Anyone come back to BB after iPhone and android?

[Tsepz_GP]

I briefly went from my Xperia X10 to a BB8900 on OS6 late last year, its nice little thing with a great display, but I found nothing realy amazing about BB. The browser was INCREDIBLY slow, the UI was just too fiddly, Camera was average, video player couldn't handle anything above VGA@25fps, and had limited memory. Emailing was great but I dont do a lot of that, and social networking was good to but I found that Android handled this better, IMO, in the end I ran back to my X10 and eventualy got a international Galaxy S2, I got my Mom a 9810 Torch as she is a major BB fan and so I've had a lot of experience with OS7 as well next to Android2.3.6 and Android4.0.3, all I can say is that RIM better be quick with BB10, in Android4.0 Google have not only improved the appearance and consistency of the UI but also made major improvements to data usage management, Security, Email, Microsoft Exchange Active Sync and power management, Android is on its way to replacing BBs in the corporate scene, with many companies already allowing employees to now bring their Androids and iPhones instead of giving them BBs.

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[Mann Incognito]

Security? If there's one thing that Android's NOT renowned for it's security, that's part and parcel of being open source. In test after test Android comes in fourth out of the four major OS's, BlackBerry is ranked at the top and the spread is getting deeper.

Recently the Pentagon announced that BB7 is the only OS to achieve official certification status and is the ONLY OS permitted to be used by the US Army. The USMC cancelled a major purchase of Apple iPads a few months ago after finding numerous security holes and these were quickly replaced with BB PlayBooks, the only device now deemed secure enough for use by the Marines.

At another government agency where they launched a BYOD program 9 months ago they have quietly gone back to using BlackBerrys after documents were hacked from several Android devices (the department name escapes me, watch for edits!!).

The list goes on and if there's one thing that RIM does better than anyone else it's security. This is as true today as it has been for years. Argue all you want about apps or browsers, but until Android can come up with a solution to open source software and its inherent security issues then I'm afraid it's doomed to wallow and the bottom of the pile for many years to come.

[Non-Loquacious]

Mann Ingonito, thank you for your comments on the Pentagon and security in general. I was not aware of that.

While I appreciate Polo_11's comment preceding yours and I understand and appreciate how he experiences the world, and also his obviously experienced vantage point and great even tone of reporting, I believe that many people, RIM included, gloss over the security value of the BB platform. You both acknowledged Android's pressing need to nail security.

I remember some of last year's interviews with BB executives and they seemed clueless to articulate their own products' prowess.

Often times, the companies that pump up clever promotion, and should I say sexy too, get the consumer's dollars, while the real facts never appear on the equivalent CNNs of media consciousness.

On a side note, three of my friends with iPhones take smashingly beautiful photos but compared to my Blackberry 9650 (yeah, real vintage) their iPhones are like carrying around a butter plate in your pocket. LOL. I still can't match their photos though.

[Mann Incognito]

Buttery smooth photos!

Don't get me wrong, each platform has its own pros and cons, including BlackBerry. But if there's one area they can't be equalled it's security.

I had an Android this time last year as I was looking for an alternative to my beaten up 9700. It's just not me. Yeah, I understand that apps are important for some and for others that screen really does need all that real estate. But I need a work horse and reliability, security and a perfect physical keyboard are essentials for me. OS7 has cleared up most of the gripes I had about BBs and the browser is now pretty good. My Android kept spontaneously powering down and had awful over heating issues, something that I discovered was and is still an issue for many Android phones. I wouldn't accept that from any manufacturer including BlackBerry and in this case Samsung/Google but it seems that these are flaws many are willing to over look to have the perfect Android experience (HUH??)

The long and the short of it is that BB gives me exactly what I'm looking for and there's no other OS out there that suits my needs. Of course, everyone's needs are different and I wouldn't expect everyone to jump back onto the BB bandwagon just on my say-so.

I love competition me, the more players the merrier. But sometimes I find myself having to defend my decision to stick with BB, and this is something I would never even think to ask anyone else to do. It seems BB kicking is acceptable entertainment these days.

[Tsepz_GP]

I never said Android was better at security, Im pointing out that its possible for the competition to catch up, and that they are taking the steps to do so e.g. Google has in Android4.0 and im pretty sure Apple are doing the same in iOS5.1, considering how quickly they caught-up and pushed out Symbian and WM in other aspects and even BB, its possible for them to make major leaps in security.

As for restarting, my GS2 and X10 have been rock solid, for me reboots and freezes are things i left behind in Symbian, heat up on the other hand is something I have faced in my GS2 when playing HD games that require a lot out of the GPU , battery and memory, but ive experienced heating up on the 9810 to, there are times when i pick it up and its realy hot, seems to me that this is how many of these recent smartphones are due to their large screens, huge batteries and seriously fast CPUs.

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[The-Shadow]

I came back from an iPhone 4S. Actually I came back from three iPhone 4S units. Poor signal, software errors, burnt pixels on two of the three units, crappy battery life, etcetera, etcetera.

My 9900, not one shadow of a problem in any regard. And with all the data use on my phone daily, I only have to charge my phone every other day. I'm pleased overall.

The majority of my clients and suppliers are on BlackBerry devices. By coming back to BB, I can communicate with them a lot quicker and more efficiently by having a BB device of my own.

I empathize with Research in Motion. Their leadership has sunk it like the Titanic. I believe RIM's problem is their lack of hardware development. Everybody's got dual-core CPUs and graphics chips, 8MP cameras, yada, yada and yada. Let me say that I understand that the BB operating systems may not require such sophisticated hardware as other phones. However...in a world where your competitors are pushing die-hard phone specs and features, you gotta be able to put up or you gotta shut up. Let's face it, Blackberries have pretty much been the same over the last few years. No real changes to keep up with or improve performance.

I have to take a great deal of pictures in my line of work and would not mind it if my Bold had that iPhone 8MP or Nokia Zeiss 8MP lens assembly instead of having to carry a separate digicam all the time, transfer the images to a laptop then email them.

I would say to RIM that they should stop experimenting and stick with what you know. Scrap all this tablet and touchscreen only nonsense and get back to basics. They should work their traditional designs and improve on them. It's funny. I do more email and BBM/texting the voice calls. If I could reactivate my RIM 850 on the network today...I would. I love that thing. No frills or thrills, simple and easy to use.

RIM burst on the scene with simple screen and keyboard devices. They were an industry leader. Now they are just followers...struggling to keep up with others rather than getting back to what made them great.

I hope they survive...I really do. I like to see Canadian businesses do well especially when they triumph on the world scene like RIM did. It's sad to see so many former Canadian companies now in the hands of foreigners. It would be a shame to see RIM go that way too.


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[Lobstercat]

As many others have said, RIM is sadly out of step. Both in Development and in marketing. It's easy to do though, they were on top of the world & took it for granted. Then out of nowhere came iPhones & Androids & suddenly they aren't #1 anymore. Okay, so I'm a bit of a phone dork, and I have several phones. I can't say I came back to BB because I never totally left. But I can say I don't have any plans to be without a BB in the future. I found the iPhone to be nice & smooth but too limiting and far to "fad"ish. I love my Android, lots of really cool stuff and easily customizable but BB - I still love the keyboard. Even some Androids have horizontal keyboards, but they seem too wide. I'm just used to my BB & think it has the best keyboard period. In fact I'm about to upgrade my old Tour to a 9780. The Torch is cool but.... Anyway, all the talk about security, another thing RIM should push is battery life. Androids & iPhones have HORRIBLE battery life, my BB lasts for days. They should push that in their marketing but so far I've heard nothing. I hope they don't go under, I like my BB

[Non-Loquacious]

BB = Bye-Bye


Yes, Lobstercat, you mirror my sentiment.

Some products fail because they're bad, others because the company is.

With RIM it's the latter. It is painful to watch RIM fail and take down the Blackberry they fail to keep up with. They fail to communicate the key features, some of which you identified, and they posture with an absurd management. BB was so good it succeeded in spite of it's out-of-touch directors.

Your sig: "The future is only a past that has yet to be in the present, which was a future in the past." is so appropriate.

Finally, all that has caught up with them, and it appears bye-bye BB. Painful. It was so unnecessary.

Me? I am going on to hand waving and psychic communication.

[Non-Loquacious]

Buttery smooth photos!

.....The long and the short of it is that BB gives me exactly what I'm looking for......

Buttery smooth photos. LOL!

I love what my ancient 9650 does for me and I'm keeping it too.

[ansky]

Why are there so few apps available for BB? Is it because Android/Iphone became more popular, or did Android/Iphone become more popular because companies stopped making apps for BB? I will most likely ditch my BB at the end of the year. Every time I see an app I"m interested in it says "available for Android or Iphone". Since I'm paying 30 bucks a month for a data plan, I really feel like I'm getting ripped off by having a BB rather than another device.

[rottsrgr8t]

I tried android and missed my physical keyboard. So I ordered a Motorola Droid Pro with keyboard. Used it for a month. Nothing but frustration. Battery constantly needed charging, keyboard was disappointing, and as a PDA it was horrible. Being bound by contract with this horrible phone, I bought an unlocked Blackberry Curve (with the trackball that I actually missed) and use the prepaid unlimited data, text, and 100 minute plan from Tmobile.

I am actually going to buy another unlocked blackberry as a backup. I love their phones.

[Non-Loquacious]

Why are there so few apps available for BB? Is it because Android/Iphone became more popular, or did Android/Iphone become more popular because companies stopped making apps for BB? I will most likely ditch my BB at the end of the year. Every time I see an app I"m interested in it says "available for Android or Iphone". Since I'm paying 30 bucks a month for a data plan, I really feel like I'm getting ripped off by having a BB rather than another device.

I hear your pain....and what, specifically, do you really need? I mean really?

Years-ago similar debate people brought against Macintosh computers. They would say there's 5,274,897 applications for Windoze (if they hated MS, they'd spelled Windows with a Z like it was sleeping) compared to 1372 applications for Macintosh...or some such numbers. They were right but it was only the rare observer who noted that no human being could possibly use even one hundred applications effectively, let alone the huge number of ones available for Macs or the galactic number of ones on Windoze. So they reasoned, in what seems to be a most characteristic way that since more is better, they went with Windoze.

I cannot use more than one spreadsheet, nor do I want to. True, I've got four word processors, each with a different talent, but 57 word processors I don't want.

Most of the applications that comprise the mega-numbers of "apps" users point out as evidence for "their superior platform," are of no service to most people: Save The Cake ("a fun game of dodge the balls..."), and a gazillion other games litter the software universe, yet people take these as part of their quest for bigger numbers of "apps."

It's fun to take the time to try out a new application. Yet, mostly I don't have the time and prefer doing other things than messing with my phone. I want it to make phone calls, receive and send email, browse the web, take photos, store contacts, keep notes, plus a handful of utility tasks like backup. Layar, the software of that name (spelled so they can trademark it), is one of true revolutionary ideas. It runs on BB.

If one feels that one is "ripped off" then you should move to a different platform. "Ripped off" is a serious charge of intent to deceive. I don't think you mean to use that phrase, at least not responsibly. Emotionally perhaps. Perhaps you have a feeling of entitlement, which would be most unfortunate for you. We all would have preferred RIM to continue innovation instead of falling asleep. BB began as the industry innovator, and due to its management, the world has eclipsed it in many ways. The same thing can be said of most industries....look at General Motors (Hah! let's not).

There will come a day, when Facebook will cease being what it presents itself as, and sell itself to the FBI or the NSA and become Big Brother's rightful tool. There will come a day when General Motors will be regarded in the same group as Hudson Hornet, and petroleum cars will only be in museums. Apple will be eclipsed by an idea running around today in an eleven year old's brain yet to be born.

So go get an android if that's your sense of what to do. Me, I like BB and will continue using it till the cell towers refuse to recognize it...or at least until I improve my psychic communications.