This is a Droid Incredible vs. BlackBerry comparison based on my recent switch. After two and a half years as a BlackBerry user (and more than a decade as a Sprint customer), I moved to Verizon Wireless and bought an HTC Incredible earlier this month.
Let's evaluate the Droid Incredible vs. BlackBerry in some key categories:
Coverage/call quality: I never had any problems with Sprint service in New England, but all my Verizon friends always said theirs was way better. (I think they just wanted me to switch so I wouldn't count against their minutes.) I haven't noticed much difference in quality of service. In fact, my apartment is in a notorious dead zone, but my Sprint service worked fine here. Verizon, not so much. I did occasionally have Sprint coverage problems when travelling (Chicago and L.A., especially); Verizon is supposedly more consistent nationwide, but I have yet to travel with my Droid. Advantage: PUSH
Data speed/performance: My BlackBerry Curve was totally adequate for surfing mobile sites, but it tended to slow down or even freeze up completely on other sites. I never had complaints about speed, but once I got the Droid Incredible, I saw what I was missing. It's really fast, runs regular sites just as well as mobile sites and lets me run multiple apps at once, which is a huge bonus. The Incredible also syncs with my corporate Exchange account much better -- which is surprising, since that's supposed to be one of BlackBerry's strong suits. When I delete an email on my Droid at night, it's not in my Outlook inbox when I get to work the next morning. What a novel concept. Advantage: Droid
Battery life: Most of the time, this isn't an issue. But when I'm at a conference -- where I need to be Tweeting, IMing, emailing and calling people all day, with iffy access to an electrical outlet -- I need a phone that can make it through the day. The Incredible worries me here, because battery complaints on Droid forums are about as common as obnoxious sports fans in Philadelphia. I've tweaked some settings (turned off GPS, disabled automatic sync and notifications for most apps, etc.), and battery life has improved a little. But I still doubt the Incredible will be able to get me through a full day of heavy use without a significant stay in Chargerville. The BlackBerry Curve was much more dependable in this area. Advantage: BlackBerry
Apps: This one isn't even a contest. I know Apple fanboys will look down at me through their black-framed glasses and laugh at me for lauding the Android Market, but it's way better than BlackBerry App World. The apps that both platforms have, such as Foursquare, are a lot faster, and Android has a lot of games you can't get on BlackBerry, like WordFeud (which I suck at, but is still fun) and Paper Toss. I'll probably end up doing a "my favorite Droid apps" post at some point. Advantage: Droid
Overall: The battery issue is a really big concern for me, but as Yogi Berra would say, I'll just cross that bridge when I'm over troubled water. I was pretty content with the BlackBerry Curve, but the Droid Incredible is easier to use, more efficient and a lot more fun. Advantage: Droid
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