Coming from another smartphone platform or returning; welcome home!!!

[ephriamt]

I was going to get rid of my Bold and 'upgrade'. That was five months ago. I freaking love my BB Bold and I tell my friends that 'they can pry my BB from my cold dead fingers'.

I am waiting on the next generation fo BB. LET's GO BB.

[jjbadd]

well i thought i would drop in to say im back, sort of. I got my first bb in 08, and remained a bb faithful for 3 years, until i just wanted tn expereince ANDROID. Well as i continue to wait patiently on bb to "catch up" with the competition, I am getting a PLAYBOOK on Friday. I still love bb and i beleive they are headed in the right direction and soon i look forward to owning a new improved bb with OS10!

[p51]

Totally agree. I recently started my own business. Left my Bold 9900 for an iphone 4S 64gb so I wouldn't have to carry multiple devices (music player, camera). After just a couple weeks i'm desperately trying to sell my iphone on craigslist so that i can get another 9900. I have a ton of apps on my iphone that I NEVER use. For me it's not as conducive to getting stuff done as BB's are. I find myself continually distracted searching for apps or frustrated by the lack of integration between apps and operating (jumping in and out of apps). Bottom line..I miss my 9900 and can't wait to sell this iphone so I can come back.

P.S. I could buy one using my upgrade but my contract is up this summer & I don't want to have to renew for another 2 years.

[jjbadd]

I can honestly say now, having owned several BB`s, & my MyTouch 4g, that both platforms are good. I really miss BB, and since Tmobile is my preferred carrier, I will continue to wait PATIENTLY for a BB with a 4in screen, dual core processor with flashplayer, etc. But i have never "bashed" BB, just like I cant say I wont miss my mt4g. They have both been very good to me. I guess what Im sayin is you dont have to hate one to like the other.

[ubizmo]

I didn't actually leave BB, but I did buy an HTC Radar, a Windows 7.5 "Mango" phone. I got it for a very good price on eBay, and thought it would be fun to have an alternate phone, which I can always sell when I get tired of it.

First, I want to say that this is a fine device, well built, and with good battery life. And I'm favorably impressed with WP Mango. Even though the Radar doesn't have super specs, it doesn't need them. Everything is smooth and snappy. I don't play video games, so I suppose things could get laggy there. The UI is smart, and the whole user experience is pretty good. In fact, I think WP is going to become a major competitor.

So, why am I not pulling up my BB stakes and making the Radar my primary device?

Most of the apps that I use are available for WP, but there's one important one missing: Audible. I listen to Audible every day, so that's a problem. Ironically, there's no Audible app for the 9900 either, but the app for the 9700 works, so I'm using it. Still Audible has promised a WP app in March, so it's not a permanent deal-breaker.

The most serious problem is the browser. There's no way to reflow/wrap text when you tap to zoom. The best you can do is fit to screen. If that's not good enough, and it generally isn't, you have to pinch zoom and keep scrolling. This really is a deal-breaker. One of the main attractions of these touch phones is the larger screen. One reason for wanting a larger screen, though not the only reason, is to make things easier to read. But in WP you can't select a default browser text size, and since you can't reflow text either, it can be a real ordeal to read things, especially if you don't have the eyes of a teenager anymore. And if you like holding and using your phone in portrait mode, as I do, it's worse; and in portrait mode, the 9900 screen is wider!

For people who either don't do much reading of web sites, forums, etc., this may be a non-issue. But for me it's a killer.

Another glitch that would be negligible to a lot of people is this quirk: If you double space after a word, you get a period and a space, as on BB. But if you do this after selecting a predictive text word, it doesn't work. Since the predictive text in WP is actually quite good, I find myself using it a lot, so this is an annoyance. Details like this matter.

A lot of people would lament the missing LED notifier, but I don't care about it.

The Radar has 8 GB of built-in memory and no SD capability, which would bother a lot of people, but it doesn't bother me. And there's a free SkyDrive app, to access 25 GB of cloud storage, so that's not bad. If I watched movies on my phone, the included NetFlix and HTC Watch apps would be appealing, but I don't. WP currently has Slacker, but not Pandora, and I prefer Pandora, but Slacker is acceptable.

But BB Traffic is a new and powerful reason to stay with BB! The Radar has nothing comparable for free, although I hear that Nokia Drive on the similar Lumia 710 is good.

I've deliberately avoided saying that the keyboard draws me back to the 9900, since the virtual keyboard of the Radar really isn't bad. But it does draw me back! More to the point, selecting, copying, and pasting text on the 9900 is much, much easier on the 9900. Since I do these things a lot, this matters.

Notification profiles: a strong BB plus.

The word is that Mango is soon to be updated to Tango, then to WP8/Apollo next fall. If the browser text size/reflow issue is fixed, and some of the other glitches are handled, WP will be that much stronger a contender. MS has done a good job as it is, and WP has a headstart on BB10. It really does offer a good user experience overall, so I'll probably hang on to the Radar and see how things develop. But for consistent daily use, the 9900 is still the one.

[Jfitzs]

Count me in. I'm returning after a 6 month stray. Picked up an 8900 Curve when I took out my contract back in '09 and it was the only phone I had for the full length of my contract (had a mix of Nokia and Winmo phones which broke down over time- to the point where I even went as far as to install and tweak a linux distribution so I wouldn't be forced to use Winmo OS).

When my contract was up, I decided not being in an office environment anymore that Blackberry didn't really suit my needs, so I took out a contract and chose a HTC Desire. Had plenty of fun tinkering with it, but come November when I started wanting to use it as a normal phone rather than hack it to bits I found it just didn't cut it. Ebay'd the Desire and picked up a 3GS.

Recently (January this year) the 3GS began to flake on call quality- and the fact I'm not much of a timewaster with games (Angrybirds never appealed, I'd rather be working through emails or prepping documents or assignments) I only really used 4 or so apps on a regular basis, and I still found myself longing for the battery life of my 8900 SO I returned to my trusty Curve (updated to OS5 again and we're all good to go).

I'm now temporarily back to the 3GS 'cos the call speaker finally died on my 8900 (kinda helps to be able to hear people on the other end of the phone! ) until the Bold 9000 I bought on Ebay arrives.

As much as I liked the apps on the iPhone, doing a PR degree I deal with more emails than I care to think about, and it's now gotten to the point where if I think or know that the email I'm about to respond to or start is going to be long I resort to actually firing up my Macbook and reply on that. I honestly thought I could get used to a touchscreen, but unfortunately due to my fat fingers, I struggle even in landscape mode.

I honestly can't wait for the Bold to arrive. I'm here to stay. Definitely firmed my decision of going for the 9900 once my contract is up later this year.

[DesertBum]

I'm coming back. I went the droid route for the last 2 years, it wasn't a bad experience but it wasn't great either. I still have my 8330 that I miss and kinda kick myself for switching. Well my 2 years is almost up and I pulled the trigger last night and ordered up a 64G playbook and going to stop by the store this weekend and see if they will let me do my upgrade about a month early and get my paws on one of those 9930's. With any luck by next weekend I will have 2 new BB devices and I can spend all weekend with no sleep.

[yasmar]

I just switched from an HTC Desire (Android) to a Bold 9900 last Saturday. I loved Android and its customizability, but as a Canadian, I really wanted to try the top-of-the-line Blackberry.

My HTC Desire had its share of problems: the 3.5 mm insert broke -> got it fixed -> and then the camera, notification light, and headphone recognition all broke -> the last straw was having to talk on speakerphone whenever I wanted to use the phone...

I am loving the Bold 9900 so far - even after having my first one replaced four days later due to the white screen of death (tried to update the software). I love the look of the phone, the keyboard and call quality is amazing, and I actually enjoy the OS.

I'll still be a supporter of Android in the "fight" against Apple, but I'm pretty sure I'll be a loyal BB supporter too.

[Morty2264]

Originally Posted by thisdudenick

So I gave up my blackberry tour last month for the nexus s 4G but now i'm missing the keyboard and really want the new bold...the nexus is great but I miss the led email/test/etc... notification lights. I also have a playbook so maybe i am supposed to come back and get the bold...

any thought on this and am I making a good decision

Nexus phones are beautiful and very stylish - and I find myself admiring those kinds of phones in stores and when my friends have them - so I can see why you like it. However, I really enjoy the keyboard that the BlackBerry has to offer; and I love the LED light. It has saved me many times when I had been away from my phone and had walked back; seeing that I had a message or notification that I wouldn't have noticed without checking my phone's messages. I can't tell you whether you made the right decision or not - the phone you have is great - but maybe there's an app/option you can get that might make you miss the LED feature a bit less (if you decide not to switch back to BlackBerry); like different tones for different notifications. Good luck!

[depeche2001]

Well guys, having reading many post here, I really founf myself on many points people wrote here...

I'm from Buenos Aires, Argentina. For those who doesn't know, here in Buenos Aires, Blackberry is huge. The Blackberry mania exploted I think the last year, during 2011, and BBM is the key of that.

With BBM, Blackberry could got into the teenagers, which is a massive goal. Even that, Nokia is still the top brand and many people (I see in the street) still choose Nokia, which is good for one good reason; Once Nokia proved to be good and thats why people here still choose Nokia.

Now, speeking of me, I met Blackberry in the beginning of 2010 with the Curve 8520 for one basic job: to send and receive mails, only for work. I spent 13 months with my Curve 8520, sending and receiving mails, listening music, take casual photos (don't ever pretend to take National Geographic photos with a phone, even a smartphone, that's not the point of the thing, please...), but most important, being connected.

I replace my Curve for the Torch 9800 in march of 2011, which is better. Better built quality, better camera, better audio quality, better eveything. But only gods know why, in the last november (2011) and after reading many post and news about the goods of Android, I bought a Samsung Galaxy S2.

I really got impressed with the screen, the resolution and all those bla bla bla... But after almost three months I gave up... I just don't get on with this phone, simply becasuse is the most useless phone I ever try!

For many people, Blackberry is the past, Ok, I give you that you Android and iPhone phones, ok, but...

*("BORING") Blackberrys has LED notification, which is the GREATEST feature a smartphone can have, my "MONSTER ALLMIGHTY" Galaxy doesnt have...mmmmmm
*("BORING") Blackberrys has a screen notification for everything (even for Whataspp), so are always in touch and aware from everything, my "MONSTER ALLMIGHTY" Galaxy only has one, thanks to the Samsung's TouchWiz... more "mmmmmmm"
*("BORING") Blackberrys never loose a mail on your inbox, never a "conection failure", Gmail and Email on my "MONSTER ALLMIGHTY" Galaxy is like a woman: depends on how she wakes up in the morning that your mails will appear on the "HUUUUGE" screen...
*("BORING") Blackberrys has a universal mailbox (call it simply "messages") for everything: mails, sms, BMM, whatsapp, facebook, twitter, anything, which I think is the BEST feature a phone SHOULD have, and Blackberry has it. My Galaxy only has the Samsung's "SocialHub", which is somewhat useful, just somewhat...

I'm feeling really frustrating these days... And when I read that Blackberry slogan "We need tools, not toys" I get more frustrating. Having these toy Galaxy S2 smartphone, I realize how great Blackberry is, just for one basic thing: Blackberry was desingned and meant for work and bussines, and on those fields Blackberry is great, 'cause they know what to do.

For what is Android phones?, Sure they are not for work. Great facebook design, great twitter desing, nice to have or to can download many apps (that I don't use...), but, when you need the phone to do something serious, something for works, it fails, simply fails...

The funny thing on an Android phone is test a lot of ROMs, which a sickly thing, and testing the device on a benchmark app to see if it is faster than a Nexus, or a LG, or a Motorola... really stupid...

I have not just an Android phone, I have one of the most amazing phone from the 2011 year, but is just great to take great phone pictures, listening great quality music and take movies or videos in FULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL HD... but just that...

I have a 2 year contract, but I do can change my Galaxy S2 data plan to a Blackberry plan whenever I like, just before the plan re-bills. I will sell this toy surely the next month (on march) and getting a Bold 9900 to get back to my normal (and useful) life.

[Trev1011]

I traded my samsung galaxy s2 lte for a bold 9900. I loved my s2 it was super fast and really customizable. Plus the screen was great for watching videos. However this bold is also great. I decided that I wanted a device for texting and talking. I can do everything on this bold that I was doing on the s2 with the exception of having to pay for some apps where android offers the same app or similair for free. Plus android has sooooo many devices your wanting to get a different phone every other week.
To sum it all up I'm really happy with my decision. Following @blackberryhelp on twitter really helps for the #BBTips. Very useful for a noob bb user.

[intellectronik]

Originally Posted by kcmo

@ intellectronik

LOL! Glad you're happy with the 9900 again! Is the 9900 faster and smoother than the 9810? I haven't compared specs.

Got to go with your gut which it sounds like you did. Would love to hear more feedback from you in the near future as to how it's going. Oh, one thing I did want to ask. When you buy a new 9900 from AT&T, does it come with OS 7.1? In all the years I used BBs, I never did an OS upgrade....was always too nervous! Hopefully yours won't bring any battery issues, or other problems I've read about.

I'm still mulling over what to do about my iPhone 4s. Don't want to make a mistake either way.

Thanks for your update and enjoy your new 9900!!!

To answer your questions before I move on (to some potentially upsetting news), I ran the original (stock) 7.0.0.440 on my Blackberry Bold 9900. 7.1 was not (and still isn't at this point) available specifically for the AT&T version of the Bold 9900. I didn't have any huge battery issues to begin with, so I went with the "if it it's not broken, don't fix it" approach at the time. I (personally) felt the 9900 ran a bit smoother then the 9810 which is why I had chose to exchange it that very same day. Spec-wise it's the same (less the Auto-Focus 5MP camera on the 9810 / Torch and the EFOD 5MP Camera on the 9900 / Bold Touch), form-factor is obviously a different story.

Moving-on, I hate to be the bearer of bad news (at least in this community which I still have much respect for), but I finally jumped ship for the time-being. I'm using a (16GB / Black) iPhone 4S and not looking back at this point. I returned the 9900 to AT&T that I had purchased (at FULL RETAIL.)

As it stands, I will NOT knock Blackberry (ever), as I still have love for my previous addiction, but the iPhone 4S has grown on me more-so then I ever thought.

I am still keeping a close-eye on things as they develop in the Blackberry World, but personally speaking I'm thoroughly enjoying the experience with the iPhone 4S, so far.

I wish everyone in this community the best...!

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by intellectronik

To answer your questions before I move on (to some potentially upsetting news), I ran the original (stock) 7.0.0.440 on my Blackberry Bold 9900. 7.1 was not (and still isn't at this point) available specifically for the AT&T version of the Bold 9900. I didn't have any huge battery issues to begin with, so I went with the "if it it's not broken, don't fix it" approach at the time. I (personally) felt the 9900 ran a bit smoother then the 9810 which is why I had chose to exchange it that very same day. Spec-wise it's the same (less the Auto-Focus 5MP camera on the 9810 / Torch and the EFOD 5MP Camera on the 9900 / Bold Touch), form-factor is obviously a different story.

Moving-on, I hate to be the bearer of bad news (at least in this community which I still have much respect for), but I finally jumped ship for the time-being. I'm using a (16GB / Black) iPhone 4S and not looking back at this point. I returned the 9900 to AT&T that I had purchased (at FULL RETAIL.)

As it stands, I will NOT knock Blackberry (ever), as I still have love for my previous addiction, but the iPhone 4S has grown on me more-so then I ever thought.

I am still keeping a close-eye on things as they develop in the Blackberry World, but personally speaking I'm thoroughly enjoying the experience with the iPhone 4S, so far.

I wish everyone in this community the best...!

Good of you to update us! Enjoy the iPhone!

Still have mine and still having email issues...just haven't demanded a replacement from Apple yet...

[Jremy313]

Ok Im back. I left the blackberry style for the Samsung reclaim and only been gone for 2months smh. I had to get my blackberry back. It wasnt really so much for the social or apps part because I had a ipod touch 4th Gen. The samsung suck the calender suck and the GPS and no password safe and worst of all any pics I recieved resets my phone because it was higher than 2mp. Anywho I said I suck up the high price plan even though im never on the phone. lol

[ex_droidluvr]

I've been an Android user for 4 years now and still loving it. I purchased my PB last week because I've been hearing good & bad things about it and I want to try & see it myself. I also like to root my gadgets and I am on my way to rooting my PB.

So far, I am loving my PB. I would like to see RIM back on its feet again and continue the fight. I am Canadian and I am going to support Canadian made products.

Cheers!