What I miss ? Storm to Thunderbolt Journey

[azdmelani]

Two comments:

1) download k-9 mail. You can add gmail and set up a universal inbox. Like this much better than the sense email app

2) for led customization use noled instead. Uses icons that flash on your screen.

 

[realitydigg]

K-9 looks interesting. Once i get a baseline and understand the pros and cons of what is here I'll give it a try. Thanks

 

[Cyber Warrior]

As a current BlackBerry user myself, the email is my biggest concern as the OP has described. I really rely on having (almost) instant email, and through multiple accounts. I have heard that some people prefer to use 3rd party apps such as K9 for email, particularly former BlackBerry users.

Does anyone have any experience with K9 or similar apps and are former BlackBerry users such that they can compare the email services between the two platforms?

When I was on BB and was deciding to switch to Android, email was my biggest concern. The day I found out about K9 Mail is when I decided to finally switch over. It has a lot more features and options then the stock email app and I was very happy with it. I use it for my imap and pop3 accounts. For Gmail I obviously use the Gmail app which I have no problem with... its grown on me over the year and actually prefer using it over K9. I have a few of my accounts forwarded to new Gmail accounts I made and the rest of my email accounts I use K9. It all comes down to what your needs are. "Touchdown" is another app for Exchange accounts that some people prefer over K9.

As far as speed in receiving notifications.... I was using my old BB as a backup phone for the past month and kept it right next to my Galaxy Tab. Email notifications between my BlackBerry and Android were seconds of a difference. I would say between 2-5 seconds between the two devices.... so no problems there.

Also if you're looking for a better SMS app. "Handcent" works great.

 

[fdisker]

So glad I found this thread. I've carried the Storm 2 for the past year and found it incredibly easy to use. I picked up the TB yesterday as the Android platform is impossible to ignore now.

The email conversion was pretty easy as I simply created a rule on the corporate Notes server to forward to a new gmail account (didn't want it cluttering up my personal gmail). Now I just need to figure out how to integrate my personal gmail calendar with my corporate Notes calendar and I'll never look back. I do have the option of connecting to the corporate Good server but everyone that carries Droids complains that Good is a battery killer.

 

[pingb]

@realitydigg

thanks for linking to my post. with a heavy heart, i just cancelled my Tbolt and went back to my S2. The internet was amazingly fast, but the lack of Ring Then Vibrate, notifications, and the lack of unified email was enough of a deal breaker for me. I was recommended NOLED which was prob the next best thing to BerryBuzz. I was frustrated with Swype not working and doign all the 3rd party work-arounds.

I think the Tbolt is a great phone, but not the one for my specific needs. I'm still fascinated by the droid OS and may look at the Bionic in the future.

 

[terrain]

As a bb user since the beginning there is nothing as good at corporate exchange email than a bb and bes. I dual weilded for months with my tour when I first started using the x. I was lost until I found and customized touchdown. I tried k9 but found touchdown to be just what I was looking for. Touchdown absolutely rocks on my xoom.

Try it.

 

[realitydigg]

@realitydigg

thanks for linking to my post. with a heavy heart, i just cancelled my Tbolt and went back to my S2. The internet was amazingly fast, but the lack of Ring Then Vibrate, notifications, and the lack of unified email was enough of a deal breaker for me. I was recommended NOLED which was prob the next best thing to BerryBuzz. I was frustrated with Swype not working and doign all the 3rd party work-arounds.

I think the Tbolt is a great phone, but not the one for my specific needs. I'm still fascinated by the droid OS and may look at the Bionic in the future.

Sorry to hear that you are moving back - did you try k-9 ? The plethora of 3rd party workarounds will be there on bionic and others as well.... just part of the droidscape. Someone should make a blackberry ROM for crackberry users to manage the transition. If I had free engineers i would do it

 

[realitydigg]

Thanks, I saw that. The difference is subtle, but this adds a new step. Bberry. pick a contact, then pick how to contact them. Sense/android, pick a contact, pick how to contact them, then pick whether or not to use google voice. I do it rarely since i usually dial from my own number, so it isnt worth the constant nag box, but when i do use it i will need to enable it in the google voice app then shut it off when i am done.

A bit of a fix. There is a shortcut that will put an icon on screen that lets you toggle through the google voice options. "use every time" "ask before using" etc. so if i need to make a call using google voice i toggle to use everytime, then when i am done i toggle back to do not use.... Since i use it rarely it will work for me.

 

[Joelist]

Strangely I am not seeing all of these items.

Unified inbox: I am running a unified inbox using the HTC Sense email app. Setup was no problem.

Contacts: I don't know why you are getting a Google Voice prompt. I just press and hold on a contact in the People Widget and get a selection of things to do - I pick one and go.

Push email: Again I don't know what is being experienced as all my email accounts use Push on the HTC email app - works with no problem.

 

[realitydigg]

Strangely I am not seeing all of these items.

Unified inbox: I am running a unified inbox using the HTC Sense email app. Setup was no problem.

Contacts: I don't know why you are getting a Google Voice prompt. I just press and hold on a contact in the People Widget and get a selection of things to do - I pick one and go.

Push email: Again I don't know what is being experienced as all my email accounts use Push on the HTC email app - works with no problem.

Unified inbox: I have the unified inbox as well, but when you provision the phone with your google account it sets up google mail in a different email app. That one is push, you can set it up in teh sense email app, but you will get things twice...

Contacts: Yes when i select a contact i get a choice of things to do like call or text or email, but you cant get call using the cell phone number and call using google voice. GV has an option toggle to make all calls using GV (Which i dont want) to prompt every time (an extra step) not use at all or use for international only. I am using a shortcut to switch from do not use to use always that i can switch before i need to use GV. I have two numbers ring my phone, the cell number from verizon and a business number via GV so sometimes i want one, sometimes i want the other, but i never want the extra step.

Push email: By push do you mean activesync? because I do not have an exchange server at the back end so i cant use activesync. All other email options are not push.

 

[neutronjeff]

I miss ___ from my Storm

Application switching, I can't figure how to get from mail to contacts or to calendar without going to the home screen. Annoying.

Ditto the OP's issue with in and out of holster awareness / behaviors.

HTC, take it from the BB world, the bright multi-color LED notifications work. Next time dont hide the LED.

Physical button for the camera. It was great to be able to pull out the phone and start the camera function before I was even looking at it.

OK I'll say it, battery.

My email issues:

One-touch filtering of a sender in the in-box, I used that all the time. On the Storm 1 you just touched the sender in the inbox list view and held for a second. You got the list of everything in the folder from them.

The ability to select what Outlook folders showed up in your inbox.

Contact-based custom email notification. Really miss that. Now I don't know when my wife emails me. I only can have one account (my work exchange acct) vibrate so I know when those hit. I used to be able to have different vibrate patterns for verizon mail and work and my wife.

All that said, I don't want to go back.
Don't get me wrong, I love the speed and power of this baby, and I know many of my issues are either a getting used to it thing, or a missing app thing.

 

[mikestorm]

- The LED is not a bright red blinking laser beam that I can see across the room alerting me that I immediately need to satisfy my craving for communication. I love the LED in the grille, but it hasn?t really told me much more than you are charging and you are charged. It is a more subtle approach.

This +1

OP isn't exaggerating; the notification light on BBs are like beacons, cleverly occupying both top and front face of the phone so you can see it from across the room with your phone on the table. Turn off the lights, and it actually gives off a red glow to its immediate surroundings.

My Incredible and Thunderbolt both have wimpy lights. You need to walk right up to the phone to see if it's illuminated.

If there's one thing RIM did right, it was that light. That and surepress (kidding!)

 

[Cyber Warrior]

Application switching, I can't figure how to get from mail to contacts or to calendar without going to the home screen. Annoying.

Ditto the OP's issue with in and out of holster awareness / behaviors.

HTC, take it from the BB world, the bright multi-color LED notifications work. Next time dont hide the LED.

Physical button for the camera. It was great to be able to pull out the phone and start the camera function before I was even looking at it.

OK I'll say it, battery.

My email issues:

One-touch filtering of a sender in the in-box, I used that all the time. On the Storm 1 you just touched the sender in the inbox list view and held for a second. You got the list of everything in the folder from them.

The ability to select what Outlook folders showed up in your inbox.

Contact-based custom email notification. Really miss that. Now I don't know when my wife emails me. I only can have one account (my work exchange acct) vibrate so I know when those hit. I used to be able to have different vibrate patterns for verizon mail and work and my wife.

All that said, I don't want to go back.
Don't get me wrong, I love the speed and power of this baby, and I know many of my issues are either a getting used to it thing, or a missing app thing.

For switching between apps... Hold down the home button and you will have all your recent apps or if you're still using Sense.. pull down the top notification bar and it will show all your recent apps.

LED... Yea, its only 3 colors..light amber, amber & green. Nothing you can do about that. Other Android phones have the option for multi color LEDs.

For mail,.I would look into K9mail ... It has more options and features over the stock email app.

There's no physical camera button. I remember the Droid X had one and I never even used it. Press the camera app and it opens right away with an on-screen snap shot and shortcut to the video recorder. I see no problem there.

Battery, there are plenty of ways to improve battery life.. the biggest being a rooted phone with an undervolted kernel and cpu profiles with SetCPU.

As for contact notifications.. there are apps out there for that type of stuff. Ringo Pro is one and there are a bunch of others out in the market.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

I was a LONG time BB owner, and I defended the platform proudly...

Having said that, it was finally time to leave. There is still no one better at handling email and accounts, and as a "business" device, they are still the hands down favorite. The problem is, they seem to have all but given up in the "personal" device race, and I was tired of waiting for features that simply could not measure up.

I only have 2 email accounts that I use on a daily basis, my personal GMail account, and my work account. I did prefer the unified inbox, but as I only have 2 accounts to worry about, that isn't a huge deal for me, and thanks to K9, I now even have push email back for my work account, so all is good there.

One thing I was disappointed (or at least surprised) about is the contact sync. My BlackBerry seemed to sync so much better with my GMail contacts than Android does! I seem to get a lot of weird duplicates and matched contact suggestions. Not a big deal really, but I do find it odd that BB managed that a bit better.

Still though, I would never look back at this point. BB is so lacking right now in my opinion. Just one short browser session is enough to confirm my new found love for all things Android.

 

[mpciii]

Unified inbox: I have the unified inbox as well, but when you provision the phone with your google account it sets up google mail in a different email app. That one is push, you can set it up in teh sense email app, but you will get things twice...

Contacts: Yes when i select a contact i get a choice of things to do like call or text or email, but you cant get call using the cell phone number and call using google voice. GV has an option toggle to make all calls using GV (Which i dont want) to prompt every time (an extra step) not use at all or use for international only. I am using a shortcut to switch from do not use to use always that i can switch before i need to use GV. I have two numbers ring my phone, the cell number from verizon and a business number via GV so sometimes i want one, sometimes i want the other, but i never want the extra step.

Push email: By push do you mean activesync? because I do not have an exchange server at the back end so i cant use activesync. All other email options are not push.

I just disable notifications for the gmail app, turnoff the sync for google mail and let the Sense unified box be my only inbox. It usually notifies me of my emails pretty quickly and no duplication.

 

[CMRobinson]

I would like the ability to stop the system clock from switching to eastern time when I cross into Georgia from Alabama during my work schedule. My BBs all had the option to stay on my "home " time.

 

[Cyber Warrior]

K9's push email is just as fast as BB. I've tested both side by side. There was only about a 10 second difference... not that bad.

 

[Rem]

I would like the ability to stop the system clock from switching to eastern time when I cross into Georgia from Alabama during my work schedule. My BBs all had the option to stay on my "home " time.

I haven't done this myself so I'm not 100% sure it works, but have you tried unchecking "Automatic (Use network-provided data)" under Settings -> Date & time? Since unchecking it gives you the option to select your time zone, I imagine that would make your home time stick.

 

[CMRobinson]

I haven't done this myself so I'm not 100% sure it works, but have you tried unchecking "Automatic (Use network-provided data)" under Settings -> Date & time? Since unchecking it gives you the option to select your time zone, I imagine that would make your home time stick.

I tried with my Incredible, but it seems to lose time that way. I would like to know how the BBs get such good battery life.

 

[Rem]

I tried with my Incredible, but it seems to lose time that way. I would like to know how the BBs get such good battery life.

Well, crap. I did some searching and that seems to be the method that's supposed to work, so I dunno what to tell you. Sorry! :-\