So I decided to jump ship. Android or iOS? Android.

[KQ9]

About me:
Started off with Symbian, Nokia 6600 was a legendary phone. But thats history, fast-forward, Bold 9780+Playbook, now Samsung Galaxy S II solo. Does everything my Bold + Playbook(sold) do and a lot-lot more.

About two weeks in with my new Samsung Galaxy S II. Love it.
One thing I must note in bold, battery drain due to either manufacturer bloat apps or user apps can be an annoying issue.
Much of the battery issues can be fixed by used specific monitoring apps that show you the culprit battery vampire. Noobs usually end up using "battery saving" apps, or spend all day toggling features on and off. I refuse to do any of that nonsense and use my phone as I would when I want without toggling anything on and off or using special battery apps(that most of the time end up sucking the life out of your battery).


Experience-wise, specially for those who want to switch from blackberries, be ready to get your hands dirty if you want the best experience. Other-wise the stock stuff is pretty okay. I bought my SGS2 with zero intention on using it with stock configuration anyway and having already done my homework on what to expect.

Power users, geeks, slight geeks or anyone that likes having a task manager baked into the OS will love Androids.
But if you don't like fiddling around with things or you just want a phone that works, possibly won't recommend an Android. Maybe a Blackberry or an iPhone.

Being a power user, I ended up rooting and loading custom ROMs since I turned on that thing. It takes a while and a lot of reading to get into the whole Android world. Kernels, ROMs, modems, etc. But It's not that bad once you get used to it and its all about testing for a while until you get the perfect settings that makes you happy.
That included a lot of time spent with monitoring type of apps that can show me what keeps the phone awake when it should be sleeping and saving battery, overclocking and underclocking to save battery, performance enhancements, testing modems and how they work with my network signal, etc. I found my perfect settings and once you do, the phone is probably the best thing you will use because its tailored for you.

And best of all, if you don't feel mentally challenged to use a FTP application, you can do everything on your phone without ever connecting a cable to your PC after the first rooting. I know it because I have a Mac and I never connected my phone to a Windows except the first hour of rooting.

Customizations on Androids is beyond any phone you can use today. Love it.
Another great thing about Androids is the "Open with" dialog, I've used an iPad before deciding against iOS, and I hated it. And how Apple controls file browsing, even though its more user friendly, its less practical and annoying. It was beyond annoying to get a simple spreadsheet opened in a darn spreadsheet editor app.

Where as the same thing on Android, was as simple as install any app capable of Spreadsheet editing, and install Dropbox, and you're done. They don't have to communicate with each other per say, all you gotta do is open the file in dropbox and the OS will ask you which application to open it with. Much like on PC's. Of course you don't get the whole list of apps, only ones that register on the OS as capable of handling the file type.

Conclusion, I seem to be leaning towards a Galaxy Tab 8.9 to replace my Playbook too. Now that I'm all into Android OS and loving it. And looking at how I can plug a harddrive USB or my DSLR Memory card straight into the tablet with an official adapter and get cranking with Adobe Photoshop Touch (not Express crap), I can't freakin' wait!

But frankly, things I DO miss from Blackberry:
First and foremost, and real-freakin-keyboard. Still trying to get used to this touchscreen keyboard business :/.
QNX, or Playbook OS, while I think it's multitasking was flawed in a practical way although powerful, I really miss the gesture friendly OS. Specially of how easy it is to switch apps. Hopefully ICS multitasking will make it a lot better as seen from videos, but only use can tell.

Hope this gives someone an idea on how it is like beyond the Blackberry forest. Goodluck.

[Ray Soto]

Well dude i think your making a big mistake. I've owned both iPhone and Android devices and i must say that I hated the experience. I find that although my blackberry (9930) doesn't have all those apps, i like it better and feel that its better suited for my needs. The playbook is starting to gain some ground and the experience of the playbook with its multitasking features is unmatched by either Android or iPad. All BB needs is more apps and they will dominate the market.

[KQ9]

Originally Posted by Ray Soto

Well dude i think your making a big mistake. I've owned both iPhone and Android devices and i must say that I hated the experience. I find that although my blackberry (9930) doesn't have all those apps, i like it better and feel that its better suited for my needs. The playbook is starting to gain some ground and the experience of the playbook with its multitasking features is unmatched by either Android or iPad. All BB needs is more apps and they will dominate the market.

True that, Apps is a big issue. But I'm really done waiting. I've had a Playbook since June, been crushed way too many times :/.

My lone phone can do what both of my blackbery devices could do and more. And I really love the fact that I can stream videos off my network drive just by installing a free file manager (ES File Manager) that has FTP and SMB capabilities, took 5 minutes really. SSH Tunneling is just as easy, SSH Terminal too, love the fact I can access my linux web server on the move. and VPN! Oh dear god VPN is baked right in and supports actual non-corporate usable protocols such as PPTP and L2TP!
Not to mention the big names like Dropbox, Evernote, etc, all having GREAT support on Android.

Anyway point made, aside from that, the dream Blackberry still haunts me, BBX + qwerty keyboard, and of course, apps.

[johnly]

Simple...4S=$. If you want to "spend" time making your phone go, get a android device. I have had every android device including the galaxy and sg2....the sg2 is the only device I would consider....but truth is, android is space junk. It is, fragged and pumped by everyone...It does not perform like the BIG BAD IPHONE. Sorry droiders......but iOS trumps crap to fix daily every day of the week. (my term droiders is lame)

[lssanjose]

Originally Posted by johnly

Simple...4S=$. If you want to "spend" time making your phone go, get a android device. I have had every android device including the galaxy and sg2....the sg2 is the only device I would consider....but truth is, android is space junk. It is, fragged and pumped by everyone...It does not perform like the BIG BAD IPHONE. Sorry droiders......but iOS trumps crap to fix daily every day of the week. (my term droiders is lame)

I'm sorry, but I've had an iPhone, and it's a coin flip between the two platforms. When I get pushed a message to my device, I don't want to have to wait until that message appears in the application, itself. I could go on and on, but each platform has its quirks.

I won't forgive iOS's multitasking, or lack thereof. I'm sorry, but NFL Mobile's needing the screen on in order to listen to an audio stream is inexcusable. I've had my iPhone crash, restart, and what have you. So, not all iPhones are created equally.

[Rickroller]

Originally Posted by johnly

but truth is, android is space junk. It is, fragged and pumped by everyone...It does not perform like the BIG BAD IPHONE. Sorry droiders......but iOS trumps crap to fix daily every day of the week. (my term droiders is lame)

Perform at what? Shuffling apps back and forth? I suppose if this was 2007 that might impress me

[KQ9]

Originally Posted by johnly

Simple...4S=$. If you want to "spend" time making your phone go, get a android device. I have had every android device including the galaxy and sg2....the sg2 is the only device I would consider....but truth is, android is space junk. It is, fragged and pumped by everyone...It does not perform like the BIG BAD IPHONE. Sorry droiders......but iOS trumps crap to fix daily every day of the week. (my term droiders is lame)

Hah, yup, lame like you.
Not every phone/OS is for everyone. And I'd rather have the freedom. Both device configuration and what I use my device with

[jimboyarguelles]

I think you made an excellent choice sir. I have a Galaxy Nexus running Ice Cream Sandwich and it feels like a thing from a sci fi movie when compared to my 9900.

[Spotmark]

Johnly, you've become such an iPhone w_hore.

[KQ9]

Originally Posted by jimboyarguelles

I think you made an excellent choice sir. I have a Galaxy Nexus running Ice Cream Sandwich and it feels like a thing from a sci fi movie when compared to my 9900.

Nice.Man i can't wait for ICS update :O

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[MACKSnare519]

I've recently switched over to Android with a Motorola ATRIX 2 and I couldn't be happier!

Now, I have not done any rooting, my device runs flawlessly without all of the in-depth tinkering. Very fast and fluid, even with Motorola's add-ons. I have, however, installed GO Launcher..... So f'n awesome all of the things I can do with this phone. Its crazy because I was one of those diehard, borderline BlackBerry fanboys, and now I'm on an Android device.

I still love BlackBerry, though, and I hope RIM gets its isht together. I would love nothing more than to be able to do everything I can do on my ATRIX 2, on a BlackBerry. But until that happens, I'm #TeamAndroid

Sent from Motorola ATRIX 2 using Tapatalk

[southlander]

Sounds like you are happy. I think there is already a stickied "switcher" thread. The mods will probably remind you that you should have posted there.

As for your recommended advice on switching to Android, that sounds like a bit of work to learn all that. Which is fine if one is so motivated and has the time. I heard Samsung (I think it was them), promise a days worth of battery life on their forth coming devices this year. Which, is tacit admission that the average battery life is not great. If they solve that, AND RIM fails with BB10, I might try an Android phone.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9930 using Tapatalk

[Rickroller]

Originally Posted by MACKSnare519

I've recently switched over to Android with a Motorola ATRIX 2 and I couldn't be happier!

Now, I have not done any rooting, my device runs flawlessly without all of the in-depth tinkering. Very fast and fluid, even with Motorola's add-ons. I have, however, installed GO Launcher..... So f'n awesome all of the things I can do with this phone. Its crazy because I was one of those diehard, borderline BlackBerry fanboys, and now I'm on an Android device.

I still love BlackBerry, though, and I hope RIM gets its isht together. I would love nothing more than to be able to do everything I can do on my ATRIX 2, on a BlackBerry. But until that happens, I'm #TeamAndroid

Sent from Motorola ATRIX 2 using Tapatalk

Congrats! I had/have the original Atrix, and I was using Go Launcher as well. Although the set up is almost identical to LauncherPro, Go launcher has so many more themes and customizable features for it, that makes it stand out. I loved the Twitter and FB scrolling widget (especially with the transparent theme), not to mention all the themes available for your lock screen as well. All needed without root

[grunt0300]

Any love here, for the HTC Vivid? I hear that Sense 3.0 will be out real soon.

[thebignewt]

I had the HTC Incredible, just got the Galaxy Nexus 2 weeks ago. I'm into OSX too (iPad, iMac, wife iPhone). I thing the GN is suberb so far. I don't root. It's OS reminds me quite a bit of OSX too (no accident). I had 2 BBs and although they were pretty easy to use and I liked the whole messaging experience (both receiving and sending) when you get to other things a phone can do android touchscreens leave RIM behind (I really want to like the Storm too).