Any loyal Blackberry businessmen converts?

[rrcpa]

I am contemplating the switch from Blackberry to the Droid. I have been using blackberry for business for many years and was wondering if there are any businessmen or businesswoman that converted. If so, can you please share your good and bad experiences.

Thanks

 

[iba10753]

You can certainly count me as a past loyal BlackBerry user. After researching the Droid, I had a feeling that it would suit my business needs as well or better than the BB. I have not been disappointed.

First, I was using the "old" Verizon Blackberry 8703e model. I like the layout and feel of this older model so I just kept ordering new ones whenever I needed a new phone. I probably did not spend a lot of time figuring out how to store files and pictures on the BB and sure did not care about music or games. It always just seemed so difficult to view email attachments, keep handy spreadsheet, document, and PDF files on the BB so I just carried my customer folders around with me.

With the Droid, I have all of my customer spreadsheets, documents, Visio drawings (saved in PDF format), site pictures, etc. on the phone itself. This has been the most beneficial part of my changover to the Droid.

Also, I can now take site pictures without lugging around a separate camera.

In addition, the Market is a far more streamlined process for getting productivity and utility applications onto the phone. I find I am using the Droid for simple remote desktop sessions to servers I support and am about to try the Phone2PC application to connect back to my own PC in the office.

Simply put, I can do more with this phone than I could with the BB. Put that together with the superior browsing, better WiFi connectivity, and more thorough editing capabilities of emails.....I'm not sure I'd ever go back to a Blackberry again.

Thanks,
Ben

 

[KefMan]

You can certainly count me as a past loyal BlackBerry user. After researching the Droid, I had a feeling that it would suit my business needs as well or better than the BB. I have not been disappointed.

First, I was using the "old" Verizon Blackberry 8703e model. I like the layout and feel of this older model so I just kept ordering new ones whenever I needed a new phone. I probably did not spend a lot of time figuring out how to store files and pictures on the BB and sure did not care about music or games. It always just seemed so difficult to view email attachments, keep handy spreadsheet, document, and PDF files on the BB so I just carried my customer folders around with me.

With the Droid, I have all of my customer spreadsheets, documents, Visio drawings (saved in PDF format), site pictures, etc. on the phone itself. This has been the most beneficial part of my changover to the Droid.

Also, I can now take site pictures without lugging around a separate camera.

In addition, the Market is a far more streamlined process for getting productivity and utility applications onto the phone. I find I am using the Droid for simple remote desktop sessions to servers I support and am about to try the Phone2PC application to connect back to my own PC in the office.

Simply put, I can do more with this phone than I could with the BB. Put that together with the superior browsing, better WiFi connectivity, and more thorough editing capabilities of emails.....I'm not sure I'd ever go back to a Blackberry again.

Thanks,
Ben

I couldn't have said it any better. The other feature I use a lot is the voice search feature and Navigation. Most of my data is being hosted on my home server or via in the cloud. So for me, this platform is far more efficient than the Blackberry I was using before. I use my phone far more for small tasks than I ever did with my Blackberry. I'm loving it.

Probably, the best thing you can do for yourself is ask yourself how you want to use your phone and for what tasks? Then look at the platforms and figure out which one suites you the best.

Kev

 

[rrcpa]

What I really need most out of my phone, or what I use most on the Blackberry is the exchange server function. We current have BES on my exchange server and email, calander sync and contact sync is flawless.

I have read that the exchange integration along with a program like touchdown on the Droid will serve my purposes well. So, I am hoping that is the case.

 

[gloster]

I am a business user. I had a series of four blackberries starting with a black and white screen and ending with an 8900. On the 8900, I was a heavy exchange user: email, contacts, tasks, and memos. I also used Telenav for navigation on my Blackberry.

For non-technical business users, I still recommend sticking with the Blackberry. The Droid is not seamless for the business world yet. That said, I am a technical business user. I am very happy I made the switch.

Pros - screen space, wealth of applications, navigation is free, gmail app is better (I use it for my personal mail), browser is better, eBay app is better, ...I could go on

Negatives:

- No native app for searching the corporate directory. Thankfully, I found a third party app that allows a corporate directory search. It's good enough, but not as good as my BB since it isn't integrated into the mail and other apps.

- Does not synch memos with Outlook (Exchange). At least, I haven't found a way to do it.

- Weighs more, is bigger

- More fussing to use the physical keyboard than a BB. Funny thing is, I always said I'd never get an iPhone because I need a physical keyboard. Now I find I never use the Droid's physical keyboard. I can type reasonably well with the smaller virtual keyboard although not as fast as on my BB.

Bottom line: I'm glad I did it but don't recommend it for all business users.

 

[atomicwedgie]

I'd have to say that if my sole use of my phone was business, I'd have stayed with my Storm. I find the contacts/appointments/tasks area of the Droid fall short in comparison. Email is also a consideration. Non-Gmail handling is not as efficient as the BB was. Deleting messages from the Droid only deletes them there, not on my account.

Yes the Droid outshines the Storm in other ways but I still preferred the way the BB handled the business end of things.

 

[gloster]

Deleting messages from the Droid only deletes them there, not on my account.

When I delete a message on my Droid, it is deleted in Outlook (Exchange) as well.

 

[texasPI]

Deleting messages from the Droid only deletes them there, not on my account.

When I delete a message on my Droid, it is deleted in Outlook (Exchange) as well.

Same here. Also works great with corp. calendar too.

 

[kegard]

I'm an IT guy who started with a 8200 Curve then had a Storm2 briefly.

I would say I have about 80% of the functionality on my Droid as I did with either BB running on a BES. I got Activesync working fine though, and the Droid is very cool with some great apps.

From a management perspective, I definately wouldn't want to give the majority of my users a Droid, simply because it is so much easier to troubleshoot the BES, and remotely wipe a lost device (which happens a lot). But for me, I love it and hope not to go back to the BES!

 

[atomicwedgie]

Deleting messages from the Droid only deletes them there, not on my account.

When I delete a message on my Droid, it is deleted in Outlook (Exchange) as well.

There's the clue... I am not using Exchange but instead POP3.

 

[rlandon]

If only the Droid had a CAC reader, then I could ditch the BB. However, I don't think Uncle Sam would like me using my Droid on their network (NMCI). I'm stuck with both for now.

I do wonder if the BB CAC reader would sync with the Droid using bluetooth?? I may have to try it!

 

[otaku]

Compared with the BB I had (8830) I am very happy with the Droid. So happy that I am now paying all the bills for it. It handles corporate e-mail and calendar well enough for me. I am lucky in that I've had no problems with ActiveSync (cross fingers). I have no control over IT though and am afraid of them shutting down ActiveSync or somehow disallowing the Droid. If that happens, I will likely regret the Droid.

I love having a camera again! Didn't think I'd miss it but I did.

 

[DiggerEOD]

I'm in IT and I have been the Exchange/BES Admin at my past four jobs. I have always been a strong supporter of Blackberries in the Corp world and still do. The main reason is security and control over the handhelds. I too recently switched to a Droid to test it out for our Company.....I will never go back to a BB! I love this thing! I have had all of the BB's from the old pager style to the Storm and not one of them compares to the speed at which this thing races along at! Wow!

With that said, would I deploy the Droid to corp users? No way in hell! It would be a support nightmare! I would love it IF they had a management program for every device that would be server controlled...but I am not holding my breath. But for me personally, I love the Droid and find myself playing with it every chance I get. I am constantly checking out all of the apps that interest me. One is a must have if you are a Exchange user and that is TouchDown for Exchange. Pay the $10 for the key, it's worth it.

Again, the Droid is awesome.