• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Any (former) Blackberry Users?

switched from BB 8330 to the Evo...as a Phone and email receiver the blackberry did its job good...as everything else it SUCKed...i was getting tired of not having a touch screen, absolutely no apps, and the browser was Horrendous!...which is why i am completely blown away by the Evo...Everything has improved over 100% from the blackberry...
Ditto!! My feelings exactly. I switched from a BB 8530 to the Evo and I'm not looking back. Love this phone and I still haven't even scratched the surface of what it can do.
 
Upvote 0
Switched from the Curve 8330 to the EVO. The transition couldn't have been more seemless. There was a slight learning curve (no pun intended) with typing but now I can bang out texts on the EVO just about as fast as I could on my Berry. I won't be missing the crashing I'd get on my Berry for having too many apps open as my EVO handles them like a champ. Anyone that's owned a Curve knows how frustrating doing simple tasks that don't involve messaging can be when the phone gets into one of its moods.
 
Upvote 0
Switched from the Curve 8330 to the EVO. The transition couldn't have been more seemless. There was a slight learning curve (no pun intended) with typing but now I can bang out texts on the EVO just about as fast as I could on my Berry. I won't be missing the crashing I'd get on my Berry for having too many apps open as my EVO handles them like a champ. Anyone that's owned a Curve knows how frustrating doing simple tasks that don't involve messaging can be when the phone gets into one of its moods.

i own a 8330 as well and am expected to get the evo tomorrow...i would think its a night and day difference. The newer phones such as the 9700 might be a little tougher to switch to an evo from but the 8330 is a dinosaur compared to this phone...cant wait to get my hands on it...
 
Upvote 0
Not many Bold 9700 users out there. Now that was a phone. Too bad I don't e-mail and I'm not a businessman. EVO IT IS.



<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3


I'm a former 9700 user, agree it was a helluva phone. I've been asked why I switched, because I've gone cold turkey after 5-6 years a BB user. I think the BB is an idea BB and communication device, but the EVO is more of a mini-laptop,and I've moved (as a user) beyond anything OS 5.0 has (or will in the near future) have to offer. No regrets and never going back. miss BBM; but that is it.
 
Upvote 0
I'm a former 9700 user, agree it was a helluva phone. I've been asked why I switched, because I've gone cold turkey after 5-6 years a BB user. I think the BB is an idea BB and communication device, but the EVO is more of a mini-laptop,and I've moved (as a user) beyond anything OS 5.0 has (or will in the near future) have to offer. No regrets and never going back. miss BBM; but that is it.

Yeah BBM is the only thing I will miss, but I'll get over it very quickly!
 
Upvote 0
I was going on eight years with Blackberry. Came off of a 9630 on Friday morning. I am thrilled with the change. Pretty much everything is better. Only complaints I've had:

1. I love the Tour keyboard, and touchscreen is quite a transition. I also played around with third-party keyboards and ended up going with Shapewriter, which has helped a ton. I think I might be faster on Shapewriter than I was on the Tour physical keyboard, but I have to be looking at the device. On my Blackberry, I could hammer out long emails without looking down at all. When I get a little lazy on the EVO, I notice scattered typing errors.

2. Notification LED. I used Berrybuzz for Blackberry, had custom LED notifications for practically everything that could happen on my phone, and always knew exactly what was going on with half a glance. On the EVO, I haven't found any way to get similar functionality. Even worse, the LED is permanantly lit when the phone is on the charger. So, if you're charging, you have to wake up the phone to know if there are new messages. There might be apps out there to help with this. I haven't searched extensively. But I miss knowing what's going on with a slight glance out of the corner of my eye. Maybe I'll stop seeing those phantom flashed I used to see.

3. Spellchecker. Why not? I want all communications checked before sending even more than when I was using a physical keyboard because I have much less faith in the accuracy of my typing now.

Aside from those three gripes, this has been a wonderful and extreme upgrade from the Blackberry. I'm using the native gmail app--I rely on google services for pretty much everything--and I love having full control over my inbox and all other labels and archived mail. I love how smooth the contact and calendar integration are as well. And then there are hundreds of things I'm already doing on this phone that Blackberry is nowhere near being able to do. I'm a very happy convert

EDIT: I do have a couple of friends who have been confused about why their BBMs aren't being delivered and, after hearing I am no longer on BLackberry, have insisted that we are no longer friends. I've been telling them to download Google Talk for Blackberry.
 
Upvote 0
EDIT: I do have a couple of friends who have been confused about why their BBMs aren't being delivered and, after hearing I am no longer on BLackberry, have insisted that we are no longer friends. I've been telling them to download Google Talk for Blackberry.

My point exactly! I told all of my BBM contacts to just download google talk, and besides, we follow each other on twitter so we'll still be able to communicate with one another. The act like it's the end of the world because I'm leaving Blackberry. Sheesh!
 
Upvote 0
Speaking of the BBM... Is there any app that is like BBM that will let you know once the other person received and or has read the message you have sent them like BBM? That is the one thing that my wife is going to miss since I am on the road alot and she likes to know if I have either received and or read the messages she has sent me.

This is the only thing I found for the Droid.

pMessenger

But I have not tested it yet.
 
Upvote 0
This is my second attempt at switching from Blackberry to Android. (First attempt was from an 8830 WE to a Hero... I wanted to love the Hero so badly, but it couldn't keep up with me and the only way for me to delete texts was a complete hard reset, so I got rid of it).

I'm switching from a Tour (9630).

Pros:
*BROWSER! The Blackberry browser is like being stuck with dialup. The Evo is zippy!
*Versatility/customization.
*Apps.
*The OS doesn't make me feel like my phone is a dinosaur. Sorry... RIM just is WAY behind.

Cons:
*LED. I really miss being able to change the notification LED for different types of messages. I also miss how BIG and BRIGHT the LED was on the blackberry. I keep my phone on silent when I'm at work, so the LED was my way of knowing when I have a message. The blackberry one would grab my attention even if I saw it out of the corner of my eye... this one I have to really stare at to see if it's flashing or not.
*Maybe battery life? But it's really not THAT bad... definitely not as bad as everyone says. I'd say this is neutral.
*Another neutral sort of thing: I do miss my physical keyboard a bit, but I'm sure I'll adjust.

The Blackberry was great because it was dependable. When I had a hero, it was not dependable. But the lure of android is that you can do SO MUCH with it... it's a computer, not a phone. Blackberry OS is limited. I'm hoping this Evo will combine the dependability AND versatility. So far, so good!
 
Upvote 0
This is my second attempt at switching from Blackberry to Android. (First attempt was from an 8830 WE to a Hero... I wanted to love the Hero so badly, but it couldn't keep up with me and the only way for me to delete texts was a complete hard reset, so I got rid of it).

I don't feel so bad now! This, too, will be my second attempt at switching to Android from Blackberry. I tried the Hero and just couldn't put my finger on what I didn't like about it, so i went back to the Tour. But once I get my Evo, I don't see myself going back to Blackberry.
 
Upvote 0
Speaking of the BBM... Is there any app that is like BBM that will let you know once the other person received and or has read the message you have sent them like BBM? That is the one thing that my wife is going to miss since I am on the road alot and she likes to know if I have either received and or read the messages she has sent me.

I think this looks promising. They have their own servers and issue you a PIN so they can track IM's like BBM. I have not tried it but if I get an EVO, then I probably will.

pMessenger

Info on their website about what it can actually do was hard for me to find. But I dug around on Friday and found that it does do D and R indicators. I don't remember where I found that maybe on their twitter or facebook site.

Good luck

Cheers,
Greg
 
Upvote 0
So I bought my Evo, and LOVE this thing. It replaced my BB Tour. I'll keep the tour just because I bought it because I needed a world phone. So when I leave the country (at least 2 times a year), I can use the phone abroad. But funny thing...after buying the phone, I was using the OEM charger because I had it on me and I was staying at my partner's house. Well last night, I went back to my house and was staying there. So without thinking, I plugged it into my charger on my night stand (the OEM BB charger) and went to sleep. This morning, my BB alarm went off (wasn't fully shut down so it turned itself on for my work alarm) and I looked at my Evo and the battery was completely dead! So apparently the BB micro usb charger doesn't send enough power because my battery was completely drained. How ironic that the BB saved me while the charger killed my Evo battery. I just though that was pretty entertaining.
 
Upvote 0
So I bought my Evo, and LOVE this thing. It replaced my BB Tour. I'll keep the tour just because I bought it because I needed a world phone. So when I leave the country (at least 2 times a year), I can use the phone abroad. But funny thing...after buying the phone, I was using the OEM charger because I had it on me and I was staying at my partner's house. Well last night, I went back to my house and was staying there. So without thinking, I plugged it into my charger on my night stand (the OEM BB charger) and went to sleep. This morning, my BB alarm went off (wasn't fully shut down so it turned itself on for my work alarm) and I looked at my Evo and the battery was completely dead! So apparently the BB micro usb charger doesn't send enough power because my battery was completely drained. How ironic that the BB saved me while the charger killed my Evo battery. I just though that was pretty entertaining.

That's very strange indeed. I have been using my Blackberry charger (yep, the one that came with the Tour too) as well, and I haven't had a single problem. I liked the blackberry charger better because the cord is longer. Maybe yours wasn't plugged all the way in?
 
Upvote 0
how does the size and weight of the tour compair to the evo? I will not be getting mine in the mail till tmrw. Also as former bb users you know how great there e-mail and security is. how does the evo compair to the bb, I use gmail on my bb now and get instant notification sometimes before it actully hits my gmail in box, which is badass. I am hopeing to find a way to do the same on evo with out having to set it to check like every so offten I want it right away as I use this for buisnes also. The other thing that i am kinda worried about is the screen lock. I know on the android it has the little dot connect thing but anybody can see where you have made these marks. I love being able to have a very secure password on my bb tour by using the whole keyboard not just numbers. Any apps to fix this that anybody has found?

thanks for any help!!!

I'm coming from a Blackberry Tour 9630. I had a Otterbox Commuter case on my tour, so the weight between the tour and the EVO are very similar. Sans the case, Tour is slightly lighter. Size wise, of course the EVO is longer and wider, but the the Tour is definitely thicker.

Blackberry was terrible in terms of media and web browsing, even 3rd party browsers could not save it. You'll see a world of difference in speed, quality and resolution there.

As for the keylock issue, get yourself a anti fingerprint/glare screen protector and you wont have to worry about the 'marks' for others to see.

I'm still using the same wall/computer/car charger my Tour used, and all seems to be functioning correctly with my EVO.
 
Upvote 0
I've also been using my Tour OEM charger, and I have yet to see this thing fall below 20% with lots of usage.

Just decided to take a look, and I'm at 86% right now. I've been off the charger for about five hours. I'll admit that it's not great. But it certainly isn't as terrible as it's been made out to be.
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones