Last week my trusty old Blackberry Curve died on me. Again. I called it trusty because I really liked it. It worked great for my needs. However, after the second failure — both resulting in an inoperable keypad due to exposure to too much humidity — I decided to make the switch to the vaunted Android powered phone.
I have to say I am quite pleased.
One of my major restrictions on the Blackberry was the Internet browsing experience. I could see most websites, but that’s about it. Seeing what the designer intended, or indeed using them at all, was not … optimal. With the Android I get a browsing experience very similar to a full computer. Yes, there is still some zooming required to get the right link clicked in a tight group, but it’s quick and easy.
Email, which was one of the things I loved on the Blackberry, is also much improved. However, I did need to download the free K-9 Email app to get all of the features I wanted, such as select all and signature capability.
That’s another thing that’s so great about the Android mobile platform. It’s Open Source, so there are a ton of free and cheap apps that you can download to extend your computing capabilities in just about any direction you like. I’ve been able to get the right apps to make me fully web editing capable on-the-go. This was something just not possible for me before.
Of coarse one can waste a lot of time with all the frivolous apps available, like the motion sensing Jedi Lightsaber app I downloaded. Pretty cool though!
Drawbacks. Yes, there are a couple. Typing anything of length on a touch screen is an exercise in frustration to be sure, so I went with the LG Ally which has a beautiful slide out keyboard. That solved that. But my new phone is much heavier and doesn’t have near the battery life. I could get three days out of my Blackberry, but maybe one day — if I refrain from playing with it — on the Ally. And from what the guy at the store said, the LG models have better battery life than the others.
As I’ve said before, I’m a Mac guy. So why didn’t I go with an iPhone? Simple. Their stupid AT&T only restriction. My whole family is on Verizon and I do not want to switch just for me. What was Apple thinking when they made that decision? Yes, I keep hearing that it’s coming for other carriers, but I couldn’t wait any longer.
I’m very glad I made the switch from Blackberry to Android. RIM might be coming up with new Blackberry models to compare, but for me it’s too late. I’d take quite a product to get me to switch back.
UPDATE: It appears that my battery life is quite a bit longer than I initially thought. I’m getting a full days worth easily. Of coarse if I play pin ball for hours on end…
