1. Swarly_legendary's Avatar
    So here's the deal. I am a college aged male living in and attending classes in NYC. I got my 9530 a week before the storm2 was released. I wasn't informed by the sales rep that it was going to be released (I did not follow tech threads or announcements at the time), nor was i informed until after my purchase that that particular store had seen a 79% return rate of the 9530.

    As a college student, i enjoy apps that the iPhone has, such as mixology or barfinders or whatever. However, i have no interest in the iPhone, as it will be in first gen if it is released this summer, and we all know you never commit to first gen electronics.

    My little brother recently got a Droid, the phone i have been looking at for a while. I was wondering the internets opinion on which is better for a college student? Keep these details in mind:

    -I am on the verizon network.
    -I have an iPod touch with wifi, and safari runs much faster than Blackberrys browser, so the internet is not needed.
    -I don't mind not getting emails on my phone, and do not need my phone for business purposes.
    -My main usage of my phone is texting.
    -I am interested in Droids augmented reality app Layar, and have used it and love it.

    My storm has had many problems, even running OS 5.0.0.328(platform4.2.0.128). So should i try to force Verizon into upgrading me to a storm2? or try to get a droid?
    04-03-10 07:20 PM
  2. howarmat's Avatar
    storm 2 or atleast load 419 onto the storm 1 and see how it is

    and how do you know 79% return rate....there is no way that is possible
    04-03-10 07:31 PM
  3. Swarly_legendary's Avatar
    storm 2 or atleast load 419 onto the storm 1 and see how it is

    and how do you know 79% return rate....there is no way that is possible
    I was informed by the sales rep who made the sale. The second he finalized the sale and had my money, he told me it had about an 80% return rate in that particular store.

    Im not bashing my storm, i personally love it, but the lag and lack of possibilities is a tad annoying. Especially the lack of apps. I'm young, and entertained by that stuff.
    04-03-10 07:37 PM
  4. howarmat's Avatar
    I was informed by the sales rep who made the sale. The second he finalized the sale and had my money, he told me it had about an 80% return rate in that particular store.

    Im not bashing my storm, i personally love it, but the lag and lack of possibilities is a tad annoying. Especially the lack of apps. I'm young, and entertained by that stuff.
    sounds like he is making stuff up to make you feel bad almost.

    There are tons of apps out there for the storm1/storm2 Maybe not like the iphone/touch but since you have one why worry. Use the storm for email and a phone and message, something it does very good at
    04-03-10 07:41 PM
  5. Swarly_legendary's Avatar
    What apps could you suggest to me? a young college student living in Manhattan?
    And i don't like carrying both my itouch and storm at the same time in the city.

    Maybe the sales rep was lying, but still, i feel like the storm1 is akin to the first and secon generation xBox 360s, having an absurdly high failure rating (above fifteen percent)
    04-03-10 07:46 PM
  6. DrewCSchultz's Avatar
    sounds like he is making stuff up to make you feel bad almost.

    There are tons of apps out there for the storm1/storm2 Maybe not like the iphone/touch but since you have one why worry. Use the storm for email and a phone and message, something it does very good at
    That does sound like a made up number to me.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    04-03-10 08:07 PM
  7. DrewCSchultz's Avatar
    What apps could you suggest to me? a young college student living in Manhattan?
    And i don't like carrying both my itouch and storm at the same time in the city.

    Maybe the sales rep was lying, but still, i feel like the storm1 is akin to the first and secon generation xBox 360s, having an absurdly high failure rating (above fifteen percent)
    Slacker or Pandora is a must, whichever service you prefer. Personally, I like Slacker but a lot of people love Pandora and the music DNA.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    04-03-10 08:09 PM
  8. Swarly_legendary's Avatar
    I do love Pandora! I use it all of the time.

    however, I am more interested in exploratory apps, ones that will increase my enjoyment of my great home city.
    04-03-10 08:16 PM
  9. DrewCSchultz's Avatar
    I do love Pandora! I use it all of the time.

    however, I am more interested in exploratory apps, ones that will increase my enjoyment of my great home city.
    In that case you'll want to pick up Google maps. Stick with that over bb maps.

    And having Pandora or slacker on ANY phone is a revelation. I hardly carry around my iPod anymore.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    04-03-10 08:36 PM
  10. TheOne01's Avatar
    This isn't even a contest. Get as far away from the storm as you can. Seriously!
    04-03-10 08:39 PM
  11. _X_'s Avatar
    Both phones are really good. My wife has the droid Eris she "loves" her phone. I have the storm and I really like my phone. The only thing I don't like us the small memory on the storm.

    As for texting I think the storm and especially the storm 2 are better than the droid. My opinion is that nothing beats SureType, but you probably already know this if you have a storm. In my playing with the storm 2 the accuracy of the screen has improved much.

    One thing the storm has over the droid is cut and paste, though the droid has this feature it is not well thought out and difficult to use.

    Also multitasking is none better on the BB I think, there is no easy way to shut down an app in the android so if you load enough apps you'll have to reboot.

    that aid however the android is a more stable platform. My wife's phone reboots twice in 4 month. I reboot every third day. Granted I have a lot of crap on my phone. Is I had little things on her phone I would probably reboot a lot less.

    My opinion is that the android will surpass RIM but that is not today for messaging the RIM device is king. If you have to get a phone today get the storm 2.

    If you can wait I say wait until this summer the nexus one will be coming to Verizon. That is a way better on one than the droid.


    As for apps
    Where or Poynt
    Google maps
    Google voice
    Skype
    Movie
    Vigo (a BB exclusive rss reading app)
    Podtrapper(awesome pod app)
    Opera. Makes up for the terrible BB browse
    Kindle 4 BB. Read your books on your storm
    ( no app for android yet)

    Most apps exist on all major platforms except for Viigo, podtrapper, Kindle

    And those apps are amongst my favorite. I will really miss podtrapper if I leave the BB platform

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    04-03-10 09:41 PM
  12. Swarly_legendary's Avatar
    If you can wait I say wait until this summer the nexus one will be coming to Verizon. That is a way better on one than the droid.



    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    What more can you tell me about the Nexus? I hear good things about it. Keep in mind that I'm basically a kid (18 years old)

    I am very impressed with the Layar app that the Droid has to offer. Also, i hear there is an app or the droid that kills all running apps (not sure if this is true)
    04-03-10 10:21 PM
  13. jetisbac's Avatar
    As much as I LOVE my Storm.. I'm gonna have to go with Droid there :/
    04-03-10 10:36 PM
  14. DrewCSchultz's Avatar
    What more can you tell me about the Nexus? I hear good things about it. Keep in mind that I'm basically a kid (18 years old)

    I am very impressed with the Layar app that the Droid has to offer. Also, i hear there is an app or the droid that kills all running apps (not sure if this is true)
    A couple things: There IS an application to kill all running apps on the Droid, and it is completely unnecessary. If an application is left on in the background of BlackBerry or Windows Mobile device, it takes up as much memory as one that is currently in the foreground. The Android platform is built in such a way that memory is only used on programs that need it, so if an application is left open in the background, it is not using memory like an application that is currently open. When Droid first dropped, alot of people defected from Windows Mobile and BlackBerry, and were suprised to find that it wasn't as easy to close all running programs, and so an app was written to remedy this. The reality is it is completely unnecessary and actually not recommended. You can run as many programs as you want without noticing a dip in performance. This is actually a feature, instead of a mistake, designed to make multitasking better and less of a burden on your resources. Funny, I just had to explain this misconception in another thread.

    As for layar, it's an ok app. There's actually a better augmented reality application called Google Goggles that has more features and draws from a larger database of locations (google as opposed to wikipedia). This program is written by Google itself, and is just one of the many applications Google has released for Android devices. Which brings me to the Nexus One.

    Nexus One is what's called a "Google Experience Device" (pardon the buzzwords, but it is the best way to describe it). It is bare-bones Android, released straight from the hands of and supported only by Google. The reasoning behind this is that when Google releases a new version of Android it's released immediately to Nexus One. It doesn't have to pass through an manufacturer or carrier testing, so you don't have to wait as long for updates. Android 2.1 was released on the Nexus One in January, and was only ported to the Motorola Droid as of this week. With Nexus One, there is no wait time for the next update.

    Google releases applications and new functionality for this thing like crazy (seriously, like on a weekly basis). Currently, only devices on Android 2.1 (itself and Motorola Droid) feature Google Maps Navigation, which is insanely cool. Imagine Google Maps in 3D with turn by turn directions. It's like a Garmin only better because it is constantly connected to the internet. It has the aforementioned Google Goggles, which in addition to having augmented reality, you can take a picture of any item and it will search googles database based on the image. There is a Gesture Search application that will search your phone and Google based on the letters you draw with your finger. It's pretty neat. There's Google Voice which replaces your Voicemail box and will transcribe your messages to text, and allow you to listen to your messages from your device instead of having to call. There is a Google Earth application that has all of the functionality of the PC version. There is Google Sky Map which will show you what stars are there as you point at them. There is GTalk, Google Buzz, and Youtube. There is voice-to-text and text-to-voice in every text box. There is push Gmail which is great for Gmail accounts. All of this and 40,000+ applications in the Android Maket place which is growing.

    There is no comparing the browsers. The BB browser is fundamentally flawed, in that it is written in old code that can't handle the demands of today's internet. This is why they're working hard on a new webkit based browser with server side rendering which will apparently be faster than anyone else's browser. But until then Android runs circles around it.

    All of this is on the Droid as well.

    As for the technical specs, Nexus One has a 1ghz snapdragon processor (which is almost overkill), 512 mb of flash memory, 512 mb of RAM and a 3.7 inch capacitive touchscreen and a trackball for those hard to reach areas. Odds are you won't miss surepress. This is slated for Verizon in the summer, I have one on T-Mobile.

    Another device you may want to think about waiting for is the HTC Incredible. It has mostly the same specs as the Nexus One, but it will run something called Sense UI. This is where that "Google Experience Device" thing comes into play. It will run on Android 2.1, but have a different User Interface on many of it's core functions. It is like a theme, only rooted deeper into the operating system. I've played with Sense UI on my brothers Droid Eris, and it is very intuitive and pretty looking. The only draw is that you may have to wait longer for OS updates. It's a tradeoff, as you can't have your cake and eat it too.

    As for your dilemma, and if you have to make your decision soon, then I would get the Droid. It's an awesome device, has all of the same functionality as the Nexus One, and has a hardware keyboard to boot. I have a BlackBerry Storm on BES, and a Nexus One, and the difference is like night and day. Sure my BB fetches my Email like a champ, but it just doesn't do much else for me and never really felt like it was optimized for a touchscreen. It's like a Curve with a really big screen to me.

    Anyhoo, that's my 2 cents... This is all my opinion so save it, flamers. And don't listen to a word kbz5ht says, based on his posts, I doubt he's ever touched a Droid. In fact, I'm starting to doubt hes ever touched a Storm.
    Last edited by DrewCSchultz; 04-04-10 at 02:01 AM.
    04-03-10 11:50 PM
  15. l.a.rossmann's Avatar
    I think you want an 8703e.

    You do your browsing, music istening, video watching, on an iPod. All the media features of the storm will be lost on you.

    If your phone is primarily for texting, you can't beat the keyboard of an 8700 series phone. They also cost next to nothing, even out of contract. The nice big keys and the grid inbetween each one makes typing on this phone a dream. I can type well on a storm, but the storm and the curves and the tour can't compare to the keyboard on the 8703e.

    As for applications to enjoy NYC, I assure you, there are many many ways to enjoy NYC without apps on a phone. Go outside and enjoy yourself. Get wasted at 9 doyers st or something and enjoy the amazingly fine females that pass through. A college aged male does not need an app for that!
    Last edited by l.a.rossmann; 04-04-10 at 02:43 AM.
    04-04-10 02:41 AM
  16. _X_'s Avatar
    What more can you tell me about the Nexus? I hear good things about it. Keep in mind that I'm basically a kid (18 years old)

    I am very impressed with the Layar app that the Droid has to offer. Also, i hear there is an app or the droid that kills all running apps (not sure if this is true)
    I'm sure there is, I was just talking stock OS.

    It looks like DrewCSchultz beat me to it and did a nice summary of the Nexus One. I guess the only thing I'll add is it is rumored that the Nexus One will com with Sense UI, I don't believe it will but it would be nice if it did. One fix that will make it to the Nexus One is the multi touch (pinch zoom) web browser. I believe that 2.1 for the Droid will also have this feature. The HTC Sense is a skin but it's also more, for instance they also enhance the web experience by adding pinch zoom and word wrap on the HTML browser. They also have different keyboards

    =X=
    04-04-10 02:44 AM
  17. kb5zht's Avatar
    No comparison; the storm is much better.

    If RIM didn't exist and therefore no storm, then surely I would say the droid is "sufficient". However; this is not the case and the droid comes in second unmistakably.


    Talk about a storm II and it isn't a comparison anymore but a sick joke.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    04-04-10 06:26 AM
  18. BamaDave's Avatar
    My storm has had many problems, even running OS 5.0.0.328(platform4.2.0.128). So should i try to force Verizon into upgrading me to a storm2? or try to get a droid?
    I just reached my early upgrade point (12 months into a 2 year contract) on my Storm 1 and couldn't ditch it fast enough. The phone was a nightmare the whole time. No memory for apps, rapid battery drain, constant battery pulls. The same old stuff almost everyone reports. I was in three Verizon stores on Friday, and sales reps in all three confirmed that they have constant returns and complaints about the Storm. I upgraded to a Droid, and there is no comparison between the phones at all.

    Having said all of that, you have so many features on your iPod Touch that it probably isn't worth spending money on a different phone. Sure, fight Verizon for a change to a Storm 2 or Droid if they will do it. But I wouldn't spend money on it. A Storm is okay if all you need to do is phone, text, and e-mail. It's the web browsing and doing anything else that's impossible.
    04-04-10 06:32 AM
  19. Swarly_legendary's Avatar
    I think you want an 8703e.

    As for applications to enjoy NYC, I assure you, there are many many ways to enjoy NYC without apps on a phone. Go outside and enjoy yourself. Get wasted at 9 doyers st or something and enjoy the amazingly fine females that pass through. A college aged male does not need an app for that!
    I just want to be able to find things fast, Like new bars that may let minors in without exactly proper ID, or a new park to hang out in aside from Washington Square or Bryant. Or sushi. I love sushi, and its a pain to try to find it on Google maps, knowing that may drain all of my battery, and then ill get lost in some place i dont want to be yada yada yada...

    Also, i have to battery pull like ten times a day, no joke.
    04-04-10 10:12 AM
  20. _X_'s Avatar
    A couple things: There IS an application to kill all running apps on the Droid, and it is completely unnecessary. If an application is left on in the background of BlackBerry or Windows Mobile device, it takes up as much memory as one that is currently in the foreground. The Android platform is built in such a way that memory is only used on programs that need it, so if an application is left open in the background, it is not using memory like an application that is currently open. When Droid first dropped, alot of people defected from Windows Mobile and BlackBerry, and were suprised to find that it wasn't as easy to close all running programs, and so an app was written to remedy this.
    Do you have a source to coloberate this model? If google has found a way to run applications in the background without using memory then they have revolutionized the computer industry.

    If they have optimized memory useage then they have sacrificed something, be it multitaking, security, and/or reliability. But considering the android is built on linux and java I don't believe they done so.

    On my first post I mentioned my wife's android had rebooted twice. I didn't give details to what caused the phone's instability. It was caused by me running many apps simultaneously and running out of ram memeory. I didn't do it intentionally it was a result of not being able to close the apps. After that incident my wife has been reluctant to let me play with her phone.

    the true killer of the storm was the small memory on the device. Most droid phones including the storm 2. Have more memory which adds for a better user experience.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    04-04-10 10:40 AM
  21. littlegreenmen's Avatar
    Get a nexus. After having the S1 since it came out and now using a nexus i can tell you theres no comparison to the phones. The nexus has been a much better experience for me. I thought i would miss the "click" of the storm, i dont. I still have my storm but dont use it and plan on selling it if i could get a buyer(doubtful).
    04-04-10 10:41 AM
  22. _X_'s Avatar
    I just want to be able to find things fast, Like new bars that may let minors in without exactly proper ID, or a new park to hang out in aside from Washington Square or Bryant. Or sushi. I love sushi, and its a pain to try to find it on Google maps, knowing that may drain all of my battery, and then ill get lost in some place i dont want to be yada yada yada...

    Also, i have to battery pull like ten times a day, no joke.
    Wow that is excessive, here I was complaining because I had to pull my battery every 4th day.

    There is some apps that must be giving your phone some fits to have to reboot your phone so much what all are you running on it

    One thing you have not mentioned is if you like the surepress or the SureType technology. Are you looking for a physical keyboard or are you fine with a virtual keyboard

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    04-04-10 10:48 AM
  23. jose9110024's Avatar
    quickpull is an app that reboots your storm....
    04-04-10 11:16 AM
  24. l.a.rossmann's Avatar
    I just want to be able to find things fast, Like new bars that may let minors in without exactly proper ID, or a new park to hang out in aside from Washington Square or Bryant. Or sushi. I love sushi, and its a pain to try to find it on Google maps, knowing that may drain all of my battery, and then ill get lost in some place i dont want to be yada yada yada...

    Also, i have to battery pull like ten times a day, no joke.
    I'm only 3 years older than you, but if you use apps for this, then there is indeed a serious generational gap between 80s & 90s kids...
    04-04-10 01:35 PM
  25. EnergyPlus's Avatar
    You just saved my sanity, l.a., hilarious! I have been sitting here plodding through these posts, shaking my head at the whole thing. First, I cannot imagine just how many ways this same question (or these same questions) have been asked around here before, with slightly different woding. It is something that I guess I'll have to simply keep reminding myself is going to happen. To me, it's like going in to an automobile forum and asking "what color car should I buy?" As if anyone here can tell YOU what YOU should be buying? It's very clear the OP has rather simple needs for a phone. It's equally clear that there is a serious problem if he's doing 10 battery pulls a day. Either this is a joke (which I'm beginning to suspect) or he's got a screw loose. C'mon.....I had an S1 for an entire year and never did battery pulls more than 2 times a week and only then to free up some memory. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if your phone is failing/crashing 10 times a day, that it's quite possilbe SOMETHING you have on the phone, isn't working right or you have a faulty device. Regardless, if it comes to this then you begin by doing a wipe and reinstalling the OS. 10 a day? ::: sigh :::

    All the posts here, some thoughtful and reasoned, some simply posted by fanbois, some passioinate and justifiable only in the writer's head and some ... well, seemingly from outerspace, seem to overlook that the OP simply wants to find parks (as if....hmmmm) and drinks and bars. LOL!!

    I'm only 3 years older than you, but if you use apps for this, then there is indeed a serious generational gap between 80s & 90s kids...
    Last edited by EnergyPlus; 04-04-10 at 01:58 PM.
    04-04-10 01:55 PM
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