Any ideas why BlackBerry decided to go with no themes on bb10? - Got a z10

**SDTRMG** · 02-16-2013, 10:42 PM

As a long time blackberry user one thing I missed using iOS as my main device was the themes from bbos. I now have the z10 which I have a love/hate relationship with(I miss some apps, but made the choice to switch knowing this and isn't really a problem). I do wonder why blackberry decided not to include themes in bb10, I know android does this but I hate android and most android don't even know bbos has themes before there was a google/android. I was just wondering if anyone knew or if bb stated why there won't be themes on bb10, or if there may be in a future update.

My Switch: coming from the iPhone 5 to the bb z10, I can say that most tech blogs basing this phone are people who must hate blackberry deeply inside because this device is on par with iOS and android. I have seen and read some decent reviews, but a lot of bloggers complain but pointless things. One thing people forget is OSs are meant to be different, have different features etc, people get caught up in what there android can do and from the hop expect another OS to do the exact same things when that's far from the truth. Bb10 is on par with iOS and android on a OS and hardware level, the only missing are the apps which will come in the future.

From what I've red about QNX(vs Linux, unix and windows) I'm curious to see where blackberry takes this platform, with bb10 being the closest OS to a computer OS I can only imagine the possibility.

**Zach Gilbert** · 02-16-2013, 11:09 PM

It's all about offering a consistent user experience. If you allow to theme, where do you stop it?

Do you allow developers to code and change everything? It's often an issue when a theme developer has coded a menu wrong and things don't show up.

So while I know it Sucks that BlackBerry has halted themes on BlackBerry 10, it's a good decision from a customer experience side of things.

Posted via CB10

**SDTRMG** · 02-17-2013, 12:14 AM

Originally Posted by zach gilbert

It's all about offering a consistent user experience. If you allow to theme, where do you stop it?

Do you allow developers to code and change everything? It's often an issue when a theme developer has coded a menu wrong and things don't show up.

So while I know it Sucks that BlackBerry has halted themes on BlackBerry 10, it's a good decision from a customer experience side of things.

Posted via CB10

That actually makes a lot of sense. I thought with the way they did it before, by building there own "Theme Studio", they could limit what amount of code could be changed.

Guess for a better user experience it was better to op-out.

**KemKev** · 02-17-2013, 12:21 AM

Originally Posted by zach gilbert

It's all about offering a consistent user experience. If you allow to theme, where do you stop it?

Do you allow developers to code and change everything? It's often an issue when a theme developer has coded a menu wrong and things don't show up.

So while I know it Sucks that BlackBerry has halted themes on BlackBerry 10, it's a good decision from a customer experience side of things.

That is relative. For some people, being able to "customize" their phone's appearance IS a part of the experience.

**Lucky45** · 02-17-2013, 12:28 AM

They couldn't even offer a official way to theme for OS7. With that said how do you expect them to offer custom themes on a complex OS like BB10? LOL

**BBThemes** · 02-17-2013, 12:31 AM

Originally Posted by zach gilbert

It's often an issue when a theme developer has coded a menu wrong and things don't show up.

ya sure lol? because menus are simply images, theme devs on BBOS were never able to `code` a menu.

**luv4berrycrack** · 02-17-2013, 12:38 AM

Themes are great and make the phone feel fresh and new. But i can see where with a new operating system out they would not want any major changes to the system.

**Omnitech** · 02-17-2013, 02:02 AM

I think they could provide some customization without hurting the user experience. Like being able to pick colors and fonts, for example. (Fonts - within limits of course. Put something dramatically different size on there, the UI becomes useless)

How about a dedicated gesture that dumps the theme and loads the default theme for when you do something dumb.

**joshua_sx1** · 02-17-2013, 02:15 AM

RE: Any ideas why BlackBerry decided to go with no themes on bb10? - Got a Z10

They probably lack of time or limited time to meet their deadline (end of January 2013)... if they will include it in the development, we might don't have yet Z10 as of this time...

My N4 has "Ubuntu"... how I wish I could theme my Z10 just like that.. but that is probably life, you can’t have everything... it just a matter of what is important to you...

**jdhooghe** · 02-17-2013, 02:27 AM

RIM left out a lot of things. They weren't "perfecting" as they said but merely struggling to put together the bones of the OS. Those deficiencies will hopefully be patched at a later time. I hope you can all agree that coding in the features that made Blackberries great devices needs to come first before the eyecandy
Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express

**SDTRMG** · 02-17-2013, 04:07 PM

Originally Posted by jdhooghe

RIM left out a lot of things. They weren't "perfecting" as they said but merely struggling to put together the bones of the OS. Those deficiencies will hopefully be patched at a later time. I hope you can all agree that coding in the features that made Blackberries great devices needs to come first before the eyecandy
Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express

I do agree with you, but even with themes being eye candy they were still part of the bb experience. I hope more comes later.

**Rennteam** · 02-17-2013, 04:51 PM

Originally Posted by zach gilbert

It's all about offering a consistent user experience. If you allow to theme, where do you stop it?

Do you allow developers to code and change everything? It's often an issue when a theme developer has coded a menu wrong and things don't show up.

So while I know it Sucks that BlackBerry has halted themes on BlackBerry 10, it's a good decision from a customer experience side of things.

Posted via CB10

Funny: Some while ago, I've actually been told by hardcore BB users over here on Crackberry that the lack of themes in iOS is a very bad thing and now you are trying to convince me, it is a good thing?

This whole "bend the truth to your liking" mentality seems to be valid for many here.

**Omnitech** · 02-17-2013, 07:44 PM

Originally Posted by jdhooghe

RIM left out a lot of things. They weren't "perfecting" as they said but merely struggling to put together the bones of the OS. Those deficiencies will hopefully be patched at a later time. I hope you can all agree that coding in the features that made Blackberries great devices needs to come first before the eyecandy

I would agree with you if it weren't for the fact that so many core BB features have been dropped in BB10.

**Zach Gilbert** · 02-17-2013, 10:44 PM

If it was a focus at any point, wouldn't we have seen a proper theme studio for BlackBerry 7 devices long ago? Just saying. I don't think we'll see much themes going forward in BlackBerry devices.

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