Replaced BB Bold with TB (temporarily)?

[smrdroid]

I picked up a new Thunderbolt at the Verizon store on Thursday (launch day) using my last NE2 and it replaces my Blackberry Bold (OS 6)

Pros-

1. It is VERY fast. No lag at all. And, the 4G speed for web browsing is simply astounding.

2. Beautiful Screen - great for web browsing, reading email attachments, viewing videos, and photos, etc. Web browser blows away the Bold.

3. App selection and functionality.

4. While on 4G (Baltimore area), you can email or surf web while speaking on phone

5. Data plan is $30 a month vs $45 for BES, plus 4G hotspot is free until May 15th (then $20 a month)

Cons -

1. Battery life is, as reported, awful. I just can't imagine how HTC released a phone with such an underpowered battery.

2. Email is not nearly as fast and easy as Blackberry. I send and receive a couple hundred email each work day, and there is no way I can keep up on any Droid. Although, to be fair, after 10+ years of using a BB, there is bound to be a learning curve, especially when getting use to a touch screen keyboard (so far, I do NOT like it)

3. Weight and size - this thing is a brick

4. Screen is washed out in bright sunlight

5. BB beeps, I pick it up, one click and read a new message. For TB (and I guess every Android), you have to press the standby button to bring the screen up, then swipe the screen to unlock it, then choose Mail or Messages, then open inbox, etc. So many more steps to just read a new email. Maybe I am not doing something right?

6. Lack of keyboard short cuts.

Bottom line - BB seems far superior for email and work - but Thunderbolt is an incredible device for web and media, etc. In a perfect world, I would carry BB all the time and keep TB in briefcase for web, etc.

For those of you who migrated from Blackberry to Android - any advice or thoughts on these concerns? Thanks.

 

[terrain]

Um yeah -- BB's always have been and probably always will be (at least for the foreseeable future) better for Exchange/BES users.

I finally switched from my BB Tour to a DX last year and it took me several months of dual wielding both devices to get comfortable enough to only carry the DX (Must have Touchdown on your Andriod Device). When I travel I always have a spare Tour just in case. You will of course have trade-off's when going from an Exchange/BES phone to a Do-it-all phone.


The only REAL thing TB has going for it is LTE --- If you need battery life get a DX or wait for the Bionic.

 

[j joy j#AC]

I too jumped from the BB Bold (complete crackberry junkie) to the TB. I love the speed of the TB and find there is a learning curve, of course this happens when switching to anything new. I have 8 different email accts directed towards my phone, with my main business acct (gmail) being the main one associated with my TB and LOVE IT. True (as far as I can tell) you have to push the button, swipe down the little unlock screen thing and then tap the GMail icon BUT I can whip through my emails like crazy now archiving what needs to be and deleting the junk. I too deal with emails non stop (400-500 daily) and I've found it's much simpler and organized on the TB instead of my BB. I'm still learning but always try and keep an open mind when it comes to the tech-transition.

Love my new phone!

 

[smrdroid]

Um yeah -- BB's always have been and probably always will be (at least for the foreseeable future) better for Exchange/BES users.

I finally switched from my BB Tour to a DX last year and it took me several months of dual wielding both devices to get comfortable enough to only carry the DX (Must have Touchdown on your Andriod Device). When I travel I always have a spare Tour just in case. You will of course have trade-off's when going from an Exchange/BES phone to a Do-it-all phone.


The only REAL thing TB has going for it is LTE --- If you need battery life get a DX or wait for the Bionic.

Thanks for the advice.

I am running the demo now of TouchDown, but am confused about something. I still have the native mail app on the TB, so I am getting double messages, notifications, etc. One person told me that an advantage of the native mail app is the ability to delete multiple messages at one time (vs choosing each on Touch Down)? Also, I like to keep a lot of email on my hand held so that I can easily find a document or message even if from a few months ago. Apparently, with ActiveSync, once you go over 30 days of email history - you get ALL email stored in Outlook, which in my case is thousands of email. Any thoughts on this?

It seems that Touch Down pushes Exchange email faster than the native mail - is that your experience too?

Lastly - have you gotten use to the touch screen keyboard? I could fly on the BB, both because of the physical keyboard and shortcuts. How have you been doing with a virtual keyboard?

 

[Diabl0]

If you want to stop getting double messages/notifications, you have to go into the native mail app's settings and disable all notifications.

You may want to look into downloading a new keyboard for shortcuts. I use Swype but there are many others out there. Good luck!

 

[smrdroid]

If you want to stop getting double messages/notifications, you have to go into the native mail app's settings and disable all notifications.

You may want to look into downloading a new keyboard for shortcuts. I use Swype but there are many others out there. Good luck!

Is Swype available for the TB? If so, where would I find it?

 

[Joelist]

I've used a Bold before, and my email access was not that simple. It was"

1) Press key to wake up

2) Press again to get to unlock selection screen

3) Press again to select Unlock

4) Enter password to unlock

5) select and open email

On my TB (very similar to the DINC) I do this:

1) Press power button to wake it up

2) Slide the slider down to get in

3) Flick once to go to the email widget I put on the screen to the left of the main one

4) Read and process email

If I wanted to I could easily eliminate steps here by getting an app from Market for reprogramming the side buttons and such.

Don't underestimate the power of Android widgets. You can cut steps just by placing a widget with your email on a screen of your choice, thus removing the need to open apps.

 

[lazymac]

I'm fresh from blackberry as well and am quite the berry junkie - did all the hybrids, customization, etc. Make sure to update / disable the Blockbuster app that is auto-updating the movie selection. There are already a couple of new threads on it and performing those steps seem to greatly improve battery life on the TB.

 

[realitydigg]

My 2c in this thread http://forum.androidcentral.com/htc-thunderbolt/69112-what-i-miss-storm-thunderbolt-journey.html

 

[terrain]

Yep - when you go beyond 1 month it gets "ALL" - I used to think I need my entire 10+GB's of email's accessible on my phone but find that 30 does what I need it to do. Beyond that when I'm on travel I have Ipad or xoom and TS back into remote box where I can access my mail store.

All onscreen keyboards are POS- compared to BB keyboards -- over time you become more proficient... but never a real substitute.

I like SwiftKey the best so far ---

 

[smrdroid]

My 2c in this thread http://forum.androidcentral.com/htc-thunderbolt/69112-what-i-miss-storm-thunderbolt-journey.html

Dead on accurate. Nice analysis.