Before I Leave My Blackberry...

[prettyfacejessy]

Ok so ive been a Blackberry user for 7 years now, ever since i was about 17. Im sure most of you know that lately BB has not been making adaquet phones and are loosing consumers like crazy. To me the Torch is laughable!

I've been eyeing the captivate for about a month now and im very impressed but before i switch over to team droid (probably next week), i had a couple questions about the phone.

First, ive seen alot of posts about email problems. As most bb users rely solely on there push email i was wonder if this is an isolated problem or across the board? Also, ive seen a couple ppl talk about how their phones randomly shut off at any time...saying its either a samsumg defect or a software defect?

So im just checkin, hope you guys can help me out with my decision!

 

[3gAndroid]

I'm a former BB user and enthusiast. I never expected to leave the BB platform. I won't go into why other than to say that I believe RIM has lost their way and seem to have their head in the sand. Over the last year I've had several other brands of smartphones. I purposely waited as long as I could, for AT&T to offer a full featured Android phone. In addition since I also had a Verizon account I bought the first Droid that was introduced. A very good first gen effort from Motorola. It was a great learning experience. Presently I have three Android phones I'm using. Droid X, a Droid 2, and my Samsung Captivate.

Of these three the Captivate is my favorite. I've purchased three, two for other members of my family after we saw how good my original one was.

My Droid X is a close second. Experience had taught me the Super AMOLED display of the Captivate is much brighter, with better color saturation and contrast than the TFT display of the DX. I also like the fact that there is no camera bump on the back like the Droid X has. The 4.0" display is the sweet spot and allows the phone to new sleek and comfy to carry. The killer app is Swype. An amazing input method that allows me to be as fast or faster composing emails than I was with a BB. Gmail is very fast, even faster than on a BB. Other web based mail is not as fast. It's not bad but much slower than lighting fast gmail. Overall I'm very happy with the Captivate.

 

[BrentJustice]

Former BB user here, loved my BB Bold, best smartphone i've ever used, until now.

I too think BB has their head in the sand, they are just really lagging behind. The torch is laughable and a rushed attempt to try and compete.

I love my Captivate, is it the perfect phone? No, but name one that is. I wish it had a darn LED flash, which my BB had. I also wish the volume was louder, seems the BB was very loud on all fronts, conference calls, the external speaker, voice calls, much better volume. Those are the two big things that bother me. Other than that, I have no complaints, I am highly looking forward to Froyo on this phone.

BTW, never had the phone shut down on me, haven't even heard of that issue before.

Can't tell you too much about the email, I don't really use it much, use Gmail from time to time, which works flawlessly on the phone.

 

[ZDroid1]

Reports of email problems and shutdowns are sporadic. What you are very likely to end up with is a non-functioning GPS. That seems to be prevalent.

I use my corporate Exchange account and gmail. They're flawless. My sister has always had Blackberries. They seem archaic in comparison.

You should go to the store and try the Swype keyboard on the Captivate. It is hands down the best cell phone keyboard among all cell phone keyboards (whether virtual or physical) with a perfect balance of speed and accuracy. I will never use any other kind of keyboard on a cell phone.

I think the bottom line is: if you don't mind having a phone with no GPS, the Captivate is a superior phone by any measure. There is no clear word on whether Samsung will ever fix GPS, or if it is even fixable.

If you consider GPS a must, then you should either wait to see if Samsung releases a fix that works, or look elsewhere.

P.S. Blackberries are notorious for having high radiation levels. The Captivate has one of the lowest radiation levels among smartphones.

 

[Dennis_Bham]

I was a BB user for 10+ years ... last Blackberry Bold is a great phone ...

I love my Captivate, but I missed the following IMO:

BB has better business class e-mail, but gmail push works great for me. It's not business class, but more than adequate for my needs.

BB has a notification LED - I missed this a lot for the first month - I replaced the function with an app that provides repeat audible notifications on important e-mail

BB has a LED flash - miss this a little

I could practically use the BB keyboard with my eyes closed ... love the BB shortcuts ... missed the physical keyboard for a few weeks, but SWYPE is great! I would really not like a regular soft keyboard now that I have learned SWYPE.

BB has better battery life - My Bold would go 4-5 days and my captivate lasts 1-2 days ...

BB has the best audio quality on phone calls and speakerphone I have ever heard ... Captivate audio is not as good but is better than the iPhones I have used.

BB GPS works great - Captivate GPS is very poor (fix hopefully in the works)

That said, android via Captivate brings SO MUCH to the table that the BB could not do. I greatly prefer owning and using the Captivate.

Never have had a random shutdown.

---
Dennis

 

[shawn122]

i am in the same boat...current blackberry bold owner looking to make a jump. My biggest concern was email + calendar...two great things about the blackberry.

having done some research on the gmail push...all should be okay. I have a Google Apps account that should integrate flawlessly. Now I just need to wait until the Captivate comes to Canada!

 

[3gAndroid]

Reports of email problems and shutdowns are sporadic. What you are very likely to end up with is a non-functioning GPS. That seems to be prevalent.

I use my corporate Exchange account and gmail. They're flawless. My sister has always had Blackberries. They seem archaic in comparison.

You should go to the store and try the Swype keyboard on the Captivate. It is hands down the best cell phone keyboard among all cell phone keyboards (whether virtual or physical) with a perfect balance of speed and accuracy. I will never use any other kind of keyboard on a cell phone.

P.S. Blackberries are notorious for having high radiation levels. The Captivate has one of the lowest radiation levels among smartphones.

Excellent post!

I cannot overstate just how great Swype is. The secret to immediate enjoyment is to watch a few of these useful two minute videos that show you how to use it.


Swype | Text Input for Screens

 

[Ruben Cisneros]

As a former BB Bold user, I do miss somethings like LCD notifications, individual ringtones for email, text messages and voice mail. But some day I will find some program that will allow us to have different ringtones for the email and so forth.

If you are looking for a push email program then I would look at K9 Mail, Seven or Maildroid.
I have tried both K9 and Maildroid. I prefer K9 over Maildroid.

 

[lordhamster]

i am in the same boat...current blackberry bold owner looking to make a jump. My biggest concern was email + calendar...two great things about the blackberry.

having done some research on the gmail push...all should be okay. I have a Google Apps account that should integrate flawlessly. Now I just need to wait until the Captivate comes to Canada!

Almost flawlessly. For some reason, whenever you try to enter a calendar entry, you need to re-select the google calendar since this Google Phone talking to Google services can't select Google calendar as it's default.

 

[Cobra302]

As a former BB Bold user, I do miss somethings like LCD notifications, individual ringtones for email, text messages and voice mail. But some day I will find some program that will allow us to have different ringtones for the email and so forth.

If you are looking for a push email program then I would look at K9 Mail, Seven or Maildroid.
I have tried both K9 and Maildroid. I prefer K9 over Maildroid.

you can assign different ringtones to email, text, and voice mail. go into each app and open settings and assign the notifications there.

 

[kareemwilliams]

Ex BB user here as well. Actually I just received my Captivate in the mail yesterday and I have to say this phone looks and operates amazingly. I still find myself having BB withdrawal. The one thing I miss THE most is BBM. I'm a heavy BBM groups user. I spent hours yesterday looking for a decent IM app because gTalk just won't cut it. I also miss the email. The gmail application is ok, but I seem to be having problems deleting emails. If I delete an email in the "Trash" it basically stays in the "Trash" after the phone polls the gmail servers. Never had a problem like this with my BB. I think the one thing all BB users will miss when switching to the Captivate is the speed of having physical keys. I could shoot a message out on my BB way faster than I can on the Captivate simply because of how fast I can get to the application, not because of how fast I can type. That's not to say the Captivate is slow, its just that the BB has no screen transitions and there's a shortcut key for everything.

 

[sremick]

I'm Blackberry user (still am, have one for work with Exchange). I recreate the email experience on the Captivate by using the K-9 email client along with an IMAP email provider that is known for good IMAP support, especially IMAP IDLE ("push"). Works great.

I also have my own domain for email so that if something comes up and I need/want to change email providers to continue the great experience, I can do so without changing my email address.

 

[Rockinfigs]

dude dont leave your bb for the captivate..not worth it..keep it until a better android device comes out

 

[Endoran]

I use the stock gmail app for my...well gmail. And I use the stock email client for my business email (I believe it uses exchange). They both work great! I've tested them both and I receive the "push" within seconds. I wouldn't recommend using the stock email app for gmail tho...I tried and it wouldn't allow push, only poll. I really wanted a single email client for all my email needs but I don't mind using two now. I just wish the gmail app would allow other email accounts because it runs a lot better than the stock email app (though you can download better email clients). However, you can use gmail as your only email and just have all your other email addresses push to your gmail. I tried this and would have kept doing it but I didn't like how in the notification bar it wouldn't say what folder the email came from (as in I made a folder called "work" and "school" etc and I got tired of opening my email app and seeing spam or something not important).