[anon(8497771)]

I currently have a BlackBerry Classic which I love, but I always find myself glancing at the 9900 and thinking how much I'd like to try it out. My worry is what still works and what doesn't. Forgive the ignorance, but can I BBM people who have apple devices? Are many apps now "broken"? Does push email still work? Do imap/pop3 email work on the device? Again- sorry for the ignorance. Other than an old BlackBerry 7280 all my experience has been with BlackBerry 10.

Posted via CB10

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Grass always looks greener....

No BBM for BBOS and BB10 is not keeping up with BBM for Android and iOS... you can message between legacy and current major OS. But Video doesn't work

Most all your basic features do still work, can still be a good messaging (phone, text, email) platform... Apps are another matter, so forget about social networks or any major current apps.

Big thing would be to check and see if a local carrier knows what a BlackBerry BIS plan is, and how much they charge for it.

[Pistooli]

I am not sure if BB Classic is (or will be soon) any better that a Bold 9900... of course it is much newer and faster...

But on a Bold 9900 Whatsapp and Viber does not work... FB Messenger neither... FB only works via web...

BBM kinda works, but again, I am not sure if it ever will be on pair with iOS or Android (probably never again)

Email (at least I have setup Gmail) works just excellent, but it needs some extra steps during setup (the info is in this forum)

So... not recommended... as much as I love it, though...

[Nguyen1]

A 9900 is still a good PHONE. And music player and kindle ereader. If you want Internet and social media, not so much. Get a newer smartphone if you like apps and graphics. I enjoy my 9930 but I recognize it's limitations in today's marketplace.

Sent from my BlackBerry Passport SE

[glwerry]

One of the reasons that I went to a Classic instead of keeping my 9810 slider was that the 9810 wouldn't support LTE - it was stuck on CDMA in my jurisdiction (Manitoba, Canada). So, for things like web browsing the Classic was TONS faster.

[Nguyen1]

5g is around the corner and edge / 2g is slowly getting dropped. Keep that in mind when getting a legacy device. There may come a time when it can no longer be used as a phone, unless it's a world phone and you visit a developing country.

Sent from my BlackBerry Passport SE

[anon(9721108)]

Really amazes me how people say "oh you can't do social networking or BBM on a 9900" and yet here we are using the major big Social networks with speed and no problems.

I have an iphone sitting and I haven't used it for over a month. I do switch back to it sometimes ( but that was for Pokemon go shhhh)

I am having no problems with BBM, in fact is works much better on the 9900 than on my iphone, because sometimes the BBM ios app double-posts and the person gets the same message twice. I have NEVER had issue with BBM on the 9900 or the 9780. I never used video calling on BBM anyway. I don't even like using facetime so that tell you how "important" it is for some of us.

I made a small series of videos for the naysayers that believe you "cannot do anything on those devices." Here is one....



"The 99's charms will tug at your heart. Nothing else ever approached such exquisite perfection"-idssteve

[Nguyen1]

If the carrier drops BIS, I doubt BBM will work very well on legacy devices. But personally, I wouldn't know, as my main phone is a passport, which doesn't require BIS unlike legacy devices.

That said, I'm curious to try my 9930 on AT&T, although I need to get a Sim adaptor first...

Sent from my BlackBerry Passport SE

[anon(9721108)]

If the carrier drops BIS, I doubt BBM will work very well on legacy devices. But personally, I wouldn't know, as my main phone is a passport, which doesn't require BIS unlike legacy devices.

That said, I'm curious to try my 9930 on AT&T, although I need to get a Sim adaptor first...

Sent from my BlackBerry Passport SE

That's something I don't even worry about in Canada, of course people in other areas have to do the checking first before I would recommend getting one of course.

As far as I know all the carriers in Canada have it.

[anon(9721108)]

Yes Push email works and you CAN BBM with people who have BBM installed on ios or android devices.

"The 99's charms will tug at your heart. Nothing else ever approached such exquisite perfection"-idssteve

[anon(8497771)]

My main phone IS a classic but as I'm not going to be able to buy another blackberry in the future (bb os that is) I'm was tempted to get a second device mostly for camping. The bolds are now 90 bucks to buy refurbished which is pretty cheap and if it gets dropped in the lake or falls into the campfire its not a huge amount of cash lost. That was my thinking when I started this thread. Probably no chance it takes one of the smallest type sim cards though? My experience with sim adapters is they get stuck and you end up destroying your phone trying to get it out (so long Q10, sigh). Social networking is unimportant to me but bbm not working would be a deal breaker. The whole BIS thing though, sounds like my classic and a bold use an entirely different network service. Couldn't switch between the two devices interchangeably by swapping sims?

[David Tyler]

If the carrier drops BIS, I doubt BBM will work very well on legacy devices...
That said, I'm curious to try my 9930 on AT&T, although I need to get a Sim adaptor first...

On a legacy device, BBM won't work at all without BIS -- unless you're on wi-fi.

If you are on a BlackBerry 10 device, be advised switching SIM cards with a BBOS device is not painless. A friend of mine who also has BlackBerry 10 devices wanted to try and use a 9900. He found he had to call AT&T every time he switched SIM cards to re-provision the devices.

I have a Passport SE and a Bold 9900 on AT&T (which now provides BIS for free, BTW), but I have a separate SIM card for each device.

[anon(9721108)]

My main phone IS a classic but as I'm not going to be able to buy another blackberry in the future (bb os that is) I'm was tempted to get a second device mostly for camping. The bolds are now 90 bucks to buy refurbished which is pretty cheap and if it gets dropped in the lake or falls into the campfire its not a huge amount of cash lost. That was my thinking when I started this thread. Probably no chance it takes one of the smallest type sim cards though? My experience with sim adapters is they get stuck and you end up destroying your phone trying to get it out (so long Q10, sigh). Social networking is unimportant to me but bbm not working would be a deal breaker. The whole BIS thing though, sounds like my classic and a bold use an entirely different network service. Couldn't switch between the two devices interchangeably by swapping sims?

Yup $90 is what I paid, but if you check Kijiji they can be had much cheaper and unlocked (if you are in Canada)

Great "kickaround" device because it is small and it will never get in your way, backpack, hip holster, etc.

BBM works fine with wifi only, I just tested that to confirm.

The 9900 uses a "Standard SD" card so that is the adapter you will need. My iphone is a nano sim card and I pop it into the Standard SD card adapter and no issues. I bought a German no name brand from "Source" (Radio Shak equivalent in the US) and the nano makes a nice positive "click" going into it.


"The 99's charms will tug at your heart. Nothing else ever approached such exquisite perfection"-idssteve

[anon(9721108)]

On a legacy device, BBM won't work at all without BIS -- unless you're on wi-fi.
.

What's interesting is just now when I tested my BBM with the cellular data turned off, the BIS indicator dots were not showing and on just wifi it worked fine. (for what that's worth)

"The 99's charms will tug at your heart. Nothing else ever approached such exquisite perfection"-idssteve

[David Tyler]

Forgive the ignorance, but can I BBM people who have apple devices? Are many apps now "broken"? Does push email still work? Do imap/pop3 email work on the device?

I was surprised, but the BBM 8.<something> version for BBOS devices is really excellent. Assuming your carrier supports BIS, you can indeed have non-BlackBerry contacts, and you can even set up BlackBerry Protected chats with them. You can't use stickers in groups, but you can in one-one chats. With BIS, push email (blackberry.net email address) works fine. The only other email issues I've heard of is people having to do some pushups to set up gmail (I don't have gmail set up on my Bold).

[David Tyler]

What's interesting is just now when I tested my BBM with the cellular data turned off, the BIS indicator dots were not showing and on just wifi it worked fine.

Correct; BBM and push email will work just fine on wi-fi. My BIS dots show up when I'm on wi-fi with the cell radio turned off.

[anon(9721108)]

True about the gmail David. I set up mine from scratch with no help and had to Google it all, but once we know what to do it's not bad and once done it is done for the life of the device....

in case the Original poster needs it, here is the GMail set up...

http://support.blackberry.com/kb/art...nguage=English

"The 99's charms will tug at your heart. Nothing else ever approached such exquisite perfection"-idssteve

[anon(9721108)]

Correct; BBM and push email will work just fine on wi-fi. My BIS dots show up when I'm on wi-fi with the cell radio turned off.

Right you are David. My dots showed up now with Data turned off and wifi ON. Must have been a delay the first time I tried it.

"The 99's charms will tug at your heart. Nothing else ever approached such exquisite perfection"-idssteve

[anon(8063781)]

That said, I'm curious to try my 9930 on AT&T, although I need to get a Sim adaptor first...

Sent from my BlackBerry Passport SE

It should work on 2G only, and not for long, since AT&T is planning to shut down the 2G network in January 2017.

[anon(8063781)]

On a legacy device, BBM won't work at all without BIS -- unless you're on wi-fi.

In general, BBM shouldn't work at all without BIS, even on WiFi. But if you have a BIS plan and your network pushes you the right service books, it will probably work after you pull the SIM card. That won't work for people without a BIS plan.

[David Tyler]

In general, BBM shouldn't work at all without BIS, even on WiFi. But if you have a BIS plan and your network pushes you the right service books, it will probably work after you pull the SIM card. That won't work for people without a BIS plan.

Hmm. I'm afraid I'm as bad as all the other peddlers of half-truths and myths!! >blush< Question: If your mobile radio is off, and your only connection is via wi-fi, how does the device access BIS?

[anon(8063781)]

Hmm. I'm afraid I'm as bad as all the other peddlers of half-truths and myths!! >blush< Question: If your mobile radio is off, and your only connection is via wi-fi, how does the device access BIS?

I don't think there were any half-truths or myths. You're able to connect to BBM over WiFi, so your service books -- which contain all of the connection settings -- must make it possible to connect to the BlackBerry servers. I don't have any BBM service books, so I can't connect to the servers. BBM does not work at all, over cellular data or WiFi.

I've been able to modify a set of T-Mobile service books to add the MMS connection settings for my provider (Koodo Prepaid). I don't think that would be possible for BBM, but I wouldn't try in any case, because that's a BlackBerry-provided service that I'm not paying for.

[Nguyen1]

That is really way way too much hassle just to connect to BBM. I'll just use my passport for that. Done.

Sent from my BlackBerry Passport SE

[anon(9721108)]

it's pretty easy to click "send service books" on the device. One press of a button under the "options" basically, from what I have done. Easier than it sounds

BUT if the OP is going camping, etc. if he doesn't care about really getting into setting it up (which is half the fun) then it should be ok as a phone.

I would hit the local electronics stores, or check local cellular listings because I think they can be had for much cheaper than $90 now. Even ebay might be worth it for an unlocked one.

"The 99's charms will tug at your heart. Nothing else ever approached such exquisite perfection"-idssteve

[anon(9721108)]

It should work on 2G only, and not for long, since AT&T is planning to shut down the 2G network in January 2017.

What about 3G and H+ (which mine has) and even in a fringe area mine is hardly ever on Edge (2G)

Again maybe Canada is more "lucky" in this regard?

"The 99's charms will tug at your heart. Nothing else ever approached such exquisite perfection"-idssteve