

New text you're composing: There is an extra step -- when you press on text, you have to choose text selection before the sliders appear.

All in all, this implementation is excellent. Way better than Corporate Sync on the Motorola Droid series.

In addition, on the physical keyboard, you can select from the cursor position by holding shift and using the 4-way navigation controller.

If you install the Swype beta, there is a hidden selection keyboard that probably works, too, but I haven't tested it yet.

 

[Cyber Warrior]

Have you noticed if K-9 drains the battery any more than the default application? From what I read on their website, it seems like it keeps more of a constant connection to the email server.

Thanks.

Not that I've noticed. You can set K9 to push and pull. It depends on how many accounts you have and how many messages you receive. I have 2 gmail accounts and 4 K9 accounts. Have them set to push and poll is set for every three hours. I receive anywhere from 100-150 emails a day and use my phone heavily.... and I still get a good 12 hrs of battery life.

 

[richardah]

Not that I've noticed. You can set K9 to push and pull. It depends on how many accounts you have and how many messages you receive. I have 2 gmail accounts and 4 K9 accounts. Have them set to push and poll is set for every three hours. I receive anywhere from 100-150 emails a day and use my phone heavily.... and I still get a good 12 hrs of battery life.

Thank you for the information. That's good to know. I will have 4-6 emails (not GMail) but I would need to set polling at the maximum every 15 minutes. Any longer than that and I won't be able to respond to service requests in a timely manner. I would prefer every 5 minutes but I know that would kill the battery.

Thanks again for your information. I'm about 98% sure I'll get an Android phone so I should be able to contribute better once I start using it.

 

[Cyber Warrior]

Thank you for the information. That's good to know. I will have 4-6 emails (not GMail) but I would need to set polling at the maximum every 15 minutes. Any longer than that and I won't be able to respond to service requests in a timely manner. I would prefer every 5 minutes but I know that would kill the battery.

Thanks again for your information. I'm about 98% sure I'll get an Android phone so I should be able to contribute better once I start using it.

If you get emails that often you can just use push.... its just as fast as BB. Polls good for if you want it to check the server every so often. Push will actually use less resources since its not constantly checking the servers if there's no email to be checked. Then just set up Poll to update every few hours to keep the folders in sync.

 

[kristi]

i am also an ex BB user and i had the optimus for about 3 weeks. so here goes...the optimus is a nice little phone however there are quit a few annoying things with it like lack of any sort of LED. second i'd like to say that the only thing you are going to miss from the BB is the contact manager, i really miss being able to just start typing in a name or number and it would auto fill. but that is the ONLY thing. as far as calanders there are some sool widgits out there and for notepad (i say these two cuz they are important to me as well) there is one called colornote and you can color code you notes for importance and there are checklists which are awesome grocery lists. i listen to slacker radio nearly everyday...that being said my BF still has his curve and it does seem to work better but it still works pretty good.
i was satisfied with my blackberry, my BF loves his......two days into this EVO shift and hes convinced hes going to get the EVO in a couple months when he can if that tells you anything

 

[Cyber Warrior]

i am also an ex BB user and i had the optimus for about 3 weeks. so here goes...the optimus is a nice little phone however there are quit a few annoying things with it like lack of any sort of LED. second i'd like to say that the only thing you are going to miss from the BB is the contact manager, i really miss being able to just start typing in a name or number and it would auto fill. but that is the ONLY thing. as far as calanders there are some sool widgits out there and for notepad (i say these two cuz they are important to me as well) there is one called colornote and you can color code you notes for importance and there are checklists which are awesome grocery lists. i listen to slacker radio nearly everyday...that being said my BF still has his curve and it does seem to work better but it still works pretty good.
i was satisfied with my blackberry, my BF loves his......two days into this EVO shift and hes convinced hes going to get the EVO in a couple months when he can if that tells you anything

I would look into one of the better Android phones, if not you probably will ne disappointed. Top two right now are the DroidX and Evo in my opinion. Coming out would be the Thunderbolt, Bionic and Atrix. Those would be the only Android phones I would buy.
And by the way I have LED notifications and auto fill for email and SMS. Do your research before you buy a phone. The only thing you're going to miss is BBM.

 

[richardah]

i am also an ex BB user and i had the optimus for about 3 weeks. so here goes...the optimus is a nice little phone however there are quit a few annoying things with it like lack of any sort of LED. second i'd like to say that the only thing you are going to miss from the BB is the contact manager, i really miss being able to just start typing in a name or number and it would auto fill. but that is the ONLY thing. as far as calanders there are some sool widgits out there and for notepad (i say these two cuz they are important to me as well) there is one called colornote and you can color code you notes for importance and there are checklists which are awesome grocery lists. i listen to slacker radio nearly everyday...that being said my BF still has his curve and it does seem to work better but it still works pretty good.
i was satisfied with my blackberry, my BF loves his......two days into this EVO shift and hes convinced hes going to get the EVO in a couple months when he can if that tells you anything

Thank you for your input. Android phones are great for personal use. The little issues come in when you use them for business. I don't mean "business" as someone that just wants their work email on their phone for convenience. I run my business off of my phone so if things don't work right, it affects my business and eventually my wallet. Email is important because if I send or reply to an email and it doesn't come from my company domain, it doesn't look professional and it affect how clients view me and my company. It's like you give a client your contact information written on a partially used napkin instead of giving them a professional looking business card. They won't take you seriously. I deal with corporate clients so I can't have that. The main reason I'm looking at Android phones is for the bigger screen. Some of the apps may also make things easier for me but it's mainly for the larger screen. The other reason is I get asked a lot of questions about phones from my clients so I have to be the guinea pig.

Thanks again for your input.

 

[richardah]

I would look into one of the better Android phones, if not you probably will ne disappointed. Top two right now are the DroidX and Evo in my opinion. Coming out would be the Thunderbolt, Bionic and Atrix. Those would be the only Android phones I would buy.
And by the way I have LED notifications and auto fill for email and SMS. Do your research before you buy a phone. The only thing you're going to miss is BBM.

I agree about looking into one of the better Android phones. Each manufacturer has their own software that runs on top of Android. HTC has Sense, Motorola has MotoBlur, etc. Each one has it's own benefits that may help you perform tasks better/easier. For me, I like HTC's Sense Calendar. It's simple and provides the info you need easily. I also like their huge clock and weather app. I like MotoBlur's ability to backup your phone on their website and it will help you find it if you lose it. I also like their re-sizable widgets. Each one has it's own characteristics and you will have to see which you prefer. The Evo Shift has a notification LED (maybe not as good a a Blackberry...don't know for sure). The Optimus is a good phone for the price. It does not have some of the features the more expensive phones have but you will have to decide if it's enough for you.