It certainly does feel like there's more potential in Android, though. Whereas Android seems to be growing stronger and more exciting as time goes on, I feel like RIM is sticking so close to its rigid and traditional roots that it gets too slow when it comes to embracing new innovations.
CrackBerry.com on Android - Round Robin
- Thread starter Kevin Michaluk
- Start date
- Status
hate to post where I have nothing to really add to the conversation, but I would love to win an Adroid-based phone!
Hey Kevin, Miss you guys already. I have been a Crackberry member/follower since a month after you all got started. I got fed up with seeing the hour glass all the time and i had such a strong desire to get a touch screen. You see i am traped to Sprint doue to my remote location in KS. I have had the htc hero for 4 days now i have been a user of the 8100, 8330, 8900. I am not missing the blackberry phone at all. I do miss the bb community, and the bb pride i had. This phone runs soo smooth.
Tips for you kevin: Hold the home button to get to the switch app screen, hold send to do voice command, hold menu to pull up the keyboard, hold the end for a few seconds to toggle the radio or go silen, or airplane, or vibrate.
A must have app is Swift best twitter app. Another one is the given htc widgets. NewsRob for rss feed that you set up in google reader. Colornote is got to do list and note pad, Pkt Auctions is awsome if your a ebayer.
1. how do you find the hardware- Very good like the simple design and the housing texture (missing a soft button on the right side)
2. how do you find the battery life- I am a heavy user and it is still day four but my battery makes it only about 4 hours before bed time. But there is the new factor in play here. Also they say with 2.0 we should see improved batt life.
3. if you we're a BB user and switched up to give Android a test, what do you like and not like about it? Like the screen the snappy response and the smooth interface, miss the soft keys on the side and the battery life.
4. what are the must have apps? how does the device do with running them all? See above for apps and run all well it manages it for me instead of seeing the hour glass and deciding what app to terminate.
5. how do you go about loading up the device with media- so far just stick the memory card in cpu and download the stick in phone not a big media guy more business
6. with all that, i want to know your background - are you in business- Male, 28 yrs, Pastor, business with fun, lots of email, text, and social networking.
also love the quility of free apps and the volume of them in the market.
Tips for you kevin: Hold the home button to get to the switch app screen, hold send to do voice command, hold menu to pull up the keyboard, hold the end for a few seconds to toggle the radio or go silen, or airplane, or vibrate.
A must have app is Swift best twitter app. Another one is the given htc widgets. NewsRob for rss feed that you set up in google reader. Colornote is got to do list and note pad, Pkt Auctions is awsome if your a ebayer.
1. how do you find the hardware- Very good like the simple design and the housing texture (missing a soft button on the right side)
2. how do you find the battery life- I am a heavy user and it is still day four but my battery makes it only about 4 hours before bed time. But there is the new factor in play here. Also they say with 2.0 we should see improved batt life.
3. if you we're a BB user and switched up to give Android a test, what do you like and not like about it? Like the screen the snappy response and the smooth interface, miss the soft keys on the side and the battery life.
4. what are the must have apps? how does the device do with running them all? See above for apps and run all well it manages it for me instead of seeing the hour glass and deciding what app to terminate.
5. how do you go about loading up the device with media- so far just stick the memory card in cpu and download the stick in phone not a big media guy more business
6. with all that, i want to know your background - are you in business- Male, 28 yrs, Pastor, business with fun, lots of email, text, and social networking.
also love the quility of free apps and the volume of them in the market.
- Nov 29, 2008
- 6
- 0
- 0
Wow. Thanks for all the feedback so far guys. I have to plough through all this and take some notes and will comment further.
Makes me cry a little though when I hear from ex-BB/CrackBerry peeps who are now giving Android a go. Though at least if you're gonna do that, cool that you hang here at AndroidCentral a bit.
Makes me cry a little though when I hear from ex-BB/CrackBerry peeps who are now giving Android a go. Though at least if you're gonna do that, cool that you hang here at AndroidCentral a bit.
Kevin,
It looks to me as if alot of people are really converting to the Droid ever since it came out... Me personally, I was just playing with it the other day pretty extensively... and I must tell you , I too am very impressed even though I am a die hard blackberry fan i would almost consider switching over to the droid... simply becasue of the fact that it is very solid feeling!
It looks to me as if alot of people are really converting to the Droid ever since it came out... Me personally, I was just playing with it the other day pretty extensively... and I must tell you , I too am very impressed even though I am a die hard blackberry fan i would almost consider switching over to the droid... simply becasue of the fact that it is very solid feeling!
As a former cell tech for VZW I can tell you I've had a pretty strong dis-like of Blackberries for years.When I upgraded my Dare to a Storm it was a pleasant surprise. The unified messaging is killer but unfortunately the OS is too much to handle.
One reason I will not go back to a RIM device, stability. I've had a Droid now since its launch. Not one battery pull, ever. Never even thought about it. The fact that it got the OTA update for 2.01, downloaded it, installed it in under 5 minutes and booted right back to normal was outstanding, considering installing or installing even the most insignificant app on the storm took minutes and the hard reboot could take from 3 to 10 minutes to get back up and running.
RIM did a great job, don't get me wrong, I could have gotten a Storm 2 but I font think just hardware is the answer. That OS needs a serious overhaul and soon. You could say the same thing about Windows Mobile but Windows Mobile isn't the bread and butter of Microsoft, unfortunately this is all RIM does, with everyone else's Exchange Support getting better and better, BES is becoming a non-factor.
One reason I will not go back to a RIM device, stability. I've had a Droid now since its launch. Not one battery pull, ever. Never even thought about it. The fact that it got the OTA update for 2.01, downloaded it, installed it in under 5 minutes and booted right back to normal was outstanding, considering installing or installing even the most insignificant app on the storm took minutes and the hard reboot could take from 3 to 10 minutes to get back up and running.
RIM did a great job, don't get me wrong, I could have gotten a Storm 2 but I font think just hardware is the answer. That OS needs a serious overhaul and soon. You could say the same thing about Windows Mobile but Windows Mobile isn't the bread and butter of Microsoft, unfortunately this is all RIM does, with everyone else's Exchange Support getting better and better, BES is becoming a non-factor.
What I liked most about my blackberry was that it just worked and was very dependable. I feel the same way about the droid, but now don't have to deal with a subpar browser and potential memory issues as noted by others. Plus I feel I'm in a much better position for future developments. While RIM has a lot of momentum and solid hardware, I am concerned about their ability to keep up in the coming year without a revamp of their OS. Seems a lot like what PALM went through. Let's hope they have something up their sleeves, but business as usual won't cut it.
It's probably very hard to dethrone BB as a business phone. Maybe that's why BB is having such a hard time evolving away from their platform. It's a pity, but at the end that's how gadget evolution happens.
1. the hardware is evolving. The first generation of phones (G1, Magic, Hero) are hopelessly laggy and HTC doesn't help by optimizing their software (thanks to Cyanogen, MoDaCo, Teknologist, and the whole gang who have improved the ROMs). But talking BB-to-Android, the transition might be even easier when someone comes out with a portrait QWERTY Android phone (HTC Salsa?). Give Android a strong push on security features (remote wipe, lock, etc.) and it could invade the belt-holders of many a-suits.
2. battery life is ok, but not great [sighs while daydreams of the days of 4-day charges of Nokia 6210]
4. Locale, Astrid, Fring, WaveSecure. Maybe I should say: Cyanogen ROM, MoDaCo ROM if you're stuck on the first gen Androids.
5. I mostly listen to podcasts and those I'm glad I can do wirelessly. Music I'd go for DoubleTwist, movies simply drag-n-drop.
6. I'm a mere consumer, young (? 31 years old) male.
A note of concern: fragmentation of Android. 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1.
1. the hardware is evolving. The first generation of phones (G1, Magic, Hero) are hopelessly laggy and HTC doesn't help by optimizing their software (thanks to Cyanogen, MoDaCo, Teknologist, and the whole gang who have improved the ROMs). But talking BB-to-Android, the transition might be even easier when someone comes out with a portrait QWERTY Android phone (HTC Salsa?). Give Android a strong push on security features (remote wipe, lock, etc.) and it could invade the belt-holders of many a-suits.
2. battery life is ok, but not great [sighs while daydreams of the days of 4-day charges of Nokia 6210]
4. Locale, Astrid, Fring, WaveSecure. Maybe I should say: Cyanogen ROM, MoDaCo ROM if you're stuck on the first gen Androids.
5. I mostly listen to podcasts and those I'm glad I can do wirelessly. Music I'd go for DoubleTwist, movies simply drag-n-drop.
6. I'm a mere consumer, young (? 31 years old) male.
A note of concern: fragmentation of Android. 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1.
Hardware is spectacular! I was worried about the slider, but it seems really sturdy. I don't have a Droid yet, but everyone is saying the battery life is decent! I think any BB user is going to miss BBM, but that's the only MAJOR draw back. Other than that I think the Droid is slick!!
22 male, using this for mostly personal, but i do want my work emails to come through, i've been doing graphic design for 2 years now
22 male, using this for mostly personal, but i do want my work emails to come through, i've been doing graphic design for 2 years now
Don't worry Kevin, we haven't forgotten about you or CrackBerry! I will be blatantly honest, I will always have a profound love for BlackBerry regardless of how long I stay with Android. It just seems to kinda stick with you, which isn't a bad thing
Virtual Keyboard on Droid
I went to the Verizon store to see what the Droid was all about. I tried the virtual keyboard and got tons of repeat characters when typing. Can it be slowed down for response time and repeat?
I went to the Verizon store to see what the Droid was all about. I tried the virtual keyboard and got tons of repeat characters when typing. Can it be slowed down for response time and repeat?
Kevin, I was a 9530 user who switched to the Droid when RIM basically drooped the support for the storm 1. When it comes to the hardware this phone is amazing and really fast. The customizing of this OS is outstanding. Everything that I paid for more has been free. I don't see me going back to a Berry anytime soon unless they can make a huge difference in performance on the storm. I don't like the physical keyboard and usually use the on screen keyboard myself. The resolution of the screen blew me away the first time I seen it. Well that is my take on it, and I still keep an eye on crackberry hoping RIM will make a phone as fast and reliable as this. Also the memory that was an issue on the storm is not present in the Droid.
First of, I'm coming from a bb tour. (also had a storm 1, and played with storm 2)
I use my device at work, for emails and whatever entertainment comes to my head at home.
I have to agree with you, I find the the platform is very stable...almost no sluggishness. And i have yet to crash mine.
I'm a machinist my trade.
That said....
I find the hardware to be very well built, keyboard slide is solid, phone clarity it outstanding...
ease of use..i've never been a fan of the landscape keyboards, so that part of it was clunky for me...but its growing to me...
ease of use in terms of software....i'm a heavy sms mms user..i find that to be a great improvement from the bb platform...mms and sms is built into threaded conversation.
Also the customization....is great...i can do what i want with my home screen.
Honestly...I kind of felt like stepping out of a box...coming to this platform from bb...no offense to anybody.
Other software...brower...is fast...and much better that bb...
Must have apps....jury is still out on this....i'm constantly trying stuff...I love how fast i can have an app on the this device...and throw it off if i don't like it...on the bb...I would have to spend half and hour to reboot...(install and uninstall combined)
twidroid, mototorch, aknotes, unitconvert, (although i have found it much faster to do a google search by voice, converts practically anything..fast)
weatherbug.
What i like...compared to bb....well I guess some of the above...
my biggest gripe is contacts...no sort by company names. Also google doesn't import by company names. Therefore...I saw a lot of merged contacts in my address book.
Other than that...
Battery life....i found that to b about the same as my bb tour....might be lightly better.
I do very little media...other than pics....which i just dragged onto my micro sd.
I use my device at work, for emails and whatever entertainment comes to my head at home.
I have to agree with you, I find the the platform is very stable...almost no sluggishness. And i have yet to crash mine.
I'm a machinist my trade.
That said....
I find the hardware to be very well built, keyboard slide is solid, phone clarity it outstanding...
ease of use..i've never been a fan of the landscape keyboards, so that part of it was clunky for me...but its growing to me...
ease of use in terms of software....i'm a heavy sms mms user..i find that to be a great improvement from the bb platform...mms and sms is built into threaded conversation.
Also the customization....is great...i can do what i want with my home screen.
Honestly...I kind of felt like stepping out of a box...coming to this platform from bb...no offense to anybody.
Other software...brower...is fast...and much better that bb...
Must have apps....jury is still out on this....i'm constantly trying stuff...I love how fast i can have an app on the this device...and throw it off if i don't like it...on the bb...I would have to spend half and hour to reboot...(install and uninstall combined)
twidroid, mototorch, aknotes, unitconvert, (although i have found it much faster to do a google search by voice, converts practically anything..fast)
weatherbug.
What i like...compared to bb....well I guess some of the above...
my biggest gripe is contacts...no sort by company names. Also google doesn't import by company names. Therefore...I saw a lot of merged contacts in my address book.
Other than that...
Battery life....i found that to b about the same as my bb tour....might be lightly better.
I do very little media...other than pics....which i just dragged onto my micro sd.
Last edited:
I have both
I am a mobile developer (by profession) and have a Strom 2, Droid and iPhone. I develop on all three platforms.
Here are my observations about these two phones:
Droid:
Good Points
- Best navigation i've ever seen
- Fast..Really Fast
- Great Browser
- Lots of apps
- Integration with Google
- Hi Res Screen
- Good IM and Facebook Integration
- Nice charging dock (turns into a clock)
Bad Points
- Camera is NOT fixed. It's 5 megapixels put takes crappy photos. CRAPPY!
- Video (same as above)
- Lack of Bluetooth hardware controls
- Problems with stereo Bluetooth re-connecting and staying connected with audio streams. (yes, I have the update...still has problems)
- memory management issues. Phone even crashes if many background processs are running. (yes, I have 3rd party memory manager...it helps some)
- Integration with Google. I don't like them knowing everything I do. On this phone they do.
- Does not support my business email becuase of an advanced setting not being there for IMAP.
- No iTunes and sync integration without 3rd party
- Useless keyboard
------------------------------------------------------
Storm 2
Good Points
- Great email
- Dependable (stable) phone
- Dependable (stable) email
- Nice integration with iTunes, iCal etc..
- Supports every email I've tried
- Good IM and Facebook Integration
- I actually like the pressable screen!
- Google integration is still there if wanted. Google Voice, Google Sync, Google Maps, etc....
- Good looking photos and video
- Good bluetooth control and connectivity
- Nice charging dock (turns into a clock)...yes...it has one too!
Bad Points
- SLOW browser. Worst on the smartphone market IMHO
- Not as many apps
- Apps are MUCH more expensive in app world.
- Clickable screen is very usable but could still use some improvement
Conclusion:
Each phone is nice. They both do some things better than the other. It's really up to what features listed above are more important to you as an individual.
For me. I have been finding myself using the Storm 2 more. Here is why...
I really like the Droid. I think it is an extreamly cool phone and I really, really, really want to love this phone. But....I can't. I like it a lot. I also like the Storm 2 a lot and the Storm 2 is more dependable. The dependable audio bluetooth is a big deal to me because i have a bluetooth stereo in my car. A dependable cell phone is important to me. Dependable mail is important to me.
If EITHER of these phones were to do some tweaking with a major firmware upgrade they could have a much better phone. Until that happens I will continue to use both.
I am a mobile developer (by profession) and have a Strom 2, Droid and iPhone. I develop on all three platforms.
Here are my observations about these two phones:
Droid:
Good Points
- Best navigation i've ever seen
- Fast..Really Fast
- Great Browser
- Lots of apps
- Integration with Google
- Hi Res Screen
- Good IM and Facebook Integration
- Nice charging dock (turns into a clock)
Bad Points
- Camera is NOT fixed. It's 5 megapixels put takes crappy photos. CRAPPY!
- Video (same as above)
- Lack of Bluetooth hardware controls
- Problems with stereo Bluetooth re-connecting and staying connected with audio streams. (yes, I have the update...still has problems)
- memory management issues. Phone even crashes if many background processs are running. (yes, I have 3rd party memory manager...it helps some)
- Integration with Google. I don't like them knowing everything I do. On this phone they do.
- Does not support my business email becuase of an advanced setting not being there for IMAP.
- No iTunes and sync integration without 3rd party
- Useless keyboard
------------------------------------------------------
Storm 2
Good Points
- Great email
- Dependable (stable) phone
- Dependable (stable) email
- Nice integration with iTunes, iCal etc..
- Supports every email I've tried
- Good IM and Facebook Integration
- I actually like the pressable screen!
- Google integration is still there if wanted. Google Voice, Google Sync, Google Maps, etc....
- Good looking photos and video
- Good bluetooth control and connectivity
- Nice charging dock (turns into a clock)...yes...it has one too!
Bad Points
- SLOW browser. Worst on the smartphone market IMHO
- Not as many apps
- Apps are MUCH more expensive in app world.
- Clickable screen is very usable but could still use some improvement
Conclusion:
Each phone is nice. They both do some things better than the other. It's really up to what features listed above are more important to you as an individual.
For me. I have been finding myself using the Storm 2 more. Here is why...
I really like the Droid. I think it is an extreamly cool phone and I really, really, really want to love this phone. But....I can't. I like it a lot. I also like the Storm 2 a lot and the Storm 2 is more dependable. The dependable audio bluetooth is a big deal to me because i have a bluetooth stereo in my car. A dependable cell phone is important to me. Dependable mail is important to me.
If EITHER of these phones were to do some tweaking with a major firmware upgrade they could have a much better phone. Until that happens I will continue to use both.
xiaosong
Well-known member
- Nov 10, 2009
- 106
- 22
- 0
I have to agree with most of the posts on here.
I came from the blackberry storm and my girlfriend came from the blackberry curve and we both really like how easy it is to customize things and everything just runs a lot smoother.
Being able to install and uninstall apps on a whim (also having a lot more free apps) and not having to worry about app memory is really nice.
RIM still handles email much better as I can't get my work email with the droid but other than that, I don't miss my storm much.
I came from the blackberry storm and my girlfriend came from the blackberry curve and we both really like how easy it is to customize things and everything just runs a lot smoother.
Being able to install and uninstall apps on a whim (also having a lot more free apps) and not having to worry about app memory is really nice.
RIM still handles email much better as I can't get my work email with the droid but other than that, I don't miss my storm much.
From the Storm to the Droid
After a decade on iPaq and WinMo machines, I spent a year on the Storm. It was my first experience with a touch only phone. It had it's ups and downs but Crackberry.com made it much better than it would have been. I haven't fled altogether, as I still have to support my wife's Tour, which she absolutely loves as a first-time BB user. Please accept my most profound thanks for all that CB does for its community.
While not perfect, I like the raw potential of the Android platform. It find it much more stable and able than RIM today. The hardest part of the BB was how out of sync email was with Outlook. I have that experience back on the Droid. And the screen! What a joy! I run larger fonts for my tired old eyes and it works very well for me.
On the Storm I had to obsess with what I ran and making sure I close down apps properly. I give it little to no thought and I run 3 x the number of apps on the Droid as I did on the Storm. I thought I would miss BB Messenger, but haven't given it a thought in weeks now. Everyone reaches me via Gtalk just fine. I thought at first that battery was going to be an issue, but once I stopped spending hours a day in the Market, it has settled down just fine.
Quite literally, my only beef with the phone itself has been that I keep losing the back cover on airplanes and those $10 replacements are starting to add up! I have finally had to put away the clip and go to a horizontal case. Yuck! But what else am I going to do?
After a decade on iPaq and WinMo machines, I spent a year on the Storm. It was my first experience with a touch only phone. It had it's ups and downs but Crackberry.com made it much better than it would have been. I haven't fled altogether, as I still have to support my wife's Tour, which she absolutely loves as a first-time BB user. Please accept my most profound thanks for all that CB does for its community.
While not perfect, I like the raw potential of the Android platform. It find it much more stable and able than RIM today. The hardest part of the BB was how out of sync email was with Outlook. I have that experience back on the Droid. And the screen! What a joy! I run larger fonts for my tired old eyes and it works very well for me.
On the Storm I had to obsess with what I ran and making sure I close down apps properly. I give it little to no thought and I run 3 x the number of apps on the Droid as I did on the Storm. I thought I would miss BB Messenger, but haven't given it a thought in weeks now. Everyone reaches me via Gtalk just fine. I thought at first that battery was going to be an issue, but once I stopped spending hours a day in the Market, it has settled down just fine.
Quite literally, my only beef with the phone itself has been that I keep losing the back cover on airplanes and those $10 replacements are starting to add up! I have finally had to put away the clip and go to a horizontal case. Yuck! But what else am I going to do?
I haven't had the pleasure of using a Blackberry or Android (aside from fiddling with my wifes Hero) so reading these posts is very enlightening. I've always been intrigued by the "blackberry experience" and the fanatical love for the device.
Good reading folx!
wkj
Good reading folx!
wkj
- Status
Similar threads
Trending Posts
-
News Samsung's take on Android's earthquake alerts builds upon its foundation
- Started by AC News
- Replies: 0
-
News Pixel AI tipped to supercharge your Gboard with instant edits and more
- Started by AC News
- Replies: 0
-
News Should you wait for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7?
- Started by AC News
- Replies: 0
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram