[computerslayer]

Several months ago I switched from my BlackBerry Storm 2 on Verizon to the HTC Sensation 4G on Verizon. There were several reasons I made the switch: BlackBerry OS 5 continued to lag or freeze on a regular basis, the 3G connection & the poor browser combination, the lack of app availability, the slow release cycle of updates and the generally bleak outlook of new devices (or lack thereof).

I must admit that in these regards, I have not been disappointed in the slightest. The HTC Sensation 4G is a blazing fast phone (dual-core!), the internet connection combined with a full browser is wonderful, the Android Market delivers and the update schedule is satisfyingly frequent.

And yet, I find myself daily frustrated by a great number of things I took for granted in the BlackBerry OS. For those who might be looking for a reason to stay with BlackBerry, I'd like to offer a few of my observations.

Push notifications
Lets face it, this is RIM's best feature. The ability to immediately receive messages as well as a variety of notifications is nothing short of amazing. BlackBerry phones are a smartphone in their own class. Android's solution is limited to Gmail (by using it as an e-mail client if you don't use Gmail itself), and therefore only e-mail. Despite Google's claim, it's not push as BlackBerry users know it: there is often plenty of delay in the delivery of messages.

Calendar
My calendar application, previously on my BlackBerry on now on my Android phone, is the most important aspect of the OS. There are a number of aspects that the Android calendar application simply lacks:

• custom repetition - there is some, but not enough. Specifically, you have the options for daily, every weekday, weekly, monthly (date or relative) and yearly. But if you want more option - say every few days, weekly repetitions of multiple days - you're out of luck. If you want the equivalent ability, you must create multiple calendar entries.
  
• private appointments - again, you just don't get this in Android. As I synchronize my phone with my computers every day (and sometimes print for others), this becomes quick nuisance.
  
• duration - you guessed it again, not available. In order to set the duration you have to manually set the end time, which easily becomes wasted time.
  
• all day events clutter - say you have birthdays & anniversaries, holidays or other all-day events. In the BlackBerry OS, when you scroll down, these simply, well, scroll away. But within the Android OS, daily events are an overlay 'above' the calendar. This may have seemed helpful to the developers, but if you have multiple daily events, you lose a great deal of screen real estate. This means that you simply don't get to see much of your calendar without scrolling excessively.

Contacts
My contacts application is the second most important aspect of the OS. Not only do I keep phone numbers, e-mails & addresses, but I have notes on my friends, family & acquaintances that I use on a regular basis:

• in short, searching within contacts in Android is limited to the name field - first, middle and last. Contrast that with the BlackBerry OS, which can search in every field.
  
• the ability to see the whole of a contacts name: first, middle, last, title and suffix.
  -----combined with the inability to search these other fields, it is easy to get lost in my 900+ contacts, which I can no longer filter via search in Android

Phone
Its strange that the phone application should only be the fourth priority, but here we are:

• contact integration with the phone call interface in the BlackBerry OS is very cohesive. The use of tabs allows for easy access without clutter. In the Android OS, the dial pad, call history and address books are all mashed together. The dial pad is overlaid over the call history and the contact book is only available by typing in the contacts information.... with the same limitations of the address book search ability (first & last name only)
  
• BlackBerry OS has a great deal of in-call options. While the Android OS is limited to muting or placing the call on speaker, the BlackBerry OS also allows for flashing the call, adding a participant and even adjusting the audio settings of the call itself.

BlackBerry App World/Android Market
The Android Market has a very celebrated advantage over BlackBerry App World: developers actively create applications, and a lot of them. However, the implementation of Android Market has some clear weaknesses

• Search & filter: in short, Android Market is a nightmare to search because the standard BlackBerry App world search critera of date, relevance rating, price, vendor or name are poorly executed in the Android Market. If you don't know the name of the app you're looking for, well, good luck. You'll be easily bogged down in the many applications developed for Android - even the bad ones.
  
• Too many apps: ever browsed the Apple application market? Its populated with far to many useless applications. Ditto for the Android market. It takes a good deal of research in order to find reliable applications.
  
• Not enough Android/Google applications. One of the strengths of the BlackBerry OS are the applications that are developed by RIM itself. BlackBerry Protect, BlackBerry Traffic, BlackBerry Podcasts, BlackBerry Travel, in addition to many applications for other services such as Facebook and Twitter. RIM's involvement may slow down development, but it maximizes the stability and reliability of those applications - something often hard to depend on in the Android Market.

Synchronization
The BlackBerry Desktop application is a godsend. Customizable and tightly coordinated with Outlook, it is truly a 'set-it-and-forget-it' program. The Android cloud solution, on the other hand, lacks the tight integration with Outlook:

• Contact synchronization: I'm afraid it only happens once. From then on, automatic synchronization just doesn't happen. You simply must use third-party software if you would like to have it all synchronized.
  
• Multiple computers: with BlackBerry desktop, you set up the software on each computer according to your needs and go. With Android, its short work to create duplicates and contradictory entries.

I broke my contract with Verizon to get away from the slowness and poor internet experience of the BlackBerry Storm 2, and I'm not sorry I did. But with the QNX software finally coming closer to implementation on BlackBerry phones, I must admit that I am looking forward to seeing what RIM comes up with. I would be willing to break my current contract in order to regain these features.

If you're wondering whether you want to make the jump, I would suggest carefully considering what the above (and several lesser annoyances) may mean for you. If you can wait, the benefits of BlackBerry OS built into the new QNX OS, layered on top of modern hardware, may be just what you're looking for!

peace,
Fr. Maurer

[katiepea]

Several months ago I switched from my BlackBerry Storm 2 on Verizon to the HTC Sensation 4G on Verizon. There were several reasons I made the switch: BlackBerry OS 5 continued to lag or freeze on a regular basis, the 3G connection & the poor browser combination, the lack of app availability, the slow release cycle of updates and the generally bleak outlook of new devices (or lack thereof).

I must admit that in these regards, I have not been disappointed in the slightest. The HTC Sensation 4G is a blazing fast phone (dual-core!), the internet connection combined with a full browser is wonderful, the Android Market delivers and the update schedule is satisfyingly frequent.

And yet, I find myself daily frustrated by a great number of things I took for granted in the BlackBerry OS. For those who might be looking for a reason to stay with BlackBerry, I'd like to offer a few of my observations.

Push notifications
Lets face it, this is RIM's best feature. The ability to immediately receive messages as well as a variety of notifications is nothing short of amazing. BlackBerry phones are a smartphone in their own class. Android's solution is limited to Gmail (by using it as an e-mail client if you don't use Gmail itself), and therefore only e-mail. Despite Google's claim, it's not push as BlackBerry users know it: there is often plenty of delay in the delivery of messages.

Calendar
My calendar application, previously on my BlackBerry on now on my Android phone, is the most important aspect of the OS. There are a number of aspects that the Android calendar application simply lacks:

• custom repetition - there is some, but not enough. Specifically, you have the options for daily, every weekday, weekly, monthly (date or relative) and yearly. But if you want more option - say every few days, weekly repetitions of multiple days - you're out of luck. If you want the equivalent ability, you must create multiple calendar entries.
  
• private appointments - again, you just don't get this in Android. As I synchronize my phone with my computers every day (and sometimes print for others), this becomes quick nuisance.
  
• duration - you guessed it again, not available. In order to set the duration you have to manually set the end time, which easily becomes wasted time.
  
• all day events clutter - say you have birthdays & anniversaries, holidays or other all-day events. In the BlackBerry OS, when you scroll down, these simply, well, scroll away. But within the Android OS, daily events are an overlay 'above' the calendar. This may have seemed helpful to the developers, but if you have multiple daily events, you lose a great deal of screen real estate. This means that you simply don't get to see much of your calendar without scrolling excessively.

Contacts
My contacts application is the second most important aspect of the OS. Not only do I keep phone numbers, e-mails & addresses, but I have notes on my friends, family & acquaintances that I use on a regular basis:

• in short, searching within contacts in Android is limited to the name field - first, middle and last. Contrast that with the BlackBerry OS, which can search in every field.
  
• the ability to see the whole of a contacts name: first, middle, last, title and suffix.
  -----combined with the inability to search these other fields, it is easy to get lost in my 900+ contacts, which I can no longer filter via search in Android

Phone
Its strange that the phone application should only be the fourth priority, but here we are:

• contact integration with the phone call interface in the BlackBerry OS is very cohesive. The use of tabs allows for easy access without clutter. In the Android OS, the dial pad, call history and address books are all mashed together. The dial pad is overlaid over the call history and the contact book is only available by typing in the contacts information.... with the same limitations of the address book search ability (first & last name only)
  
• BlackBerry OS has a great deal of in-call options. While the Android OS is limited to muting or placing the call on speaker, the BlackBerry OS also allows for flashing the call, adding a participant and even adjusting the audio settings of the call itself.

BlackBerry App World/Android Market
The Android Market has a very celebrated advantage over BlackBerry App World: developers actively create applications, and a lot of them. However, the implementation of Android Market has some clear weaknesses

• Search & filter: in short, Android Market is a nightmare to search because the standard BlackBerry App world search critera of date, relevance rating, price, vendor or name are poorly executed in the Android Market. If you don't know the name of the app you're looking for, well, good luck. You'll be easily bogged down in the many applications developed for Android - even the bad ones.
  
• Too many apps: ever browsed the Apple application market? Its populated with far to many useless applications. Ditto for the Android market. It takes a good deal of research in order to find reliable applications.
  
• Not enough Android/Google applications. One of the strengths of the BlackBerry OS are the applications that are developed by RIM itself. BlackBerry Protect, BlackBerry Traffic, BlackBerry Podcasts, BlackBerry Travel, in addition to many applications for other services such as Facebook and Twitter. RIM's involvement may slow down development, but it maximizes the stability and reliability of those applications - something often hard to depend on in the Android Market.

Synchronization
The BlackBerry Desktop application is a godsend. Customizable and tightly coordinated with Outlook, it is truly a 'set-it-and-forget-it' program. The Android cloud solution, on the other hand, lacks the tight integration with Outlook:

• Contact synchronization: I'm afraid it only happens once. From then on, automatic synchronization just doesn't happen. You simply must use third-party software if you would like to have it all synchronized.
  
• Multiple computers: with BlackBerry desktop, you set up the software on each computer according to your needs and go. With Android, its short work to create duplicates and contradictory entries.

I broke my contract with Verizon to get away from the slowness and poor internet experience of the BlackBerry Storm 2, and I'm not sorry I did. But with the QNX software finally coming closer to implementation on BlackBerry phones, I must admit that I am looking forward to seeing what RIM comes up with. I would be willing to break my current contract in order to regain these features.

If you're wondering whether you want to make the jump, I would suggest carefully considering what the above (and several lesser annoyances) may mean for you. If you can wait, the benefits of BlackBerry OS built into the new QNX OS, layered on top of modern hardware, may be just what you're looking for!

peace,
Fr. Maurer

just to make some points so maybe your experience can be better:

1. nearly every communicatinos application i have does push notifications
2. calendar has many options to not display certain content, like daily recurring events, you can choose not to show these every day, it would seem nearly everything you listed is actually available in the stock calendar, if not there are a myriad of 3rd party ones that offer a lot of functions
3. you can add in settings/search other fields of search criteria for contacts search so more fields show up in search than just name, this includes email addresses, phone numbers, notes, etc.
4. are you using the latest market update? there are much more organized categories now, it's been revamped.
5. syncronization can be completely done wirelessly with outlook, you just need to sync outlook to your google account, this is easy from outlooks settings and there are guides if you need help. it's 2 way sync, so if you add a contact in outlook, it adds it on your phone, instantly. there is absolutely no need for 3rd party software here with this feature.

it would seem that most if not every single flaw can be fixed here, hope it goes well

[computerslayer]

Hello Katie,

You seem to know & appreciate the Android OS. I hope I haven't offended you. I am not dis-satisfied with it as a whole, but I'm afraid that it doesn't have the stability and professional class of BlackBerry.

With regards to your suggestions, I'm sorry to report that the problems still exist:

1. Is it push or is it polling? I must admit that I don't know, but I do know that the performance of what Android calls push is not up to the standard that Blackberry has set. E-mails, particularly, are inconsistent in their delivery time to the phone.

2. The flaw is in the stock calendar, which is what I am comparing against BlackBerry's stock calendar. Finding a good third-party shouldn't be necessary - nor is it very easy in the Android Market.
----sadly, the options you mention aren't available to me. I use the HTC Sensation 4G's stock OS, which is Android 2.3.4 overlaid with Sense UI 3.0.

3. You can add other criteria, but they only add other applications to search within the Google search application, not searching within the contacts. There are no options to change address book search criteria.

4. I am using Android Market 3.1.3. Filters are not available.

5. Outlook address book & Google contact communication is a one-shot deal. You upload them to Gmail and from then on the synchronization is between the phone and Gmail only. There is an add-on that allows calendar synchronization, but it is not fully developed (it is currently at version 0.9.4.0). I have found it to interfere with categories and swiftly removed it.

peace,
Fr. Maurer

[katiepea]

if you're using exchange it's push, i sync my contacts with outlook and exchange and my contacts, calendar, and emails all sync with push, not poll, both ways. i have no 3rd party software involved.

[CrackedBarry]

[*]Search & filter: in short, Android Market is a nightmare to search because the standard BlackBerry App world search critera of date, relevance rating, price, vendor or name are poorly executed in the Android Market. If you don't know the name of the app you're looking for, well, good luck. You'll be easily bogged down in the many applications developed for Android - even the bad ones.
[*]Not enough Android/Google applications. One of the strengths of the BlackBerry OS are the applications that are developed by RIM itself. BlackBerry Protect, BlackBerry Traffic, BlackBerry Podcasts, BlackBerry Travel, in addition to many applications for other services such as Facebook and Twitter. RIM's involvement may slow down development, but it maximizes the stability and reliability of those applications - something often hard to depend on in the Android Market.

I knew it was a matter of time before somebody would come to the conclusion that the low number of apps on BBs and PBs is actually an ADVANTAGE!

Have you tried searching for Orwell or 1984 in App World?

May I suggest an easy solution that would solve most of your problems? Third party apps. Sure, the built-in calendar in your Sensation might be worse than Blackberrys built in calendar, but I'm sure you'll agree that from a purely utalitarian POV, it doesn't really matter WHO made the calendar available, as long as its available.
I seem to remember that some of Playbooks faults were also easily solved by third party apps, as people have been quick to point out to me.

You're right that it can be a problem to find a specific app among the plethora available in the Market and App store. I can't say that I've had that problem, but I can see what you mean. Fortunately, there's again, an easy solution for people experiencing that problem: Third party apps!

They're actually available right on the App Market/Store itself, I'm not as familiar with the iOS options as I am with the Android options, but there are quite a few good app-catalogue apps, that specialize in seperating the wheat from the chaff on the Market. Some of them also have the filter-option you're mentioning!

Good luck!

[computerslayer]

Katie,

Exchange offers features not generally available to the rest of us. As a third-party option in itself (not part of BlackBerry or Android, I mean), it is very powerful, but it doesn't represent the capabilities of either RIM or Google.

It does, however, explain the features you have! I have my own domain & e-mail accounts and have always been curious to explore Exchange, but its not cost-effective for an individual. Too bad for me.

peace,
Fr. Maurer

[computerslayer]

(Cracked) Barry,
One of the joys of the Android Market is the plethora of third-party applications. I don't miss the frustration of having so few applications in BlackBerry App World.

I use several third-party applications on a daily basis - much like I did with the BlackBerry Storm I had. My biggest gripe, I suppose, is that I have to find third-party applications for functionality that came built-in (and so well!) with the BlackBerry. ....and that its so hard to find the good applications among the chaff within Android Market.

peace,
Fr. Maurer

[katiepea]

Katie,

Exchange offers features not generally available to the rest of us. As a third-party option in itself (not part of BlackBerry or Android, I mean), it is very powerful, but it doesn't represent the capabilities of either RIM or Google.

It does, however, explain the features you have! I have my own domain & e-mail accounts and have always been curious to explore Exchange, but its not cost-effective for an individual. Too bad for me.

peace,
Fr. Maurer

have you considered hosting your email with gmail? you can keep your @yourdomain name but have access to all of googles services, i do this, it works fantastically.

[belfastdispatcher]

have you considered hosting your email with gmail? you can keep your @yourdomain name but have access to all of googles services, i do this, it works fantastically.

And put all confidential communications trough Google? NO thank you, I was toying with google docs a while ago when i started my business and then I found out if I didn't change some security settings, overnight all my docs would show in a google search. Imagine that, all my invoices on google search, competition could see what I charge my clients.

Ever since then I stopped trusting Google when it comes to business.

[katiepea]

And put all confidential communications trough Google? NO thank you, I was toying with google docs a while ago when i started my business and then I found out if I didn't change some security settings, overnight all my docs would show in a google search. Imagine that, all my invoices on google search, competition could see what I charge my clients.

Ever since then I stopped trusting Google when it comes to business.

You do realize there are government institutions using Google docs SOLELY right? Don't make stuff up, that isn't even true

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[belfastdispatcher]

I would recommend Android/Gmail users Mozilla Thunderbird instead of Outlook, it integrates Gmail Calendar and Contacts really well, you don't even have to set your gmail account on it, they work independent.

[belfastdispatcher]

You do realize there are government institutions using Google docs SOLELY right? Don't make stuff up, that isn't even true

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

That was a few years ago when Google Docs was launched. There were many security risks at the time. I don't know if there still are. just one example:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/16214...over_docs.html

http://www.pcworld.com/article/16092...ml?tk=rel_news

[_StephenBB81]

And put all confidential communications trough Google? NO thank you, I was toying with google docs a while ago when i started my business and then I found out if I didn't change some security settings, overnight all my docs would show in a google search. Imagine that, all my invoices on google search, competition could see what I charge my clients.

Ever since then I stopped trusting Google when it comes to business.

As someone who pays for google apps to maintain my personal domain email I have not experienced this sharing of my information in the last 2 years.

am I happy with Google Apps? NO not really, I use a free Hotmail account and office online for Cloud applications because google just SUCKS at it, when dealing with large excel files, and formatted word files, which is the bulk of what is emailed to me.
BUT Google is cheap, gives me lots of storage, and has lots of easy to set up rules for forwarding to the appropriate places to make up for Googles short comings,

Coming from a privately hosted Squirelmail email gMail was a welcome change, but I am constantly on the look out for something that actually manages outlook contacts well, I no longer have my contacts managed with my email on google because of how badly they do it, I have to manually sync them with my BlackBerry to not destroy the work I do in Outlook by Google.

[_StephenBB81]

Calendar
My calendar application, previously on my BlackBerry on now on my Android phone, is the most important aspect of the OS. There are a number of aspects that the Android calendar application simply lacks:

• custom repetition - there is some, but not enough. Specifically, you have the options for daily, every weekday, weekly, monthly (date or relative) and yearly. But if you want more option - say every few days, weekly repetitions of multiple days - you're out of luck. If you want the equivalent ability, you must create multiple calendar entries.
  
• private appointments - again, you just don't get this in Android. As I synchronize my phone with my computers every day (and sometimes print for others), this becomes quick nuisance.
  
• duration - you guessed it again, not available. In order to set the duration you have to manually set the end time, which easily becomes wasted time.
  
• all day events clutter - say you have birthdays & anniversaries, holidays or other all-day events. In the BlackBerry OS, when you scroll down, these simply, well, scroll away. But within the Android OS, daily events are an overlay 'above' the calendar. This may have seemed helpful to the developers, but if you have multiple daily events, you lose a great deal of screen real estate. This means that you simply don't get to see much of your calendar without scrolling excessively.

WOW! Calendar is actually a complaint of mine with BlackBerry, yet it is a Strength for you, I found the visuals of the BlackBerry Calendar could not match those of WinMo5.5 calendars, I didn't like how long BlackBerry took to set up multiple appointments, and lack of colour'd options was a pain, BUT that said I do very much appreciate the things you Miss and like daily, I have to use my BlackBerry Calendar to set appointments over 24 hours because Lotus Notes does not allow 24h+ entries they want repeats put in, but will accept synced entries from BlackBerry. odd eh.


Good luck finding a Calendar you like, or welcome back to BlackBerry later this year

[Guatiao]

@ the OP, it's all about the LED!!!!

[katiepea]

Androids have led notifications too, at least HTC models

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com