BlackBerry DTEK60 File Management/MTP (file timestamp) issues (plus a few others)
About two weeks ago (around March 5th or so), I received my BlackBerry DTEK60 in the mail; my BlackBerry Passport was slowing down, and seemed to be on the verge of practical obsolescence for me. Of course, I was excited when the DTEK60 arrived.
Unfortunately however, that's when my excitement for the DTEK60 had peaked.
I had the very intelligent foresight to back up (in this case, move) ALL the files I had stored on the BlackBerry Passport (both SD and Flash, plus device backup) to my PC computer - in particular, I was interested in preserving the timestamps of those files. (The timestamps detail is key to this discussion, as I will mention and elaborate on it below.) I know of the high probability of something going wrong, when immediately transferring those files over for use on a device running a different OS. (Even if they're already stored on an SD Card.) I don't have much confidence in Android, but considering that the DTEK60 is backed by BlackBerry, I decided to give it a try. Before using my new device, after confirming all files were transferred, I formatted my SD Card, so it could then be used on the DTEK60.
For the issue I really need help with, skip right over to #3 . But #1 and #2 are worth a read, particularly if you're considering switching to an Android by BlackBerry device.
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- Predictably, I ran into problems upon using the DTEK60. After transferring my Contacts, Calendar, Texts, Notes, Tasks, and Accounts from the Passport to the DTEK60 using the Content Transfer app, my transferred Contacts info was badly corrupted. Names and phone numbers were manipulated and switched around - I was going to call a family member, and nearly called an old friend (whose phone number was listed under said family member) I had not spoken to for a long time, instead. That could've been incredibly awkward - fortunately, I spotted the discrepancy in the nick of time. This issue can be fixed... but now, I must cross-reference Contacts info stored on the Passport with the info currently on the DTEK60.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - True story - I was already logged in to my Google account, out of necessity for the transition process. I started to use Google Maps on the device to search for some specific location, on someone else's behalf. This is a location where I have never had an established residence, no established paper/digital trail of any kind, and a location I had not visited in 3 years. And I kid you not - an hour later, I get an email from CVS Pharmacy, regarding some offers tailored specifically to that location! I NEVER had any entity email me before, about that specific location. (I did an email search about that, just to be sure.) So now I know, beyond any doubt whatsoever, that Google Maps (and Google Chrome, which is a separate, but similar story) is sharing very specific information about me with third-parties. While this issue may be outside the purview of BlackBerry's ability to protect one's personal info (as the info is firmly in Google's possession after being transmitted), I feel nonetheless that my personal info is at risk of being compromised - not by hackers, or rooters, but by corporations and developers who freely share personal info for profit, under a cozy umbrella of legality. These concerns are why I use and diligently tailor the settings on the DTEK by BlackBerry app. But, as can be seen, your personal info can still be compromised. I subsequently disabled the Google Maps and Google Chrome apps (of course, they cannot be uninstalled), and logged out of all instances of Google on the device. Clearly, Google's influence and fingerprints are very visible in too many aspects of the usage of this device, to the point of being invasive.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Now this issue I'm about to mention - this one really bugs me, because from what I have gathered on other internet forums, there doesn't appear to be any solution. The file management on the DTEK60 (but really, Android devices in general) is absolutely horrendous, to the point of being practically non-existent. Having all taken pictures (i.e. camera, screenshots, Office Lens pics, etc...) being stored on a messy, non-intuitive Google Photos app was bad enough. I had trouble moving pics around, into different folders. I downloaded both FX and Asus file managers (I'm trying both of them out), because I wanted to move all the pics to one unified folder on my SD Card, in much the same way pics are stored on BlackBerry 10 devices. Actually moving the pics themselves was bad enough, because keeping track of which pics were moved (with the applied tags) is nearly impossible. But the deal-breaker here is that apparently, even if you "move" (not "copy") a file from one place to another, the timestamp of the file's original creation ("Date Created" or "Date Modified") is completely lost, being replaced with the timestamp of the transfer. From research I have done, Android utilizes MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) - according to Wikipedia, "a disadvantage of MTP devices on Android as compared to USB mass storage is that although file timestamps are preserved when copying files from the Android device to one's computer, when copying in the other direction, the file modification timestamps are replaced with the time the copy was done." In other words, it's impossible to preserve the timestamp. This happens even if I transfer files from the device memory to the SD Card already inserted into the device. As I take lots of pics/photos, this is highly problematic, because I sometimes refer to them in order to reminisce or find out when certain events happened (for whatever reason). If, for example, I wanted to put together a scrapbook or album sorted in chronological order, this would be a very precarious process. And it also already renders my wish of also safely putting all photos into one folder on the SD Card impossible. I'd really like to know if anyone has somehow found a solution or workaround to this timestamp issue.
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Other issues (less important):
- No BlackBerry Blend counterpart for Android by BlackBerry
- Battery drains quickly whenever the screen is on (but very little when the screen is off)
- Pics/videos taken consume way too much memory, even when set to the most conservative settings (e.g. 720p/24fps video consumes about 1.8 MB, per second of video)
- I cannot share calendar events with contacts
- Widgets oftentimes do not load
- Push notifications aren't exactly the easiest to customize (this one is largely app-specific, but still...)
- Any issues I forgot to mention here are either very minor, or I have not experienced them yet
So in sum, the inability to preserve timestamps on moved files within the device/SD Card (due to Android's MTP system) is the key issue here, and one I will find very difficult to tolerate. I don't feel like going back to the Passport, as this has reached the point of no return. Assistance in this matter will be greatly appreciated.
To end this post on a positive note, the best features about the DTEK60, compared to the Passport, are the expanded array of available apps, better hardware, better processor, Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0, and especially, a much, much better camera (this one I cannot overstate enough)