[forumz987]

1) Searching emails, memos on your phone, calendar entries, etc...how does it compare to the blackberry?

Personally I LOVE the blackberry search. Is it similar on the android OS? Is there an APP to do the trick if not?


2) How does it handle old SMS entries and old Emails?

For example, on our blackberries we can set how long to keep emails before deleting them from our phone. Does the android store the entire email on the phone, part of it? None of it? I ask this because I wonder how it fares during offline usage. If i'm in an airplane, can i see full emails? How far back can i go...etc.


I've been using the android emulator but it's not helpful for these questions.

THANKS!!

[jgodin03]

I use both Hero and 9700. For the emails, android is better on gmail, take a few seconds more to receive but it's visualy better. You can see full email if your phone is out of network.

Calendar is synced with gmail too. Very useful. You can keep SMS as long as you want.

My hero do everything what my black do exept: bbm, qwerty keyboard.

All the rest is the same or better.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[ItnStln]

Good thread, as I am looking to go from the Bold 9000 to the HTC Desire when it's released.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Jonneh]

Good thread, as I am looking to go from the Bold 9000 to the HTC Desire when it's released.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I was too (we're both on AT&T) until I saw the EVO 4G on Sprint..now I don't know whether to jump ship to Sprint for $70/month or stay with AT&T and get the Desire (not nearly as orgasmawesome as the evo 4G)...

[markhunsaker]

I have an Eris and it's a nice phone, but am waiting for a larger (all touch) Android phone to hit Verizon. I like Android, especially the notification bar, but would like a bigger touch screen with out a slide out keyboard and gody gold accents lol.

[dtboos#CB]

Email search is great. You just hit the "search" button while in your email program and it searches whatever query you type in. This type of search searches text in all fields including the message body.

It takes some getting used to, but I am preferring Android to my BB days more and more as I get more comfortable with the differences. It really is hard to leave the BB format since its so good at what it does, but eventually you realize its the fear of change thats holding you back the most

BB still has the best "Phone" quality in regards to speaker/sound/call quality/radio signal ect imo, but not so much that it makes up for everything it is lacking.

[forumz987]

So I know you said that the gmail one works well...but I'm still trying to understand specifically, what can you search for on your phone? Since you have a blackberry, you know how when you're in your messages you can hit the menu button and click search. That's a beautiful search screen if you ask me.

Also, if you use the search (magnifiying glass) icon on the phone you can search your whole phone...messages, calendar, contacts, mempad, and tasks.

I'm trying to understand if there is an equivilant for this on the android OS. I use these two features heavily so it would be really good to know:

1) How googles implementation of this is done (eg what it lacks compared to blackberry, etc.)

2) How slow/fast it is compared to the blackberry when doing searches

3) What is actually stored on the phone as far as email goes?

For example, my blackberry doesn't store attachments unless I download them. For longer messages I have to go to the server to retrieve the rest of them. It only keeps 4 months worth of old emails on my phone unless i explicitly save them.

That kind of stuff.


Thank you!!!!!

[dtboos#CB]

The search is fast on Android. The magnifying glass will search contacts, apps ect as well as search the net all from the home screen. You'll see a dropdown below the search field showing contacts, apps, google search terms which match what you are typing, with stuff on your phone listed first while matching.

For searching your emails, you just need to be in the email app you are wishing to search. and its search is just as fast as BB.

As far as whats stored, I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty certain the attachments are downloaded when you first open the message, then they remain there.

There arent any "broken" emails, so you don't have to retrieve the rest of an email which is nice. In the K9 email app, you can choose how many emails to show (25, 50, 100....1000 ect), and you can go to the end of your email and choose to "load 25 more" messages ect to your hearts desire. In the Gmail app, as you scroll to the end, it will continue to load more messages as you scroll down, as long as you wish to go. Sort of like when browsing the marketplace. So there isn't quite the "leave messages on phone for xxxx days" that I had on my BB, but I'm sure something like that is not far down the road.

Ultimately most of the BB functionality is there, but with better presentation of the elements.

[reybie]

I suggest you take advantage of the worry free guarantee with VZW if that's your carrier and give it a try.

[o4liberty]

By far android devices blow away blackberry. When you make the switch it seems a lot different to use but before long you will be asking yourself why you stuck with blackberry for so long. I have a eris and love it ! The browser alone will amaze you so different from the blackberry. Some people don't like a touch screen so thats were a blackberry comes in.

[mitchell209]

I was too (we're both on AT&T) until I saw the EVO 4G on Sprint..now I don't know whether to jump ship to Sprint for $70/month or stay with AT&T and get the Desire (not nearly as orgasmawesome as the evo 4G)...

I think the phone is awesome, but not Sprint. :\

[GynormousMellon]

My BB is BIS and I sync my contacts and calender through Outlook. Can I still sync through Outlook with the Android operating system phones or is it done strictly through Google Sync.

Thanks for the help

[Duvi]

My BB is BIS and I sync my contacts and calender through Outlook. Can I still sync through Outlook with the Android operating system phones or is it done strictly through Google Sync.

Thanks for the help

From what I see (no options for anything else)... Google only.

[Beagles Rule]

I switched a few weeks ago and have had a great experience with it. A couple things were/are a learning curve but overall the experience has been great. Google email is the only push so far but I've heard that they are fixing that in the future releases. That is my largest "issue" although it is not a deal breaker.

Overall my droid is way faster than my berry ever could hope to be. My overall impression is just that it is smooth It does what it is supposed to do and doesn't give any issues. I've not had to do a reset neither has the phone hung up on anything.

The best part is that I never put apps on my berry because it would affect it's performance. I've got all kinds of fun and stupid apps on my droid just for entertainment and it's great. I can work and play with it.

IMO this is an excellent cross between business and personal use for a phone. I can watch utube videos and then check email make a conference call just about anything I want and the phone just keeps up with it all.

I definitely am a fan!

[anon(12291)]

My BB is BIS and I sync my contacts and calender through Outlook. Can I still sync through Outlook with the Android operating system phones or is it done strictly through Google Sync.

Thanks for the help

There are tools that let you sync outlook with google calendar. That would be a roundabout way of doing things, but it would work...

[GynormousMellon]

Thanks for the help. I used to use a Treo for my calender and by far it was the best at a calender. Then I went to a BB which was a better over all phone but I had to switch to Outlook. Outlook is ok but no where near as good as the Palm calender functions. I was trying to avoid learning a new calender with Google, but from what I've heard, it's pretty good.

I've been impressed by what I've heard and read about the Droid. I like my curve but I'm getting tired of the restarts and freezing. I have several email accounts and I like the BB push feature to clean out junk email.

I know the GMail is push but will my other email like Verizon push also?

I'm due for an upgrade in August so I have some time to decide which device to get.

[morfy50]

Thanks for the help. I used to use a Treo for my calender and by far it was the best at a calender. Then I went to a BB which was a better over all phone but I had to switch to Outlook. Outlook is ok but no where near as good as the Palm calender functions. I was trying to avoid learning a new calender with Google, but from what I've heard, it's pretty good.

I've been impressed by what I've heard and read about the Droid. I like my curve but I'm getting tired of the restarts and freezing. I have several email accounts and I like the BB push feature to clean out junk email.

I know the GMail is push but will my other email like Verizon push also?

I'm due for an upgrade in August so I have some time to decide which device to get.

The only "true" push email on Android is Gmail. Using the default mail app you can only check as fast as every 5 minutes.

K-9 Mail (a free 3rd party mail app) supports IMAP IDLE so it will stay connected to your IMAP server and deliver alerts as new mail arrives. Also you can pick what folders to sync... so all the IMAP IDLE stuff.

Not sure what Verizon mail is, POP or IMAP. If POP, you're back to waiting for the Droid to check.

[forumz987]

thanks everyone for the tips and answering my questions...that's a huge help. I have another one though. Today my blackberry was a lifesaver...I needed a phone number that I had dialed in early February, all i remembered was the date and the approx time I called it. I was able to just scroll through my call logs to that date and I could even see info like how long the call was to make sure I had the correct call.

Can the android do this as well? As in...does it keep a long history of calls and does it have detailed information for them? I love how my blackberry lets me view all the outgoing and incoming calls with one particular person on a screen or how I can "search by sender" on my blackberry very easily.

Are these things possible on android?

THANKS!

[xliderider]

Forumz987, there is a setting you can check off in the call log to "ask before clearing", otherwise, the call logs are automatically cleared.

[forumz987]

Forumz987, there is a setting you can check off in the call log to "ask before clearing", otherwise, the call logs are automatically cleared.

So, as long as I keep saying 'no' to it wanting to automatically clear it, I'm good?

Does it show all the call details for a particular call, date, time, length?

Also does it have the ability to show you all calls to and from a particular person?

Finally...how often does this message come up? When your phone is running low on memory, orrr??


THANKS!!!

[roadwarrior69]

I switched to android after 5 years of bb. I have had the phone for 2 days, I'm still evaluating .... every now and then think of going back to bb (i have 30 days to eval the samsung galaxy s device). Here are some things that i'm struggeling with as of today.

1 - calendar integration: the setup did a great job with setting up my default gmail contacts and calendar sync, but I also have a yahoo and google apps calendar, and i can't seem to get that on the android calendar. I think the ui on the calendar is just clunky - not as fast to nav as on a bb. i miss the calendar integration and fast movement between services.
2 - can't figure out cut and past between apps. on my bb i would get an email from a bunch of folks and then create contacts if they are not contacts on my phone, adn then turn arond and invite them all to a meeting. maybe it's me, but still fubbeling around with doing this on android.
3- bbm, what else can i say. if you use bbm, your going to be disapointed on an android - no replacement. i'm trying to use yahoo im bc other friends use it. but i'm thinking google talk is the way to go. now just need to convince all friends to make the switch....wtf???
4 - battary - just plain sucks juice. i'm charging 3-4 x a day. Now granted i'm using the crap out of the phone.

all in all, web browser and games are hands down better, but the simple things that bb does very well is what i need to run my business and make money. i'm not sure android can live up to the bb business challenge yet...although every day that goes by i do get better at learning more about how to close my learning gaps.