Potential Blackberry Convert Torn...

[joecreed28]

Hey guys and girls,

I'm a newbie to the site here, even though I have been reading and researching for the past week or. I figured it was finally time to ask some questions. I currently use a Blackberry Pearl flip and have used a blackberry device for the past 4 years. After seeing the Droid and Eris, and using them in stores, I think it is time for me to make the leap. But I don't know to which one, so any advice you could give would be appreciated. I also have a few specific questions I was hoping you could help me with...

1) Will either of these devices make me sell my IPod Touch. I love the Ipod touch, but hate carrying two devices all the time. My IPod is mainly a wifi tool that I use to get weather updates before work, on shopping trips with my wife (o: , and to listen to podcasts and some music (an hour a day or so). Is the Droid or Eris's media player good/sufficient enough so that I could sell the IPod touch? Would either phone's battery's be able to take the extra use of the media player?

2) I'm a courier at FedEx, so I don't have the cleanest or most laidback job. I'm worried if I'd get the Droid, dirt and or wear and tear could get teh best of that sliding keyboard? Any thoughts?

3) Does Gmail push to the Android phones like my yahoo mail does to my blackberry? Or is it pulled every 5, 10, or however many minutes you set it to pull? I already forwarded my Yahoo mail to a Gmail account (in preparation for this switch) so I'm interested to see if it is a true push email. I also usually have friends text message me through my email, and I respond to them at 8145554444@vtext.com so that I don't have to have a text message plan on top of my data plan, so the email push relates to that too (I know, cheapo, but what can I say).

4) How is the call quality on both/either phone with background noise. Will I be able to hear people, will they be able to hear me?Once again, some of those FedEx trucks are beasts and don't exactly have the quietness of a Mercedes. Is one better than the other in this regard?

I guess those are my big questions that I haven't seen specifically answered on here. So what do you guys think, Droid or Eris for this soon-to-be former Blackberry guy? Thanks in advance!

Nik

 

[Legacystar]

never had a blackberry but i do have an ipod touch. think i can answer your questions.

1)if you use your itouch for weather and wifi stuff the droid will totally accomidate your needs there. Widget weather apps pretty much own.

As for music it does a pretty good job if you have all your music sorted and tagged well. only thing it's missing is an EQ but sounds pretty good. plus Pandora radio and all the other internet radio apps give you so many options for music you won't know what to do. Drag an drop is nice to no fussing with Itunes.

2) As with any phone you have to treat it well, but there are a number of case options and the glass screen is almost unscratchable liek the ipod touch. the droid is built like a tank so as long as you aren't rolling around in sand that can get in the slider i think you'll be fine.

3) Gmail is pushed it's pretty instant. you can also set it to 5 minutes or whatever you want if need be. Also if you have a google voice number you could use that for free txt messaging

4) Call quality is pretty good from my experience and the new update is making it better. One thing is the speaker phone is crazy loud i use it all the time in my car ('02 WRX with full exhaust and no cats, pretty loud on the highway).

 

[ajm144k]

never had a itouch but i did unfortunately have a blackberry.

on top of agreeing with the post above me, i have the droid and my girlfriend has the eris. as for music, the droid comes with a micro sd card twice as big as the eris (droid= 16gb, eris= 8gb). but the eris supports up to 32 gb just as the droid does.
gmail pushes (sometimes before my computer) equally on both phones.
call quality seems to be about the same for both. the speakerphone on the droid might be better.

for comparison...droid has a hard keyboard and a flash on the cam. typing on the eris isnt as hard as you'd think, and its definitely easier than typing on the Droid's onscreen kboard. eris takes better pics in light, but obviously is limited in darkness. droid runs vanila android, so it will probably receive more little updates. eris has htc's customized android version which is fancier, but will be slower to receive updates (evident in how eris is running android 1.5, and will skip 1.6 and go straight to 2)

 

[sghere]

Coming from a BB Storm....The Droid wins hands down. I'll never go back to a Blackberry. The Apps store alone is enough to sell me!!

My wife thinks I'm going to divorce her and marry the phone....I love it!! Take some getting used to, but the touch screen is just like the Iphone/touch, and I have YET to use the slide out keyboard. If they made a version without it, I would have bought that...but they didn't.

There turn by turn navigation is awesome (free)...voice dialing...I could go on and on...the Blackberry has it's following, but if nothing else, try it out for the 30 days and give it a shot.

Shayne

 

[joecreed28]

Thanks a lot for the quick responses guys. Really appreciate all the good feedback on this site!

 

[JustROLLIN]

Yeah, I have had several BBs in the past, storm included, and I think this is all around a much better phone. The apps, OS, and general functionality is much better. BUT, I am still not able to get my Yahoo email pushed to the phone. Don't know if that matters to you, but its something to consider if it does.

 

[joecreed28]

Yeah, I have had several BBs in the past, storm included, and I think this is all around a much better phone. The apps, OS, and general functionality is much better. BUT, I am still not able to get my Yahoo email pushed to the phone. Don't know if that matters to you, but its something to consider if it does.

JustRollin,

If GMAIL pushes instantly, just change your yahoo accounts to Yahoo Asia accounts (change your location under preferences) and it will push it right to Gmail, and then Gmail will instantly push to your phone.

 

[Redflea]

Hey guys and girls,

<snip>

1) Will either of these devices make me sell my IPod Touch. I love the Ipod touch, but hate carrying two devices all the time. My IPod is mainly a wifi tool that I use to get weather updates before work, on shopping trips with my wife (o: , and to listen to podcasts and some music (an hour a day or so). Is the Droid or Eris's media player good/sufficient enough so that I could sell the IPod touch? Would either phone's battery's be able to take the extra use of the media player?

it'll do fine for basic playing of your audio as long as it isn't DRM audio. The built in player UI is very basic, but functional.

2) I'm a courier at FedEx, so I don't have the cleanest or most laidback job. I'm worried if I'd get the Droid, dirt and or wear and tear could get teh best of that sliding keyboard? Any thoughts?

Should be OK...unless you are going to have muddy hands or something it should be alright.

3) Does Gmail push to the Android phones like my yahoo mail does to my blackberry? Or is it pulled every 5, 10, or however many minutes you set it to pull? I already forwarded my Yahoo mail to a Gmail account (in preparation for this switch) so I'm interested to see if it is a true push email. I also usually have friends text message me through my email, and I respond to them at 8145554444@vtext.com so that I don't have to have a text message plan on top of my data plan, so the email push relates to that too (I know, cheapo, but what can I say).

Already answered.

4) How is the call quality on both/either phone with background noise. Will I be able to hear people, will they be able to hear me?Once again, some of those FedEx trucks are beasts and don't exactly have the quietness of a Mercedes. Is one better than the other in this regard?

Best I can remember w/a mobile phone...LOVE the call quality.

I guess those are my big questions that I haven't seen specifically answered on here. So what do you guys think, Droid or Eris for this soon-to-be former Blackberry guy? Thanks in advance!

Nik

I'm a Pearl user converted to Droid...thought the size would bother me but it's been just fine, and I LOVE the additional screen real estate.

You won't find the same email elegance that BB provides...Android has no unified inbox, no search in email, copy/paste is harder on the Droid (if you use that much on the BB, I did)...

But Gmail setup/sync is drop-dead easy on the Droid, and gmail push is lightning fast.

All the additional apps/functionality on the Droid is amazing coming from the BB Pearl...pretty much addictive. CrackDroid.

I don't think you'll regret the change either way (Droid or Eris). I chose the Droid for larger screen, more processing power, Android 2.0 w/Google Navigation, and the slide-out keyboard. It's no BB keyboard, but when you want a physical keyboard at least it's there...

VZW has the 30-day test run period...try EVERYTHING you normally do on the phone during that time and be sure you're OK with what you gain and what you lose.

Happy shopping.

 

[BigPete]

I'm a BlackBerry user and a FedEx courier as well. I have used an Otterbox on my last 3 BlackBerrys and all 3 have remained in same as new condition.

My droid should be here tomorrow or wednesday. I got it on the advice of a courier buddy who got one near release date. I'll try it out for 30 days and if it doesn't work out I will go back to my Tour. I am also considering getting the monthly insurance on the phone simply because of the nature of the job.

 

[Legacystar]

if email is big for you there are a whole bunch of email apps out there that many have said are better then the native apps. so chances are if there is something you don't like there is a way to change it, at least thats been the case for me