[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

[Chrisy]

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

[grover5]

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]

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]

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.

[ubizmo]

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.

The trouble is, there's so much conflicting information out there about this. I don't expect miracles, but I do want to be able to get through a single day, from getting up in the morning to going to bed at night, on a single charge, with light to moderate usage. If you look around, there seem to be many people who claim to be able to do just that, with any given Android phone. If I could throw some doodads and doohickies overboard, I'd do it, but I'm not willing to turn off data connectivity altogether for battery life.

It's 2:30 pm now. I've been up since 6:00 am. I'm down to 37% on the battery with no phone calls, no web browsing, no media playing, in a stable WiFi environment. All I've done is check emails so far today. As I say, maybe it'll get better, but if the best I can hope for is 12 hours, I'm opting out.

[Jude526]

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

Love this keyboard. All I use

Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk

[zc1]

It's 2:30 pm now. I've been up since 6:00 am. I'm down to 37% on the battery with no phone calls, no web browsing, no media playing, in a stable WiFi environment. All I've done is check emails so far today. As I say, maybe it'll get better, but if the best I can hope for is 12 hours, I'm opting out.

I'd say take it back and either have it replaced with another of the same model or go back to the drawing board. I have two Android phones and get about 1.5 days on one (2 days if used lightly), and about one day on the other (lower battery capacity). Today my day started at 5:30am with a fully charged phone. Right now it's almost 4:30 pm and I'm at 51% (with the lower-battery-capacity phone).

There is a huge variety of Android handsets available. Battery life is independent of whether you buy a 'budget' or 'high end' phone. As was mentioned earlier, it comes down to weighing the positives and negatives and deciding what you can and cannot live with(out). I agree with you. A phone should last at least through my regular day. I put enough weight on that criterion, that it's enough to make or break a phone for me.

[aNYthing24]

The G2x is just not a good phone. LG and T-Mobile have done a horrible job with it. You might want to try something else before giving up on Android.

[Najo]

It's 2:30 pm now. I've been up since 6:00 am. I'm down to 37% on the battery with no phone calls, no web browsing, no media playing, in a stable WiFi environment. All I've done is check emails so far today. As I say, maybe it'll get better, but if the best I can hope for is 12 hours, I'm opting out.

Yeah that really is insufficient, If your confident that you don't have a leak somewhere then I would suggest a trade in for different model. Wifi and BT off everything else on I can go from 5 am to 10 pm on a typical lite use day. If I am on it a lot I usually plug it in for an hour at my desk before going home for the day.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk

[ubizmo]

Thanks for the advice. If life hasn't improved (the phone was dead by 6:15) by Sunday, I'll try something else. Or go back to the BBc I guess. I wonder if the HTC mytouch is any better.

trouble is that these devices very such reports, concerning battery life.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Najo]

Thanks for the advice. If life hasn't improved (the phone was dead by 6:15) by Sunday, I'll try something else. Or go back to the BBc I guess. I wonder if the HTC mytouch is any better.

trouble is that these devices very such reports, concerning battery life.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Yes there are so many apps that can drain the battery, and some people will be less conscious of screen and radio settings as well as sync intervals that battery life is going to be different for each user. The only way to truly benchmark battery life between devices is to have the exact same settings.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk

[VIDGMER]

I do hate the predictive text though so I disabled that.

Ha! thats true.. I hate the auto-correct for million reasons. grrr. So I disabled it, too.

[ubizmo]

Day 2 ended with the phone stone dead again at 6:15. Not good. Before putting it on the charger, I made a few more attempts to start it, so the battery was well and truly tapped out, since this is what T-Mobile recommends for breaking in a battery.

Today is Day 3, and much more satisfactory. I set the Network to use 2G only, and it seems to have made a huge difference--either that or the battery is getting broken in. I slept later today, took the phone off the charger at 7:00 am. It's almost 6:00 pm now, and I have 32% left. My usage today included some phone calls, and a few photos sent via email, and some Market downloads and installations, as well as some Kindle reading, and the usual occasional web browsing and email.

So that's not too bad. I don't know how I feel about having to throttle the phone back to 2G. I'm a bit unclear about the whole 4G/3G thing anyway. My BB 9780 is a 3G device, but T-Mobile being what it is, I had Edge (2G) reception half the time anyway. I'm told that T-Mobile's "4G" isn't truly 4G, and there doesn't seem to be a way to set the G2x to use 3G but not "4G". To be honest, I didn't notice any degradation of performance on 2G, at least compared to the 9780. Web pages took the same amount of time to load, or less, compared to what I'm used to.

I don't know if it's best to keep Wifi on when I'm in a Wifi zone, or if 2G uses less power. The only time the speed seems to matter is when streaming media, and if I'm doing that at home I can plug in anyway.

There are some things from the BB that I miss. I had different alerts for incoming text messages and IMs, so I could tell by the sound what it was. I don't seem to be able to do that on the G2x, although I haven't hunted for an app for this yet either. Also, I learned that I can't choose to send a smaller size version of a photo. I couldn't do that in BB 5 either, without an app, but BB 6 has it, and it's useful. Again, there may be an app for that that I haven't found yet. I'm trying not to load up the phone with apps before I've decided whether or not to keep it.

I'm getting better at Swype (TouchPal), but it'll never be as fast as BB with auto-text. But maybe I could come close with SmartKey auto-text in landscape mode. I'm not sure.

At any rate, things are looking better today. I'll probably still have a charge when I go to bed. Karmaloop suggests that the G2x just isn't "a good phone". I'm not sure what to think about that. I don't like to hop from phone to phone without a good reason. The main question right now is whether on the whole the switch from BB to Android is worth it. I can't expect every little thing to be exactly the way I'm used to. I do like the size of the G2x--it feels just about perfect for my hands and pockets. So...I'll give it a few more days and see what I think.

[GG1]

I'm constantly getting a good 16-18 hrs of good usage out of my battery (phone call,texts ,emails and browsing. I'm also on Bell which is a 3G/4G/LTE network only.....no 2G. I don't understand how some are only getting 5-6 hrs of light usage.

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