# blackberry vs droid



## cmtar (Nov 16, 2005)

whats your pick and why?
Also what are the reasl differences?


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## joshjr (Aug 2, 2008)

I will take the Droid. It has a better camera, bigger screen, voice text, no trac ball, etc. Basically im pretty happy with my Droid. I did strongly consider a Blackberry when I got the Droid though. That was my second option for sure.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

I prefer my Droid over my old Blackberry because it's just an all around better phone, and I don't have to deal with my Blackberry Enterprise administrator.


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## Supramom2000 (Jun 21, 2007)

This is fabulous!! I can't believe the timing. I was just searching this forum last night and googling the net to find reviews and opinions on the differences. I heard that the Droid battery time is terrible. Several comments indicated that you needed to have a charger with you at all times, just in case.

Can any of you Droid users comment on this?


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

My battery lasts a day and a half or two days, depending on what I have enabled.

It's become far better at sipping the juice since I've rooted it and put an over/underclocking application on it.


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## drded (Aug 23, 2006)

My HTC Hero (Android) is good for over 2 days battery. However, I'm not one who is texting and checking my e-mail constantly. I've heard those two apps can drain any phones battery, not just Android. 

Dave


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

Supramom2000 said:


> This is fabulous!! I can't believe the timing. I was just searching this forum last night and googling the net to find reviews and opinions on the differences. I heard that the Droid battery time is terrible. Several comments indicated that you needed to have a charger with you at all times, just in case.
> 
> Can any of you Droid users comment on this?


On any smartphone, it all depends on your usage patterns. Heavy users have the exact same complaints about the iPhone and other smartphones, for the same reason. Plenty of people are on their phones, either talking, texting, or using various web apps, 10+ hours a day. I'm talking 10+ hours of continuous usage spread out over a 16 hour day. No phone battery will last like that. But if you talk 30 min a day, and get a couple of texts and do some light web browsing, then you'll have a couple of days of battery life.

If you're a heavy user, then, yes, have your charger with you always.


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## Fab55 (Jul 25, 2008)

I struggled to give up my Blackberry Curve for a Droid (I was leaning heavily towards a Storm 2). Man, am I glad that I caved for a Droid!!! Love it!!!!!! WAY better all around, so much more to do with it. The only drawbacks are e-mail through the native Droid software (plenty of apps in the droid market, I use "k-9" for my work e-mail, works like a charm), and I miss my BB messenger. Never had a battery problem, that's all fluff. If you use a ton of battery-hungry apps (Video, audio), or have a ton of screen time on, then yes, the battery will drain faster. I can easily go an entire day without a charge, never been an issue. Well, except for the first week when I was playing 24/7....


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

I'm considering dumping my iPhone for the Nexus One or the new Samsung with 4.1" screen due out soon. I'm on AT&T.

How is the email app on the droid? How does it handle muliple email accounts? Can you have a "combined" inbox (like the BB)?


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## joshjr (Aug 2, 2008)

Supramom2000 said:


> This is fabulous!! I can't believe the timing. I was just searching this forum last night and googling the net to find reviews and opinions on the differences. I heard that the Droid battery time is terrible. Several comments indicated that you needed to have a charger with you at all times, just in case.
> 
> Can any of you Droid users comment on this?


Its true that the battery life is not the best. Another thing to know is that the charge Verizon sells and most places sell is not very good. They are like knock off chargers. Here is how you can tell. When you plug the phone in to charge for a few minutes and you start to click on things while its plugged in it starts spazzing out. It will move here and there on its own like crazy. I ordered my car charger from Motorola directly and have never had a problem with it. Its not just car chargers either its the wall chargers as well. I didnt like the short micro USB cable it came with for charging and the wall chargers do the same thing.

From what I understand the Motorola chargers regulate the voltage as needed and the others dont. Not sure but I can tell you that I wont be buying anything for my phone thats not from Motorola.


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## joshjr (Aug 2, 2008)

TBlazer07 said:


> I'm considering dumping my iPhone for the Nexus One or the new Samsung with 4.1" screen due out soon. I'm on AT&T.
> 
> How is the email app on the droid? How does it handle muliple email accounts? Can you have a "combined" inbox (like the BB)?


It handles multiple email accounts okay as long as one of them is not Yahoo. I have a corporate account and a yahoo set up and I always have problems with it. Unless I take the yahoo off which I have now done.

The problems I see is that my corporate email opens with the right heading but the body is the wrong email. Never had it happen the other way just that way. Very annoying. Also I have had all email accounts cleared and had to reset them up twice now for no reason. All in all I still like my Droid.


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## Supramom2000 (Jun 21, 2007)

Josh,

Can you comment a little further on the Yahoo mail issue? I own a business and the work e-mail is through the free yahoo mail. Since my business means I am on the road much of the time, I really need to be able to receive e-mails from clients when I am not at home. Are there work arounds? Maybe have my yahoo forwarded to my hotmail?

Thanks.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

There's no unified email inbox. I'm very glad for that. There's a reason I have separate work and email addresses.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

RasputinAXP said:


> There's no unified email inbox. I'm very glad for that. There's a reason I have separate work and email addresses.


I understand your position, but, like the Blackberry there could be an OPTION so everyone is happy.

When I had my BB all my gmail accounts were combined and my work was separate.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

Supramom2000 said:


> Josh,
> 
> Can you comment a little further on the Yahoo mail issue? I own a business and the work e-mail is through the free yahoo mail. Since my business means I am on the road much of the time, I really need to be able to receive e-mails from clients when I am not at home. Are there work arounds? Maybe have my yahoo forwarded to my hotmail?
> 
> Thanks.


For $20/year to Yahoo you can get POP access and you should have no problem. Since it's a business you'd also get rid of the cheesey looking ads in every free Yahoo email as well.


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## Supramom2000 (Jun 21, 2007)

RasputinAXP said:


> There's no unified email inbox. I'm very glad for that. There's a reason I have separate work and email addresses.


My Blackberry does not have a unified mail box. It has two different mail boxes, one for hotmail and one for yahoo. But I have an inbox that can show any e-mail account I want to set up as well as the call logs and text logs. It all depends on how you want to set it up. I like to be able to open the inbox and see everything.



TBlazer07 said:


> For $20/year to Yahoo you can get POP access and you should have no problem. Since it's a business you'd also get rid of the cheesey looking ads in every free Yahoo email as well.


I'm not very techy, so please excuse my ignorance. Isn't yahoo mail already POP oriented like MSN and Hotmail? And if it is not, how does getting the POP account help with the Droid e-mail program?


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## KAL (Sep 1, 2008)

Very happy Droid owner here. That being said, I really miss the Blackberry keyboard. As the droids physical keyboard is sub-par. However, getting the Droid for $19.99 @ Amazon definitely soothed my worries :lol:


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

RasputinAXP said:


> My battery lasts a day and a half or two days, depending on what I have enabled.
> 
> It's become far better at sipping the juice since I've rooted it and put an over/underclocking application on it.


But the average user won't know the first thing about rooting their Android powered phone, besides rooting the phone voids the warranty.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

Supramom2000 said:


> I'm not very techy, so please excuse my ignorance. Isn't yahoo mail already POP oriented like MSN and Hotmail? And if it is not, how does getting the POP account help with the Droid e-mail program?


 Yahoo isn't POP it uses some sort of proprietary system and is web-based only so you can't get it in Outlook although there used to be (still are?) some 3rd party programs that let you do it but they never worked very well. Evidently (from what was posted above) Yahoo's freemail is causing some issues with other mail accounts. You can get "true POPmail" from Yahoo only if you pay them $20 a year for their "MAILPLUS" services. http://overview.mail.yahoo.com/enhancements/mailplus which allows Yahoo mail to work like your local ISP's mail and use it with Outlook.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

Supramom2000 said:


> My Blackberry does not have a unified mail box. It has two different mail boxes, one for hotmail and one for yahoo*. But I have an inbox that can show any e-mail account I want *to set up as well as the call logs and text logs.


 That IS a unified inbox.  However Yahoo and Hotmail are separate because they are Webmail services and can't go into the "unified" mailbox.


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

TBlazer07 said:


> That IS a unified inbox.  However Yahoo and Hotmail are separate because they are Webmail services and can't go into the "unified" mailbox.


I have 6 email accounts, one yahoo, two ymail accounts, one scubaboard, one gmail, and one pcc (Portland Community College). All have separate email boxes(icons), which I have in one folder labeled "Mail", and have all email going in the common mail folder. I can either check the individual boxes or just check the common email in box (which is what I do). In the common box, when I compose a email, I can designate which email addy to send the email from. The Blackberry handles email better than any other smartphone platform (Android, iphone). Plus every email is pushed to my BB. In fact "push" is so fast that Melissa and I email each other instead of txtmsg or chat. In the Android platform only Gmail is pushed, all others are polled....btw using Android, setting up email addys, other than Gmail is a major PIA.


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

Supramom2000 said:


> Josh,
> 
> Can you comment a little further on the Yahoo mail issue? I own a business and the work e-mail is through the free yahoo mail. Since my business means I am on the road much of the time, I really need to be able to receive e-mails from clients when I am not at home. Are there work arounds? Maybe have my yahoo forwarded to my hotmail?
> 
> Thanks.


If you have a Blackberry than you can have your yahoo email pushed to the phone...see my above post.


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## joshjr (Aug 2, 2008)

Supramom2000 said:


> Josh,
> 
> Can you comment a little further on the Yahoo mail issue? I own a business and the work e-mail is through the free yahoo mail. Since my business means I am on the road much of the time, I really need to be able to receive e-mails from clients when I am not at home. Are there work arounds? Maybe have my yahoo forwarded to my hotmail?
> 
> Thanks.


My issues are with having both a Yahoo and a Exchange account set up. If you just have a yahoo account set up you would probably be fine. Also if needed you could just access your free yahoo email account via the web. Either way I have yahoo email.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

BubblePuppy said:


> In the Android platform only Gmail is pushed, all others are polled....btw using Android, setting up email addys, other than Gmail is a major PIA.


Exchange e-mail is also pushed as long as the server supports it and thought IMAP accounts would too but I don't have one of those either so I can't definitively say. EDIT: I just tested this and IMAP is only polled, no push support with the native app but Yahoo mail does work through a 3G connection.

I have an exchange account and a POP3 account and both show up in the same inbox. I can click on the menu button and chose to view either one of them separately. I can add a POP3 or other Exchange account in under 2 minutes.

I don't have a yahoo e-mail account but it is supposed to work with the new 2.1 update. http://www.droid-life.com/2010/04/07/yahoo-mail-issues-on-2-1-droid-try-this-fix/

I love my Moto Droid, is it perfect, no. If the most important thing to you is e-mail you will probably want to use Touchdown or another 3rd party app as others have said, or stick with BB.

I had various BBs for years but the Browser, Maps and Nav, applications and overall speed of the Droid is enough to make me say I would never go back to one, even if e-mail was the most important thing to me. I do think BBs in general have much better battery life but then again I never bothered trying to surf the web or use them for anything besides e-mail and phone calls because they stink at those things.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

BubblePuppy said:


> But the average user won't know the first thing about rooting their Android powered phone, besides rooting the phone voids the warranty.


This was true before Android really began to take off with the Droid and Nexus One. Now there are several apps in the market (both free and paid) that you essentially just download and BOOM, you are rooted. Then you just download SetCpu from the Market and you can overclock, download wi-fi tether and you're tethering for free, etc., etc.

To me this is one of the great things about the open system of Android versus the Apple model. It does technically void your warranty but I figure if the device completely croaks they'll replace it - not do some in-depth triage on it, and if something minor happens to it I'll return it to a stock OS build before I file a warranty claim.


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

T


bobukcat said:


> This was true before Android really began to take off with the Droid and Nexus One. Now there are several apps in the market (both free and paid) that you essentially just download and BOOM, you are rooted. Then you just download SetCpu from the Market and you can overclock, download wi-fi tether and you're tethering for free, etc., etc.
> 
> To me this is one of the great things about the open system of Android versus the Apple model. It does technically void your warranty but I figure if the device completely croaks they'll replace it - not do some in-depth triage on it, and if something minor happens to it I'll return it to a stock OS build before I file a warranty claim.


I've been trying to root my N1 for two days but without success. I've been following the instructions posted in Androidcentral and xda developers. Any advice?


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

BubblePuppy said:


> T
> I've been trying to root my N1 for two days but without success. I've been following the instructions posted in Androidcentral and xda developers. Any advice?


Try these guys, they are somewhat of a legend in the rooting / custom Rom game: http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?/forum/8-nexus-one/


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

BubblePuppy said:


> I have 6 email accounts, one yahoo, two ymail accounts, one scubaboard, one gmail, and one pcc (Portland Community College). All have separate email boxes(icons), which I have in one folder labeled "Mail", and have all email going in the common mail folder. I can either check the individual boxes or just check the common email in box (which is what I do). In the common box, when I compose a email, I can designate which email addy to send the email from. The Blackberry handles email better than any other smartphone platform (Android, iphone). Plus every email is pushed to my BB. In fact "push" is so fast that Melissa and I email each other instead of txtmsg or chat. In the Android platform only Gmail is pushed, all others are polled....btw using Android, setting up email addys, other than Gmail is a major PIA.


Amen......

Had a Curve, got a Droid, returned the Droid, and got another Curve.

The Droid would be OK if you didn't need a reliable way to get emails, but I'm out on job sites all day and need my emails instantly from multiple accounts.

The only phone I would switch to is if Verizon got the iPhone. So for now, it's Blackberry for me.


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

bobukcat said:


> Try these guys, they are somewhat of a legend in the rooting / custom Rom game: http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?/forum/8-nexus-one/


That is the other one I was on. All I got was "waiting on device".


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

A little OT but thought you might want to see my Droid Home Screen running Cyanagon Mod, Smoked Glass Theme, Helix Launcher (set for four static apps and five home screens) and "Sholes Red" Nexus Live wallpaper.


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

dave29 said:


> Amen......
> 
> Had a Curve, got a Droid, returned the Droid, and got another Curve.
> 
> ...


Thankfully all I have to do is switch my sim card between my Bold 9700 and N1. I don't have any intentions of giving up my Blackberry.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

BubblePuppy said:


> That is the other one I was on. All I got was "waiting on device".


I sent you a PM on this subject so as not to high-jack this thread any further.


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## Big Dawg 23 (Oct 14, 2008)

I have a Cyanogen rom on my Droid. With the ability to flash 2.01 back onto the phone I don't what rooting does. Now the only thing that will happen is if my USB goes bad.


As for BB vs Droid... Droid without a doubt. I have had the Tour and Storm. My wife has the Curve. I don't care for the Curve. Droid offers a lot more. As for the physical keyboard, I have used it twice not including rooting or flashing the rom. I prefer the virtual keyboard in Portrait mode.


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## joshjr (Aug 2, 2008)

dave29 said:


> Amen......
> 
> Had a Curve, got a Droid, returned the Droid, and got another Curve.
> 
> ...


What kind of issues did you have?


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

I have tried a Droid, has benefits, but for email, I love my Blackberry and love BES.


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

For emails RIM/Blackberry is the leader. If RIM can do it then so can Apple and Google. Both dropped the ball on this.


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

joshjr said:


> What kind of issues did you have?


Basically the email was not consistent or reliable at all.

I opened a Gmail account, and it worked great.......

All of my other accounts, not so great.

I would get emails HOURS after they were initially sent, or I would not even get them at all. I even tried to push them to the Gmail account and had no luck. I worked with it for several days and had no luck.

I run a construction company and I have a lot of long time customers, and when they send me multiple emails daily, I need to be able to answer them ASAP, and with a BB, I know that I will get all of those emails for sure.

The BB isn't a fancy web surfing machine like the iPhone or Droid, it is built for email, and that is what it is good at.

Don't get me wrong, the Droid is by far an awesome phone, but it just didn't work for me.


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

BubblePuppy said:


> For emails RIM/Blackberry is the leader. If RIM can do it then so can Apple and Google. Both dropped the ball on this.


I can't speak for Apple, but Google definitely dropped the ball.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

dave29 said:


> I can't speak for Apple, but Google definitely dropped the ball.


Or did they???? Maybe it's all part of their evil plan to push you to GMail and Google apps so that they have all your information and control everything you see!!! :up_to_som


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

bobukcat said:


> Or did they???? Maybe it's all part of their evil plan to push you to GMail and Google apps so that they have all your information and control everything you see!!! :up_to_som


:lol: I thought about that too, and don't forget your contact list syncing with Gmail.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

BubblePuppy said:


> For emails RIM/Blackberry is the leader. If RIM can do it then so can Apple and Google. Both dropped the ball on this.


To be fair, RIM had a long head start on this, have done things in Exchange integration even before Microsoft. But to think that they don't even start off with the basics is just nutty.


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## Getteau (Dec 20, 2007)

It's probably been about 3 months since I checked, but did they ever fix the ActiveSync issues with the Droids? The lack of security policy support is a big issue for me.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

dave29 said:


> I would get emails HOURS after they were initially sent, or I would not even get them at all. I even tried to push them to the Gmail account and had no luck. I worked with it for several days and had no luck.
> 
> I run a construction company and I have a lot of long time customers, and when they send me multiple emails daily, I need to be able to answer them ASAP, and with a BB, I know that I will get all of those emails for sure.
> 
> ...


That's positively odd. What kind of accounts? I have my Gmail, Exchange/Outlook mail and an IMAP mailbox and I have little to no delay (IMAP polling).


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

dpeters11 said:


> To be fair, RIM had a long head start on this, have done things in Exchange integration even before Microsoft. But to think that they don't even start off with the basics is just nutty.


Very true, my first (non-pager style) Blackberry barely did anything but actual e-mail, no calendar, no contact integration, etc.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

bobukcat said:


> Very true, my first (non-pager style) Blackberry barely did anything but actual e-mail, no calendar, no contact integration, etc.


True. I think my first BES was 3.5. How far they've come, though I haven't gone to 5.0 quite yet. Actually, with the cost of going to a Blackberry server being extremely cheap now (as cheap as free), it's a real option for more companies.


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## brant (Jul 6, 2008)

i prefer BB. Tried a droid, but saw nothing to make me switch. I need emails instantly, we use BB messenger @ work to communicate quickly. 

I'm not interested in having as many apps as possible; only those related to work. and they're all on BB. 

And i like the BB keyboard.


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## Supramom2000 (Jun 21, 2007)

Thanks everyone, for your responses. This has been a very helpful thread for me. One last question, does anyone with a Droid have an issue with spontaneous dialing to a contact in your contact list? Several people writing reviews mentioned this problem.


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

Supramom2000 said:


> Thanks everyone, for your responses. This has been a very helpful thread for me. One last question, does anyone with a Droid have an issue with spontaneous dialing to a contact in your contact list? Several people writing reviews mentioned this problem.


Not sure if you are referring to the MotoDroid phone or the Android OS but I seemed to have had a spontaneous dialing event a day ago. I had hung up from a call, put the phone on the seat next to me and a few seconds later I heard a voice coming out of the phone. Somehow I had touched redial. So the issue could be with the sensitivity of the touch screen, the finger doesn't even have to actually touch the screen to activate a action, just come near it. It very irritating and frustrating. There needs to be a sensitivity adjustment.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

I just did some more testing. There's a unified inbox available in the Email app; it's only for multiple IMAP/POP/Exchange accounts, and won't unify with Gmail.


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## joshjr (Aug 2, 2008)

Its happened a few times. Its a touch screen so if its not locked and you just ended a call then you are usually still in your call log and can very easily but not intentionally dial a number that has either called you or that you have called recently. I think I have had it happen twice and I have had my phone since the day after Thanksgiving.


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

RasputinAXP said:


> I just did some more testing. There's a unified inbox available in the Email app; it's only for multiple IMAP/POP/Exchange accounts, and won't unify with Gmail.


Gmail can be added to the unified email, I just did it. Open the email folder and click on add account, fill in the blanks. That's all there is to it. Don't do "manual".


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

Supramom2000 said:


> Thanks everyone, for your responses. This has been a very helpful thread for me. One last question, does anyone with a Droid have an issue with spontaneous dialing to a contact in your contact list? Several people writing reviews mentioned this problem.


I've never had this problem but I have seen instances where cheap / noisy wall and car chargers caused it to dial numbers randomly. The Moto Droid used to have a problem where music was extremely distorted when plugged into a car charger but they fixed that in the 2.01 build.

It is important to remember that, compared to almost all the other mobile OSs, Android is still a toddler in training pants. It is improving at a rate rarely seen but it still has it's accidents now and then.


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