Dieter's back to BlackBerry, this time from a Pre Perspective - SPE Round Robin

[Dieter Bohn]

Hi y'all!

This is a good week for the Smartphone Round Robin, as it's the magical week when there's synergy in which sites have which phones. To wit: I have BlackBerry this week and Kevin has webOS.

So here's what's on my mind:

1. The basics: what would a webOS user gain by going BB? What would a webOS user lose?

2. The biggest surprise for me this year is how much I like the Storm2 (and how well I can type on it!). I still think that the touch features on it feel a little tacked-on, though. Given that it doesn't look like RIM is going to be doing a massive restart of the OS, what touch features would you like to see?

3. Anything about webOS that makes you jealous?

4. I know it's not a new problem, but with the introduction of OpenGL it seems like the issue of platform fragmentation is going to get worse. Or am I crazy? Does it bother you?

5. Do any of the recent outages have you thinking about a different platform that doesn't have that single point of failure?

6. Do you have any desire to get a BlackBerry with both a physical keyboard and a touchscreen?

Don't forget - every day you post here is another chance to win the BlackBerry of your choice!

[curve247]

Originally Posted by Dieter Bohn

1. The basics: what would a webOS user gain by going BB? What would a webOS user lose?

I am not completely familiar with webOS but i think the major gain is email and themes. BB is an emailing machine and I am not sure any other OS out there is on top of email like the BB. I am not sure of the customizablity of the webOS but there is some freedom to change and adapt the homescreen on the BB so its got everything you want.

Originally Posted by Dieter Bohn

3. Anything about webOS that makes you jealous?

I do like how you can run multiple 'cards' and just flick them closed. BB has the ability to multi-task but its not a visual as the webOS

Originally Posted by Dieter Bohn

5. Do any of the recent outages have you thinking about a different platform that doesn't have that single point of failure?

I have a myTouch at home and each time, i think about dropping my sim card in and just going with it for awhile, but there are just somethings on the BB i cant go without. Thus I never fully switch. I think if the outages come more often and effect me more, they yea I will seriously considering switching.

Originally Posted by Dieter Bohn

6. Do you have any desire to get a BlackBerry with both a physical keyboard and a touchscreen?

Not really. I am not a big touch screen person. I like having the trackpad and full keyboard. I think it makes typing easier. I dont feel like i miss much by not having a touchscreen.

[pkcable]

I'm in the same boat as Curve247, and have no experience with webOS, but from what I have heard, it's best feature is how customizable it is and how integrated with the web it is. If I were to leave the BB platform (yes the outages HAS given me pause) it would be for a webOS device, or an android. What's keeping me with Blackberry is the email. Nothing else I have seen, used or heard of does email as well as a BB.

[es_bih]

I've used a colleague's pre and must say the touch screen is much better. Not the screen itself necessarily, but the UI. Built for a touch screen.

I think as a user of the Pre - going to BB you gain a better keyboard with the 9700, and more screen real estate.

The click has been digitized, thus it works much better this year on the Storm 2. You gain a useful feature when scrolling through, etc... Of course it has its downsides, too.

From an email perspective - I have not used the Pre in that capacity, but do like native ActiveSync support however.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[synthmole]

I think outages will be coming to all smartphones.

RIM gets criticized for a centralized infrastructure, but all the big smartphones OSs are adopting that model. Apple has Mobile Me and its own infrastructure for push notifications (had their botched launch already), Google ties everything with Gmail (very robust, but centralized nonetheless), Palm is coming out with its own messaging service but is still struggling and had its data loss screwup already. Sidekick...enough said.

These devices need help from the network to optimize bandwidth and conserve battery life. RIM has been at it longer and has some legacy issues, that's all.

[synthmole]

As for comparing BlackBerry and webOS, the BlackBerry is just so fast and efficient, it doesn't matter what the UI looks like. WebOS is nowhere near as responsive and is hobbled by memory issues. Responsiveness and reliability are really crucial for a business phone. BB speed and efficiency trump everything, IMO.

And the BB still manages to be a good multimedia device (YouTube playback excepted). And with Opera even browsing works great.

[Xopher]

1. The basics: what would a webOS user gain by going BB? What would a webOS user lose?

I would have to agree with others that e-mail and the keyboard are probably the two things where the BB accels. With the current BBs making it easier to access the task switcher (just hold the BB key down), it does make it easier to multi-task.

From what I have seen, the Pre does have a nice interface that seems very intuitive. Initially, I think a Pre user would need to get used to navigation on the BlackBerry.

2. The biggest surprise for me this year is how much I like the Storm2 (and how well I can type on it!). I still think that the touch features on it feel a little tacked-on, though. Given that it doesn't look like RIM is going to be doing a massive restart of the OS, what touch features would you like to see?

I think the Storm needs more gesture commands. It doesn't need to have a mirror image of the iPhone or other devices, but if the gestures were more intuitive from the start, it would probably make it easier for uses to adapt. I think the SurePress method of typing is something that I like. The Storm2 has really stepped that up (vs. Storm 1). I think the changes they have made from S1 to S2 are steps in teh right direction for a touch platform.

3. Anything about webOS that makes you jealous?

Jealous? No. I do like the idea behind its multi-tasking. The way it seamlessly runs everything is something that I really like, although (from what I hear), the more you multi-task, the more the lag grows (same can also be said for BBs, but it seems to me that BBs don't lag as quickly).

4. I know it's not a new problem, but with the introduction of OpenGL it seems like the issue of platform fragmentation is going to get worse. Or am I crazy? Does it bother you?

I think that with 5.0 there is going to be less fragmentation. OpenGL is probably going to mean older devices are going to get left behind quicker. But, the development code is going to be cleaner, and developers aren't going to need to support as many different versions as they do now.

OpenGL is just going to mean that there will be some apps that will work on only newer devices. It won't be the same as it is right now where a developer has to create a different build for OS 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 5.0 (touch/non-touch), plus possibly different builds for 480x320, 480x360, 240x320... OpenGL will mean that the app will only be created for OS 5.0. There just won't be a version available for the 8700.

5. Do any of the recent outages have you thinking about a different platform that doesn't have that single point of failure?

Seeing that Apple had a MobileMe outage this past week, I think any platform that depends on any type of NOC will occasionally experience some sort of outage. Would it be nice to not have outages? yes. But I have seven e-mail accounts on my BB, plus other apps that rely on push technology. My main purpose for my BB is communication (phone, e-mail, BBM, IM, Twitter...). If I were to switch platforms, it would have to measure up to being able to handle communication at least as good as my BB does.

I came from a WinMo environment. Sure, it could check e-mail, and could be set to do so at specific intervals, but it seemed to drain the battery faster, and wasn't as good at notifying me of new notifications.

6. Do you have any desire to get a BlackBerry with both a physical keyboard and a touchscreen?

I think the idea of a multi-input device would be interesting. As devices get more graphic-intensive, there is a draw to touching things on the screen. What turned me away from the Pre was how sunk-in the keyboard was. I do a lot of typing (e-mail, BBM, IM, SMS...) and I found the Pre's keyboard just to limiting for my hands. I think I would be more happy with something like my Tour with a touchscreen (a la Magnum) rather than a slider, but it would depend on keyboard ease-of-use.

[KLeBron23]

Welcome to Crackberry! I have the Tour and love it. I personally have not been too effected by the outages so that does not have me thinking of another platform. I was playing with my friends Storm 2 and I agree it is very easy to type on. I would be very interested in a Blackberry that had a keyboard and a touch screen.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[godzilla07]

1. A keyboard that's made for people, not pixies. You do get the robust BlackBerry e-mail and something that I think isn't advertised enough, the unified inbox. The unified inbox is better than having to exit out to your other e-mail accounts when using multiple e-mail accounts. Plus with some IM apps such as BeejiveIM which is the best mobile IM solution period, and the official Facebook app, you get that built into the inbox.

3. I wish for webOS's multitasking. It's so nice compared to the basic BlackBerry way. I also wish for those nice fonts.

5. The recent outages haven't affected me too much as I was working at the computer for most of the time. But I've been thinking about the iPhone because my needs have changed. I'm sick of carrying around my iPod touch everywhere and I would like 32 GB of storage in a mobile device. No smartphone plays music as well as the iPhone and I own a Mac now. I wanted to upgrade the OS on my BlackBerry the other day but I couldn't on my Mac because you can't upgrade the OS with Mac DM.

6. A BlackBerry with a touchscreen and a front-facing QWERTY would be neat. It'd be like a Treo. But the touchscreen isn't essential at all to the BlackBerry experience. I'd prefer RIM spend R&D money on making a new OS rather than a device that isn't needed.

[iLovemy_bb]

Originally Posted by godzilla07

1. A keyboard that's made for people, not pixies. You do get the robust BlackBerry e-mail and something that I think isn't advertised enough, the unified inbox. The unified inbox is better than having to exit out to your other e-mail accounts when using multiple e-mail accounts. Plus with some IM apps such as BeejiveIM which is the best mobile IM solution period, and the official Facebook app, you get that built into the inbox.

3. I wish for webOS's multitasking. It's so nice compared to the basic BlackBerry way. I also wish for those nice fonts.

5. The recent outages haven't affected me too much as I was working at the computer for most of the time. But I've been thinking about the iPhone because my needs have changed. I'm sick of carrying around my iPod touch everywhere and I would like 32 GB of storage in a mobile device. No smartphone plays music as well as the iPhone and I own a Mac now. I wanted to upgrade the OS on my BlackBerry the other day but I couldn't on my Mac because you can't upgrade the OS with Mac DM.

6. A BlackBerry with a touchscreen and a front-facing QWERTY would be neat. It'd be like a Treo. But the touchscreen isn't essential at all to the BlackBerry experience. I'd prefer RIM spend R&D money on making a new OS rather than a device that isn't needed.

The BB OS is fine...it needs to be tweaked, not revamped, we are not even close to being removed form the smart-phone world....

[iLovemy_bb]

Originally Posted by Dieter Bohn

Hi y'all!

This is a good week for the Smartphone Round Robin, as it's the magical week when there's synergy in which sites have which phones. To wit: I have BlackBerry this week and Kevin has webOS.

So here's what's on my mind:

1. The basics: what would a webOS user gain by going BB? What would a webOS user lose?

2. The biggest surprise for me this year is how much I like the Storm2 (and how well I can type on it!). I still think that the touch features on it feel a little tacked-on, though. Given that it doesn't look like RIM is going to be doing a massive restart of the OS, what touch features would you like to see?

3. Anything about webOS that makes you jealous?

4. I know it's not a new problem, but with the introduction of OpenGL it seems like the issue of platform fragmentation is going to get worse. Or am I crazy? Does it bother you?

5. Do any of the recent outages have you thinking about a different platform that doesn't have that single point of failure?

6. Do you have any desire to get a BlackBerry with both a physical keyboard and a touchscreen?

Don't forget - every day you post here is another chance to win the BlackBerry of your choice!

(1) WebOS and BB OS are pretty much the same. The main difference is aesthetics. I have an account over at PreCentral and noticed that they have custom themes that you can easily get on your device(similarity). They can multi-task with cards(4.6+ devices just hold the BB button to switch). Push email, threaded sms...etc. All of these things pretty much cross platform. From WebOS to BB; you'd miss the soft keys, the touch & qwerty together, and the cards. You would gain the fact that it is a BB and can be taken literally anywhere. BBM is key when networking and not wanting to give out a cell number, you can easily remove a stalker/creepy person from BBM. Email on BB is flawless.

(2) On the storm...there isn't much that the storm 2 is really missing, being a full touch device. It has what people deem, neceassry things for a touch screen, Nice size, good res, flick scrolling and easy typing. HD res would be great though.

(3) The only thing I like about WebOS is the 'card' feature but even that can be seemingly, pointless over time.

(4) What exactly do you mean by platform fragmentation? Open GL will increase consumer interest in BB's. If people don't want the flashy games and graphics, they can keep it simple. But for those who want to keep a BB and venture further, Opeb GL will be there for them. Good question, you're not crazy and we'll have to wait and see; the Storm 2 is the only device that can handle it, so all of us can't speak on the experience.

(5) Nope, never! A BBM/email/data outage isn't the end of the world. We can still talk/text while this is going on so, our lives won't end completely. Yes, it's a harsh blow, but we can recover from it and it has been said to be a BBM release issue. Many BB users are demanding OS 5.0 and a better BBM, well when they rush and get it to us, we get issues like the outage and if they keep holding off, they get angry users. We need to let RIM breath about this whole outage thing. Even if it's 10 times in one year, that's a small fraction to how many days of good/great service you do have.

(6) Yes, I think RIM should build one that functions as a Bold Touch. Same Bold 2 look and functions but make it a touch screen. Our screen aren't as small as people make them seem and I have touched my screen many times and realized, the icons are pretty big and would be easy to access if it were a touch screen, and for those minute links and selections, zoom in on the screen, really well, or use the track pad to highlight more precisely.

[the one and only M]

1. Better keyboard. Better browser.
2. Pinch zooming.
3. Gestures and cards.
6. I'd definitely be interested in a touch/keyboard bb as long as it had a straight capacitive screen.

[AndrewWestSide]

Hoping to update my BB by winning! looking forward to another week of Round Robin! Great info everyone!

[Ronindan]

1. The basics: what would a webOS user gain by going BB? What would a webOS user lose?

A WebOS user will gain the ability to back your data in your desktop. And of course security.

A webos user will lose if the ability to be able to pull your profile on the cloud.



2. The biggest surprise for me this year is how much I like the Storm2 (and how well I can type on it!). I still think that the touch features on it feel a little tacked-on, though. Given that it doesn't look like RIM is going to be doing a massive restart of the OS, what touch features would you like to see?

I would like the option no turn off sure press on selected apps.

3. Anything about webOS that makes you jealous?

multi gestures i think.

4. I know it's not a new problem, but with the introduction of OpenGL it seems like the issue of platform fragmentation is going to get worse. Or am I crazy? Does it bother you?

Not really opengl for me is not really a big thing. I am not into games and such, however if it used for any new themes or even incorporated to a new os down the line. Then I am all for it.

5. Do any of the recent outages have you thinking about a different platform that doesn't have that single point of failure?

To me i rather have a blackberry outage then say a Google outage. Afterall if RIM servers are down, I can always just go to my pc and check me messages and such. But if Google goes down, then my messages are unreachable regardless if my pre is up and running.



6. Do you have any desire to get a BlackBerry with both a physical keyboard and a touchscreen?

Not for me. If I have a qwerty bb then maybe.

[WhoolioPreludee]

The only thing not envy but wish blackberries had was several different screens. Like winmo and instead of just switching sound profiles it would switch the whole screen with apps

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com