[Krypto]

See, maybe that's my problem. I don't like Google messaging services. Not a fan of Gmail or Gtalk or any of those.

[lssanjose]

I haven't run any of the other apps around, but I keep hearing K9, or Touchdown, as email replacements for the stock manager. You can always download different IM programs. I downloaded ebuddy, and it seems alright, so far. I haven't tested it enough for sustained efficiency over periods of time.

[lssanjose]

I also noticed, since going from an 8330, to a 9550, a lot of the apps I used for the 8330 were either incompatible, or there wasn't a version made for it. It seems to be the trend, as I personally noticed.

[1812dave]

You guys actually like Android? I tested the Samsung Galaxy Tab and thought the hardware was great but I hated the OS. Only good things were swype, the browser and some of the 3rd party apps. Even the video player had problems. No offense to Google, but they can have the OS. The only real problem I have with the BB OS is the browser since I'm not a big app person anyhow.

When it comes down to it, Android still couldn't match BB for messaging and communications and that to me is the whole reason I have my BB. So Android is definitely not for me (too bad though as I seriously liked the hardware).

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

what issues did u have with the video player?

[Krypto]

It took a lot of time to get the video player to start playing again after fast forwarding/rewinding. Very annoying when all you want it to do is play something over again.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[anon3396357]

Krypto, your problem must be an isolated case then. I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab too which is running on 2.2, and I have no issues with the native video player. It plays smooth, great sound etc.

I must say when you go from a BB to Android platform it is indeed a breath of fresh air and exciting.. but after a few hours it may go either way for you. It wasn't hard at all to get used to it, in fact it took just under an hour to get perfectly comfortable with it. Setting up Wi-Fi, one single Gmail account, customizing preferences went smoothly without hiccups. It just worked right out of the box. Great call quality and it was really easy to type on the virtual keyboard.

People who jumped shipped and said how far BB is behind in the competition do have some merit in their opinions. I'm not going to write an essay on it because there are plenty of them on CB already. Just one point - installing/uninstalling apps is a freaking breeze. Home -> Android Market -> Click App -> Install -> Run -> Keep or Delete. No lag, no battery pull in the process, speedy installation, no lock ups, you can do other stuff smoothly on your phone while it's installing and no lag.

One advice I can give is perhaps to not pass your judgment in the first few moments you use it. Indeed it's smooth; fast; snappy and beautiful, but all these eye candy will wear off one day. As for me, BB is still my top choice for a messaging/communication device. That's with regards to texting, IM, e-mail, phone calls and Reliability (I'm treading on thin ice here - some BB users may have had issues with rebooting devices or lockups or some other nerve-wrecking issues, but I had none in my experience of owning 2 BB devices and was never let down whenever I needed to communicate with someone).

And the novelty for the Tab has already faded for me - in less than a day.

Dave you seem really keen on jumping ship, perhaps I could do a video of me using the Samsung Galaxy Tab for you to help you in your purchasing decision.

[leglace]

Awesome thread. This is the state of the state thread imo.

I am a an S2 owner, formerly S1 owner. Got both pretty close to the time they launched.

If you think about it, many of us, like myself, only cared to buy a RIM product after they announced they were making touch screen devices with strong media capabilites. We saw the commitment RIM was making to stay ahead in the market. I felt good going from my HTC Touch Pro to a Storm. It was so much easier to use as an OS and it was/is great for work.

I bought the Storm 2 without hesitation because RIM was touting the development of a new webkit, OS, and we saw that OpenGl was already added to it. It was safe to assume the Storm 2 was going to be supported. I was naive enough to think it was coming as soon as last April, after the WES. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. Anyway, the phone is a hardware marvel in my opinion. The OS, not so much. It was only a year ago I was excited by how good the kinetic scrolling worked. Talk about much change one year makes. The OS did what it needed to do, and that was sort of the motto.

Today, I feel far different because RIM still cannot come out with an OS that doesn't introduce a new bug, let alone not fixing silly ones after one year. I am fumed that from .713 and up, Opera can not work properly. I blame RIM for changing something. Why should Opera need to keep up with every dog gone OS update for every dog gone model. Its insane! I am wishing more and more that the phone had better media playback for other formats. It doesn't play avi's, very few mpg, and wmv files. I am forced to convert files to 3gp or mp4. Somehow I lose quality in the conversion. And I can't understand how I was able to play some DiVx flick on .519, but zero on .713. Its like a degrading OS. I blame management and testing.

I love my Storm enough to be able to commit to another contract had it been able to get an OS6 update. The enhancements to the camera software, media, and webkit alone were worth it. I have to think they intended on having OS6 work for the storm, if nothing else. But they just flat out failed in making an OS operate efficiently enough. My iPad has 256 mb, and its running OS4.2 with multitasking flawlessly. The original Droid got Android 2.2 with 256 mb as well. I realize we are talking apples and oranges. But to me, they flat out failed us.

What worries me is that RIM is not understanding that it was the Storm platform that gained a lot of cross over customers from other platforms. That platform made people believe RIM was making the effort to give more exciting product.. Now we are left with a single touchscreen supported by OS6 4 mos after it was released, and even that is limited to a single carrier with a dated processor.

Do I have confidence in RIM to make the next phone that will give me what I want? I have not been given any indication that they are. And the last time I assumed they will, I was burned. From the looks of things, OS6 is going to be a non touch OS, and QNX will be the touchscreen OS. I certainly don't want to start with a brand new OS like we did with OS4 on the Storm. Let someone else beta test.

I will keep my Storm for a bit longer, but I am already contemplating deals on Wirefly for Sprint, to offset the cost of buying out my contract. The Droid has gone through 3 OS's already. So I am feeling more confident in Android. Will everything be better than the Storm? I doubt it, but at least I won't feel as detached to current technology due to lack of new OS support.

Thats me on my own soapbox!

[lssanjose]

I couldn't have said that any better.

[Krypto]

Hey Derwent Graphite,

Video playback was smooth and great - the only problem was when I tried to rewind or fast forward. That's where the hiccup was. I was sent two Galaxy Tabs to test for three days and experienced this on both.

But like you, the novelty faded rapidly. Once I realized that I couldn't really see myself using the Galaxy Tab to do actual work, that was it, I was over it.

Android is nice for bells and whistles, but like you, once the initial fun factor wore off, I didn't care all that much anymore. BB is still tops if your primary want is a device that allows you to communicate and communicate effectively. But if you care less about that and more about apps and playing games, etc., well then...

With word that the QNX OS may be coming to the Storm3, I actually think us Storm owners have something to look forward to. Yes, the current BlackBerry OS is stodgy, but if RIM can use the QNX OS to take advantage of what they do best (communications) and expand on it with better apps, and an overall new feel and appearance, they just might be able to compete with both Android and the iOS again, and possibly even bring former BlackBerry users back to the fold. At the end of the day though, only time will tell.

[1812dave]

Hey Derwent Graphite,

Video playback was smooth and great - the only problem was when I tried to rewind or fast forward. That's where the hiccup was. I was sent two Galaxy Tabs to test for three days and experienced this on both.

But like you, the novelty faded rapidly. Once I realized that I couldn't really see myself using the Galaxy Tab to do actual work, that was it, I was over it.

Android is nice for bells and whistles, but like you, once the initial fun factor wore off, I didn't care all that much anymore. BB is still tops if your primary want is a device that allows you to communicate and communicate effectively. But if you care less about that and more about apps and playing games, etc., well then...

With word that the QNX OS may be coming to the Storm3, I actually think us Storm owners have something to look forward to. Yes, the current BlackBerry OS is stodgy, but if RIM can use the QNX OS to take advantage of what they do best (communications) and expand on it with better apps, and an overall new feel and appearance, they just might be able to compete with both Android and the iOS again, and possibly even bring former BlackBerry users back to the fold. At the end of the day though, only time will tell.

I could be wrong, but didn't you get the impression that the QNX interface as shown on the PB demo, is very much like WebOS? I like that interface and was bummed when I got my first look at the Pre, which I felt was a total POS. The screen was too small for that type of interface and there was no way to change font size (I dunno about NOW).

[flybub]

As many on this site have stated, both OS's have their advantages and disadvantages. I carried an S2 for a little over a year and in that time period I had to have 5 replaced. Some have had no hiccups at all and some have had nothing but problems with the device. With that being said, that phone was a communication machine. Even with all the problems and battery pulls I still miss it a bit. I am now rocking an HTC Incredible and even though this thing is flat out amazing, there are things about the S2 I miss. The Incredible is flashy, stupid fast, and crystal clear graphics, but when it comes down to it my S2 made communications easier. I am not a fan of Gmail, sometimes I get my email, sometimes I don't and that is unacceptable in the business world. It's nice having widgets and all these screens to set up different things, but it really isn't difficult to hit the apps button and open an app. The deal breakers in the BB's for me were the durability and browser. Not so much the browser but having 5 phones replaced for the same issue is ridiculous, without those problems I would still gladly carry an S2. I hope RIM releases something solid and reliable for Verizon next year, I have not had an issue with the Inc since I got it in June and it has been solid as a rock so RIM has their work cut out to get me back. However, if they come out with something as reliable as my DInc has been I will gladly come back. The speed of the HTC's is nice to have but there are things I miss about BB.

[lssanjose]

Have you messed with Touchdown, or K9? I think everyone's talking about those, as viable alternatives to the stock gmail.

I don't use either of them, because I've been a Gmail user for a long time, and quite happy with it, and its infrastructure pertaining to smart phones.

[pcgizmo#IM]

It's not a new cool device anymore.

Lol, how long did you have your S2? New/cool wore off after 6 weeks with me, conincidentally when the Suck and Fail set in!

[BerryBlack15]

Are you going to tell me that there is a phone out there where I don't get truncated emails, don't have to reboot the phone to fix a problem, and doesn't have a painfully slow browser? I just can't believe that.

But seriously, for those of you who have an android phone...how is the battery life? That is probably my only area of concern in making the switch from BB.

[lssanjose]

You can adjust your phone for optimal battery. Same tips across the board for all cell phones, really. Just understand, with beefed up hardware, graphics chips, etc, you'll find yourself using your device more often than usual. In turn, expect higher battery consumption. Just be mindful of syncing stuff not needing to be synced.

Also, it still pains me to know battery specs haven't really met the rapid rise in horsepower. Think about the 8900 battery powering the Storm 2. The latter has a GPU, and, I think, more RAM.

[flybub]

But seriously, for those of you who have an android phone...how is the battery life? That is probably my only area of concern in making the switch from BB.

Battery life on my DInc leaves some to be desired for me. I am rooted running a custom Rom and the latest HTC kernel does a really good job of governing the processes. The only thing that updates are my Twitter and fb accounts (every hour) and ky Google sync services. Phone is off the charger at 6am and after moderate use its down to around 50% by noon. I always have a charger nearby but my s2 would last me quite a bit longer than this does.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[1812dave]

Battery life on my DInc leaves some to be desired for me. I am rooted running a custom Rom and the latest HTC kernel does a really good job of governing the processes. The only thing that updates are my Twitter and fb accounts (every hour) and ky Google sync services. Phone is off the charger at 6am and after moderate use its down to around 50% by noon. I always have a charger nearby but my s2 would last me quite a bit longer than this does.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Yeah, I'd say 50% by noon is not a good thing! Battery life issues on android phones worry me, as I might get one in Q1 '11, unless RIM knocks it out of the park with the S3.

[lssanjose]

Well, HTC hasn't really been known for stellar battery life. But, there are ways around this: getting more batteries (rather cheap, if you know where to find them), or get an extended one (there are some that'll fit in the stock form factor).

And, the boot time is much shorter than it is on BlackBerry.

[1812dave]

Well, HTC hasn't really been known for stellar battery life. But, there are ways around this: getting more batteries (rather cheap, if you know where to find them), or get an extended one (there are some that'll fit in the stock form factor).

And, the boot time is much shorter than it is on BlackBerry.

What's the typical boot time?

[lssanjose]

1 minute, tops. Sometimes less. But definitely, faster than my Storm 2, depending on which OS is installed.

[Thud Hardsmack]

1 minute, tops. Sometimes less. But definitely, faster than my Storm 2, depending on which OS is installed.

I could get used to that. Another 9 months to go though. My S2 annoys me only a few times a week, rest of the time it's fine. Newness factor has worn off though; now it's "OK". Nothing bad enough to demand something different as yet.

[DTritcakDST]

The storm 2 is ok to me. Nothing special anymore though.

[anon3396357]

For me my S2 just got more special. It's reliable and has never let me down.

The only one gripe I have is with copy/paste or text selection in general. It's horrible, poorly designed and is one of the most frustrating things to do properly on a "workhorse" the BB is supposed to be. Yeah I know, it's a touch screen BB and hence the qwerty BBs don't suffer from this problem, but it still is a problem and it's increasingly annoying to me. I can only have a slight relief by switching to landscape mode which eases the pain a little.

That's about it.

[The Gift]

I share most of Leglace feelings.

I feel I was mis-sold with the Storm2. All the hyped up talk about Open GL, Webkit, Surepress etc...

Once the newest rubbed off I saw the phone for what it was... a piece of ****

...anyway, ten months on I was happy to get rid.

[1812dave]

For me my S2 just got more special. It's reliable and has never let me down.

The only one gripe I have is with copy/paste or text selection in general. It's horrible, poorly designed and is one of the most frustrating things to do properly on a "workhorse" the BB is supposed to be. Yeah I know, it's a touch screen BB and hence the qwerty BBs don't suffer from this problem, but it still is a problem and it's increasingly annoying to me. I can only have a slight relief by switching to landscape mode which eases the pain a little.

That's about it.

gotta agree with that! copy/paste implementation is horrible. I wonder how the QNX devices will address that?