Storm owner moving to Droid

[crucifixion]

Thanks ItalianScallion

Yeah those are kinda ugly emoticons/smileys

Is there an app that can change the default emoticons to somethign else, even just the regular yellow smilies?

 

[aztechmaster]

I went from BB to Droid... and have very few gripes, the primary one being a lack of auto on-off. BUT...7100>8730>8130>8330>8230>9530>Droid......well was a longish road but a great one. I miss my storm occasionally because of profile managment and auto features, and the free docs to go. But will I go back? NOPE...

 

[crucifixion]

OK, so finally got it after much debate....after only a few hours worth of playing with it, here are my observations:

Cons (or really, things I need help with):
1. First, how do I transfer my contacts? I had a Storm and sync with BB Desktop Manager...is there a fast where to get my contacts on the Droid?
2. Don't like how when the phone goes to sleep that in order to wake it up, I have to press the on/off button on the top. Any other way? With the storm, I just pressed the end key and the screen would light up. By having the button on the top of the phone, I need two hands to wake up the phone instead of one. Minor gripe, but still.
3. I downloaded Handscent as everyone said it has T9, but for the life of me, I can't see where to change the option to T9
4. Speaking of Handscent, it seems that when I get a text message notification, I get two icons, one for the native app, one of handscent. So I have to click on the notification panel twice in order to clear the message icons.

Pros:
1. Much better display than the storm
2. Much faster browser; really like the google integration and search function. I just pressed the icon, typed in 'phan' and it gave me the option to phandroid.com right away and I was able to get to this site fast the very first time I tried.
3. Voice text is great, already used it in the car; while not perfect, I think it will get better.
4. Google maps is just what I wanted...On the storm, it takes 15-30 seconds just to load and find you; then if you tried to navigate by scrolling around, it would take forever to load and in most cases if I went out too far past my current location, it would just freeze up....on the Droid, it loads almost immediately.
5. Apps/games - this is the obvious no brainer in the winner category compared to Storm, but thats what is expected considering the target audience of Android vs BB
6. Camera - wow I thought the Storm had a great camera at 3mp, but 5mp is even better. Another plus, there is no shutter sound, or if there is one, its really quiet
7. Physical keyboard - suprisingly, this wasnt an immediate con. I still dont like it, but because I hated the idea of it and because I read so much negativity about it, I just assumed it was the worst and there was no where to go but up...and the one thing that I did notice was that the F and J keys do have a bump on it; I swore I read people complaining that they couldn't tell which were the keys unless they looked at them. Another positive, altho this is really a tweak since the default keyboard layout sucks, but I found that if I use my left hand more, specifically using it for the YHN and UJM keys, and use the right hand only for the rest, that for whatever reason, I can type faster and accurately. Not sure why, but I do, and it almost seems easier to use.

These are my initial observations after a few hours of play.

 

[crucifixion]

OK one more con that is really annoying and is probably just my phone...but the 'q' on the portrait keyboard is trigger happy.....when im typing anything, even if there is no 'q' in it, suddenly i get a barage of 'q' like this qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq and cant stop it.

happened more than once, in fact more than i like....anyone else have that?

 

[Bramsy]

make the switch. trust me, i did. battery pulls are a thing of the past! yeah email is lacking, but no worries being able to sync by yourself. DO IT. i am happy i did!! moto droid, eris, whatever. say goodbye to boring BB

 

[crucifixion]

I did make the switch...the last two posts above yours are my thoughts....need some help in a couple areas...

 

[magus_melchior]

Registered to help this fellow...

EDIT: Oops, you said "portrait". My bad. If the physical keyboard was doing what you described, I would have exchanged it, but yeah, the software keyboard (and the touchscreen in general) tends to be a tad finicky.

2. Don't like how when the phone goes to sleep that in order to wake it up, I have to press the on/off button on the top. Any other way? With the storm, I just pressed the end key and the screen would light up. By having the button on the top of the phone, I need two hands to wake up the phone instead of one. Minor gripe, but still.

The "quick and dirty" way to do this is to open the phone a bit (a centimeter will do), then close it. A bit more involved than using the power button, but more accessible, IMO.

 

[crucifixion]

^^^ thanks. yeah its a pain. Even your idea, while it works, still is not efficient as you have to move the screen left, then right, then the phone wakes up, then you have to slide the unlock from left to right, so just to use the phone, you have to go left right, left right....I guess I'll just have to reach around the top...was hoping there was something easier that I just missed.

Also, got my contacts in real fast...since I had a blackberry and all my contacts were in my corporate outlook, I just went to outlook, downloaded the contacts to a .csv file, imported them into my gmail, and no sooner than I clicked on finished, that I went to my droid and all the contacts were instantly pushed over.

 

[magus_melchior]

Even your idea, while it works, still is not efficient as you have to move the screen left, then right, then the phone wakes up, then you have to slide the unlock from left to right, so just to use the phone, you have to go left right, left right....I guess I'll just have to reach around the top...was hoping there was something easier that I just missed.

True, but it's a lot easier to one-hand wake the thing without moving one's fingers into awkward positions. Using the power button often requires me to use both hands.

Maybe a custom unlock screen where the unlock slider is towards the top instead of the bottom, or a vertical unlock slider? That way, if you use one hand to wake the phone, you don't have to shuffle the thumb down to unlock it.

 

[droidosis]

??? Pick up phone with one hand, hold phone in palm (screen up), push button with pointer finger, give phone a little adjustment shimmy by letting it slide down onto your palm/fingers, slide unlock with free thumb. That's all I do, tell me I'm not some super gymnast with a double jointed hand? Keep practicing, LOL! A benefit of the button is that you can turn it off just as quickly when finished without waiting for it to time out, saving just a little pinch of battery. And by just by reversing the above procedure. One handed, straight into pocket. You will get used to it. -droidosis-

 

[magus_melchior]

??? Pick up phone with one hand, hold phone in palm (screen up), push button with pointer finger, give phone a little adjustment shimmy by letting it slide down onto your palm/fingers, slide unlock with free thumb. That's all I do, tell me I'm not some super gymnast with a double jointed hand? Keep practicing, LOL! A benefit of the button is that you can turn it off just as quickly when finished without waiting for it to time out, saving just a little pinch of battery. And by just by reversing the above procedure. One handed, straight into pocket. You will get used to it. -droidosis-

The "shimmy" you mention makes me prone to drop the phone (and the movement required to position the slider near the thumb moves it away from your palm, not toward it). I got my Droid in November, so it's not like I'm encountering the relatively awkward position of the wake button. I'm used to using two hands anyway.

If it sounds like I'm complaining, I assure you that I'm not. My last phone was a crummy Motorola KR1 from Verizon, and the Droid is a huge step forward.

 

[droidosis]

I hear ya, practice it, I've gotten quite good at it. I also have the insurance so if it does take a tumble......

Please, No one handed unlocks if you are intoxicated.

-droidosis-

 

[magus_melchior]

Or operating farm equipment.

My left hand is pretty flexible (all them years of violin lessons), so I can actually wake/unlock using the power button without moving the phone. Of course, Murphy's Law says that if I make that a habit, the weird positioning of my fingers would help cause the phone to squirt from my hand.

I hope someone can help crucifixion further with his transition, as we seem to be taking the thread way offtopic.....

 

[obutto]

OK, so finally got it after much debate....after only a few hours worth of playing with it, here are my observations:

Cons (or really, things I need help with):
1. First, how do I transfer my contacts? I had a Storm and sync with BB Desktop Manager...is there a fast where to get my contacts on the Droid?
2. Don't like how when the phone goes to sleep that in order to wake it up, I have to press the on/off button on the top. Any other way? With the storm, I just pressed the end key and the screen would light up. By having the button on the top of the phone, I need two hands to wake up the phone instead of one. Minor gripe, but still.
3. I downloaded Handscent as everyone said it has T9, but for the life of me, I can't see where to change the option to T9
4. Speaking of Handscent, it seems that when I get a text message notification, I get two icons, one for the native app, one of handscent. So I have to click on the notification panel twice in order to clear the message icons.

Pros:
1. Much better display than the storm
2. Much faster browser; really like the google integration and search function. I just pressed the icon, typed in 'phan' and it gave me the option to phandroid.com right away and I was able to get to this site fast the very first time I tried.
3. Voice text is great, already used it in the car; while not perfect, I think it will get better.
4. Google maps is just what I wanted...On the storm, it takes 15-30 seconds just to load and find you; then if you tried to navigate by scrolling around, it would take forever to load and in most cases if I went out too far past my current location, it would just freeze up....on the Droid, it loads almost immediately.
5. Apps/games - this is the obvious no brainer in the winner category compared to Storm, but thats what is expected considering the target audience of Android vs BB
6. Camera - wow I thought the Storm had a great camera at 3mp, but 5mp is even better. Another plus, there is no shutter sound, or if there is one, its really quiet
7. Physical keyboard - suprisingly, this wasnt an immediate con. I still dont like it, but because I hated the idea of it and because I read so much negativity about it, I just assumed it was the worst and there was no where to go but up...and the one thing that I did notice was that the F and J keys do have a bump on it; I swore I read people complaining that they couldn't tell which were the keys unless they looked at them. Another positive, altho this is really a tweak since the default keyboard layout sucks, but I found that if I use my left hand more, specifically using it for the YHN and UJM keys, and use the right hand only for the rest, that for whatever reason, I can type faster and accurately. Not sure why, but I do, and it almost seems easier to use.

These are my initial observations after a few hours of play.

Go to settings in the stock sms client and then disable notifications in that.

 

[pbrstanwood]

I have a shake app and it works great all I do is shake it. you can set it up for diffrent shake levels

 

[pbrstanwood]

I don't miss the battery pull 3-6 times a day and frezzing up that I had on my storm.

I use swype for the keyboard love it on market for free. you will get use it the droid and never miss your storm (storm who) and I use speach to text too.

 

[crucifixion]

Go to settings in the stock sms client and then disable notifications in that.

Thanks, that works.

I have a shake app and it works great all I do is shake it. you can set it up for diffrent shake levels

Which app is that?

I don't miss the battery pull 3-6 times a day and frezzing up that I had on my storm.

I use swype for the keyboard love it on market for free. you will get use it the droid and never miss your storm (storm who) and I use speach to text too.

Tell me about it! Cant believe RIM would put out such a POS OS.

Is swype out? Didn't know what. Maybe I'll try that.

As far as handscent, how do I enable T9?

 

[ParadingLunatic]

Thanks, that works.


Which app is that?


Tell me about it! Cant believe RIM would put out such a POS OS.

Is swype out? Didn't know what. Maybe I'll try that.

As far as handscent, how do I enable T9?

I also would like to know the name of that shake to wake up app.

I did a search for swype in the market..found nothing. Seen tons of people talk about it. Would love to check it out as well.

As for handcent and enabling T9.... FAQ

I have temporarily stopped using handcent sms because for some reason I seem to be having MMS difficulties. I'm just not getting them at all. Not sure why. This started happening a week or two ago after an update.