Hi, this might sound crazy to all of the Droid lovers, but I want to get my mom some sort of smartphone for Mother's Day and I'm trying to find out what would suit her best. I love my Droid, but she uses her laptop most of the time for Facebook, she also uploads pix from her digital camera to her laptop. She uses her computer for many different things. At this time, she is using the Verizon chip thing (can't think of what it's called) for internet on the laptop. Can't you connect to the internet thru the Blackberry? Is it as fast as her chip thing? Btw, the owns her own business and constantly checks her e-mail. Someone please advise.:wacko:
Does she currently have a smartphone? I'm guessing no since you left out how she uses her phone and instead told us mainly about how she uses her laptop. Any idea what she might want to do with it? The Droid's a great device but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone (nor any device for that matter). Smartphones aren't a one-size-fits-all solution despite what many apparently believe. Selecting one is a matter of finding what fits a particular individual the best. Heck, an iPhone could be her thing for all we know at this point.
How technically savvy do you think she is? Are you going to end up providing tech support?
Now the only questions I have for you and I don't mean to be nasty about it. You say you have a Droid yet you ask these questions? What do you do or for that matter not do with your Droid that you couldn't have answered these questions yourself?
Most of the OP's questions were BB-related. I don't see how Droid ownership meant that he should have been able to answer those questions...
The email on BB hands down beats the Droid.
I was a huge BB fan before switching to the Droid but I'd disagree on this. Blanket statements based on anecdotal experience aren't very useful in discussions without acknowledging that they aren't truly representative of all situations. Your email accounts can make a significant difference in your experiences on various platforms. That said, I strongly prefer Exchange and ActiveSync on the Droid versus Excahnge and BES on the Blackberry. Again, YMMV. Don't assume that the experiences of others are the same as yours.
+1 for Droid. I was a BB user for years and Android is far more advanced.
Depends on how you're looking at things. From an IT standpoint the Droid has no management tools where as a BB is equipped out of the box for BES IT policies, remote wipe, intranet access, etc.
Again, watch the blanket statements based on anecdotal experience.
From a standalone consumer user I'd say that Android devices are likely to offer more of the features that they're looking for.
I had a Blackberry Storm for a year and I spent a month with the Blackberry Storm 2 as well. Comparing Blackberry to Droid there is like a 10 year gap in technology. Internet on the Storm was very, very slow. Continuous issues like freeze up, battery pulls (daily to keep memory) and even having to worry about memory in the first place.
Get your mom a Droid. Don't hold her back and give her frustration with a Blackberry.
Again, not all experiences are the same. I came from a Blackberry 8310 and never experienced any of the issues you mentioned (my 8800, 8700, 7290, 7100, 7230 and 6230 never had any problems either). However, the Storm and Storm 2 are definitely some of the most problem plagued devices if the BB forums are any indication. The Storm may be a BB but not all BB's are Storms.
Each product has its niche despite the apparent popularity of BB-bashing around here.
) and have a separate phone bill and enjoy all of the features that come along with Verizon.