[tazcubed]

OK, so I managed to get one of the Privs. I'll put it out there - and I think that it's already been said in many ways - that this is not the Blackberry one knows. Even this early out, I'm missing the straight forward and intuitive BB10 and there is a learning curve to android (although I've previously had a droid).

To start with the physical device: overall, it's slick, and it fits nicely in my hand and it's not too heavy. Coming from a Passport, it's hard not to notice the differences, but I did like the wider aspect of the Passport for some things.

The keyboard on the Priv is much smaller than the Passport, in fact, I think it's smaller than the Q10's - which should be THE standard to work from. Pressing is easier than on the Passport, and it's close to the Q10 in effort. I'm adjusting back to the smaller keyboard, but am really happy with the full keyboard as opposed to the hybrid on the Passport (I did not like having to float between the keyboard and the vbk to get things done. Touch controls on the keyboard are working flawlessly thus far. As for the vkb, I'm on the fence. I can see the advantage of Blackberry's vbk, although I think it's appearance to be substandard - unfinished. I'm not sure if I would chose this or something like Swype as the alternate (but it's nice to have ALL the alternatives). The screen is nice, bright and clear, but there's a little click near about centre of the screen when one presses it firmly. The camera is the best that Blackberry has ever had - hands down. Call clarity is crisp and of good quality. I will have to follow up on the quality of the speakers after a while as of right now I don't have enough setup to give an impression.

Conversion to the Priv: the Content Transfer was okay for the most part, but I had problems with moving email across due to certification credentials I think were on the SD card when I went to transfer it and the app expected me to go and find them. In the end, I manually added the email accounts and that was fine. All other content (tasks, notes, pictures, music, etc.) got across.

The droid OS functionality: it's adequate. Google likes to control everything, so a gmail account is necessary as the primary account. With that, there is NO option to control the content from the primary account. In my case, the majority of my contacts are in Outlook, and although I had contacts in my gmail account, I had to delete them all because android does a poor job on the phone side. All contacts show up on the phone list, regardless if there's an associated phone number or not. I've not found any way thus far to consolidate contacts like one can on BB10, but I'm not expecting to as I don't believe android has it.

Things like gestures to get to email, pinch and zoom to find unread emails, even the pull-down quick settings are missing or takes more steps to accomplish, but then again, it's android and that has to be expected. Some features that I do like is to swipe left to delete email, swipe right to set an email reminder, notifications from the top of the screen.

Being able to access all of the Google apps (by the way, the DTek is telling me I'm still in the green zone) I want without dealing with Google Play Services problems is better - no matter what is said, the dearth of apps under Blackberry is a pain.

This is about as far as I've gotten in a day. Overall impression is that I feel I can work with the Priv with some caveats, but will certainly miss BB10. If Blackberry made a BB10 version it would be a hard choice over which OS to go with. If they resolved the Google Play Services issue, I think it would be a no-brainer I would be back.

(Revised for readability - thanks for the comments on this).

[H4zN]

Paragraphs enhance the readability of a chunk of text.

Posted via CB10

[OfficerRandall]

That was a long read, thanks for taking the time. I have to say I was about to write my own post but I pretty much agree with you, and your still being fair because you know things take time to get used to.
The BlackBerry Silver Edition was hands down the best device I owned my entire life. I couldn't do without things like proper social media apps which I'm a very heavy user or, so I've been using the iPhone 6S Plus since release. The last android I had was the Galaxy Note 4 so I'm pretty familiar with Android on a Samsung.
What I like about iPhone and BB10 is how clean the os runs which is made specifically for that device. Android has always been choppy, for me at least. I'd never stick with apple full time as I hate their control of things, I only got the 6S Plus because I didn't have to pay and always knew I'd get the Priv or 'venice' as we called it.
The Passport had a heck of a learning curve so I don't mind with this.
At the end of the day, if they ever have a Passport with full access to proper social media apps and others such as Periscope, I'll be the first to pick one up. Especially if it's Silver Edition!
Sorry about my own long winded rant here lol.
@PCArsenault

[cgk]

OK, so I managed to get one of the Privs.

I'll put it out there - and I think that it's already been said in many ways - that this is not the Blackberry one knows. Even this early out, I'm missing the straight forward and intuitive BB10 and there is a learning curve to android (although I've previously had a droid).


To start with the physical device: overall, it's slick, and it fits nicely in my hand and it's not too heavy. Coming from a Passport, it's hard not to notice the differences, but I did like the wider aspect of the Passport for some things.

The keyboard on the Priv is much smaller than the Passport, in fact, I think it's smaller than the Q10's - which should be THE standard to work from. Pressing is easier than on the Passport, and it's close to the Q10 in effort. I'm adjusting back to the smaller keyboard, but am really happy with the full keyboard as opposed to the hybrid on the Passport (I did not like having to float between the keyboard and the vbk to get things done. Touch controls on the keyboard are working flawlessly thus far. As for the vkb, I'm on the fence. I can see the advantage of Blackberry's vbk, although I think it's appearance to be substandard - unfinished. I'm not sure if I would chose this or something like Swype as the alternate (but it's nice to have ALL the alternatives). The screen is nice, bright and clear, but there's a little click near about centre of the screen when one presses it firmly. The camera is the best that Blackberry has ever had - hands down. Call clarity is crisp and of good quality. I will have to follow up on the quality of the speakers after a while as of right now I don't have enough setup to give an impression.

Conversion to the Priv: the Content Transfer was okay for the most part, but I had problems with moving email across due to certification credentials I think were on the SD card when I went to transfer it and the app expected me to go and find them. In the end, I manually added the email accounts and that was fine. All other content (tasks, notes, pictures, music, etc.) got across.

The droid OS functionality: it's adequate. Google likes to control everything, so a gmail account is necessary as the primary account. With that, there is NO option to control the content from the primary account. In my case, the majority of my contacts are in Outlook, and although I had contacts in my gmail account, I had to delete them all because android does a poor job on the phone side. All contacts show up on the phone list, regardless if there's an associated phone number or not. I've not found any way thus far to consolidate contacts like one can on BB10, but I'm not expecting to as I don't believe android has it.

Things like gestures to get to email, pinch and zoom to find unread emails, even the pull-down quick settings are missing or takes more steps to accomplish, but then again, it's android and that has to be expected. Some features that I do like is to swipe left to delete email, swipe right to set an email reminder, notifications from the top of the screen.

Being able to access all of the Google apps (by the way, the DTek is telling me I'm still in the green zone) I want without dealing with Google Play Services problems is better - no matter what is said, the dearth of apps under Blackberry is a pain. This is about as far as I've gotten in a day. Overall impression is that I feel I can work with the Priv with some caveats, but will certainly miss BB10. If Blackberry made a BB10 version it would be a hard choice over which OS to go with. If they resolved the Google Play Services issue, I think it would be a no-brainer I would be back.

[Brandon Tobias]

That was a long read, thanks for taking the time. I have to say I was about to write my own post but I pretty much agree with you, and your still being fair because you know things take time to get used to.
The BlackBerry Silver Edition was hands down the best device I owned my entire life. I couldn't do without things like proper social media apps which I'm a very heavy user or, so I've been using the iPhone 6S Plus since release. The last android I had was the Galaxy Note 4 so I'm pretty familiar with Android on a Samsung.
What I like about iPhone and BB10 is how clean the os runs which is made specifically for that device. Android has always been choppy, for me at least. I'd never stick with apple full time as I hate their control of things, I only got the 6S Plus because I didn't have to pay and always knew I'd get the Priv or 'venice' as we called it.
The Passport had a heck of a learning curve so I don't mind with this.
At the end of the day, if they ever have a Passport with full access to proper social media apps and others such as Periscope, I'll be the first to pick one up. Especially if it's Silver Edition!
Sorry about my own long winded rant here lol.
@PCArsenault

android is choppy because manufacturers change it so much ... aka Samsung worst offender HTC and Sony have some of the smoothest roms

[tazcubed]

Agreed. Sorry about that. Thanks to cgk for fixing it. If I can, I'll try to fix it.

Another item to note is the device tends to run hot particularly around the volume buttons.

Also, the balance point is a little top heavy, so there's some adaptation required.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[donnation]

Another item to note is the device tends to run hot particularly around the volume buttons.


Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

Yes, this is where mine gets hot when using it.

[aha]

Yes, this is where mine gets hot when using it.

Passport initially has the same problem if used while charging, now it seems to have completely gone away. Maybe this can be fixed on Priv too.

But after reading this I probably will wait even more before pulling my trigger... if I pull it at all. Like some said before, this is probably for Android users or iOS users, not much for BB10 users.

PassportSQW100-1/10.3.2.2639

[o4liberty]

Very hot device Blackberry needs to look into this issue and get it resolved.

[bitek]

You will not get Google services on bb10. Unfortunately we will need to live with app shortcomings for extra privacy. I do get all apps I need on my phone but it annoying that more and more of them require Google services to run.

Posted via CB10

[FreshlySqueezed]

The droid OS functionality: it's adequate. Google likes to control everything, so a gmail account is necessary as the primary account. With that, there is NO option to control the content from the primary account. In my case, the majority of my contacts are in Outlook, and although I had contacts in my gmail account, I had to delete them all because android does a poor job on the phone side. All contacts show up on the phone list, regardless if there's an associated phone number or not. I've not found any way thus far to consolidate contacts like one can on BB10, but I'm not expecting to as I don't believe android has it...

Not sure if this applies to the PRIV but on my Nexus 5 if you long press two contacts and then press the overflow in the top right it gives you the option to merge.

[tazcubed]

Not sure if this applies to the PRIV but on my Nexus 5 if you long press two contacts and then press the overflow in the top right it gives you the option to merge.

Yep, that works.

Now, I've noticed with dTek, that my security rank DECLINED when I used BlackBerry picture password. They're recommending a pin or a password - LOL!

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[tazcubed]

Here's my Blackberry collection... Good for size comparison.

[fanisk]

Here's my Blackberry collection... Good for size comparison.

Thanks!nice!

Sent from my BlackBerry Passport

[cfgc]

Yep, that works.

Now, I've noticed with dTek, that my security rank DECLINED when I used BlackBerry picture password. They're recommending a pin or a password - LOL!

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

Can dtek be disabled or ignored?

I've been a nexus guy for about 5 years and even though the blackberry hub and such look interesting, stock Android works perfectly well for me.

The Privs hardware is what attracts me and on day one I will probably install a custom launcher, email client etc etc.

[tazcubed]

Can dtek be disabled or ignored?

I've been a nexus guy for about 5 years and even though the blackberry hub and such look interesting, stock Android works perfectly well for me.

The Privs hardware is what attracts me and on day one I will probably install a custom launcher, email client etc etc.

The dTek can simply be ignored. Same thing with the Hub. There's other ways to achieve pretty much the same thing. Watch the first 10 minutes of the latest Android Central podcast and it focuses on the Priv.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[tazcubed]

As a follow up, after a few headaches, I have to say that the adjustment is coming along. I think the consideration is that while it's not BB10, it's workable, and especially given that this is the first launch it's simply not going to be perfect right out of the box. Android is NOT BB10 (obviously) and those who try to convert need to take a breath and relax. BB10 is great, in terms of out-of-the-box functionality - it's smart and in particular INTUITIVE. Android does things differently - I gather in the interest of flexibility to vendors and users.

I find that I actually use the touch keyboard more as trackpad than I did with the Passport, which is an advantage. I don't have complaints about call quality or keyboard quality. I've only briefly used the speakers, which towards the higher end of volume suffers from distortion and vibration. The Passport is louder and crisper. The combination of the camera and screen are quite good - the picture and video quality is clean and I'm not seeing much in terms of artifacts.

Much like any OS launch, it takes some time to rollout fixes to bugs that cannot be anticipated, and enhancements will come in time (hopefully, things like profiles, and pinch and zoom functions in the Hub). Heck, there were updates to the Hub available this morning. Blackberry has been really good about iterative improvements and I hope that will continue.

Now, can someone tell me a good substitute for Slicktasks?! I may try porting it across, but I'm not liking what I see on Google Play.

Verdict: Still with Blackberry!