Why I'm Returning My Droid and Going Back to My Blackberry Curve

[smacinskyjr]

You obviously never used a blackberry.

1. Droid battery, good. Curve battery, stupendous.
2. BB speed dialing pwns the droid's
3. BB notification management pwns all.
4. see 3.
5. Are you really comparing droid email to bb email? Really?

Really?

Comparing the curve to the droid is like comparing a bag phone to a Razor
Storm speed dialing was not any better than droid widget, and there was not even an option for that with Blackberry
Email push is about same
Notifications? same both vibrate and I check..

Droid versus Storm is a much better device...

If all you want is email and a phone stay with a curve! if you want something dynamic then welcome aboard...

i agree, I have owned the storm and then the storm 2. it is just as easy to make a call on the droid as it was the storm in fact with out all the lag of both storms it is faster on the droid. I still get all my email and it is easier to reply at least for me any way. blackberry messenger was nice but so is google talk. the fact that i can finish several tasks in the time it took to do one on either storm is a big plus. I did however like the layout of the media center on the storms I liked having music, pics, videos, and ring tones all in one place. the battery on the droid runs circles around the storm and especially the storm 2. My first droid was a dud too with all the random powering down and the need to pull the battery 3 to 5 times a day. i took it back and my replacement is all i have ever dreamed of. my camera even works GREAT!!

 

[Telexen]

Well then have fun with another phone that sucks just so you can do stuff you THINK you can't do on the Droid.

Most of the crap on that list is wrong. Lack of email search? Did you try pressing the button with a fairly universal logo for SEARCH on it? No speed dial? Last I checked Google has put a lot of work into voice commands for this phone. Can't access contacts quickly? That's funny! Because I can put a shortcut to any contact, OR a shortcut to direct dial or direct message any contact right on the home screen of my phone. Unwanted notifications? Aren't there a dozen apps that let you customize settings and/or profiles, both manual and automatic?

You'll never be happy with a phone if you give up on it before you learn how to use it.

 

[joedroid]

I could never in a billion years go back to Blackberry.

I also hate my iphone because if you have a 3G and have the latest software, it's SLOW AS HELLLLL. The new software is for a 3G S, but when its on a 3G, the phone is useless and makes me savagely angry.

I still have both iPhone and Droid but might return the Droid for only a few reasons. The Droid KICKS ass in major ways but:

1. Even though the verizon network is way better than AT&T and Verizon 3G is constantly faster, when I'm talking on the Verizon network, I cant stand the sound quality. I'm an audio fanatic, so sound is important. There is always some weird microsecond delay where it sounds like I'm always interrupting someone.

2. I play music 24/7, so when notifications go through, the music just stops, sound notification goes off, music goes back, but I lose the music beat. It would be cool if they can do like the iphone where the volume goes down a bit, notification goes through, and song keeps playing. I know it's a phone, not a music player

3. Another thing that really makes me uncomfortable is the music player going to the next track. If you are listening to albums that have seamless tracks, there is a gap in between the songs. I know, it's less than half a second, but my brain picks it up.

4. Battery life is OK. I had 12 email accounts on the droid and the battery went to 60% half day (not bad at all). Sliding keyboard is useless to me and since i have big thumbs, it's hard not to hit 4 letters at once.

Droid kicks ass, but some issues need to be solved before the 30 day return policy. I guess the bug fixes come out on the 35th day after day one, so people who jumped on it the first day can't return it in time.

I'll keep my verizon plan on the lowest plan and wait for the Dragon 1GHz phone to come out.

 

[colnago]

Heartily agree, my first 2 days of use were pretty bad, but after that third cycling of the battery it got much better. I also found that keeping the brightness on the lowest setting (easily done with the power widgit) whenever possible really stretched the battery life. It takes a lot of juice to power that big, beautiful screen.

Seidio makes extended batteries and their packaging includes a notice regarding it taking multiple cycles for it to reach full potential. Look for hopefully a double sized, double lasing one for the droid. Worked well for my Moto Q.

I started using Quick Settings, an app from the market, that allows you to dim lower than stock "0". Its fine for indoor, and seems to help with stretching drain.

 

[Viconi]

Using a blackberry for business and personal use for the last 12 years I can see where you are coming from. Blackberry makes great devices that are easy to use and very reliable. The battery on every BB I have had besides the Bold 9000 were fantastic, as was email, and making calls. In my 12 years of BB ownership I have tried almost everything that has come out (iPhone 2g, 3g, and 3gs, winmo HTC, nokia) I always end up selling the phone or returning after 2 months in. I have a feeling though the droid is going to be different. Android 2.0 has refined alot that was wrong with 1.5 and 1.6. There will be growing pains whenever using a new device.

My pros for the droid:
-OS is generations ahead
-Customizable
-Notification bar
-Browsing
-Navigation
-Gmail, (I use this for my business)
-Media playback
-Apps quanity
-screen
-search and voice search

Pros for BB:
-OS is familiar and reliable (for those who have used it)
-Calling is easier
-Apps are more reliable quality is better for now
-Email
-Keyboard (I don't know if anyone will be able to rival RIM on this)
-Battery Life (Yes the droids is good, I am averaging 12-14 hours, blackberrys is just better)
-BBM

Overall go with what fits you, no device is perfect.

 

[e39e60]

use the "word" "pwn", and your opinion is automatically meaningless. yes, really.

ad hominem. please step it up a notch.

 

[smilepak]

Because you are a crackberry addict and can't admit the fact there are other phones out there? Lol!

 

[nydrumboy]

These two things drive me crazy too. I hate setting my volume to high and putting my phone in my pocket and an hour later seeing that I missed several important calls because the ringer turned itself off again.

And the stupid auto-correct function when typing is a pain in the butt too.

I actually like the auto-correct function, since apparently my fairly slim fingers are too fat for the keyboards.

 

[jhpk13]

The devices are completely different animals.

Some people don't like change and if you don't like change, you should stick with what your familiar with.

However, if you like new toys and put in the effort to learn the new device, it's a great device.

I get about the same batt life as my BB pearl. Wifi is a big plus. Miss the BB profiles but oh well, I'd rather give them up then give up the droid.

Too many people just want these advanced devices to be "dumbed down" to give them basic functionality. Why get it then?

 

[MicroNix]

You'll never be happy with a phone if you give up on it before you learn how to use it.

+1

 

[nydrumboy]

Well then have fun with another phone that sucks just so you can do stuff you THINK you can't do on the Droid.

Most of the crap on that list is wrong. Lack of email search? Did you try pressing the button with a fairly universal logo for SEARCH on it? No speed dial? Last I checked Google has put a lot of work into voice commands for this phone. Can't access contacts quickly? That's funny! Because I can put a shortcut to any contact, OR a shortcut to direct dial or direct message any contact right on the home screen of my phone. Unwanted notifications? Aren't there a dozen apps that let you customize settings and/or profiles, both manual and automatic?

You'll never be happy with a phone if you give up on it before you learn how to use it.

The value of a device like this should be in a minimum of learning curve and should not require weeks of investigation and addl apps.

I appreciate all the comments in this thread, but I am particularly interested in how you were able to place shortcuts.

I installed Anycut, but I was only able to see one contact from my list of over 1100, so I uninstalled the app. I'd really like to know how to place a shortcut, if you wouldn't mind telling me. All of my contacts are through Exchange.

 

[brandini]

No bashing here, just explanations and tips to those who kept their phone:
- BATTERY LIFE IS ABYSMAL: Turn off GPS, wifi, and bluetooth when not in use
- All keyboards make it very prone to misspellings: it's a learning curve (hehe), I had a curve and after a week i'm very good at the droid's keyboard, i HATE ALL touchscreen KBs though (thoe only reason i switched is this has a REAL KB)
- Can't bring up a contact and dial as quickly as BB: hit the search button then type a name
- No speed dial keys: settings>apps>quick launch>droid menu button>shortcuts>contact>then pick one... using the shortcut will bring up the contact and you can choose whichever way you'd like to contact them
- Lack of search feature for email: use gmail app, click droid menu button then choose search
- Did I mention the horrid battery life: see above, also- don't use vibrate
- Ringer volume keeps changing when I don't want it to: lookup the application called Locale
- When you plug the phone in at night to charge it, it won't stay powered off, meaning you'll get all kinds of unwanted notifications and/or phone calls at all hours: use silent mode, alarm still works when in silent if you look in options in alarm app
- I don't konw if I've already mentioned it, but the battery life is just awful. I could count on my Curve staying alive through a full day of phone calls: don't use bluetooth and use advanced task killer- take note as to what starts up after a battery pull and stick to that unless you need any app running all the time... key word: need

 

[MicroNix]

Seems that a lot of people that are complaining should *not* have been early adopters of any phone. There are a slew of bug fixes coming some of which were mentioned in this thread.

I also highly agree with the comment that people need to get to know the device before railing on it. This OS is brand new to the majority of users. It came fairly stripped down which most applauded because Verizon did not rape it with its own software. Therefore, it is left to the user to customize. And customize DROID DOES!

Battery life has been much higher for me after installing locale. Turns off the un-needed power hogging features when I don't need them automatically. I can go a full day of playing with this thing and some calls and still have 50% battery at the end of the day.

Others have mentioned simplistic apps to really solve most of the complaints. Even without them, to call a contact it is Contacts > Contact > Call. What is that, 1 whole second slower than on a BB? Is that going to ruin your day? Then put shortcuts on the home screen!

I received a Touch Pro 2 at work. At *first* I hated the HTC UI and thought it was crap. After working at it for a couple weeks, I found it to be so much better than a standard WinMo UI that I kicked myself for wanting to return it initially.

Give it a chance folks!

 

[Barbara]

The value of a device like this should be in a minimum of learning curve and should not require weeks of investigation and addl apps.

I appreciate all the comments in this thread, but I am particularly interested in how you were able to place shortcuts.

I installed Anycut, but I was only able to see one contact from my list of over 1100, so I uninstalled the app. I'd really like to know how to place a shortcut, if you wouldn't mind telling me. All of my contacts are through Exchange.

On your desktop: press and hold in an open spot. Select shortcuts. Select direct dial. Select the person you want. Do this for all the people you want to have as speed dials. If there are a bunch, long press in an open spot and select folders. Select new folder. Open new folder and long press on the name at the top. A box will come up letting you name the folder. Press on each contact (and hold until it vibrates) and drag them to that folder.

 

[FireChief]

My recent past phones: Blackberry, Centro, Treo. (Most time w/BB)

1. Email Question: I use Gmail (any/other/ all email accounts I have that are not gmail are forwarded to gmail). I get email immediately on the Droid, and it's easy to reply, send new, etc., etc..

I am not 'comparing' the two (BB vs. Droid) but if one is using gmail with the Droid than HOW is the BB 'better for email.' ??

2. Just a repeat: The Droid makes it very easy to SPEED DIAL. Just press and hold the screen until a menu pops up, then select "short cut"... then select "Direct Dial" and choose your contact. It doesn't get any easier than that does it?? I guess you have to 'turn on the phone' huh?

3. Battery life: blah, blah, blah... (sorry).. good, better, best.. it doesn't matter.. (unless you have a faulty battery).. Droid battery is good enough.. we are all around a car/ wall charger often enough to keep it charged. I will admit that if you have had a device with GREAT LONG battery life, you will need to adjust your charging habits.. not a big deal though..

4. The Droid is an entirely different device. If a person spends anytime using ALL the features, downloading various apps available and using them, that person will soon get used to having these TOOLS. It's much more than a BB. Much much more...

Having said all that, not everyone has use for all the TOOLS the Droid provides. My wife would just get frustrated with it.. she wouldn't ever use the slide keyboard. She wouldn't use the music player, and on and on. (of course she wouldn't use a BB either.. LOL)

I will give the BB one sure NOD: the keyboard. It is taking me a lot longer to get good at the Droid keyboard than it took me on my BB.. I was FAST on the BB, and I got there quick.... I am not there yet with this Droid.. Fast enough, but I don't know if I'll ever be as fast as I was with the BB, or at least it will take a good while..

FC

 

[Telexen]

The value of a device like this should be in a minimum of learning curve and should not require weeks of investigation and addl apps.

That's bull...and you know it. Short learning curves translates to lack of options, power, and customization. You obviously don't want that in a phone, so give the powerful Droid a chance and at least try to figure out how to do stuff...because all the things you complained about have simple solutions.

 

[e39e60]

Folks this thread is getting kind of mean. This should be a community. I think we should leave comments about the PERSON in a friendly matter while we voice our opinions on the PHONE.

 

[CRPercodani]

They are 2 different devices and one of them is way ahead of the other. Sure a BB can do some things really well, but only a few. Android in general has much more to offer and if you don't mind learning then you shouldn't have a problem. If your phone is vital to your work then I wouldn't ever suggest being a early adopter to a new device, and if the BB fits perfect then why try anything different? Your battery was definitely defective because I have owned 6 different smartphones and the ONLY one with better battery life was my N95.

STAY POLITE, THIS IS A WARNING

 

[Spbeyond]

I take my phone off the charger at 7:30 am and with a moderate amount of playing with it it is about dead at 5:30 when I get home. Is this the expected battery life or Should I get a replacement?

 

[ProfessorHM]

Different stokes for different folks.

I came from the curve as well, and droid while in some cases worse than the curve, overall its a better phone.

Battery life on my curve was pretty awesome. I could go for almost a week without recharging. Droid I can go for about 2-3 days if I don't use it much, but shorter battery life is understandable given the hardware and the feature set the droid has.

Email is considerably better on the droid since I use gmail exclusively, and it renders HTML emails perfectly which is one of the major gripes I had with the curve.

Like some people have mentioned, it is a very different device which takes some getting used to. My curve was great, and it did the job but I needed something faster, with a browser that works. I'm not a fan of touchscreens, which is one of the reasons why I never got an iphone(that and the ATT network), the fact that droid has an actual hardware keyboard(even if its not as good as the curve) is one of the reasons why its more attractive to me than an iphone.

Blackberry does have some things on lock, like email(even though html emails suck and gmail sync is much better on the droid) and the hardware keyboard. But compared to a touch blackberry like the storm, droid is a much better option.

 

[sublimnl]

Most of you guys out there sound like fanboys. Ignoring the email search shortcomings of the Droid is crazy. Obviously a LOT of you use Gmail only but some of us use exchange because we are using the Droid in a business environment. I think it is inexcusable that we are unable to search our exchange emails. How could Google, a company whose name is synonymous with search, leave out this BASIC search functionality? Having said that, I an not going back to my curve, but come on, there is nothing w
rong with admitting that this phone has some pretty major issues that need to be addressed quickly.

 

[Timaphillips]

I don't miss my Curve AT ALL. I use an app for notification just like the bberry had. Android is built around customization and that's not for everyone. Some people simply don't want to search the market for an app they feel is missing. Its understandable.

 

[atlbuc]

Who cares about why you are returning the Droid. Tired of post like this one. Test drive the d...n phone before you buy it as you would a car. You knew what your sticking points were before you bought it.

 

[ratchetjaw]

Who cares about why you are returning the Droid. Tired of post like this one. Test drive the d...m phone before you buy it as you would a car. You knew what your sticking points were before you bought it.

+1

 

[punkzanyj]

Most of you guys out there sound like fanboys. Ignoring the email search shortcomings of the Droid is crazy. Obviously a LOT of you use Gmail only but some of us use exchange because we are using the Droid in a business environment. I think it is inexcusable that we are unable to search our exchange emails. How could Google, a company whose name is synonymous with search, leave out this BASIC search functionality? Having said that, I an not going back to my curve, but come on, there is nothing w
rong with admitting that this phone has some pretty major issues that need to be addressed quickly.

How is searching 3rd party email a basic function?

I always find it curious when people assume their experiences in life are the universal experience. I've never wanted nor needed to search my email on my phone. Just because your last phone could do it, doesn't mean the next one should. That's what research before you buy is for. 10 minutes spent reading previews/reviews saves hours of headaches later. I don't buy anything electronic that's over 15 dollars without reading reviews anymore. But then again, I'm an adult.