need advice-upgrading from BB Curve 8330 to Droid - good choice ?

[jasonvancouver]

I am a 40's something sales professional that has really loved my BB Curve. I am due for an upgrade and I have heard great things about the Droid.

My carrier is verizon.

I have heard the Devour is more for social networking and possibly a younger crowd.

Can anyone give any feedback ? I am pretty much looking at the Droid as my upgrade choice, but are there other Verizon phones that I should give serious consideration to ?

thanks for any thoughts.

jason.

 

[seanubis]

I just went from a Curve 8330 to a Droid myself. I looked around at other VZW smartphones, and the Droid is what I liked the best.

What I miss the most from the BB is the universal inbox - the Android notifications system lets you get to all of your new stuff from one place, but it's not as nice as *keeping* it all in one place like you get on the BB.

The Droid keyboard took some getting used to - after a month, I can honestly say that it's not bad at all, but still not as good as the keyboard on the Curve.

I also miss the native IM clients that I had on the BB, but the Google Talk client on Android is great, and that's the one I use the most anyway.

The browser and other apps on the Droid are, IMO, far superior to anything you'll find on Blackberry. Whenever I start to miss my Curve, I grab my wife's 8330 and open the browser, and then run screaming back to my Droid

 

[jasonvancouver]

I just went from a Curve 8330 to a Droid myself. I looked around at other VZW smartphones, and the Droid is what I liked the best.

What I miss the most from the BB is the universal inbox - the Android notifications system lets you get to all of your new stuff from one place, but it's not as nice as *keeping* it all in one place like you get on the BB.

The Droid keyboard took some getting used to - after a month, I can honestly say that it's not bad at all, but still not as good as the keyboard on the Curve.

I also miss the native IM clients that I had on the BB, but the Google Talk client on Android is great, and that's the one I use the most anyway.

The browser and other apps on the Droid are, IMO, far superior to anything you'll find on Blackberry. Whenever I start to miss my Curve, I grab my wife's 8330 and open the browser, and then run screaming back to my Droid

Thanks Seanimbus - overall it's a good choice. It seems that is what you are saying. I have to say, I would love to stay with BB, but i just don't feel that the new phones are as advanced as the android-based OS phones, such as the droid.

Do you agree the the Droid is the best choice for a business-person, vs. the Devour or HTC phone ?

 

[seanubis]

Do you agree the the Droid is the best choice for a business-person, vs. the Devour or HTC phone ?

The Droid certainly has the looks and specs of a good business phone, IMO.

Coming from a BB, I really prefer a physical keyboard, so that ruled out the Droid Eris (HTC) for me.

The Devour wasn't available when I bought my Droid, so I can't speak for that one. The MotoBlur social stuff looks kinda fun, so if that's your thing, you might want to try it out.

You should really do some hands-on testing - that's really the only way to decide

 

[jasonvancouver]

The Droid certainly has the looks and specs of a good business phone, IMO.

Coming from a BB, I really prefer a physical keyboard, so that ruled out the Droid Eris (HTC) for me.

The Devour wasn't available when I bought my Droid, so I can't speak for that one. The MotoBlur social stuff looks kinda fun, so if that's your thing, you might want to try it out.

You should really do some hands-on testing - that's really the only way to decide

Thanks seanubis, I agree. It's hard to chose there are so many options out there. I have heard from a verizon rep that the Devour is designed more for social networking, and possible a younger crowd - which there is nothing wrong with that....just not as important to me as a solid phone. I also like the physical keyboard.

Are you on OS 2.0.... I heard 2.1 was coming, wondering if I should wait, or is the OS pushed directly to the Droid, so that you don't have to don anything ?

thanks for all your feedback.

 

[seanubis]

The Droid comes with 2.0.1, and 2.1 should be pushed automatically in the coming days/weeks.

 

[entwined82]

I miss BBM badly, apart from that I love my Droid.

2.1 will be pushed and it'll be a fairly painless procedure to update. No reason to wait for it. Its foolproof really. It'll download itself and then it'll ask you if you want to upgrade then it should just do its thing.

 

[jasonvancouver]

I miss BBM badly, apart from that I love my Droid.

2.1 will be pushed and it'll be a fairly painless procedure to update. No reason to wait for it. Its foolproof really. It'll download itself and then it'll ask you if you want to upgrade then it should just do its thing.

thanks, entwined82 - sounds like you are saying to OS 2.1 will pushed and painless. On my BB Curve 8330, it was a pain to upgrade the OS.

I think that based on all the feedback the Droid is probably a good bet for an upgrade on the Verizon system.

At this point, i think I need to test it out.

Thanks everyone for the feedback !!

 

[seanubis]

I miss BBM badly, apart from that I love my Droid.

Yeah, BBM was great :'(

If messaging is your first and foremost priority, then I think it's hard to go wrong with a BlackBerry device. But I wanted a better all-around smartphone experience, and I think the Droid really delivers that.

 

[TvTechGuru]

Heck yeah it's a good choice! I just switched from a Curve 8330 on Sprint to Droid on Verizon back in November and I'm glad I did. You won't be dissapointed. Sure there are a few Blackberry-only features you will miss like instant push e-mail and a few others, but it's worth it!

 

[ips]

I switched from a BB to the droid as well, it was a fantastic switch. If you use gmail, the email service is as good as a blackberry and the app is even better (its more like seeing your emial on your computer than it is a screen with messages). The internet experiance is fantastic as are the selection of apps. Im able to have a screen for everything I need and all of the widgets available make the experience very enjoyable. Im a college student but I can tell you that when im home my dad cant stop playing with my phone.

 

[entwined82]

If you use gmail its instant push...I only use gmail so its good for me.

 

[Ghost13]

Have you considered the Pre Plus. I don't think it is as good of a media phone as the the Droid but it has better messaging and email. Seems it would make a good Business phone. Screen is a bit smaller though.

 

[Stang68]

I'm getting my DROID on Monday and sending my Storm2 back to Verizon. I'm really excited to try out Android. I know there's a few things I'm going to miss, but I think the overall experience on the DROID will be much better than Blackberry. I'm going to have a real browser, a real app store with lots of apps, a FAST experience in any aspect of the phone, and google Navigation should be sweet, too! Haha

I just hope I can find the equivalent of a few BB apps on Android. I need something like Poynt, PodTrapper, Password Keeper, and MemoPad. I'm sure I'll think of others as I start to use the DROID

 

[jasonvancouver]

Heck yeah it's a good choice! I just switched from a Curve 8330 on Sprint to Droid on Verizon back in November and I'm glad I did. You won't be dissapointed. Sure there are a few Blackberry-only features you will miss like instant push e-mail and a few others, but it's worth it!

DM Droid, are there any other Con's about the Droid that you can think of vs. Blackberry. I can get by without the pushed email.... because I can always just use the web on the phone to log into my hotmail, right ?

What I like most about my Curve is the ease of responding to text messages. If someone sends me a text, I can easily choose which mobile device ( stored in my address book) to reply to, etc. I can bring up a persons name and it will show all of their mobile phone #'s and email addresses, then I can choose which one to send a message to.

Can the Droid do that also ?

Do you think it is a good phone for a business person that also likes gadgets ?

thanks, Jason.

 

[jasonvancouver]

I'm getting my DROID on Monday and sending my Storm2 back to Verizon. I'm really excited to try out Android. I know there's a few things I'm going to miss, but I think the overall experience on the DROID will be much better than Blackberry. I'm going to have a real browser, a real app store with lots of apps, a FAST experience in any aspect of the phone, and google Navigation should be sweet, too! Haha

I just hope I can find the equivalent of a few BB apps on Android. I need something like Poynt, PodTrapper, Password Keeper, and MemoPad. I'm sure I'll think of others as I start to use the DROID

Yes, I love the password keeping and POYNT, etc. I would think that Droid wil have those things available also.

 

[mobilemedic20]

I myself switched from an 8330 to a Droid (and then switched back, more on that later). I definitely recommend it! Its a huge world of difference. The curve is only slightly more than a feature phone compared to the Droid. The android os is amazing, the apps are great, and overall it functions more like a small computer than a cell phone. Android (and Droid) still leave room for improvement, but already great.

I will say, however, that you will miss your curve's keyboard, and its ease of messaging. Android does a good job with it for the most part, but no one touches BB's messaging abilities.

Why I switched back - it was painful to do so, but I decided that with the Nexus 1 and Incredible coming out soo soon, I wanted to wait before I finally decide. I thought the Droids keyboard was absolutely worthless, and at some point stopped using it altogether. If I'm not going to use that, no sense having a slider phone, I'd rather have a lighter phone with no moving parts (ie nexus 1). But if N1 doesn't look good, I'd have no qualms about going back to Droid! Being back on my Curve feels VERY limiting.

 

[jasonvancouver]

I myself switched from an 8330 to a Droid (and then switched back, more on that later). I definitely recommend it! Its a huge world of difference. The curve is only slightly more than a feature phone compared to the Droid. The android os is amazing, the apps are great, and overall it functions more like a small computer than a cell phone. Android (and Droid) still leave room for improvement, but already great.

I will say, however, that you will miss your curve's keyboard, and its ease of messaging. Android does a good job with it for the most part, but no one touches BB's messaging abilities.

Why I switched back - it was painful to do so, but I decided that with the Nexus 1 and Incredible coming out soo soon, I wanted to wait before I finally decide. I thought the Droids keyboard was absolutely worthless, and at some point stopped using it altogether. If I'm not going to use that, no sense having a slider phone, I'd rather have a lighter phone with no moving parts (ie nexus 1). But if N1 doesn't look good, I'd have no qualms about going back to Droid! Being back on my Curve feels VERY limiting.

---

That's good feedback, thanks. One concern that I do have about the droid is emailing and texting, I do a ton of that.

So, the keyboard on droid clearly not as good as BB curve - for ease of texting / emailing ?

You mentioned that you sent the DROID back to the carrier - how do you do that...you only get 30 days to try it, right ?

 

[aubiker]

I spent two hours yesterday afternoon in my local Verizon store. I've had an 8330 for two years and was ready to upgrade. I had my choices narrowed down to HTC TP2, Pre Plus, or Droid. The sales person, although a Droid owner himself, took the time to go through each phone, let me play with them, and answered all of my questions. In the end, I went with the Droid. I've had it less than 24 hours, but I think I've made the right decision. So far, I'm totally in love with this phone.

 

[specops2k3]

I too went from a BB curve to a Moto Droid. At first i got a Storm2 but i did not like how limited the OS was on. A friend at work has a G1 and showed me the cool stuff an android phone can do. SO the next day I returned my Storm2 and got My Droid. I am a Droid lover from now on.