[bobaloo]

I've been trying to find this out so I can make the right decision here, but can't seem to get solid information

So I'm looking for non-passionate discussion about the true differences between a BB Priv and the S7 with Cobalt's BB Apps solution.

The two main things that stick out are the physical keyboard, which I don�t care about, and the commitment to monthly security updates, which I do care about a bit.

But what else?

Examples of questions on my mind:
1. Would an S7 with BB Apps have all functionality of a Priv?
2. Does DTEK work?
3. Does that peak thing from the right side work?
4. Does the battery meter on the RS of the screen work?
5. Do the BB apps work better/worse on the S7 over the Priv?
6. What functionality of the Priv is not available on the S7?
7. If Cobalt gives up his efforts or his server goes down, do the BB apps cease to work?
8. I keep hearing about how awful Touch-Wiz is, but no one has ever explained what that even means or why it�s awful.
9. Do the BB launcher and Touch Wiz work side-by-side?
10. what questions haven�t I asked that you think would be important to have answers to?

I don�t use gmail. I connect my mail via IMAP and contacts and calendar via cardDAV and CalDAV respectively if that matters for sake of discussion.

I appreciate your input

[Centerman66]

I dont know any of the answers to these questions as I own a Priv. But I am eager to hear the answers.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android on my Priv

[zocster]

Dtek won't work. I read the 7edge has more functional edge v Priv. Other than that.... Ddr3 v ddr4

[Cobalt232]

I've been trying to find this out so I can make the right decision here, but can't seem to get solid information

So I'm looking for non-passionate discussion about the true differences between a BB Priv and the S7 with Cobalt's BB Apps solution.

The two main things that stick out are the physical keyboard, which I don’t care about, and the commitment to monthly security updates, which I do care about a bit.

But what else?

Examples of questions on my mind:
1. Would an S7 with BB Apps have all functionality of a Priv?
2. Does DTEK work?
3. Does that peak thing from the right side work?
4. Does the battery meter on the RS of the screen work?
5. Do the BB apps work better/worse on the S7 over the Priv?
6. What functionality of the Priv is not available on the S7?
7. If Cobalt gives up his efforts or his server goes down, do the BB apps cease to work?
8. I keep hearing about how awful Touch-Wiz is, but no one has ever explained what that even means or why it’s awful.
9. Do the BB launcher and Touch Wiz work side-by-side?
10. what questions haven’t I asked that you think would be important to have answers to?

I don’t use gmail. I connect my mail via IMAP and contacts and calendar via cardDAV and CalDAV respectively if that matters for sake of discussion.

I appreciate your input

Here some answers:

1. From a software perspective YES, but it has no physical keyboard
2. No it doesnt work and it is useless anyway, because it doesn't protect your phone. Read this article:
BlackBerry Priv has a big flaw: It's a privacy flop | ZDNet
3. Samsung has it's own Edge Integration that is same or superior to the one of the priv
4. No. But Samsung has its own Edge features (i.e. the always on display of information even if screen is off)
5. They work the same way as they do on a priv
6. The keyboard and some Blackberry specific apps that you most likely won't miss (i.e. DTEK, Blackberry Edge)
7. The apps will continue to run even if my server doesn't work. Its just a download server to provide the installation files
8. TouchWiz isn't awfull in my opinion. Some just don't like the customized Icons (you can change that with a theme anyway)
9. No, it's one or the other. You can't run two launchers at the same time, but you can seamlessly switch if you want

This is my personal opinion. Other people may think different.

[bobaloo]

Cobalt, I appreciate your perfect answer. That's exactly what I'm looking for.

Quick followup. I'm familiar with android, but not quite fluent in it.

Do you mind a quick and simple rundown or explanation of Touch Wiz versus BB launcher? I've played with the Priv and I've seen those three icons come up from the bottom of the screen. Is that the BB Launcher or part of it? So to have the functionality, do I lose all of Touch Wiz functionality?

I'm assuming Touch Wiz is a little more robust than the BB Launcher, but I'm not well versed in Android enough to even know what to look for when comparing.

I appreciate your input and the time you're taking to offer it. Thank you.

[Cobalt232]

The 3 dots below an icon to display widgets is a BlackBerry launcher feature. It's fully supported on Samsung.

[Cobalt232]

Here a screens hot of my Galaxy S6:

[axe50]

Was making the same decision and went with the s7 edge running cobalt's BlackBerry AppS (thanks cobalt!!)

It's night and day. The only thing of value was the software, and now I have it. Everything else on the s7 is miles ahead of what the priv offers (screen, cameras, ram, overall design, full touch with no pkb, etc.)

Plus, the fact that you get a bundle of great freebies makes it a no-brainer (I got a year of Netflix, gear vr headset and oculus games, ND a free wireless charger for using Samsung pay).

Quick note on the security front. Yes, BlackBerry releases patches on day one (the day Google announces the issues), which is great but do you really think if there was a major hole in Android that Samsung, a tier one OEM wouldn't deploy a fix right away?

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[theclipart]

i dont own a priv, but an s7edge. was never a fan of BBs sliding keyboards, just awful build IMO, so i went with a samsung. not only that, but after their lame reddit AMA and hearing all the complaints abt the phone made my decision a little easier to go with a samsung if i could use their Priv apps.

cobalts apps work BEAUTIFULLY on my device. (thank you, cobalt!) smh that BB hasnt offered this on the play store to other users...they could make a killing! but like their bad decisions in marketing advertising (yuck on the awful Priv ads - what they HELL were they thinking! B&W images that didnt make any sense whatsoever!! sorry, tangent)

i chose not to use the BB launcher, but the Samsung TouchWiz home. the only thing ive noticed that was off, was the spark notification will not appear on the BB Hub icon when new messages come in (i can live with that). another thing ive noticed was when i click the BB Hub to see my messages, the spark is visible on the top right "BlackBerry Hub" selector even when i dont have a new message. once i click the spark, the hub slides out and the spark disappears. something too i can live with.

the Hub is definitely miles ahead of any mail program thats available for android. it just looks beautiful on the eyes and it makes sense. but im not going to lie, i do miss the beautiful build of my passport and z10 tho, the bb10 os is truly brilliant. a shame.

[adr972]

http://forums.crackberry.com/showthread.php?t=1067664

Please, have a look at this thread, Just to see a bug that is being reported by some users, Facebook notifications (and WhatsApp in some cases) DO NOT appear in Hub, on both Samsung S6 and S7. Any help in fixing that would be greatly appreciated


Posted via CB10

[johnnydoesai]

Why would you need Dtek? Its pretty much useless...

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[D3C0D3R]

Isn't DTEK just useless for the time being and with Marshmallow and allowing specific permissions it will have a much greater impact?

And not sure about everyone else, but DTEK has helped me figure out specific apps that I trust no longer (such as random apps accessing my location every 10 minutes, etc), and then given them the boot since they're not important anyways

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[luigieagle]

Wait, wait, wait! How can I instal the Blackberry Theme on my Samsung and get the 3 points to use the widgets??

[Cobalt232]

Here:
http://forums.crackberry.com/showthread.php?p=12231296

Read the instructions carefully.

[luigieagle]

Thank you!!!!!

Posted via BlackBerry Passport SE

[neil74]

I had a priv and now have a S7 edge with cobalts app. IMO the S7/apps option is the best option.

I use the BB launcher too but only because no other launcher that I have found has the notification 'splats' for the BB hub.

[presean]

I had a priv and now have a S7 edge with cobalts app. IMO the S7/apps option is the best option.

I use the BB launcher too but only because no other launcher that I have found has the notification 'splats' for the BB hub.

Do you have a powerful led?

Posted via the CrackBerry app on PRIV by BlackBerry

[MooseNYC]

i chose not to use the BB launcher, but the Samsung TouchWiz home. the only thing ive noticed that was off, was the spark notification will not appear on the BB Hub icon when new messages come in (i can live with that). another thing ive noticed was when i click the BB Hub to see my messages, the spark is visible on the top right "BlackBerry Hub" selector even when i dont have a new message. once i click the spark, the hub slides out and the spark disappears. something too i can live with.

I just got the S7E as well and have installed Cobalts apps. I did notice that Nova Launcher has a companion app called 'Tesla Unread' which should give you similar functionality.
Check it out on Youtube for a demo

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[MooseNYC]

I use the BB launcher too but only because no other launcher that I have found has the notification 'splats' for the BB hub.

Maybe Tesla Unread could work if you like Nova launcher?

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[jbar1]

Is there a list of cobalts apps? Can you get the BlackBerry virtual keyboard on the S7?

Posted via CB10

[Cobalt232]

Read this:
http://forums.crackberry.com/showthread.php?p=12231296

[classicrock31]

How well does the led notification light work on the S7 compared to the Priv or BB10 when receiving various notifications or messages? Is it as customizable on the S7 as it is on the Priv/BB10?

These are questions directed for those who have enabled BlackBerry Hub...

Posted via CB10

[bobaloo]

This is a great question and I'm interested in the answer as well.

My deadline on a decision is coming close. I appreciate all the conversation happening in this thread

[axe50]

Yes. You can enable or disable the Led and pick a color by contact. It Works fine.

Posted via CB10

[axe50]

For those running cobalts apps, has anyone been able to join contacts? Every time I do that the contacts app crashes.

Posted via CB10