Change is good

[mcaples]

Well, after 3 9930 and a 9650 in THREE months, tomorrow (Tuesday the 15th) I will be dipping my toes into the Droid pool (Incredible 2)...its a new platform and a NEW form factor (I've always used physical keyboards)...I'm excited about the 8 mp camera...I'm REAL excited about the APPS!!! I'll be spending time here in the CrackBerry forums for a little. All the GREAT CB folks are SO helpful!!!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[cbreze]

I went with a Casio commando back in May and am not looking back at all. Love it. A very solid device and OS. Enjoy yours, Cheers!

[cdf3]

I've adjusted quite well from the physical keypad on my blackberry.
Predictive text is awesome. I've learned that I don't have to type accurately. As long as I type near the correct keys, it will come out correct most of the time. My thumbs don't hurt like they did when using the physical keypad.
Enjoy learning the ins and outs of Android.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

[chrisy520]

It is good to explore alternative options for sure. It did not takr me long to adjust to a virtual keyboard. The keys are nicely spaced. I do hate the predictive text though so I disabled that.

I type fsster on a physical, but not by much.

I love Android apps and widgets too. Prefer the way email and calander look.

Using different platforms allows you to learn the pros and cons of each. Enjoy!

[dragonsamus]

Welcome to Android! It took me a week to get comfortable with my first android device. You will love it!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[D_March]

Congratulations OP, I bet you'll love it.

[mcaples]

Oh my...WOW!!!...I know there are "die hard"BlackBerry folks...BUT REALLY??!!??...7 different "homescreens"...ALL customizable. No more trying to figure out WHAT icon to put WHERE...PUT 'EM ALL!!!!...even OS7 is not as fast...OH ONE MORE THING...APPS ON MY MEDIA CARD???!!!???

[zc1]

There are a lot of people that put Android down based on a few minutes worth of playing with an Android-based device in the store or with one owned by a friend/family member. When you actually own the device for a significant period of time and put effort into really learning how to use it and what it can do you're in a much better position to make judgments and *appropriate/informed* comparisons. Android's certainly not perfect (and, as with every other OS out there, it has things that it does very well and areas that could be improved) but it is a very good (and powerful) OS.

If you're finding the virtual keyboard to be slow you might want to try out swype. It took a little bit of getting used to, but I found that it worked very well. It completed my words perfectly most of the time, and any delay was due to my checking that it had recognized the words rather than just forging ahead, trusting it to have recognized/guessed my words properly, and checking it afterwards. If you like it, you like it. If you don't, there are several other keyboard options as well (Swiftkey, thumb keyboard, go keyboard, etc.).

Have fun!

[mcaples]

I'm actually getting used to it. I type one handed with my thumb (although I sometimes use portrait). I find I'm making the same spelling mistakes as I did on my 8530, which aren't HUGE mistakes.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Spotmark]

If you're typing in portrait, you might want to check out Swype. Personally, I love it, and can fly on it.

[BoldtotheMax]

Man, I don't know how anyone can type portrait on a phone fast. Definitely recommend swype if using portrait all the time. I personally like Perfect Kb in the market. Very spot on and smooth.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[cdf3]

Originally Posted by BoldtotheMax

Man, I don't know how anyone can type portrait on a phone fast. Definitely recommend swype if using portrait all the time. I personally like Perfect Kb in the market. Very spot on and smooth.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I've learned to using Smart Keyboard. It has predictive text as well as auto text.
I really like the auto text feature. I used it a lot when i had my blackberry.

Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk

[mcaples]

Originally Posted by BoldtotheMax

Man, I don't know how anyone can type portrait on a phone fast. Definitely recommend swype if using portrait all the time. I personally like Perfect Kb in the market. Very spot on and smooth.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I love portrait mode for web browsing. I type in portrait, but not that often...just enjoy it sometimes.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[ubizmo]

This is a timely thread for me.

I've had BBs for about four years, most recently a 9780, which was/is a rock-solid performing phone. But I've been wanting a bigger screen, and especially a full-featured Kindle app, supporting highlighting and annotation, since I do a lot of reading when I'm out and about. Only the iOS and Android Kindle apps have these features. The BB and Windows 7.5 apps do not.

So...Thursday night I went to the T-Mobile store, shopped around a bit, and bought a G2x, made by LG.

The Good:

On the whole, the Android OS seems logical and fairly intuitive to use. The ability to sort icons on five home screens is nice. Apps get updated smoothly. This phone doesn't have any sort of UI overlay, such as "Sense" or "Touchwiz", which I appreciate. I'd rather just interact with Android itself.

This is only my second day with the phone, but I found that using Swype isn't bad at all, and I'm sure I'll get better at it. In fact, I downloaded TouchPal, an enhanced Swype-style keyboard, and I like it even better. It seems just a bit easier to work with.

The screen is beautiful and the Kindle app works great. Reading on this phone is a pleasure. The camera takes excellent pictures, and the video is also very good. Just about all of the apps that I came to depend upon on my 9780 are available (often in better versions). I installed a few on Thursday night.

The Bad:

I generally take the phone off the charger at about 6:00 am. Yesterday, the phone was stone dead by 5:00 pm.

This was with (a) screen brightness set to low; (b) no Facebook/Twitter/etc. apps polling for updates; (c) phone on WiFi in office most of the day, so not hunting for 3G/4G reception; Autosync turned off; Yahoo and work email polling every 15 minutes for new mail, but push Gmail; (d) light use, some browsing and email writing, occasional RSS feeds (manual update), no Pandora or other media streaming, no games, no video playing. In short, I used it as I'd use my 9780, although with the 9780 I'd still be doing all that well into the evening, as well as reading a PDF or Kindle book, and there would be 30% or so left when I went to bed.

So...that battery life is simply unacceptable. But I've heard that battery life can improve after a few days of use, when it's a new device. I see that even in the 9900 forum people have similar experiences. So I'm going to give it four or five days, letting it run all the way down before recharging, and see what happens. If it doesn't get better, or I have to really cripple the device to eke out a few more hours, it's going back.

[Najo]

The battery story is common in many forums now. However, everyone would complain if new phones were devoid of high res screens, fast dual core processors, plus all of the doodads and doohickies that suck the life our of batteries.

It is what is is guys, I chose the same path, the SGS2 is pretty decent with battery but not like some of the BlackBerrys of the recent past, people have to accept that with the performance and ability of these devices, additional plug in's or spare batteries will become necessary.

I have been with Android for a few weeks now, and unless something earth shattering comes out from RIM next year with BBX, I will be staying for a while. The SGS2 is great and being the geek that I am, I like the customization and tinkering you can do with these phones. Battery life....yep that's the trade off, and I am all in.