[DrCroubie]

Hi all, I've been intently following the discussions here for the last 2 months, I've finally got a question of my own.

First about me, I've had 3 phones since 2001.
A Nokia 8210 that drowned after a year, an 8310 that kept going until 2009 (and would still be going if I'd bought a new battery), then a Nokia 2330 which I've still got.
I've never seen the point in those so-called 'smart' phones, but unfortunately it's kind of hard to live without one these days (both socially and work-wise).
I do have an ipod-touch (only because a previous employer gave it to me for free) that has apps and stuff, but it only works on free-wifi and I'm not always near one. Even that is struggling because it doesn't have ios7 and most of the app-store requires that now.
One of my biggest concerns about getting a new phone has always been privacy and security (which is my standard answer whenever someone points out that I'm an anachronism because I'm about to finish my Masters of Electronic Engineering and I still have an 'ancient' phone).

Frankly, no model has really interested me enough to even think about buying until I heard about both the Priv and the Blackphone.
Whilst I do like the idea of the Blackphone, I'm really not _that_ paranoid about privacy to trade off against the inability to load whatever apps I want (without sideloading, which according to my research kind of negates the whole point of getting a secure OS).
And, well, GSM is getting switched off in Nov this year, so I kind of have to get something before then.
So basically, the Priv it is.

First off:
a) I'm willing to wait until it comes with the new Android 6, whenever that is it may or may not be when Optus has them in stock.
b) It'll probably take a while for Optus' stock to run down before they start supplying with Android 6 pre-installed.
c) Alternatively, I'm also willing to wait until the outright price is less than the magical tax-free-import $1000 (bbstore is still $1250 and some others in HK are still just over $1k).
d) I've been an Optus customer for 15 years and see no real reason to change, so network-locking doesn't bother me.

But I'm wondering how good and how often the software updates are going to happen.
I know this may be hard to answer because Optus aren't yet stocking the Priv, so I'm looking for experiences with other phones on Optus, or others worldwide with the Priv through their own carrier.
a) If I buy it outright, I get software updates straight from BB, correct? As in, there is nothing faster or more frequent?
b) If I get it through Optus, I have to wait for them to pass it through their own QC processes first, correct?
c) Or can I still get updates direct from BB? Will that interfere with any network-locking dealies in place?

Like I said, I'm willing to wait a few months, but any experiences and advice you guys can impart would be great, thanks.

[escape525]

DrCroubie, I have an email from BlackBerry technical support (attached) stating Aussies will get all future updates direct from BlackBerry and not carrier dependant

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