Miss my Blackberry!

[EatMyTracers]

Get a Samsung Galaxy note 2. It has great battery life and is amazing for taking notes. I love mine, I even wrote this with the S-pen.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Android Central Forums

 

[soxfan04]

Try Touchdown by nitro desk. They offer a 30 day trial. It syncs very well with Outlook. I too switched from a blackberry about 3 months ago. You need to give yourself sometime to get used to the S3. It really is a fantastic phone. And with Touchdown it really improves the whole Outlook experience.

 

[Ricky Babalu]

Hello from a former BB owner. I too fought and hesitated for the longest time, but once I made the decision to switch I forced myself to learn a new way. I have to be honest, it is probably the best move I ever made. I have my own business, and 90% of my time on the S3 is spent doing something business related on my phone. I will say, it will be a little bit of a challenge learning to do things a new way, but the nice thing is Android offers customization and app selection that cannot compare to RIM. Believe me, you will be glad, will look back and say "What took me so long"! Oh, almost forgot you will have a ton of support from members here. So what ever you decide, the best of luck!!!!!

 

[duck383]

i to was a little worried about switching from BB to Android and have lived, eaten, and dreamed nothing but BB and still owning a 8700, 8100(2), 8120, 8900, 9700 and the Baddest of them all a 9900 and now have 3 Androids Blaze 4g, Gs2 and my week old Gs3 i dont miss the battery pulls and memory leaks, small screens BUT i do still love the physical Keyboard of the BB but i am very happy with my Android transition and all that im learning on a daily basis and will always be a Big BB fan

 

[Shanicenicolle]

to those that offered helpful ideas, I thank you. To the others....

I do have a battery saver installed, Extended Battery Life. It manages the screen brightness, and a few other things. I've thought about rooting the phone, I'm just disappointed I have to take those measures.

If anyone has any other helpful suggestions, I'm all ears.

TIA,
Greg

Battery saving apps actually kill your battery try un installing and using power saving mode instead

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Android Central Forums

 

[GrooveRite]

Not for nothing, but we should have a bible on battery saving tips for these folks with battery problems. I know so many that I've forgotten a few....lol!

 

[Shanicenicolle]

Not for nothing, but we should have a bible on battery saving tips for these folks with battery problems. I know so many that I've forgotten a few....lol!

I agree!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Android Central Forums

 

[BIGPADDY]

Buy Window Phone 8 with the sexy Nokia Lumia 920 that will solve all your problems.

 

[Targon]

People forget that background tasks CAN suck up a fair bit of CPU power, and that in turn leads to the battery running down faster. Now, I don't know how things are on the Blackberry in terms of what is turned on/off by default, but if you turn off GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and whatever you are not using at that moment, it WILL save you a fair bit over the course of a day. Press and hold the "home" button to get to the task switcher and close the apps you are not using. Many people forget how much is running at any given time if you don't pay attention to it.

I made a point of "conditioning" my battery when I first got my phone. The idea is to calibrate the battery and phone to get the best amount of life. You can read up about "conditioning" a battery, but the short version is to charge to full, and then let it go for an extra two times, then use the phone fully to drain the battery ALL THE WAY DOWN until it is forced to shut down. Then charge back to full. Five full cycles of full+2 hours, then down to ZERO will get the most battery life for you going forward.

As others have said, going from a phone with a TINY screen to one with a large screen does mean that there will be shorter battery life. Adjust your screen brightness down a bit, keep running apps to what you are actually going to be using, etc. Power Saving mode will also help. I did a test with my S3 when I first got it where I streamed Bluetooth audio to my car for 2 hours worth, didn't play games but did some browsing, worked for four hours(where I wasn't using my phone at all since I was working), and I had to push to get it down to zero. It ended up being 13 hours or so worth of battery. Playing games obviously will drain the battery faster.

Moderate use like that, where you are too busy doing other things to be worried about your phone during the work day will do the job. If you don't use a bluetooth headset all day long, then why keep bluetooth on all day? Or WiFi, if you are not able to use WiFi most of the day, turn it off.

 

[Shanicenicolle]

It's funny that this thread exists I had a customer come in and exchange his GS3 for a bold the other night.

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[meyerweb#CB]

Hi,
I just gave up my BlackBerry 9780, and purchased the Samsung Galaxy S3 after reading so many raving reviews of the phone. I must say, I am totally disheartened with the phone. Here are my top issues:
1) The battery life sucks! I can't even make it 3/4's of a day without having to recharge it. My BB would go 2 days.

There is a price to be paid for that giant, bright, screen. But by adjusting your syncing settings (not just for outlook) you can increase it a fair bit. My BB had a screen about 1/3 the size of the Galaxy--of course it used less power.

2) The syncing with Outlook is horrible. I use the phone for business and we use Outlook. I have installed Samsung Kies which sync's my Calendar, Contacts, and To-Do's. No Notes. I have to reinstall the connection driver every third or fourth sync as the phone won't connect. Also, Kies can't back up my Network and Settings and Bookmarks. My BB desktop sync'd everything, all the time.

Kies? Why would you use that? The standard mail app syncs to Exchange Active Sync just fine. I've not had any issues since first setting it up. It doesn't do Notes, though, I'm afraid. If you're willing to spend a little money, try the Touchdown app. It syncs with Outlook very well, but when I tried the app it had it's own calendar app, rather than putting your events in the standard calendar, which I didn't like.

3) There is no built in notes tool. There is SMemo, which creates images that can't be edited unless you're on the phone. I've installed EverNote, so now I have to use two different tools. Pain in the a$$.

There must be 200 Notes apps in the Play Store. Certainly one will do what you need. Why do you "have" to use two tools? Doesn't EverNote do everything you need? If not, go back to the Play store and try again.

4) No Single source for all messages. My BB allowed me to see all of my emails and SMS messages in one spot. Now I have use the two different tools. Is there an application out there that can bring them all together into one viewer?

I can't imagine why you'd want your SMS messages and emails together. But, again, search the Play store and see what's out there.

Right now, about the only thing I like about the phone is the screen.

Sounds to me like you didn't do even a little bit of research before plunking down your cash. I'd suggest you take the Galaxy back and buy another BB. The Galaxy does many, many things better than the BB, and may things the BB won't do at all. But the BB is optimized as a business, and especially email / mobile Outlook tool. Android supports those capabilities pretty well, but it's a much broader based tool that's much more capable over all. If mobile Outlook is your most important need, then BB is probably the device for you.

But don't piss and moan because you didn't bother to do a little research before you bought the phone.

 

[empeyg]

Hi Folks,
Thanks for all of the replies. So this is where I'm at:
1) Battery - I've installed Battery Booster and Memory Booster. Battery life is much longer, so I think I have that figured out.
2) I've got Kies working for my Outlook, and EverNote working for my Outlook Notes. Just need to figure out how to transfer the Kies information to Google (Calendar, Contacts & To-Do's). We don't use Exchange.
3) I've given up on the single source for all message. Just a learning curve thing, I guess.

 

[DallasFlier]

I made a point of "conditioning" my battery when I first got my phone. The idea is to calibrate the battery and phone to get the best amount of life. You can read up about "conditioning" a battery, but the short version is to charge to full, and then let it go for an extra two times, then use the phone fully to drain the battery ALL THE WAY DOWN until it is forced to shut down. Then charge back to full. Five full cycles of full+2 hours, then down to ZERO will get the most battery life for you going forward.

Targon, PLEASE quit recommending that! That's absolutely the WORST thing you can do to your Li-ion batteries. That advice was appropriate back in the day of NiCad and even NiMH batteries, but NOT for Li-ion. Taking those batteries all the way to forced shutdown is actually damaging to the battery, and will shorten its life a bit each time you do it.

 

[Bond32]

Targon, PLEASE quit recommending that! That's absolutely the WORST thing you can do to your Li-ion batteries. That advice was appropriate back in the day of NiCad and even NiMH batteries, but NOT for Li-ion. Taking those batteries all the way to forced shutdown is actually damaging to the battery, and will shorten its life a bit each time you do it.

Thought about calling this out but I got lazy lol. He is correct, it has been proven time and time again. The idea of "conditioning" any Li-ion battery is absurd. The Li-ion batteries work best when charged around 70-95% when possible. Draining them down to 0 then charging to full does absolutely nothing.

 

[anon5387384]

Hi Greg. I agree with your pain points #1 and #4. We use Google apps so naturally I have no synching issues on my GS3. But I agree with you. I also bought the GS3 due to rave reviews but I find it does most things well but has poor user experience for power business user. I also miss BBM. Whatsapp and others are a very poor substitute. I also miss the little things like the asterisk notification icon. So simple but great for the power user. I don't like the notification bar with all its clutter. The galaxy user experience is much like a full featured desktop app that requires a lot of mouse clicks. Power business users don't lime a lot of clicks or swipes. I also don't like the constant need to use the home button.
Having said all that while I am underwhelmed there is no going back to bb 7 as the browsing experience and other goodies are not there.
I really think we need a middle ground. Maybe windows has it. I am keenly interested in bb 10 as it may just be the product for business power users.The messaging from the RIM management is consistent across the board about "getting things done". It may be another expensive switch back but I may just do that if the user experience is truly what is being shown in demos. I will also be looking at battery life. While I don't expect 2 days, if I can get away with charging it once a day I will be looking to switch back almost for sure once bb10 products are launched.

 

[MajesticSingh]

I went from a bold 9780 to note 2, ABSOLUTELY LOVE the note 2... pi55es all over the bold..
Yea, there are a few things like emails aren't as quick or the centralised messages.
But the GN2 is better in everyway, loads more apps, fun with the s-pen, feels nice in my hands. The webbrowsing is brilliant, never used the web browser in the 9780, just about used 90mb a month. On this ive sued 200mb in about 3 hours lool. theres always something to do on the GN2, get bored and start photoshopping peoples pictures and stick them on whatsapp group. Now whatsapp doesnt freeze either when theres more than 3 ppl typing in a group. I miss the keyboard but minor, no more hanging and battery pulls with 10 minutes boot time... true multitasking

 

[makaroni]

I have a blackberry bold to trade you and you could gimme the S3. I'll take another one and *POOF* magic.... Problem solved

My GS3 sleeps in the bed and I make my girlfriend sleep on the couch

 

[charlie hustle]

Why are you syncing through Kies? Android, especially with the gs3 can push emails over the network. The benefit of android is that I never have to sync with a desktop.

Tapatalked from the 3rd galaxy

 

[ybcthanerd]

Hi,
I just gave up my BlackBerry 9780, and purchased the Samsung Galaxy S3 after reading so many raving reviews of the phone. I must say, I am totally disheartened with the phone. Here are my top issues:
1) The battery life sucks! I can't even make it 3/4's of a day without having to recharge it. My BB would go 2 days.
2) The syncing with Outlook is horrible. I use the phone for business and we use Outlook. I have installed Samsung Kies which sync's my Calendar, Contacts, and To-Do's. No Notes. I have to reinstall the connection driver every third or fourth sync as the phone won't connect. Also, Kies can't back up my Network and Settings and Bookmarks. My BB desktop sync'd everything, all the time.
3) There is no built in notes tool. There is SMemo, which creates images that can't be edited unless you're on the phone. I've installed EverNote, so now I have to use two different tools. Pain in the a$$.
4) No Single source for all messages. My BB allowed me to see all of my emails and SMS messages in one spot. Now I have use the two different tools. Is there an application out there that can bring them all together into one viewer?

Right now, about the only thing I like about the phone is the screen.

Sorry folks, I'm not impressed....at all!

Greg

i really dislike reading these posts people compare a BB to a android like its going to b similar lol
battery life - i get about 8 to 12 hours depending on usage, u have to remember ur using a phone with a larger more vibrant screen, with multiple apps running in tha backround
computer sync - u mite wanna check ur computer as to y u keep losing ur connection driver.
sync - and i never sync that much as i use tha cloud which syncs every few hours

 

[ybcthanerd]

My GS3 sleeps in the bed and I make my girlfriend sleep on the couch

This ^^^^ LMFAO