Blackberry or Android?

[jobie023]

I don't even really keep many contacts in my CLIQ (Android 1.5 with BLUR) and they've never disappeared. The Droid initially shipped with Android 2.0, the Eris is 1.5 with HTC Sense, and the Devour is Android 1.6 with BLUR. Honestly it sounds like you both didn't "get" the Android OS at all. I've never lost a contact, or just have WiFi turn itself off. Everything is so intergrated, apps background sit in the background so nicely.. I have my Twitter/News/Weather/Google Search/Music widgets on the homescreen. The lovely slide down notifications panel, all-in-one email inbox, WiFi tethering (root), Google Voice integration, I just can't get enough of Android and I'm still playing around with 1.5 for the most part. I don't even pick my iPhone up for anything other than calls and music. The calls part is only because it's my main line right now.

[Tihihi]

Oh, I "got it". I got the fact that you need to download apps in order to make the phone do things that a basic phone will do out of the box. I got the fact that stuff would just randomly delete off the phone, as it did in my case. I got the fact that wifi and GPS would randomly turn on and off on the device. I got the drop down box that would show the text messages, but after you read the first one, they would disappear, and you would either have to open up messaging or text messaging to see them. I got the fact that 1 out of 10 SMS I sent wouldn't go through. I got the poor battery life because my wifi or GPS was on, and I didn't want it on.

I pretty much got the whole thing. The good and the bad, and in the end, the bad won, and the phone went back.

[darkrhetoric]

Sounds like you got a few limes because you should know that none of that stuff is normal.

[boybaguio]

On the flipside, BlackBerries have their fair share of problems. Both my BB 9700s have some problems, like my having to take my headphones off to answer calls (can't use headphones for listening and onboard mic for talking no matter what I tried), Mute button bugging out the music player and music randomly playing in standby mode, and visual voicemail not clearing properly until I play a voicemail twice (once from the Messages and once from the Menu -> Visual Voicemail). Also when I escape an area with no signal I have to manually turn off all connections and turn them back on for it to get back on the network, or else it takes a half hour.

I still love the phones but these flaws were pretty big to me. I'll admit Android has a higher learning curve than the BlackBerry OS.

[ayleekay]

I never had a contact lost, nor lost an SMS, nor had Wifi or GPS turn on randomly. That's on three Androids, a MyTouch 3G, a Droid Eris and a Nexus One. I found these problems I simply cannot replicate nor have don't see anywhere else.

Only way you can force Wifi or GPS to randomly happen is by touching the screen with the activating widgets on the surface. This can happen accidentally through various means, like putting the phone in your pocket or holster without turning the screen off. It can happen on a tight holster or pouch, or if the phone is inserted into a bag with lots of stuff on it. Doesn't happen on the Storm because a stronger pressure is needed against its screen to activate. But of course, you can take off the widgets off the screen, or simply always remember to lock the screen before you put the phone away.


I have Storms in the household. Its probably the worst device in the world to type on. The one BB user in the house was so happy to switch out from that phone to a Bold2.

I find the internal memory for installing apps way too limited on the Bold and Storm. On the newer phones, like the Tour, Bold2 and Storm2, the amount of internal memory has improved over older phones but only reached to the level as the --- get this --- original HTC Dream G1 --- which had 256mb. The average Android on the market now has 512mb. Its interesting to note both Android and Blackberry apps in a general range, seem to have about the same memory requirements and rarely exceed over 1mb.

The result of low internal memory runs down quickly the moment you start installing various apps. It gets worst because the email is saved on this internal memory. I hit the low memory on my Blackberry Tour when I was getting pushed email that had document attachments.

Also, when if the Blackberry turns nuts, its a battery pull, followed by a long reset and boot up. On the Android, it only does a UI reset, no battery pulls, and a fresh UI is up in seconds.

On the Blackberry if the black clock appears on the middle of the screen with the arm moving, you wait. And wait. On the Android, if your app is hogging the screen, a message would flash asking you if you want to force terminate it or wait.

The Tour and earlier Blackberry depends too much on the trackball for navigation. Easy to gum up. Had these issues which I had to take to the dealer to clean up. Not a problem on the BB with optical trackpad. Certainly not a problem on Android.

Great multitasking on the BB, but I find it tiresome to hunt down open apps by opening the task manager, and to close down each app deliberately through the side menu. On the Android, you can leave them and the OS will shut them off by itself. This one feels like you got an automatic transmission with your multitasking while the BB is a manual transmission.

Low memory error caused a Software 552 on my Blackberry Tour. Found a way to restore it but by then I lost confidence on the phone after using it for five months. I'm not willing to pay for a more expensive data plan on a phone that had issues like this for another year when a Droid Eris, not only has a cheaper data rate (half the cost for me) but a far faster and smoother browsing experience, more apps, more apps it can store, cheaper but better quality apps for the money, with a simply more responsive UI on an OS that doesn't crash.

This is not to say I wasn't happy with my Blackberry Tour. I was, for the most part. I love the keyboard especially on the Tour, smooth text entry isn't something the Android is good at. But by the end, it was time to move on to something better.

[hotchick123]

Each has their pro's and cons that is for sure. Android does some things well, and BlackBerry does some things well.

For me, the auto text and profile management on BlackBerry just cannot be beat. That along with the push email makes it perfect for me. Several phones I have tried have come close, but nothing can compare.

It really comes down to personal needs and wants.

[DARIEN & BARBARA D]

Did you refund your Devour and get a Storm2?

[bobpaikatt]

Push email on the BlackBerry is the lynchpin, the OP mentioned this himself I believe.. but I can't see how you could possibly be an advocate of the Storm or Storm2. Either device is terrible compared to the rest of the BlackBerry portfolio. The Tour is the only choice IMHO.

Though the thing is, the Eris is a low-end phone.

[kristin s]

please don't get a blackberry. i've had two and both just stopped working for no apparent reason. i babied the things too. also, everyone loves the email feature, but mine would take about a half hour to get and a few hours to send. it was ridiculous. Palm Pre Plus FTW!!

[Shantelle H]

Recently came back to Blackberry since 2002 when I had a dreadful one on Nextel that I wanted to throw against the wall constantly. But I must say that coming from an iPhone I was definitely hesitant. So from December until now, I must say that I don't regret my choice at all. Hands down, the blackberry handles messaging in every way with ease and consistency including emails, text messaging, instant messaging and all aspects of it. I am on the Blackberry Bold 9700 and it's been perfect and I have plenty of applications on here.