[XelhaBB]

Hey forum,

It's been shy of a two year journey with the Storm and I am grateful for the experience. The Storm is the one cellular phone that I clung to for over a year without moving on. However the DROID X seemed tailor made for me and after nearly a week of handling it, I am absolutely thrilled. What I have also discovered in a couple of Droid forums is MANY Storm users who crossed over into the DROID X. I thought I would be in the minority however it seems there are quite a few who crossed and did not regret the move one bit. Here are a some of my observations:

DISPLAY: the landscape on a DROID X is quite impressive. Crisp, vibrant, colorful. A true computer desktop experience. Every screen is customizable and widgets galore. Drag and drop them with a touch and swipe.

EMAIL: I had a Gmail account synced to my Storm. I installed Google Sync before transitioning. After activating my Droid, ALL of my contacts (email, cellular contacts, etc) loaded into my Droid. All of my Google Calendar events transitioned over as well. Quick and painlessly. My email is just as quick as it was with the Blackberry using my Gmail account. I had heard that I should experience a slower email experience than on Blackberry push email. There has been absolutely no change in my email experience. No lagging and no missed emails. During phone conversations people have sent me emails and I heard my Droid chiming away seconds later.

MESSENGER SERVICES: no more BBM but Yahoo Messenger is full service and does everything you can do from a computer. You can even access your email side from YM.

INTERNET: internet screams, with the big screen you can use two fingered expansion, and the colors are amazing. Blue tooth tethering is available and for the time being - FREE

SOCIAL NETWORKS: I had heard their were issues with FB on DROID. This has not been my experience. There is far more ability to manipulate your account from the phone, with a status screen you can update right from one of your many desktop screens. You can upload photos, respond to posts, etc, etc, etc. The cam is 8 megapixel, the photos are crisp, and they are geotagged!

SMS/MMS: On the DROID X its all in one. If mid chat you desire to snap a shot and shoot it off, hit your menu button, select the option, snap your shot, attach your caption and send away.

Applications: the app store is awesome. Hundreds of free apps and GOOD ones. I've already loaded a few. Find restaurants, stores, etc, then your Google maps takes you right there, turn by turn, with voice instructions. Don't like your stock camera program? Pick another one and download it. Don't like your stock keyboard? Download a customized keyboard. No need to wait around for another beta or officially released OS. The phone is fully customizable in every aspect.

Overall, the DROID X is everything the Storm is not. Faster, no lagging, no freezing, no battery pulls necessary. The OS on the DROID X is without any issues that I can see so far. I will even go as far to call it just as business oriented as a Blackberry. Some had commented to me regarding the DROID having no ability to establish profiles. Absolutely untrue. You can customize every sound emitted from the DROID and make them unique to email, sms, and the caller to. Maybe I misunderstood that person.

Where does the BB compete? The Droid X isn't as loud at my Storm was. I have had to turn up the Droid in situations where I turned the Storm volume down. There is no one handed texting happening on the Droid X. It requires both hands unless you are VERY practiced in portrait mode. But in landscape my big mitts are much more adept on the DROID X. I thought I would miss the clicking Storm screen. A couple minutes on the DROID X and I was screaming along just as fast.

I am thankful for my Blackberry experience and trudging through the lengthy Storm development stages. It has made me appreciate this new device all the more. I also am appreciative for all the fine people in this forum who brought me into the BB fold and nurtured me early on. This is not me dogging the Storm. It's me telling you about my next step in the touchscreen experience. If you love the Storm, then you will simply be in LUST with the DROID X. It definitely is going to give Jobes a run for his money.

[felscurve]

Thank you for the thoughtful post. I have been thinking about switching to either the Incredible or the X from my Storm 2. I haven't quite made the decision yet and your post have given me some things to think about. I've been a BB user for about 4 years now and while I've loved my BB's, I've been very disappointed with the lack of quality with their hardware.

Anyway, I'm still thinking about it and may just wait a bit longer until the next great Droid comes out and I'm closer to a new phone from Verizon.

Thanks again

[rjr1049]

I have been using a Storm 2 since last December when I switched back to Verizon. I have been very disappointed at how buggy the OS has been. Originally I had frozen buttons when a call came in and had to repeatedly push them until they worked. A few OS's later that has been resolved but along the way the OS has frozen up at times and there have ben other problems. I have gotten to the point that I am tired of technology that does not "just work" and that is why I will consider dropping the BB down the line. Imagine turning out a phone with an OS that makes taking a simple call difficult! Amazing that Verizon and RIM would do this. If the Droid line has fewer bugs then that may make the decision for me. Just my 2 cents.

[john.mccoy]

I have a Storm 2 for work and am seriously thinking about getting the Droid X for my personal phone. Right now I have a Razr on AT&T and my contract ends next month. It looks like it could be alot of fun.

[felscurve]

Well, I just made the decision and now have a Droid X on order. It should be here in approx. 3 weeks, so I'll have some time to do more reading and go to the local Verizon store and fondle the X and Incredible.

[gjg]

bye bye BB......going with the Incredible....

[XelhaBB]

UPDATE:

G-TALK is basically the same as Blackberry Messenger. In fact, I actually use it more than I did BBM being that most of my friends are on Gmail and hit me up quite regularly.

I have examined hundreds of apps in the Android App store and I have yet to spend a dime. There are thousands of free apps that will customize this phone to do just about anything you can imagine.

WOW....just wow.

[SarinAEON]

I think that the point that the Droid features are a compelling alternative to the storm well founded and is made on several levels.

First, lets begin by accepting the business applications of a BB are the finest in the industry.

Second, Most new BB users are "consumer" driven, selecting the BB for many of the reasons why Business does. Upwards to 50% of new users as I understand it are not business driven but are smart phone users that chose their devices at Verizon/ATT/Sprint etc...

Third, as has often been mentioned, BB core users are business people that are assigned a BB rather than select it. Sadly, many often carry a second phone to supplement more "consumer" driven apps.

Finally, the statistics showing that BB business market share is being effected by iphone and Droid devices and is dwindling... Or that BB's increased presence in the consumer market is or will be decreasing is the result of the double dipping nature of accounting for the two markets.

BB entered the mainstream consumer markets with a vengeance. Now expectations are being expressed that if BB wants to play in this pond, either leverage BB's strengths, while adding features, or go back to the simple but unabashedly successful solely business oriented tool that BB is well known for. Leaving the consumer market to do what it does best, and that is keep pushing the envelope.

What is clear from all I have read, is that BB users want to keep their BB devices, do not want to have to carry two phones, and are demanding that BB continue their entree into the consumer market in a more competitive fashion. Larger touch screens, efficient operating systems/search engines and greater competitiveness in terms of features and flexibility.

I want to go to the Droid X for all its "Consumer" features, but my core reasons for having a BB are not satisfied by the Droid X. BB Features such as seamless syncing with outlook, backing up all dialogues/Emails/SMS'/Apps on my computer (and not on googles unsecure online service, and the reliability/security of the core BB service are all somewhat deficient in the Droid X. But I prefer Droids keyboard, screen size, ease of typing and speed of functionality. All of which I believe are doable by RIM.

I have 8 months before I can swap out my storm. RIM, please build me a Droid/Storm-like hybrid for my replacement.

[crboone]

I have recently ordered the Droid X as well and am waiting out the 2 weeks for delivery. I've read some of the reviews on the Verizon website and saw many former Blackberry owners' positive comments before making the decision. I also visited the local Verizon store and was impressed by the sheer speed and the larger screen (which is helpful when your eyes are getting worse!). The camera/video are nice, and the 3 mics for noise cancellation. And I already use Gmail as my main email service, even for work-related messaging. None of the emails to that account require encrypted security.

That said, I waited several days after RIM announced the Torch with AT&T to place my order. Since I'm already a Storm owner, and have been happy with the phone other than the memory issues of late (having to remove apps), I hoped to see at least some kind of leak about an upcoming Storm III on Verizon before switching to something different. Granted, one may be in the works since the previous Storms were released in November. Even so, I have little confidence now that RIM would improve the hardware much other than to add more memory and perhaps a nominally faster processor, enough to handle the new OS. Well, I'm sure the SurePress would work better as well. But other than that ... I see no reason to keep waiting. I'm sure OS 6 is nice, though.

People with old Storms on Verizon needed *something* to keep them from switching over, but there just isn't much encouragement from RIM in my opinion. If people with the Storm II are switching over, imagine still using the original Storm and not seeing an updated Storm III (to rival other phones) on Verizon coming up this close to November. And if the "slide leaks" were of the new Storm, it doesn't really seem any different from the Torch.

[utgolf]

I have a Storm2 for my work phone and I am happy with it. I did order a DroidX for my personal phone and am waiting on it now. It looks like a fun phone.

[XelhaBB]

***UPDATE***

First I do have to say my experience with the Storm 9530 definitely placed me in a better position to determine what works BEST for me in a smartphone. While I don't miss my Storm persay, I do miss this forum as I learned much from people I grew to know here.

The only complaint I had about the Droid X was the battery performance. However, that issue was remedied with a few operational tweaks coupled with the new OS 2.2 (Froyo), which I obtained as a leaked version.

Ironically, I use G-talk pretty extensively and have a ton of contacts loaded into my chat list whereas BBM was more of a novelty when I had the Storm. With G-talk my connectivity is worldwide and in many places Blackberry services arent.

Other than making a donation out of extreme gratitude for a Chemistry app, I have not paid a dime for any of the games or other apps loaded into my Droid. There are thousands of freebies in the app store and one could spend days perusing them and still not scratch the surface.

The Gmail services on my Droid are no different from my experience on the Storm. The Google calendar runs great. For those of you familiar with Dropbox, that also runs wonderful on the Droid and has been of inestimable value for school and work.

There is a mountain of support online when it comes to tweaking your Droid for your specific purposes. Android Central has a pretty responsive forum and Droid-Life is wonderful for the latest scoop.

There are some die-hard BB fans out there and those who simply won't ever leave the comfort of familiarity. If you aren't a big touch screen fan and love your physical keyboard, the BB will continue to serve you quite well. However, the Storm as it stands right now is no where near on par with the Droid, not even close.

For those of you making the jump to the Droid in the near future, prepare to be DAZZLED. Shoot me a message here if you need some helpful tips when you land on the ground with your new Droid in hand. It can be a little intimidating at first.

I do miss the rest of you folks who plan to stay. Above all, the Blackberry still is a good business phone overall and I will continue to envy the level of support you receive in this wonderful forum.

[jhnptrlimo]

I actually had the d2, and liked everything about it except the email and a few other things which my s2 has. I love the asterisk on the email icon when new mail arrives, which the email app on the d2 dosen't have. I just didn't like how k9 presented emails, so I didn't like that app. I love the sleeper function on blackberry and how it changes profiles when it goes in the holster. LOVE how it changes to vibrate automatically when I put it in and rings when I take it out. Without Gmail, the D2 dosen't even have an option to pull email every 5 minutes. Their lowest setting was 15 minutes...which is way to long for me. Otherwise that was it...but those were big things for me. Otherwise the D2 was pretty damn good!

Originally Posted by XelhaBB

***UPDATE***

First I do have to say my experience with the Storm 9530 definitely placed me in a better position to determine what works BEST for me in a smartphone. While I don't miss my Storm persay, I do miss this forum as I learned much from people I grew to know here.

The only complaint I had about the Droid X was the battery performance. However, that issue was remedied with a few operational tweaks coupled with the new OS 2.2 (Froyo), which I obtained as a leaked version.

Ironically, I use G-talk pretty extensively and have a ton of contacts loaded into my chat list whereas BBM was more of a novelty when I had the Storm. With G-talk my connectivity is worldwide and in many places Blackberry services arent.

Other than making a donation out of extreme gratitude for a Chemistry app, I have not paid a dime for any of the games or other apps loaded into my Droid. There are thousands of freebies in the app store and one could spend days perusing them and still not scratch the surface.

The Gmail services on my Droid are no different from my experience on the Storm. The Google calendar runs great. For those of you familiar with Dropbox, that also runs wonderful on the Droid and has been of inestimable value for school and work.

There is a mountain of support online when it comes to tweaking your Droid for your specific purposes. Android Central has a pretty responsive forum and Droid-Life is wonderful for the latest scoop.

There are some die-hard BB fans out there and those who simply won't ever leave the comfort of familiarity. If you aren't a big touch screen fan and love your physical keyboard, the BB will continue to serve you quite well. However, the Storm as it stands right now is no where near on par with the Droid, not even close.

For those of you making the jump to the Droid in the near future, prepare to be DAZZLED. Shoot me a message here if you need some helpful tips when you land on the ground with your new Droid in hand. It can be a little intimidating at first.

I do miss the rest of you folks who plan to stay. Above all, the Blackberry still is a good business phone overall and I will continue to envy the level of support you receive in this wonderful forum.

[utgolf]

I just got a DroidX for personal use and carry a business 9550. I am impressed with the DX. I think Blackberry still has the edge for a business device but for personal use I am thrilled with it. Still trying to figure out all the widgets on the connections page, the only one I am stumped on is to the left of airplane mode.

[XelhaBB]

Utgolf,

the widget button to the left of the airplane mode is the GPS button. The next two, going to the left in order, are the blue tooth and wifi. I absolutely love the widget bar option for these services as I keep them all turned off until I need them - which greatly improves battery life. Also, I advise you to delete ALL widgets you don't use regularly. I compressed my screens down to 3 as well. Everything else I access from my pop up menu.

As for a business tool, I have found my Droid to be far more useful. There are a plethora of apps that allow you to set profiles for EVERYTHING. My Gmail calendar is far more useful than ever on my Droid. I am chained to it.

The few holdouts well claim there are email issues. My email experience did not change one bit in the transition. There are also countless apps that allow you to make your email do anything you want it to. As far as customization goes, the sky is the limit. You also have the ability to email the designers of applications and it is not uncommon for them to trick the program out further based upon user recommendations. This is simply amazing and a whole new world.

My biggest disappointment with the Storm 9530 wasn't the phone. It was the limited applications and the waiting for upgrades or new apps. On the Droid there are new apps and upgrades to apps almost daily.

Blackberry is wonderful. Droid just takes it to the next level. If you are considering the leap...do it. Droid will rock your world.

[seanecy]

I have thought of switching also, Is the data plan the same $ as BB $29? Also is there apps that would do what BBM does, such as groups and lists?

[XelhaBB]

Seancy, the data plan is the same. My bill didn't change when I switched over.

G-Talk is your best option for a messenger service when you make the switch. It doesn't appear to have a group option that I can see. What's nice about G-talk is that its worldwide and is available to other model phones, including Blackberry. I actually use it more than I used BBM. I see it getting improved over time and app designers making add on programs for it.

The best part of switching over to Droid is the applications and the ability to customize the phone to do just about whatever you desire. You will spend hours playing with the phone once you become familiar with its paradigm and nuances.

Keep in touch. I have a growing group of BB users who have made the transition and we seem to have developed a nice little forum of our own.

Message me when you change so I can add you to my G-talk list.

[Kopter]

Blackberry -for me- is all about the (enterprise) email. I have done a little bit of research on the Droid X and I don't get the sense that it is too BES friendly.

XelhaBB I hear you about the plethora, the abundance, the cornucopia... of apps available to Droid. And I for one appreciate your perspective and history with both it and your BB. I carry one device (my trusty S2) for personal and business emails/phone/contacts/etc. I have weather, maps, and all the other bells/whistles I need (FB, DriveSafe.ly, Google voice, Snaptu, Poynt, ...etc.. ) BUT..
... the underlying reason that I carry a BB is because of my own need for reliable, timely and consistent delivery of my corporate EMAIL.

I subscribed to this thread to keep my nose in Droid-land because I may make yet the jump to Droid when and if they get the enterprise email thing sorted out.

Until then.... I am ALL Blackberry.

[XelhaBB]

Kopter,

after purchasing my Storm 9530 and tinkering with it over time, I absolutely fell in love with it. It was my first smartphone and RIM's heart was definitely in the right place at the outset. Fundamentally, the Storm is a Blackberry and its basic phone, sms / mms, email, and calendar functions are what it does best. For the rest of the smartphone functions: internet, apps, games, etc, the Storm gives the user a "taste" but not the full meal.
After making the transition to the Droid X, I immediately experienced what it is to have a smart phone that performs smart phone functions optimally. For me, the transition was analogous to trading in a scooter for a Suzuki GSXR crotchrocket. There is not even a modicum of prevarication in that statement.
Before the transition, I was told by fellow Blackberry owners that my email experience would be completely subpar. I was also told the Facebook application did not function well on the Android platform - and I am a BIG Facebook aficionado.

#1. The Facebook application on Android is 10x better and fully functioning. I can do anything from my Droid that I can do from a computer. For the advanced functions the app will harness your internet browser (I use Dolphin HD) and you are off to the races.
#2. I used Gmail on my Storm, which made the transition to the Android easier with Google Sync. When I fired up my phone the first time everything set up quickly, which included bringing over ALL my phone contacts OTA. I was up and running in minutes. My email runs absolutely NO DIFFERENTLY when it comes to sending and receiving email. Honestly, I don't understand where the rumors of lagging come from because for me that allegation is completely unfounded.
#3. I have my work email account synced with my Droid. No problems.

Another delightful aspect was joining the Motorola User's Forum. RIM did have a users forum but Motorola aggressively targets owners of the new products with questionaires and offers opportunities to join user phone conferences and get involved in beta testing.

I don't presume to know what the ins and outs are when it comes to marrying a Droid to a corporate account that is intimately associated with BES. I wish I had the scoop for you there. For everything else, EVERYTHING, you will not miss your Storm in the slightest.
If you are considering making the move, I urge you to join up with the forum at Android Central. Under the Droid X section there is a healthy former Storm owner crowd with the answers you seek. I have no doubt there is probably an app, or one in the making, that would resolve any connectivity issues with BES for those who make the transition.
If you cross over, look me up over there (Xelhandroid) and lets get buddied up on G-Talk!

[KOR]

Originally Posted by XelhaBB

My email runs absolutely NO DIFFERENTLY when it comes to sending and receiving email.

I'm assuming you're pulling your mail. Can you pull it near 'realtime'? My wife just picked up an HTC Desire & I believe the most frequently she can pull automatically is 15 minutes. If it can be done in 1 ~ 2 minute intervals, I'd look closer at getting the same device for personal use. I have a bunch of databases that fire off mail when users encounter unrecoverable errors. If I had to wait up to 15 minutes to find out, the opportunity to stop them would pass (they don't read the error dialogs, of course). But, if I could be notified in ~ 1 minute...

[XelhaBB]

KOR,

I am in the United States. I understand the difference between Blackberry "push" technology and the "pull" intervals associated with other email services. Between business and personal email, I crossed over expecting 15 minute lags. For me, that was not going to be an issue to begin with.
What was delightful about Blackberry email was I could conduct business transactions over the internet and hear my Blackberry email alert chiming away seconds later letting me know my confirmation email for the order had landed in my mailbox. Although I didn't actually need that type of speed, it was a pleasant aspect of Blackberry services.
What I will tell you is that Gmail services run no differently. When I conduct the same transactions, its not very long afterwards that I hear the "Droid!!!" email alert. Less than a minute later and DEFINITELY not anywhere near 5 to 15 minutes later.
So the "pull" technology for me, using a simple gmail sync on my Motorola Droid X works no differently. I send and receive many emails from my X and it all runs quite efficiently and timely. I have never tinkered with the pull settings because I have had no reason to do so. Additionally, I have found A LOT more ability to tinker with and edit emails and their attachments. The email functions on the Droid allow for more integration with other services and the process is very STABLE.
I am sure you will have the response time you desire my friend so..... ;)