BlackBerry 10 Phone Functionality Today and Beyond

Hi everyone,

I am not clear on what will be the functionality of BB10 devices like the Q10, BB Classic, etc., after “support” runs out. I know there is some uncertainty, but I think that comes from people who want the device to continue function as a smartphone.

What I am looking for is a phone that has LTE, can call, text, and have basic apps (calendar, calculations, music player)—basically a useful dumbphone. I don’t need Blackberry World or any other services

My understanding is that BB10 can do that now and in the future, even without Blackberry “support.” Is that correct? I am not aware of any services that BB10 has to “phone home” to just to function. Do I have that right.

Thanks for the thoughts guys.

Calls, texts, and network should all remain intact. When it comes to basic apps, most should continue to work, calculator, music player etc. Personally speaking, I would seek out alternatives to anything 'BlackBerry'... BlackBerry Maps, BlackBerry Calendar, etc. Not saying they will stop working, just saying the potential is there and it's better to have those things not relying on BlackBerry directly.

Once it's been activated, as far as we know it should function as you described.... but if you ever wipe it and "if" they ever turn off "everything" then it's a brick, as there is an activation process that calls home.

Key too will be carrier support as 3G is phases out, some carrier's might not support it as an LTE only device??? Already seeing that here in the US.

I "sorta" doubt they shut everything down for a good while yet.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the response. Good to know the device would work for now, however long that is. Never understood that the device needed to be activated (been a while since I ran across a BB10 device) so it was nice to learn that. All good things can’t last forever I suppose.

Although Maps works fine on my Passport and the kids Z30's, I've decided to go sideways and go back to Garmin. I've picked up several Nuvi 2500 series on fleabay and at goodwill stores. Online they were about 30 bucks each and at the thrift stores they were around ten. These aren't that old and sold for around $300 brand new, so basically pretty cheap for free navigation. Each came with the charger with the FM sub channel thingy in the charger that gives you live traffic. Map updates are lifetime so I've got them all freshly updated. We've got four vehicles so I got one for each vehicle and a couple of spares. We're all spoiled brats with our all-in-one smart phones. At least if you lose the phone you can still use the Garmin. Currently I use the Garmin about half the time. The best thing about it is that it doesn't sell your data and flood your browser(s) with ads after you type something into it. There's also zero ads on the screen of the device. What's not to love? YMMV. Cheers.

Posted via CB10

I have been a Blackberry user since 2006 when it was a mandatory device for those of us in executive positions with the U.S. Federal Government. Upon my retirement in 2015, I purchased the Blackberry Classic which I continue to use today. I have replaced the holster 3 times but the phone has withstood several drops and continues to function well. I have learned to live without Blackberry Travel and more recently Blackberry Maps. Blackberry continues to be the device of choice for a small cohort of “highly effective people” to paraphrase Stephen Covey’s book. To understand why Blackberry Classics users are justifiably bitter about the demise of our phone, read “Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry”. As it turns out, customers wanted a device that was more camera and Facebook tool and less an efficient device for accomplishing daily tasks. That being said, I contacted my younger brother this weekend and asked which iPhone he recommends. Now in my mid-70s I have begun to realize that aging is a series of losses. My Blackberry Classic will be one of many losses going forward.

Originally Posted by romeytang

Thanks guys. I appreciate the response. Good to know the device would work for now, however long that is. Never understood that the device needed to be activated (been a while since I ran across a BB10 device) so it was nice to learn that. All good things can’t last forever I suppose.

Just to be clear, you absolutely can restore a BB10 phone and use it without it phoning home, so long as BlackBerry Protect has been turned off. When you set up your unprotected phone, just skip the BBID login. It will continue to promote you occasionally, but you can ignore that.

However, if you reset your phone with BlackBerry Protect enabled, you will likely have to validate it with the BlackBerry servers with your BBID.

The risk would be if BlackBerry turned off the BlackBerry Protect server without notice. In that case, we can't know in advance if toggling off BlackBerry Protect on your phone would be sufficient to allow you to reset it without validating the existing BBID.

It might be possible to test that scenario by turning off the antenna prior to turning off BlackBerry Protect and then resetting the phone. But I'm not going to try it.



From the screen of my trusty Z10 using the exceptional BlackBerry VKB.

I cannot see a scenario where BlackBerry would not give advance notice for such a catastrophic event effecting millions of users, included among them Hospitals, Businesses and Government agencies, Globally.

Posted via my Passport

Originally Posted by Crusader03

I cannot see a scenario where BlackBerry would not give advance notice for such a catastrophic event effecting millions of users, included among them Hospitals, Businesses and Government agencies, globally.

Posted via my Passport

Hundreds of thousands.

In any event, there was a full 2 year warning regarding EOL status.

Millions is what was stated in the 2017 announcement. Or did I misunderstand that? Plus they also announced an indefinite extension to back end services, so yes, I believe they will announce the hard date for EOL.

Posted via my Passport

Originally Posted by Crusader03

Millions is what stated in the 2017 announcement. Or did I misunderstand that? Plus they also announced an indefinite extension to back end services, so yes, I believe they will announce the hard date for EOL.

Posted via my Passport

Two years ago, there MAY have been as many as a million of each (BB10 and BBOS). That was a LONG time ago.

They did not announce an extension - only a clarification that some back-end services won't be immediately shut down on Dec 31st.

BB10 was a fork from QNX. QNX is still going strong in cars. The most practical thing to do would be merge those two software lines back together and just make a hidden “cheat” code of sorts in the car version of QNX that creates the “phone dialler” screen interface going forward. Then, said company won’t have to maintain separate lines anymore. Just a single QNX for handhelds or autos.

Originally Posted by Digital_Islandboy

BB10 was a fork from QNX.

No. BB10 is built over QNX like a skyscraper is built over a concrete footing.

QNX represents a miniscule amount of the code for BB10.

Originally Posted by Crusader03

I cannot see a scenario where BlackBerry would not give advance notice for such a catastrophic event effecting millions of users, included among them Hospitals, Businesses and Government agencies, Globally.

Posted via my Passport

Whatever qualifies as “millions” , that figure includes BBOS and BB10 together. If you read the press release, it’s really about losing active functionality and support for Twitter and BlackBerry Assistant while clarifying EOL for BB10 OS and devices. It just states the backend services won’t be shutdown.

As far as communication, I’d look at the lack of communication regarding the Playbook downtime this past year. I’d also encourage those interested to look at the last time we’ve heard from BB associates here on the CB forums.