[kyroguy]

I have seen the mountain and it is good...but not great.

Before we go any further, this is a thread about my switch to android from blackberry. The good, the bad (mostly bad) and the ugly. Haters, stop reading now and save the drama for your mama...

This has been done before, I'm going to do it again. Maybe better, maybe not. It's going to be long. You have been warned.

I recently "had" to upgrade. I am on big red and their switch to tiered data from unlimited virtually forced an upgrade. I was due anyway. My wife and I had S2's from release day (both with a single warranty replacement) and were happy with them. While that may surprise many of you it is the truth. They did what I needed them to do. Nothing flashy, but functional (99% of the time). So the upgrade day came and BB had nothing to offer on big red. Long story short we went with the Droid Charge. I quickly rooted/romed mine, she (being not tech savvy at all) is running stock.

So the Droids have been a mixed bag...

The good (compared to what we had ((S2)): (the review will be mostly based on my rooted and romed with Altered Beast Droid Charge):

Fairly fast - don't be expecting PC speeds, but response is pretty quick. However, it DOES lag more than every once in a while. If you are looking to leave blackberry to avoid lag and bugginess, this isn't what you are looking for. I was expecting a butter interface 24/7 based on other reviews, this ISN'T what I got. I have had to *gasp* restart the phone. I have only had to actually pull the battery twice and that was due to the rooting process.

Apps - Ok, I was the guy talking about how I needed a "communications device". I am hooked on deluxe pinball. The apps are great. But be warned, some of the basic features (like bedside mode) require sifting through mountains of apps to find. Many are free, some are not. Without spending time going through libraries of forums posts on other sites, which I have no time for, finding the "apps" I need to do what I need to do has been nothing short of labor.

Apps (again) - The apps, especially widgets are nothing short of amazing. Although, the app for weather radar (maybe I'm missing the good one?) is severely lacking speed, accuracy and loading time.

OS - The availability of of OS versions is dizzying. Although the seeming contest to name them after the most ridiculous things becomes tiring quickly.

Apps on SD - nice for those having memory problems. I never did so not as big of a deal as I thought it would be. Some say it opens security problems, I don't know.

Forward facing camera - as soon as I find a use for it this forward facing cam is going to be awesome... (useless)

Mobile hotspot - as soon as I find a use for this mobile hotspot (and am willing to pay the fee) it will be great... (useless to me)

The bad:

Battery life: The salesman was honest, he described the battery as "unusable". I was pleased to find it just less than that. I find that MOST days I can get nearly a whole day out of it. I usually ended with the BB at 50% or better (usually way better) and the Droid is usually sub 50% (usually way sub 50%, closer to 20%). Some days I simply can't finish the day without some charge, that was never the case with the BB. I find myself turning off the WiFi and Bluetooth to save my battery with the droid, I never had to do that with the BB.

Spell check: I miss hitting the BB button and getting a spell check. I may be dumb, but I can't find the spell check on the Droid. Even after searching for apps, I can't find it. Copy and paste is there, but spell check...not so much. Don't get me wrong, there are spell check apps, but nothing that works like I think it should. More like type into this box and we'll spell check it, then copy and paste into the box you actually wanted to type in. Seriously? Maybe I'm missing the good app, hopefully someone will call me stupid and point it out.

Email: I figured that push email was not really that big of a deal, if I had to wait I had to wait. The push on this thing is horrible with Yahoo. My wifes (not rooted and with less apps which may be causing the delay) is better, but nowhere near instant. My phone hasn't pushed an email in almost a week! Who knows what is wrong, maybe an app? I haven't the time to sift through mountains of forum post solutions...blackberry just worked.

Apps: Android has tons of apps...very few of which I find useful. I had a few on BB that I used regularly. Flycast for Fox News Radio (go ahead and judge me), Facebook, and Opera Mini. Flycast is defunct on the Droid(and the actual Fox app totally sucks!), the Facebook app sucks (you think its bad on BB...) and Opera isn't needed since the stock browser is decent. I can't say there are a whole bunch of other apps I couldn't live without. I won't say I don't use them, but my life isn't that much better because of them.

Folders?: You can't (as far as I can tell) make folders to hold the useless crap you can't delete. This is made somewhat better by the ability to modify "homescreens", but still annoying. Running a fairly debloated rooted and romed version of the Droid is not as bad but flipping through my wifes phone is almost unbearable. There is no way to hide the endless torrent of blockbuster, crap, crap, crap and crap apps that come pre loaded from big red. This is, of course, carrier dependent.

Security: I haven't been hacked yet, but it's only a matter of time. The basic apps that I need to function daily require ridiculous permissions including access to my contacts, etc. I suppose if my full time job was to sift though apps to find ones that didn't maybe I could but I don't have that kind of time. I have already noticed a few spam phone calls since switching. Maybe coincidence, maybe not.

Over access/complication: I considered myself an almost "power user" on BB. I am tech savvy. The Droid is almost beyond that in terms of getting it running smoothly. I am having several problems that I can't seem to get solved. The email push, for one. But more annoying, notifications. One of my apps (perhaps?) is causing the notification sounds to keep getting muted. Get a text, no sound. That is driving me nuts. I have to babysit the thing constantly to make sure my notification volume is up. Quite a pain. I could live without the ability of the phone to check my heart rate (no kidding) if it were to just notify when a text came through.

The indifferent:

The hardware: BB hardware is super solid. The Samsung Droid hardware is solid too. My wife had to exchange hers for a buzzing ear piece, mine is buzzing slightly too. But I see that is not too different from the BB manufacturing complaints.

Accessories: Nice cases are available for both.

Common folders: It was cool to have SMS and Email in the same folder on BB. It is not that big of a deal to have separate folders on the Droid. Not that it pushes email anyway...

Undetermined:

Data usage: this thing sucks data, I can already tell. I haven't checked the actual usage but it is bad. Of course it is all relative. It can tell me the position of Mars and Pluto (while being unable to check their spellings) but all that info takes data...and lots of it. I am not terribly concerned because I got in under the wire for the "unlimited" data at big red but some day this will be a concern.



Long story short, if you don't have a nagging reason to switch...DON'T! I have seen the mountain and it isn't that great. Unfortunately, BB wasn't giving me any compelling options otherwise. I am holding my breath for a QNX BB that I honestly believe will make the Droid obsolete. Until then I dance with the devil...

(before commenting note that I don't feed the trolls)

[mountainman]

This is spot on and reflects my opinions when I went from a Storm2 to a DroidX. The notifications are lame, but the web browsing is awesome.

To the Crackberry community - If you are into having a communication device first, and all the flashy goodies second, please take this advice (and countless others here on the forums) and really think about what is important.



Hang in there kyroguy.... Heck - are you past the 15 day window?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Alberta Blue]

Its great that you put so much thought into that, but you should have put it over here

[skfreak]

By far one of the best posts I've read in a long time *ThumbsUp*
The Battery Life would be a NoGo for me!

[qbnkelt]

OP - won't quote you because the post is so long.....but I really enjoyed reading it. I was a bit wary at first but once I got into the meat of it I really agree with most of what you said.
I hope you find what works best for you....best of luck.

[tack]

Sorry to hear you have had a mediocre experience. Mine was completely opposite coming from the Storm2 to the Droid Incredible2. My push with 4 email accounts is instant. The notifications are awesome. I get two days or more of battery life, and I know Droid's vary widely in that area. I find many of the apps invaluable. While it does take some time to customize, the possibilities are awesome. I also video chat with my family a lot. I am rooted and use the hotspot like crazy. You should have it for free if you are rooted, although I pay for mine by choice.

You should have solutions to a lot of these if you are rooted, including removing the bloat ware from big red. Also, folders are native on mine out of the box. In think you highlight that (1) Android is a bit fragmented and choosing your vender is important (I greatly prefer HTC), and (2) LTE phones are not ready for everyone, and (3) the virus threat is an unknown. I knew that the battery life on all LTE phones sucked when I chose the Dinc2, and I also needed a global phone. my battery life rocks and I have a light, thin, 4 inch screen phone.

I find Android more difficult to setup in many ways, and there are things I miss about my BB. I have figured a lot out, and what I miss is down to nearly zero. A lot of your issues seem like they might be inexperience, but maybe just preference. To each his own, but I though I would highlight that your experience is not necessarily the prevailing one. My office is now transitioning from BB to Android, and mostly people are happy. Some are not.

If RIM had the form factor, hotspot, ffc, and performance I might have stayed.

[Denise in Los Angeles]

http://forums.crackberry.com/general...t-here-260887/

[Caymancroc]

You missed the best part of Android, the fart apps. There are a plethora of them and, OH MAN, are they funny. <Sarcasm>

Android is the worst of the the 4 main OS going on right now, IMHO. I had a Samsung Galaxy product. What a hunk of junk. Battery life and Exchange support were both miserable. I especially like when the device froze and apps force closed (again sarcasm).

I still stand by my statement the only reason people have Android phones is because they can't get an iPhone (carrier, cost, whatever). There are a few out there that probably enjoy the Android pain, but when I tried it, it was just too awful. I gladly went in and paid nearly $500 to have a 9780 back in my life. Best $500 I spent on technology ever.

[tack]

You missed the best part of Android, the fart apps. There are a plethora of them and, OH MAN, are they funny. <Sarcasm>

Android is the worst of the the 4 main OS going on right now, IMHO. I had a Samsung Galaxy product. What a hunk of junk. Battery life and Exchange support were both miserable. I especially like when the device froze and apps force closed (again sarcasm).

I still stand by my statement the only reason people have Android phones is because they can't get an iPhone (carrier, cost, whatever). There are a few out there that probably enjoy the Android pain, but when I tried it, it was just too awful. I gladly went in and paid nearly $500 to have a 9780 back in my life. Best $500 I spent on technology ever.

You are wrong about why, but I am glad for you that you have a 9780 back in your life. Keep standing by that well supported statement. Oh, that was my sarcasm. To each his own.