blackberry user moving to EDGE or not?

[squashthatfly3]

how was the transition from bb10 to android?As i have only used BB products... longtime edge users..do you have any specific problems with this phone? thanks

 

[sexy4043]

I had been using a blackberry ( various models) for more than 10 years and still consider that the best platform ever. So, moving away from blackberry, I needed the best possible option on the market. I am very happy with my 7 edge.

 

[doxidad]

I also moved from BB after 10 years. I really loved BB10 but with the way BB was headed I jumped to a 7E. I really like it. I would use the BB Hub+ Android product to get back some of the things I liked about BB10 but I am not willing to pay a monthly fee for using it. If they sold it with a one time charge that would be a different matter. I have found a few apps to replace the text messaging and the email that more fit my needs than the stock ones that come with the 7E. Overall the phone is great, and I'm happy I got it.

 

[ThePoisonBerry]

Which texting app did you choose? I'm using the Google Messenger app but it lags really badly

 

[pjwk81]

You can get the BB Hub and suite of apps on Android now.

 

[shaleem]

Long time BlackBerry user here too. I actually have been a Note user for a while, but after the latest issue with the Note 7 I moved to the 7 Edge. I think it is a very good phone and I was really impressed with the battery life. I changed some things such as using Textra for messaging, Aquamail for email and I use Nova Launcher instead of the stock launcher. Those are just my preferences.

 

[Serkle K]

BB user here as well. I went to the Note7 from a Passport. I am now looking at the S7E as well. I miss my Z10 and BB10 so bad.

I started out by carrying both devices for about a week maybe more. I'm still trying to get used to not swiping and having direct access to my HUB. I have Hub+ on my Note7, but it is nowhere near the same experience. Functionality is there, but ease of use and always available is not there. Using HUB+ is not like HUB on BB10 because while your accounts are in the aggregated app, they are not on the device. What I mean is, if you set up all of your email accounts in HUB+ and you accidentally delete it or have to switch devices, you lose the accounts. And you'll have to set them all up from scratch again. In my case, it is very frustrating. Also, you get duplicate notifications, from HUB+ and from wherever else the account is setup (Gmail app, Samsung Email app), and again, it's frustrating. I have not setup any accounts other than my gmail account, and then all other accounts have been added to HUB+ only. Not I have to go back and set them up individually on my next device. It's annoying to have to transfer my notification sounds into the root directory and look for the ringtone and notification folders.

All that said, I did like the edge features, even if it was on a Note. I wish there were more things available for edge features, like better sports and weather options. more edge notification options, everything seems to only come through Yahoo (yahoo news, yahoo sports). I wish we have the ability to customize the edge notification colors lengths and patterns out of the box. I think there are apps you can download for that.

That's all I can think of that might help you. Good luck!

 

[FCSC]

BB user for 10 years or so here as well, moved from the Q10 to the S7 Edge after giving up waiting for the Priv to come out on verizon.

love my Edge

I was using a blend of Signal and the stock samsung SMS app, trying out Textra as of last night.

 

[Maarten Van Pottelberghe]

I had been using a blackberry ( various models) for more than 10 years and still consider that the best platform ever. So, moving away from blackberry, I needed the best possible option on the market. I am very happy with my 7 edge.

Same here. Currently using the BlackBerry Passport for Business and the edge for pleasure. Best combo ever. Passport Keyboard Features are what i miss most.

 

[underway99]

Also, you get duplicate notifications, from HUB+ and from wherever else the account is setup (Gmail app, Samsung Email app), and again, it's frustrating.

You can eliminate the duplicate notifications by changing your email sync to MANUAL in your Gmail and stock email clients. Remember to just kill the email sync, not the remainder of the things attached to your Google account. Also turn off the notifications in your SMS client and BBM if you use it, along with any other third-party messaging apps that link through Hub+.

 

[TTQ225]

I used BB for about 10 years. When Priv was announced forcing me to move to Android from BB10 that I loved, I decided to get the best Android there was at the time and switched from my Z30 to Note 5. It was and still is an excellent phone. When Note 7 was released I got an itch and bought Note 7 while passing my Note 5 to my wife. We all know what happened to Note 7, the best smartphone in the world. I reluctantly exchanged mine for S7E yesterday. So far no complaints. It works well, except it feels smaller and more slippery than Note 7. I am going to get a case for it. As for emailing and texting, I am using BlueMail and Textra for about 2 years now and they are excellent. I also use SwiftKey instead of a native keyboard and love it.

 

[MikeRotch76]

Was a BB user from the Curve 8930. Last BB phone I had was Z30, then went to the Priv. When I dropped my Priv and cracked the screen, I got the S7E. As good as the Priv was, I LOVE my S7E. I do miss PKB but there is a lot pros vs cons with S7E vs Priv.

That being said, I think BB10 is still the best OS out there and I wish that it had the app support that Android has. I supported BB for as long as I could. If you really liked the swipe gestures from BB10, I suggest using Nova Launcher. And the Apps edge launcher is really handy too. At first I missed the live tiles in BB10, but I have found the right combo of widgets so that now I don't miss it as much.

The negatives about leaving my Z30 for me:
1. Night mode - Why is it SOOO HARD for someone to make an Android app that makes the simple but extremely useful night mode that BB10 has? I have done it somewhat successfully using 3 different apps making it 2 taps away from night mode, but still not as elegant as BB10

2. Multimedia, volume buttons, play/pause handling. I LOVED that if I had a music player and video player playing, that if my a video player was in the foreground, and I hit the play button on my headphones, the video would play. if the video player was in the background, or screen was off, hitting the play button would play the music. Also, being able to use volume buttons on side of phone to skip tracks was the BEST. I know Android has apps for that, I use Pocket Skip Tracks but it doesn't work as nice as BB10

3. Hub in BB10 is much better than Hub+ in Android. I subscribe to Hub+ and I hope they keep improving it. Calendar is included in that too.

But as said above, those 3 annoyances are a drop compared to all the extra things Android and the S7E offer.

 

[aha]

Ex Passport user here now am using a S7E, no complaints. The only thing I miss was the Remember app... nothing in Android world comes close to it. All felt like after thoughts... but I guess Remember app devs did take advantage of direct support from their OS team... Unless Google decides to do a notes/task app with deep integration with calendar app and support from their OS team, no third party app devs can do what BB's remember app team did.

Back to the topic... go ahead, it's great.