[tack]

I think this is a good question and a good answer. It seems quite balanced despite people's often emotional support for their platform of choice. I happen to think it was a good answer.

The 411: The future of BlackBerry | Dialed In - CNET Blogs

[Thud Hardsmack]

I like this. A very clear, and like you said, balanced reply to a very loaded question. I'm personally waiting for the touchscreen Bold; while I never had a 9000 series it looks like a great size. One with QNX would be outstanding but we'll see how it goes as is.

I used to use a Pearl 8130, great little device. Aside from it freezing up and needing a battery pull every couple days, one of my main complaints was having to scroll repeatedly in some screens and I thought it'd be nice to just be able to touch the screen for those instances. That was one of the bigger reasons for getting a Storm2, and it was a MUCH bigger screen. Typing on it took a little getting used to but I find myself wishing I could actually feel keys again. Until the Dakota rumor started shaping up I was eyeballing the Droid2 as I'm on Verizon. Why that one? It's a dual-input device - I can use the screen, or pop it open and have all that screen real estate with a keyboard. I enjoy not having to scroll to something I can already see on the screen. Plus it's a better size, my Pearl keyboard was useable but tiny; and even on my S2 I have problems in landscape. No such issues in portrait with the Suretype keyboard. I use that more than anything.

As far as a new OS goes that's all fine and dandy (George Carlin just rolled over in his grave) but I really hope RIM keeps some integral things intact going forth. Fixing truncated emails is a MUST. I don't mind hitting "more all" if needed but give me a break - when someone sends me a long/big email and I need to call that person back, it's really difficult to do when said sender is NOT in contacts and their phone number is in their signature that got truncated. Very embarrassing to reply with "can you provide a phone number?". That's one of the joys of using this device, just hitting the Talk button after getting email/text/bbm/IM and connecting to that person without jumping through hoops. Not sure if there's that many on other platforms as I haven't delved into it enough, but until that feature and a few others disappear I'm ok with RIM, just waiting for them to iron things out. If not, I'm not a true fanboy so moving to a different platform could and probably will be painful until I get used to it - just like any other move. I like having choices, and I like doing things with as little fuss as possible, so I'll be wherever that is outside of the iPhone (no thank you).

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[sleepngbear]

Good article, and the columnist does give one of the more fair and balanced responses to this question than you usually see. Although based on some of the things she says, I'm left wondering she's just trying to show a glimmer of fairness so as not to be rude to the reader that posed the initial question. Might just be me and my general dislike/distrust for tech columnists.

Just a few points I'd like to comment on. But before I do, let me state clearly that, although I am very happy and satisfied with my last three BB's, I completely agree that RIM needs to step it up, especially in the area of hardware, if it is going to compete with what's out there an what's coming. That's not to say that they need to leapfrog the competition, but they do need to offer a device or two that's in the same league. And I believe that they are doing exactly that, although they certainly could have started sooner. That being said:

OS 6 seemed more evolutionary than revolutionary, with an interface that appeared to cater more to existing customers than try to attract new ones.

You've got to be very careful about throwing words around like 'revolutionary'. When you have an OS that works and does what it does as well as BB OS, you don't want to change things simply for the sake of changing them. When things work well, you keep them, and build on them; i.e., successive releases are going to be evolutionary, at least from a UI perspective. Additionally, if you're going to build something to attract new customers, you've got to be extremely mindful of not doing something that's going to disenfranchise your existing ones.

I think from a software/OS standpoint, considering its existing customer base and the strengths of BB OS, RIM is wise taking a more conservative approach and not changing too much too quickly. The bigger problem with BB OS that this article doesn't even touch on is BB OS's ease of application development, or lack thereof. Admittedly, no evolution of BB OS is going to make it any more developer-friendly. So enter QNX. And please hurry.

While we definitely liked [OS6]--universal search is great, for example--we were expecting something a little more groundbreaking. We also liked the recently released BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry Style, but again, the competition just looks so much sexier with phones like the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S.

Sexiness is truly in the eye of the beholder. A lot of people don't need 'sexy' (at least not in a phone), they just need a phone that works. On the other hand, a lot of other people do need 'sexy', and to those people, well, I wonder if a BB will ever be the answer. I think we'll get a hint of an answer to that in a few months.

[Thud Hardsmack]

Good article, and the columnist does give one of the more fair and balanced responses to this question than you usually see. Although based on some of the things she says, I'm left wondering she's just trying to show a glimmer of fairness so as not to be rude to the reader that posed the initial question. Might just be me and my general dislike/distrust for tech columnists.

Just a few points I'd like to comment on. But before I do, let me state clearly that, although I am very happy and satisfied with my last three BB's, I completely agree that RIM needs to step it up, especially in the area of hardware, if it is going to compete with what's out there an what's coming. That's not to say that they need to leapfrog the competition, but they do need to offer a device or two that's in the same league. And I believe that they are doing exactly that, although they certainly could have started sooner. That being said:


You've got to be very careful about throwing words around like 'revolutionary'. When you have an OS that works and does what it does as well as BB OS, you don't want to change things simply for the sake of changing them. When things work well, you keep them, and build on them; i.e., successive releases are going to be evolutionary, at least from a UI perspective. Additionally, if you're going to build something to attract new customers, you've got to be extremely mindful of not doing something that's going to disenfranchise your existing ones.

I think from a software/OS standpoint, considering its existing customer base and the strengths of BB OS, RIM is wise taking a more conservative approach and not changing too much too quickly. The bigger problem with BB OS that this article doesn't even touch on is BB OS's ease of application development, or lack thereof. Admittedly, no evolution of BB OS is going to make it any more developer-friendly. So enter QNX. And please hurry.


Sexiness is truly in the eye of the beholder. A lot of people don't need 'sexy' (at least not in a phone), they just need a phone that works. On the other hand, a lot of other people do need 'sexy', and to those people, well, I wonder if a BB will ever be the answer. I think we'll get a hint of an answer to that in a few months.

I like that last bit about sexiness. There's only so much manufacturers can do to improve the look of a device, although Apple certainly has a grasp on the concept. Get the UI dialed in because that's what the owner looks at and uses.

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[T�nis]

On the other hand, a lot of other people do need 'sexy' ...

I wonder why?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[T�nis]

That's one of the joys of using this device, just hitting the Talk button after getting email/text/bbm/IM and connecting to that person without jumping through hoops ...

I never even knew about this feature ... Thank you!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com