So, I'm currently a BlackBerry (9700, for the record) user, seriously considering switching to an android device.
I'm sure everyone here can account for the various ways an android phone is superior to a BlackBerry, and I'm pretty familiar with them.
What's been holding me back though, are the minor productivity tweaks a BlackBerry provides that seemingly don't have a match on android devices. Am I wrong on these? Have others made the jump and found no difference?
Specifically:
Dedicated hotkeys of sorts -- I'm a pretty heavy business user, so I make ridiculously extensive use of my calendar/scheduler. No matter what I'm doing at the moment, I'm able to jump to my calendar with a single button press and see my entire week's worth of appointments. If I need to add something, I can schedule an appointment in under 5 seconds all the way through.
To be honest, that's probably the only hotkey I use, but the ability to do this in an instant no matter what's in my way is rather important for me -- are there any equivalents on android phones? Through my research I've noticed a lack of hardware hotkeys -- is there any software solution that could at least compare?
Notifications -- as people probably know, blackberries have that little LED. Is there any way to get a visual notification on Android phones without having to actually touch the phone? What about customization of the notifications? For example, I'm able to set a different LED color on my blackberry depending on the notification type, as well as set a different vibration pattern (i.e., one long vibe for facebook, 5 short vibes for BBM, 1 medium vibe for SMS, etc.). Are there equivalents to these on Android platforms? [I've since found out some Android phones have a notification LED... absent from the Galaxy S, which I was one of my major contenders... Er.]
Keyboard -- obviously, most android phones don't have a keyboard and those that do are seemingly sub-par in comparison to a BB (they seem to use side-slider form factors, which means that fingers have to 'reach' to get towards center keys with less grip). I've seen Swype in action and had a chance to play with it in a store though, and I'm pretty impressed. I think this can make up for the keyboard I'd be losing -- any comments on how well swype works for day-to-day use? Is it as intuitive and fast as it's promoted to be?
Unified Inbox -- I'm not referring to e-mail, but everything. BlackBerry's "Messages" application essentially aggregates *all* messages; SMS, MMS, E-mail, FB, Twitter, BBM (not an issue here, but hey), and other specific applications that are given access to it. This allows me to just deal with one "inbox" instead of looking for the appropriate "message" type application. SIs there an equivalent on Android?
As an aside, I know Androids can have homescreen widgets, I'm assuming there's something available to keep a to-do list on there (this is actually lacking on BB, and something I'm looking forward to)?
Finally -- WHICH ONE!?!?!
I've read up on the major hitters so I have an idea, but if anyone knows what kind of use I'm coming from, I'd love some feedback (keep in mind -- I'm in Toronto on a rogers network; that doesn't mean I have to get it from Rogers, just that it has to be compatible).
If you've gotten this far, Thanks! ( if you bother responding, even better... =) )
I'm sure everyone here can account for the various ways an android phone is superior to a BlackBerry, and I'm pretty familiar with them.
What's been holding me back though, are the minor productivity tweaks a BlackBerry provides that seemingly don't have a match on android devices. Am I wrong on these? Have others made the jump and found no difference?
Specifically:
Dedicated hotkeys of sorts -- I'm a pretty heavy business user, so I make ridiculously extensive use of my calendar/scheduler. No matter what I'm doing at the moment, I'm able to jump to my calendar with a single button press and see my entire week's worth of appointments. If I need to add something, I can schedule an appointment in under 5 seconds all the way through.
To be honest, that's probably the only hotkey I use, but the ability to do this in an instant no matter what's in my way is rather important for me -- are there any equivalents on android phones? Through my research I've noticed a lack of hardware hotkeys -- is there any software solution that could at least compare?
Notifications -- as people probably know, blackberries have that little LED. Is there any way to get a visual notification on Android phones without having to actually touch the phone? What about customization of the notifications? For example, I'm able to set a different LED color on my blackberry depending on the notification type, as well as set a different vibration pattern (i.e., one long vibe for facebook, 5 short vibes for BBM, 1 medium vibe for SMS, etc.). Are there equivalents to these on Android platforms? [I've since found out some Android phones have a notification LED... absent from the Galaxy S, which I was one of my major contenders... Er.]
Keyboard -- obviously, most android phones don't have a keyboard and those that do are seemingly sub-par in comparison to a BB (they seem to use side-slider form factors, which means that fingers have to 'reach' to get towards center keys with less grip). I've seen Swype in action and had a chance to play with it in a store though, and I'm pretty impressed. I think this can make up for the keyboard I'd be losing -- any comments on how well swype works for day-to-day use? Is it as intuitive and fast as it's promoted to be?
Unified Inbox -- I'm not referring to e-mail, but everything. BlackBerry's "Messages" application essentially aggregates *all* messages; SMS, MMS, E-mail, FB, Twitter, BBM (not an issue here, but hey), and other specific applications that are given access to it. This allows me to just deal with one "inbox" instead of looking for the appropriate "message" type application. SIs there an equivalent on Android?
As an aside, I know Androids can have homescreen widgets, I'm assuming there's something available to keep a to-do list on there (this is actually lacking on BB, and something I'm looking forward to)?
Finally -- WHICH ONE!?!?!
I've read up on the major hitters so I have an idea, but if anyone knows what kind of use I'm coming from, I'd love some feedback (keep in mind -- I'm in Toronto on a rogers network; that doesn't mean I have to get it from Rogers, just that it has to be compatible).
If you've gotten this far, Thanks! ( if you bother responding, even better... =) )