Blackberry vs. Android

[Texas Twitch]

I had a BB Curve for 2 years and loved it, but the Android blows it out of the water.
There is SO much the Android (motorola Droid in my case) can do that the BB can't. 10s of 1000s of apps, better screen, more adaptability and configuration options, all your contacts, events, etc. back up with gmail, and you can link multiple e-mail accounts, and sync your outlook calendar with it. I rooted and hacked mine too, so I'm running an upgraded OS with a custom ROM and an overclocked processor. there is literally NO end do what you can do with these phones. check out www.droidforums.net for an idea of what all people are doing with these.

 

[kastein]

My only complaint about the blackberries is how long they take to boot.

Seriously, five minutes to boot a damn phone? Not cool!

The 7105 I have is absolutely bulletproof, I've dunked it in water, brake cleaner, hydraulic fluid, gear lube, mud, tranny fluid, kicked it across streets, thrown it to people and had them not catch it, and even slid 50+ feet at about 20mph on a fiberglass luge track while sitting on it... and it still works. I don't even have it connected to the cell network anymore (it's got an old pay per use sim in it just to make it work for emergency calls) I just use it for an alarm clock and junkyard parts list / PDA.

My 8820 is also nice, it's the one I use as a phone. Wish it had a camera (my mistake when ordering) but hey... I have a camera for that. I really like the fact that it has a micro-SD slot in the back, I use micro-SD cards with a micro-to-regular SD adapter in my camera so I can upload pictures I take even when not near a computer, just pull the card out of the camera and stick it in my phone.

 

[RichP]

When was the last time you checked?

I just got the 32/64 bit anyconnect working and up and running, I may have more options now. Also got the beta of a 64bit cisco vpn client [old school] type they just released yesterday, you know, the one they said for the past 8 months they were not going to do. well, they did....
Had a ccnp in for the morning straightening out the licensing cisco made mistakes on with our ASA's

Now to go hunt down haywood and grab his rooted moto droid and see what havoc I can do to it...

 

[Krazors001]

I had a BB Curve for 2 years and loved it, but the Android blows it out of the water.
There is SO much the Android (motorola Droid in my case) can do that the BB can't. 10s of 1000s of apps, better screen, more adaptability and configuration options, all your contacts, events, etc. back up with gmail, and you can link multiple e-mail accounts, and sync your outlook calendar with it. I rooted and hacked mine too, so I'm running an upgraded OS with a custom ROM and an overclocked processor. there is literally NO end do what you can do with these phones. check out www.droidforums.net for an idea of what all people are doing with these.

All of which you have stated that the android platform does, blackberry can do except I haven't really played around with custom ROM or overclocking. I am a big fan of blackberry, except for the browser, but they will be updating their browsing within the next year.

The way I would look at the phones is blackberry is the best for people with business first and want some fun, but it isn't their number one priority. Android is really nice for someone who really wants to work with the phone and customize a lot of it. Also, one nice thing about Blackberry is BBMessenger. If most of the people you text are on bberrys, your can use this instead to message them and it counts as data versus text which may help in cutting the costs of the data plan.

I currently am an iPhone user, but only because I waiting for our company to come out with newer Android devices or blackberry to upgrade its browser.

 

[ECKSJAY]

I completely geeked out the other day and loaded Android onto my Windows Mobile phone (Touch Pro 2/HTC Rhodium). Yeah, it works for calls, text, email, and pretty much anything 3G based...but no external speaker (so no music or ringtones). Battery indicator doesn't work, nor does the USB port, Bluetooth, camera, or WiFi...but it's a HUGE step toward getting the OS running on this device. I'm actually dual-booting OS' on this goddamned thing. Amazing.

There are guys running Ubuntu on this phone as well. LOL, technology is farking grand.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=589

 

[XJ Eric]

I'm on Sprint and have a Tour. It's my first "smart" phone. I was pretty unhappy with at first. Trackball issues, but now I've got the fixed version and it's nice. Just upgraded to the newest OS. I'm pretty happy with it.

 

[kastein]

good luck with custom ROMs or overclocking on blackberries. They decompress the entire OS out of flash (why? I think it's just to make them take an extra 4 minutes to boot, personally) and then run security checks on it to make sure it's authentic before actually letting you do anything. I haven't put any serious effort into looking for ways to get around it, but I'd be surprised if anyone has found a good way to boot a full custom ROM yet.

 

[IslanderOffRoad]

My contract's up in May and I think its time to go smartphone.

I've been Verizon for years, but I really want an iphone just so I can stop carrying a separate phone and music device. Both my cars are also wired for ipods, so I don't need to buy chargers or cables to hook up something else.

 

[Texas Twitch]

All of which you have stated that the android platform does, blackberry can do except I haven't really played around with custom ROM or overclocking. I am a big fan of blackberry, except for the browser, but they will be updating their browsing within the next year.

The way I would look at the phones is blackberry is the best for people with business first and want some fun, but it isn't their number one priority. Android is really nice for someone who really wants to work with the phone and customize a lot of it. Also, one nice thing about Blackberry is BBMessenger. If most of the people you text are on bberrys, your can use this instead to message them and it counts as data versus text which may help in cutting the costs of the data plan.

I currently am an iPhone user, but only because I waiting for our company to come out with newer Android devices or blackberry to upgrade its browser.

Like i said, i like the BB a lot, but the OS is more of a pain in the ass to customize. A few more complaints: if i had more than 25 texts from one contact, it would take up to 3 minutes between "send" and it actually sending, and my Curve would freeze up during that time. The browser was HORRIBLE, camera sucked, and it took 2-5 minutes to boot up if and when it froze up. Not to mention the trackball was a POS.

Of course, Droid has its faults too, the call quality isn't as good and if i haven't used my task killer in a while it's slow, but overall it fits my purposes MUCH better.

 

[Krazors001]

Like i said, i like the BB a lot, but the OS is more of a pain in the ass to customize. A few more complaints: if i had more than 25 texts from one contact, it would take up to 3 minutes between "send" and it actually sending, and my Curve would freeze up during that time. The browser was HORRIBLE, camera sucked, and it took 2-5 minutes to boot up if and when it froze up. Not to mention the trackball was a POS.

Of course, Droid has its faults too, the call quality isn't as good and if i haven't used my task killer in a while it's slow, but overall it fits my purposes MUCH better.

Just remember you are comparing 2 year old technology to current technology. Processors have been doubled in speed, cameras have increased greatly, and they have begun using an optical trackpad in place of the ball. The problem you are talking of with the text sounds like more of a device/network specific issue as having multiple blackberries over the years, I can't say I ever had that problem.

 

[kastein]

Just remember you are comparing 2 year old technology to current technology. Processors have been doubled in speed, cameras have increased greatly, and they have begun using an optical trackpad in place of the ball. The problem you are talking of with the text sounds like more of a device/network specific issue as having multiple blackberries over the years, I can't say I ever had that problem.

processors may have doubled in speed but they have still managed to make them go just as slow with that disaster of a java-pile they run on it :smsoap:

My blackberry has more memory and a faster processor than my first desktop. And takes 3 times longer to boot and about twice as long to respond to user input or start an app.

 

[Texas Twitch]

I have a friend that has one of the new Curves, with the optical pad (which i will happily and freely admit is a HUGE improvement), and he has the same crappy camera and slow booting problem. If you are going to use the argument that it's the same 2 year old technology, then RIM needs to get their shit together and get with the program.

And for the text thing, not sure if it was network-specific or not (Verizon), but it was definitely not a device-specific occurrence. I had to get 3 different replacements for different problems and they all had the same text message problem.

On a side note, maybe i just need to stop dating girls who text like crazy!

 

[loki_racer]

Something to consider is that almost all carriers, if not all, are requiring data plans with smartphones. With that being said, since you will have to pay for a data plan, why not get a phone that will either tether with your laptop, or act as a wifi spot that shares it's 3G connection.

Android has a app you can buy to do this (or you can root the phone and do it for free, but must be a little more tech savvy). Windows Mobile allows tethering out of the box for free and wifi sharing can be added with a free app or custom ROM. I can't speak for Blackberry, but would vote against it based on other reasons mentioned previously. Iphone requires tech savvy modifications to tether (known as jailbreaking the phone).

I have been using Windows Mobile for 5 or 6 years now for one reason, tethering. We recently switched to Tmobile (which has amazingly cheap no contract plans) and got an Android phone for my wife. All I can say is whoa. In my opinion, it is hands down the best OS on the market right now.

Also, with iPhone OS 4.0 recently announced Apple announced iAd. It's their mobile ad delivery platform. They are talking about delivering 1 billion ad impression minutes a day on iPhones. Just another reason to pass on it.

 

[ChuckstrPT]

Something to consider is that almost all carriers, if not all, are requiring data plans with smartphones. With that being said, since you will have to pay for a data plan, why not get a phone that will either tether with your laptop, or act as a wifi spot that shares it's 3G connection.

Android has a app you can buy to do this (or you can root the phone and do it for free, but must be a little more tech savvy). Windows Mobile allows tethering out of the box for free and wifi sharing can be added with a free app or custom ROM. I can't speak for Blackberry, but would vote against it based on other reasons mentioned previously. Iphone requires tech savvy modifications to tether (known as jailbreaking the phone).

That's pretty much the conclusion I came to also. Any way I got, I've got another $25 ($50 because I'll have to upgrade the wife's communication device at the same time.....) per month...the Blackberry just doesn't do as much as the others. We're likely going Android....I'm looking at the Motorola Cliq.
Thanks for all the input!

 

[loki_racer]

The Cliq is what we got my wife. I like it a lot, but hate the power button. It's impossible to press without two hands.

 

[kastein]

My 8820 has gone from great to crashing randomly for absolutely no reason since my last post in this thread. I'll pick it up and start surfing the net or write a text and halfway through it'll just crash, reboot, screen goes blank, activity LED turns red, won't turn back on till I pull the battery. Maybe it just needs updated firmware, but this combined with the long boot time is souring me somewhat... my next phone will likely be Android based, I've heard nothing but good things about it.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

The Cliq is what we got my wife. I like it a lot, but hate the power button. It's impossible to press without two hands.

Why would you want to power it down? And if so, why not just pull the battery?

 

[loki_racer]

Why would you want to power it down? And if so, why not just pull the battery?

I have a habit of hitting the power button to lock the screen, before putting it in my pocket or setting it down. The power button is slightly hidden under the screen/slider bezel and isn't raised in anyway. Locating it while driving down the road was impossible for me with one hand or without taking my eyes off the road. It was a deal breaker for me. Other than that, the phone was amazing.