[BBerryPowerUser]

Hi guys and gals.

I'm a busy owner of two companies, and an Executive Director of a third. I need dependable communication and I need to receive, sort, and respond to hundreds of emails, texts, and social media posts per week.

I have used BlackBerry since 2005 when I had a Nextel 7520. I jumped ship for a while with a Motorola Q (Windows) and then back to Black with a Curve. I then jumped ship again to try iPhone (4s) and Android. I did not like iPhone - call me crazy, but liked Droid enough to keep it as a backup. I went back to a Berry 9780 a few years ago and have used it flawlessly ever since.

OK, so my Droid is a backup and a weekend phone to do banking and other things the Berry can't do. My Berry is my primary phone for communication and business.

My Droid is an LG Optimus Elite on Virgin Mobile. I'm grandfathered in to a super plan. $25 a month, unlimited 3g data, 300 anytime minutes. With unlimited data, I can use Skype and make as many calls as I want free of charge. It's a great deal. I use it on weekends, and for banking since my BBerry does not have an app for depositing checks to my bank, but Droid does. Many of my friends are on Droid and use it as their primary and sole device and love it. I decided on Sunday to shut the BlackBerry 9780 down for a week and truly try Droid ONE MORE TIME as my PRIMARY PHONE.

Sunday - noticed no network data. Called Virgin Mobile. Spent 3 hours with reps. They said they had migrated customers to a new system and this corrupted their network data. They were working on it. I could get data via WiFi, but when mobile, this was not a good enough solution. Luckily it was Sunday and I was home and had WiFi. Battery drain on WiFi is horrible on my Droid. I needed to charge mid-day.

Monday - Spent another 2 hours with VM reps, got data working by totally taking my phone off the network and putting it back on again. 4 hour process. Data worked for 2 hours then went dark again. VM said they could not fix for a while. No mobile data. Only Wifi. So spent most of day hopping from WiFi to WiFi spot to get emails, and check social media. No problem with calls and texts. Was truly trying to get used to the way Droid tasks messages and emails and social media. It is a separate interface for each. By Monday night, I was used to it, but it was not as efficient as my Berry. Not having data was a pain. The touch screen was not as efficient nor accurate as my BBerry Keyboard, but LOVED the Dictation speech to text for emails, and texts, and social media posts. I wish my Berry had this. I was getting used to the Droid, liked having a larger full screen, not crazy about the on screen typing, loving the speech to text, and liked the apps available. Needed to charge twice during the day.

Tuesday - No data. Bound to WiFi again. This sucked. With multiple streams available for incoming social, text, and email - actually TWO email as I have a general email app for pop email, and an email app for Gmail. This gives me so many things to check. I did load Ubersocial to combine Twitter and Facebook, and tried FlipBoard (Love it! and wish it was available on lagacy Blackberry!), and Hootsuite which combines Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. For me, running the real apps like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin separately is more efficient once you really want to read and post within these social media outlets. My opinion. So, there were simply too many streams to try and look at all the time. My Droid was pinging, dinging, hooting, and tooting all day and I had to figure out what was going on, in what app, with whom to reply, etc. Sheesh.
Long day.

This morning (Wednesday) no data. Just too hard to get used to the way the Droid parsed everything out, and I decided after three days of a college try to put my Droid once again on the back burner and return to the Berry 9780. It works, data works, and doing what I need to do when I need to do it efficiently and elegantly is always possible. Some users B*tch that the BlackBerry servers have been down for a few hours or a day. REALLY? Try working on a Droid with Data being down for WEEKS, and the service company telling you they don't know WHEN it will come back up. Yikes.

So after three days, I decided I really can't - YET anyway - use a Droid full time. I depend on my Berry for so many things, and it has never let me down. For now, I am sticking with it. And only charging once overnight.

I'll probably go Q 10 sometime late this year, once the hype settles out and I can get one for cash (I use Simple Mobile and don't want to contract service any more) at a decent price.

So there you have it. I tried.

[anon(257429)]

Is it the phone fault or Virgin Mobile fault you didnt have data? I mean if you bought a new BB and they were having data issue, you would have the same dilemma. right?

[BBerryPowerUser]

Is it the phone fault or Virgin Mobile fault you didnt have data? I mean if you bought a new BB and they were having data issue, you would have the same dilemma. right?

It is an issue with Virgin Mobile. They migrated to a new system for their customers, and this corrupted their data network. They are working on it. it's been down for about 3 weeks. Bummer. Thousands upon thousands of users are having an issue.

But even if this had worked, read the rest of my post. There was more going on than just no network data.
I thought I was very fair in my assessment. I like Droid very much. For me, it just can't be my "PRIMARY" phone... yet.

[Sqoon]

I have had some of the same issues with droid ICS, I just thought I would have to deal because I liked the rest of the phone.
Thankfully I have the Z10 now and all is right in the world.

Posted via CB10

[West Coast Flavor]

I stopped reading after LG Optimus elite.

[Acidwire]

"Try working on a Droid with Data being down for WEEKS, and the service company telling you they don't know WHEN it will come back up. Yikes"

makes it sound like iits the droids fault, especially as its continually mentioned throughout the first post, i know youve added another post in reply to someone that its not but why add yikes when its the companies fault and zero to do with the droid? :l

My Message by Braveren combines every single messaging app (you need to manually add the app once in so it knows which you want to appear), k9 mail and maildroid are unified email inbox apps, you dont need to use the gmail app or regular mail app

i dont know what type of android the lg optimus is but there are plenty of droids with led lights just like a bb

honestly though im not surprised ur back to bb, im still on my 9000 bold and i love the trackball, keyboard and operating too much to even consider bb10 let alone another platform lol

[perry34]

I had to use my upgrade in January and picked out a Note 2 on AT&T. I love the phone itself -- the most powerful smartphone I've ever used -- but loathe Android.

I can use multiple apps on the screen, but I have to enable it and not all apps work with it, not to mention that you're stuck with an ugly tab on your screen.

So I'm stuck with Android for two years... man I wish BB10 had come out earlier. I miss the whole BlackBerry experience -- even missing my old (and now drowned) Torch 9800.

Sucks to be me.

[JasW]

I had to use my upgrade in January and picked out a Note 2 on AT&T. I love the phone itself -- the most powerful smartphone I've ever used -- but loathe Android.

I can use multiple apps on the screen, but I have to enable it and not all apps work with it, not to mention that you're stuck with an ugly tab on your screen.

So I'm stuck with Android for two years... man I wish BB10 had come out earlier. I miss the whole BlackBerry experience -- even missing my old (and now drowned) Torch 9800.

Sucks to be me.

If it was that bad, why didn't you just return it within the first 30 days and eat the restocking fee, rather than being "stuck with Android for two years"?

[perry34]

Because I wanted to give it a legitimate try. The multi - app feature wasn't available when purchased (had to wait for AT&T to push the update).

I had used iOS, BB6, WP7.5 previously so decided to give Android a try. I'm not the type to use for a few days, then whine about it. I always try something for a few months before I render an opinion.

[BBerryPowerUser]

I stopped reading after LG Optimus elite.

I understand, but the Elite is not all that bad. And, it's as high as I can go with VM without losing my grandfathered $25 per month unlimited data. I tried a Samsung Galaxy S on ATT for a while and did not find it that much better than the LG.

What I really need to convey is that even without the data failure (and that's a VM issue, NOT an Optimus Elite issue) I had issues being a full time Droid user. Again, I like Android. I really do. But when I have to rely on rapid, consistent, and efficient communications, I still prefer my BlackBerry. I suppose if I never used Berry, perhaps I'd have less issues using a Droid full time every day.

Also, when I compare quality to ANY Droid I've had, VS the 9780, the 9780 is built more like a tank.

I worked with a gent from Canada last weekend and he had (via Rogers) a really nice Android with Keyboard made by Motorola. I've not been able to find the same model yet here "Off Contract" but that may indeed be a solution.

Oh well, some day I may have to convert. For now, I'm sticking with the Berry.

[omniusovermind]

I understand, but the Elite is not all that bad. And, it's as high as I can go with VM without losing my grandfathered $25 per month unlimited data. I tried a Samsung Galaxy S on ATT for a while and did not find it that much better than the LG.

What I really need to convey is that even without the data failure (and that's a VM issue, NOT an Optimus Elite issue) I had issues being a full time Droid user. Again, I like Android. I really do. But when I have to rely on rapid, consistent, and efficient communications, I still prefer my BlackBerry. I suppose if I never used Berry, perhaps I'd have less issues using a Droid full time every day.

Also, when I compare quality to ANY Droid I've had, VS the 9780, the 9780 is built more like a tank.

I worked with a gent from Canada last weekend and he had (via Rogers) a really nice Android with Keyboard made by Motorola. I've not been able to find the same model yet here "Off Contract" but that may indeed be a solution.

Oh well, some day I may have to convert. For now, I'm sticking with the Berry.

I understand your issues in perspective of the phone you're using. But the readers of this thread should know a few things you haven't mentioned / may not know.

Your phone is still running gingerbread which is old, and frankly sucks. Especially for communication notifications. You're also probably not using SK3 either. Lastly the phone you have is a very basic low end entry level android, which you already know. A little tip for you: If you're going to buy low-spec phones, don't buy android. For the $200 range you get a lot more bang for your buck out of one of the entry level Lumia WP8 phones (520, 620, 720 all go for about $180 - $350 off contract).

Having said all that, if I was in a business that had me constantly messaging all day long and had to handle 50+ emails/texts/etc every day, then yes, BB10's Hub would absolutely be my choice for that hands down. For personal use though, I'd still rather go with a high end Android for the apps. The ICS/JB Notification system is excellent for personal average use.

[BBerryPowerUser]

Thank you.

Your information was excellent and well received.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9780 using Tapatalk

[bp3dots]

This is the most misleading thread title of the day.

Your biggest problem wasn't even the phone. It was the network.

The issues you did have with the phone were easily solveable, had you been suffieicntly familiar witth the OS, available apps, and hardware. A lot of them would also have been eliminated if you'd been running the newer versions of Android. Combine the old software with your very low end hardware, and you have a terrible test for a system. You might as well judge all BB (Including BB10) based on the 8320.

To call this experience "giving Android a try" is weak at best.

[BBerryPowerUser]

Not so true.

The op Elite has known issues with data and Virgin is experiencing data issues due to upgrade.

BUT.... the largest problem I had was with the message stream handling and social handling of Android vs Berry.

For my money, it MUST be a BlackBerry.

I'm simply too busy not to use one.


Sent from my BlackBerry 9780 using Tapatalk