Blackberry devotee considering WP7

[dfb8085]

Well I am coming up next month on my upgrade. I been sporting the same old Blackberry Torch 9800 for 2 years. I am a proud Blackberry and Playbook owner and am going through withdrawals wanting a upgrade. Nothing coming till late in the year from Blackberry so I still wait. Unless I choose to try the WP7 platform. Anybody on here made the change? Pros/Cons anyone. I have a hard time making it 2 years under contract because I feel the need to change more often than that. Some say spend the money off contract and change as often as I like. While this is true it doesn't make very sound financial sense. I am so torn and I love my Blackberries and so afraid I will make a mistake by changing.

 

[ubizmo]

Well I am coming up next month on my upgrade. I been sporting the same old Blackberry Torch 9800 for 2 years. I am a proud Blackberry and Playbook owner and am going through withdrawals wanting a upgrade. Nothing coming till late in the year from Blackberry so I still wait. Unless I choose to try the WP7 platform. Anybody on here made the change? Pros/Cons anyone. I have a hard time making it 2 years under contract because I feel the need to change more often than that. Some say spend the money off contract and change as often as I like. While this is true it doesn't make very sound financial sense. I am so torn and I love my Blackberries and so afraid I will make a mistake by changing.

I'm a BB person since 2007, currently with a 9900 and PB. I picked up an HTC Radar on ebay for a pretty good price, so I've been going back and forth between WP and BB.

One reason for doing this is that I have concerns that when BB10 comes, it won't have some of the apps that I insist on, notably Kindle and Audible. Kindle is already on WP, and Audible should be there within a few weeks.

If you say what your key attachments to BB are, I can help you to get an idea whether you'll tolerate switching to WP7. Since nobody knows what WP8 will have, there's no point in speculating.

 

[dfb8085]

The main attraction I have to BB is the email. It has the best email system of any. I really want a phone with a big enough screen and one that will allow me to view PDF files and other office files without the need to carry around the tablet. My mother leaves in another state and when i go over to take care of her finances it would be great not to have to carry multiple devices . I bought a app for the BB phone to view PDF's but man the screen size on the 9800 is so small its a main to try and do anything on it. I thought since this was a windows phone it would come natively with the apps I need. Not sure though

 

[jimski]

Never used a BB, but I am aware that the devices are known for their email capabilities. With that said, the email experience on my WP is the beat I have ever had. Easy to navigate, read and generate new messages. Some Microsoft type things, like always having to download images (for security purposes) and not being able to edit headers in forwarded messages. But they are not issues for me.

PDFs will always be hard to read on a small screen, but they are easy to download and navigate with the Adobe Reader app. Several other third party apps for annotating, etc. All Office and PDF files are easy to access on a WP. Of course, bigger screen is better for reading/editing these.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[freestaterocker]

The main attraction I have to BB is the email. It has the best email system of any. I really want a phone with a big enough screen and one that will allow me to view PDF files and other office files without the need to carry around the tablet. My mother leaves in another state and when i go over to take care of her finances it would be great not to have to carry multiple devices . I bought a app for the BB phone to view PDF's but man the screen size on the 9800 is so small its a main to try and do anything on it. I thought since this was a windows phone it would come natively with the apps I need. Not sure though

Like Jimski said, the email experience on WP is second to none. As far as PDF files go, you will have to download a reader from the marketplace. I use Adobe. It's free and meets my needs. My cell bill comes as a PDF. I have an HTC HD7 (4.3" screen) and turning my phone sideways makes the bill easily readable for me, but I also have better than 20/20 vision. It does support pinch zoom, but I definitely recommend getting a larger-screened device such as the 900 or Titan if you're going to be viewing alot of PDFs. The other concern you may run into with email is attachments. WP is currently very limited in terms of the types of files you can attach to an email.

 

[Heavy Fluid]

I made the switch, coming from a long line of BlackBerry phones, 8130 Pearl all the way to the 9930 Bold Touch. I don't regret it for a second. I love BlackBerry, but it just wasn't what I needed any more. The email experience so far on WP7 is great. I love the interface, and I feel as though it is a close second to BlackBerry.

The simple fact that I no longer have to do a battery pull is pure heaven.

 

[Musicjunkie0210]

I was also an avid crackberry guy. from the 8300 all the way to 9780. I bought an HD7 when it first came out, although I love this phone, I only love it for the things it does that blackberry doesnt. (Apps, awesome interface, greatest music player around.) But damn do I miss my keyboard, battery life, and reliability.

WP7 is still working out all their kinks, and if you are hoping to switch because you want to try something new, I'd strongly suggest selling your playbook and getting a Windows 8 tablet instead. All the greatness of WP7 and all the greatness of your BB. Thats what Im gonna do anyway, as soon as BB10 comes out, if its any good and still keeps its core values there, i'll go back and get a windows tablet

 

[d-laybook]

I was an avid BB guy for years (8700,8800,9000,9700,9800,9900 with a 9780 in there for a bit for fun) and I made the switch to windows phone 2 months ago. so far I have had no regret except missing bbm with my wife who is still on BB. The other instant messaging services arent as good.

Having said that, I dont see myself going back to BB unless the BB10 devices are absolutely amazing. I really like my lumia 710. it does everything i want it to do and then some. the email works for me better than my bb did. My windows phone allows access to all my email folders which my blackberry didnt. It is a gmail account and my blackberry could not file emails or retreive filed emails like WP can.

As well I love the office app with skydrive integration. I am using that more than I thought I would and love the seamlessness of it.

Those are my two cents.

 

[sris]

I am a hardcore crackberry addict(still). Been using different BB's from 2007. Two days back i gave up my 9900 because of some repeated silly issues, and got myself a Lumia 800 in India.

I have been eyeing WP for quite sometime and thought the best available in the market currently are HTC Radar and Lumia 800, and went for the lumia 800.

Except for some battery issues(even on 12070 firmware), everything else is good. I wish BBM comes to WP . Missing BBM a lot. (Yesterday i was regretting of moving out of BB mainly coz of BBM, physical keyboard and doing everything quickly)

But there are some apps which can probably replace the idea of BBM (not 100% though), based on your usage and friends network (eg. Whatsapp, Kik). And overall selection of apps on the WP market place is also interesting.

If you wanna shift platform, either till BB10 comes out or even permanently, the best will be WP, imo (for me i am gonna wait and see BB10 and then decide whether to jump back or not). Excellent UI and smooth operations, good email client... Zero lag.

Overall happy for now!

 

[gapost]

I didn't have BB, but I have used it and came from WebOS. One thing that makes a difference is the email system you have. If it is MS Exchange or webmail, WP is awesome. But, if it is imap or pop, you will not be able to get push email and get it instantly like the BB. For me, I needed that for work and so I found a good service that will pull my imap email and push it to my phone, so it is almost instant. It is NuevaSync and it's $30/year. However, it only works for imap and not pop. The best you can do with pop on WP is 15 minutes. Of course, if you run pop through gmail or hotmail, it could be quicker, but the times vary and are unreliable.

 

[anon(5332812)]

Used BBs since 2007 switched in December to a Samsung Focus.I regret using a BlackBerry for so many years.

 

[freestaterocker]

I was also an avid crackberry guy. from the 8300 all the way to 9780. I bought an HD7 when it first came out, although I love this phone, I only love it for the things it does that blackberry doesnt. (Apps, awesome interface, greatest music player around.) But damn do I miss my keyboard, battery life, and reliability.

WP7 is still working out all their kinks, and if you are hoping to switch because you want to try something new, I'd strongly suggest selling your playbook and getting a Windows 8 tablet instead. All the greatness of WP7 and all the greatness of your BB. Thats what Im gonna do anyway, as soon as BB10 comes out, if its any good and still keeps its core values there, i'll go back and get a windows tablet

Yeah you picked the wrong device, man. The HD7 is flat-out broken for battery life compared to every other WP. I have one too, and I feel your pain.

 

[AndreaCristiano]

Used BBs since 2007 switched in December to a Samsung Focus.I regret using a BlackBerry for so many years.

Ahhahahaha true words never spoken

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[Thuoudo]

I went from BBs to WP. The only thing I miss is the LED.

What I surely don't miss are the battery pulls and 2 minute boots :dry

Everything else, besides BBM, are a wash in my opinion. Reliability, battery life, apps, experience...great on both.

 

[Heavy Fluid]

I went from BBs to WP. The only thing I miss is the LED.

What I surely don't miss are the battery pulls and 2 minute boots :dry

Everything else, besides BBM, are a wash in my opinion. Reliability, battery life, apps, experience...great on both.

I miss the LED, and the sound profiles. Everything else, like you said, is a wash. I can live without BBM since I didn't use it that much. I will gladly give up BBM to have a better screen.

 

[ubizmo]

BB email gives you the option to delete mail on the device and server, or on the device only. This is something that can be very handy, but can't be done in WP. Ironically, it's the "full sync" feature that gets in the way. I get plenty of emails that I know I won't deal with on my BB, so I leave them on the server to be dealt with later.

As others have already mentioned, WP's notifications are bare bones. No sound/alert profiles. Hopefully this will change, but for now it's not the best.

You can't email an mp3 or upload it from the device.

There's no option to search in an email. This isn't something I use much, but when I need it, I definitely need it, if you know what I mean.

There's no browser option to find something on a web page.

For me, the most annoying thing is that the WP browser doesn't let you set a default font size and then zoom to that size and reflow the text when you tap. The BB does this well, as does the Android browser.

On my BB I don't have to do frequent battery pulls, so I'm not sure what that's all about. But the long reboots are certainly there. They are necessary mainly when installing or uninstalling apps, which isn't something that I do every day, so it's no big deal for me. But I get the impression that some people are constantly installing and uninstalling apps, so it could be a problem for them. WP definitely has a clear advantage there, if it's important to you.

The integration of MS Office and SkyDrive is maybe the strongest point in favor of WP. BB has nothing comparable, and desperately needs it.

In terms of smoothness, my Radar and 9900 are equal: Both are smooth and lag-free. Your 9800 (the OP, that is) is running OS 6. The difference between OS 6 and OS 7 is pretty significant, in terms of performance and overall user experience.

Battery life is better on the 9900 but it's quite good on the Radar anyway. As far as I'm concerned, if there's enough power to get me from when I take the phone off the charger in the morning at about 6:00 am until I go to bed at 10 or 11 pm, it's good enough. Typically, when I go to bed, I have about 40-50% left on my 9900, and maybe half that on my Radar. So both are fine. But I know that battery life depends mainly on hardware, so not all WP phones will be equal.

The BB's native FaceBook app is quite good, and much better than the current WP app, but of course we can expect the WP app to catch up. Growth in WP Marketplace clearly outstrips what's going on in BB App World. Whether that will change with BB10 is anyone's guess.

BB Traffic is an excellent free turn-by-turn Navigator. Nokia Drive is supposed to be even better, but only available for Nokia phones, obviously. I haven't tried any of the paid nav apps yet.

 

[bpgui]

I didn't it and didn't look back. It did take a bit to get used to a touch screen (still getting used to it), but other than that WP7 beats my old BBs any day.

 

[cdook]

I came from a BlackBerry Tour and the switch wasn't a huge deal for me. I missed the LED / BBM as everyone said above, but I gained a lot. The Windows Phone web browser is a lot better than BlackBerry's. I'm a huge music user, so access to Zune Pass was a big for me. I still haven't found another phone/OS that keeps music as accessible as Windows Phone. Playback controls are right on the lock screen, and you can click the artist/song to go into the music app. Oh and we've got Xbox Live which is pretty cool too.

If I were you I'd pick up a used 1st gen phone on Craigslist for $80-$110. If you like it then consider using your upgrade to get a newer Windows Phone. Then you can always resell the 1st gen phone.

 

[NinjaRAT]

I'm currently evaluating an HTC Trophy, and have to say I like the interface. Could use more options for customizability and notifications, but for a consumer phone it feels pretty solid and smooth. OneNote support is probably the biggest feature that I'm interested in...I use Outlook Notes extensively, and it seems only BB support Notes sync with Exchange. At least with OneNote, Microsoft is offering a more robust alternative.

As my company's Exchange and BES admin I'm likely a bit bias (ok, way bias), but don't see myself giving up my 9930 or 9850 anytime soon. I still need customized alerts and sound profiles, and the ability to customize my email experience. Not to mention the virtual keyboard is simply horrid...I already miss my BB keyboard (physical, as BB's virtual keyboard also leaves a lot to be desired).

 

[cdook]

@NinjaRAT if you're impressed with the Trophy I'm sure you'd love some of the other Windows Phones out there with other carriers. I love my Trophy, but it has a terrible screen and camera on it.