[bluetroll]

So I have to admit, I cheated on my Z10. I spent the last week using a Samsung galaxy S3. The reason being, I wanted to see what was so good about Android.

Pro

• Android has limitless customizations. From the widgets to the different choices in keyboards (Swype and swiftkey flow are very good keyboard alternatives). If the user is inclined to spend the time getting the perfect setup, it can be very useful. However, I doubt most users will even bother to fully customize the screens.

• It can be rooted to provide additional features that are locked out by the manufacturer. But majority of users will never root the device.

• Notifications are easy to see with the notification bar at the top displaying a short 'blurb' of what the latest notification is. I like it a lot. Being able to reply directly from the pull down notification centre is great too.

• Apps, when they say "there's an app for that" they weren't kidding, because there really is an app for that.

Cons

• The messaging and email is terrible on Android. It makes me not want to reply to emails and messages because they are all over the place in different apps. I'm not joking when I mean that I don't even want to respond. It's the opening and closing of multiple apps to reply. Ugh.

• The apps required personal information and device information. It isn't even an option to choose which permissions you want to give the app. It is all or nothing. This can be avoided by rooting the device and installing an app that allows the user to choose individual permissions, but again most users won't bother with that.

• I'm not crazy about how Android switches between different apps, but it works.

BB10

Pro

• Honestly, the killer app on BB10 is the Hub. You don't know how useful this feature is until you have actually used in real life circumstances. Having all messages and email in one place makes it easy to reply and stay organized.

• Swiping to unlock the device just works. It is so easy and quick. Way faster than pressing the unlock button then swiping.

• The keyboard is great. So very great! Keyboards on Android like Swype and SwiftKey Flow are very good up until there's a word that it doesn't recognise you have typed before. It's extremely annoying trying to Swype a word and it keeps picking the same incorrect word.

• Flipping between different apps is just quick and simple. swipe, swipe, swipe.

Cons

• It's been beaten to death already, but it's the apps. Every possible app you can think of has been developed for Android. You can't ignore it.

My conclusion is that both operating systems are very good. It really depends on what your needs are. If a large variety of apps and customising is what you need then Android is a no brainer. However, if you need a device that excels in communicating and makes it actually enjoyable to chat or reply to emails then go with BlackBerry 10. Oh, and the apps will be arriving on BB10 soon too!

Hope you guys enjoyed this. Wrote it all on my Z10. (edited on my PC)

Posted via CB10

[Bakamushi]

-The messaging and email is terrible on Android. It makes me not want to reply to emails and messages because they are all over the place in different apps. I'm not joking when I mean that I don't even want to respond. It's the opening and closing of multiple apps to reply. Ugh.

I prefer separate apps.

Especially my private communication and my professional communication have to remain clearly separated.

My pro mail app remains active all the time, with notifications, and my mail app I open it when I have time, without particular pain.

The separation is even more critical for facebook and Twitter notifications, which are usually unimportant (or even irrelevant) and would clog my main mailbox.

[pantlesspenguin]

I almost completely agree with your assessment. The one thing I wanted to add is that the messaging and email applications aren't stock Android. Those are Sammy's iterations and I completely agree that they are terrible. I lived with the messaging app and tried to customize it as much as I could, which only consisted of a few choices of color, a few choices of bubble shape, and choice of text size. It was still ugly and unintuitive. Same thing with Sammy's stock email app. Can't stand it. I like HTC's a lot better, but even toward the end of my stint with the HTC Rezound I was using a 3rd party email app called Mail Droid. That thing blows Sammy's offering out of the water.

I still have Android with SwiftKey enabled, and the difference between the regular keyboard and the Z10 isn't that noticeable at first, but after using it awhile I'm totally wowed by it. Especially when I'm typing along and I type something correctly but it gets autocorrected. I might be one or two words along by the time I catch it. When I go back to change it, all I have to do is delete a couple letters and it changes back to what I originally typed. That's soooo helpful. SwiftKey makes you delete the entire word and enter it over again.

[bluetroll]

I prefer separate apps.

Especially my private communication and my professional communication have to remain clearly separated.

My pro mail app remains active all the time, with notifications, and my mail app I open it when I have time, without particular pain.

The separation is even more critical for facebook and Twitter notifications, which are usually unimportant (or even irrelevant) and would clog my main mailbox.

you have a valid point. You can do the same with the BlackBerry Hub removing all unimportant accounts, but I digress..

The thing that gets me the most is responding to messages text, whatsapp, skype, email, etc, if i read them but don't respond to them immediately, they disappear out of sight. You know what they say, out of sight of of mind. And if you remember, it's the ease at which it takes to get back to the message.

example Android, home button (if you have it saved to your dock or main screen) -> whatsapp -> select message thread

example BB10, swipe up right -> select message thread.

this is one of the main reasons I don't like it.

[Chanlion]

I think the BB OS is more advanced. But Android has had time to fine tune and existence for apps to be developed. Also the balance of security and freedom /customizabilty of BlackBerry leans a little more towards security. BB still a work in progress. But shows of being a better OS and system than Android. Not hating on Android, I do miss the large screen on my nexus. I do hope BlackBerry suceeds.

[R Field]

Great description of both platforms. 100% agree.

CB10- BlackBerry Z10

[NaijaBerry]

I agree with your assessment, but you missed out a very very important aspect of the SGS3, its an extremely laggy phone. Opening apps sometimes takes forever and the most annoying thing is the phone app, now this takes eternity, I use one everyday and mostly for fun stuff, you just can't trust a phone that gives third party apps full access to everything, and its a take it or leave it situation like you rightly mentioned!

[Tre Lawrence]

Not a bad synopsis from a personal point of view.

My biggest gripe right now? BB10 needs to be a better all-round communication device for more people.

[bluetroll]

I agree with your assessment, but you missed out a very very important aspect of the SGS3, its an extremely laggy phone. Opening apps sometimes takes forever and the most annoying thing is the phone app, now this takes eternity, I use one everyday and mostly for fun stuff, you just can't trust a phone that gives third party apps full access to everything, and its a take it or leave it situation like you rightly mentioned!

I'll agree that sometimes there's a lag when opening/closing apps. It's random, happened probably 2 or 3 times during the week. The device kinda just stalls and seems like it is frozen or a second or two. Then it comes back to life.

I'm not sure if it gets worse with long term use of the GS3 or Android in general?

Like what the famous Canadian personality Kevin O'Leary said, "80% of use of the phone is email, calendar and contacts". BlackBerry 10 is on the right track.

I'm going back to the Z10 tomorrow morning, I'm looking forward to getting back to life where messaging and emails are easy and enjoyable.

[bluetroll]

Not a bad synopsis from a personal point of view.

My biggest gripe right now? BB10 needs to be a better all-round communication device for more people.

how so?

do you mean building back the brand equity and increasing the brand awareness again?

[Tre Lawrence]

how so?

do you mean building back the brand equity and increasing the brand awareness again?

Definitely that, yes, but I was talking more about keeping the user connected to the world in diverse ways.

[ShAaShAy]

Accurate assessment of both.
The biggest plus for Android is the support it has in every department. Also, the messaging and email isn't as good as BB10, but it's still decent and better than iOS. I say this having used Vanilla Android for a long time since I had a Galaxy Nexus. That's the skinless and original Android. The skins put over Android by the companies makes it cluttered a bit. If someday you really want to experience true Android, you should try to use a Nexus device.
As for me, I love both Android and BB10. The experience they both give you in their own ways is really nice.

Posted via CB10

[Tre Lawrence]

Accurate assessment of both.
The biggest plus for Android is the support it has in every department. Also, the messaging and email isn't as good as BB10, but it's still decent and better than iOS. I say this having used Vanilla Android for a long time since I had a Galaxy Nexus. That's the skinless and original Android. The skins put over Android by the companies makes it cluttered a bit. If someday you really want to experience true Android, you should try to use a Nexus device.
As for me, I love both Android and BB10. The experience they both give you in their own ways is really nice.

Posted via CB10

Good stuff.

Android also had the edge (IMHO) in void computing.

[bluetroll]

I would love to try stock Android but I will need to find someone willing to let me use their device for a week.

I really like it, but for the majority of the things I use a smartphone for BB10 fits the best. I definitely wouldn't mind having a backup device as an Android.

Posted via CB10

[Tre Lawrence]

I would love to try stock Android but I will need to find someone willing to let me use their device for a week.

I really like it, but for the majority of the things I use a smartphone for BB10 fits the best. I definitely wouldn't mind having a backup device as an Android.

Posted via CB10

Well said. That's all that matters.

[woodywoodford]

I never once considered hub a selling point... now I don't know how I lived without.

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[ghost194]

I almost completely agree with your assessment. The one thing I wanted to add is that the messaging and email applications aren't stock Android. Those are Sammy's iterations and I completely agree that they are terrible. I lived with the messaging app and tried to customize it as much as I could, which only consisted of a few choices of color, a few choices of bubble shape, and choice of text size. It was still ugly and unintuitive. Same thing with Sammy's stock email app. Can't stand it. I like HTC's a lot better, but even toward the end of my stint with the HTC Rezound I was using a 3rd party email app called Mail Droid. That thing blows Sammy's offering out of the water.

I still have Android with SwiftKey enabled, and the difference between the regular keyboard and the Z10 isn't that noticeable at first, but after using it awhile I'm totally wowed by it. Especially when I'm typing along and I type something correctly but it gets autocorrected. I might be one or two words along by the time I catch it. When I go back to change it, all I have to do is delete a couple letters and it changes back to what I originally typed. That's soooo helpful. SwiftKey makes you delete the entire word and enter it over again.

With SwiftKey just bring cursor back to attach to the misspelled word, if the correct spelling is one of the 3 choices just hit it and it will change, or put the cursor at the incorrect part of the word and delete the letters and continue.

[ghost194]

I agree with your assessment, but you missed out a very very important aspect of the SGS3, its an extremely laggy phone. Opening apps sometimes takes forever and the most annoying thing is the phone app, now this takes eternity, I use one everyday and mostly for fun stuff, you just can't trust a phone that gives third party apps full access to everything, and its a take it or leave it situation like you rightly mentioned!

Apps on my s3 only falter if my wifi is poor or stopped working. Other than that have not seen the phone lag much at all. I have to agree about permissions on this phone, some are just ridiculous for what the apps do. Phone app doesn't lag at all on mine either.

[STV0726]

Thank you so much for posting this...

+1

~STV

[bluetroll]

Thank you so much for posting this...

+1

~STV

Glad you liked it.

What pisses me off are the elitest type of people who believe their (Android or iPhone) is the best ever. They go out of their way to put down other products, without even using the product. Their OSs are great, in their own way, but so are the other OSs out there. I guess it helps them cope with their insecurities.

The best OS is what works best for YOUR own NEEDS. BB10 is perfect for MY needs.... however, I DO want to test out a WP8, maybe Mobile Nations can loan me one

[Tre Lawrence]

Glad you liked it.

What pisses me off are the elitest type of people who believe their (Android or iPhone) is the best ever. They go out of their way to put down other products, without even using the product. Their OSs are great, in their own way, but so are the other OSs out there. I guess it helps them cope with their insecurities.

The best OS is what works best for YOUR own NEEDS. BB10 is perfect for MY needs.... however, I DO want to test out a WP8, maybe Mobile Nations can loan me one

Choice is good. It makes every platform better. Each has benefits.

I guarantee you this: as BB10's ecosystem matures, adoption will rise. It's the ONLY thing that I feel is holding folks back.

[mandony]

One thing not yet discussed is form factor. Most of the Samsung products are like handling a giant guerrilla. The z10 is like handling a petite girlfriend

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[Tre Lawrence]

One thing not yet discussed is form factor. Most of the Samsung products are like handling a giant guerrilla. The z10 is like handling a petite girlfriend

Posted via CB10

Now that is TRUE love.

Some people like em big and swarthy.

[koool1]

I have a Nexus 7 and I agree with what you say. Messaging and communication is top priority for me so Z 10 is a no brainer.

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