1. LostOnThePianoRoll's Avatar
    You should turn your mobile network into (2G) to make sure no huge amounts of data are being consumed at any time, bbm and email work perfectly over 2G, and so should BlackBerry blend..

    I think the best option ,and it's completely local.
    is to create a wifi hotspot from the phone while your mobile network is on 2G then connect the tab to it.

    Well that's how I plan on doing it when I get my classic

    Posted via CB10 on my Z10STL100-1/10.3.1.634
    10-19-14 10:52 AM
  2. eldrover's Avatar
    There is no indication and not no need for Blend to use BlackBerry servers

    Posted with my flash Passport
    Taken from Bla1ze's review of Blend:

    BlackBerry Security, Across Your Devices: Powered by the BlackBerry device through the BlackBerry network, this seamless experience is also secure.

    http://m.crackberry.com/blackberry-b...ter-and-tablet

    Posted via CB10
    10-20-14 09:22 AM
  3. KenFletch's Avatar
    But blend is not a cloud service and there is no need to pass any of the data flow through blackberry servers. Validation and perhaps a pointer to your phone would be all that need be there.



    Posted with my flash Passport
    10-20-14 09:36 AM
  4. Richard Buckley's Avatar
    But blend is not a cloud service and there is no need to pass any of the data flow through blackberry servers. Validation and perhaps a pointer to your phone would be all that need be there.



    Posted with my flash Passport
    It depends on the relative locations of the BlackBerry and the PC/Tablet. If they are connected by USB then probably not, though login may be handled by BB servers. If both are on the same network, via Wi-Fi for example, then again probably not, except for rendezvous and login maybe. However if they are on separate networks, behind NAT routers, then BB servers would carry the data.
    10-20-14 10:49 AM
  5. eldrover's Avatar
    But blend is not a cloud service and there is no need to pass any of the data flow through blackberry servers. Validation and perhaps a pointer to your phone would be all that need be there.



    Posted with my flash Passport
    I agree there is no "need" to pas the data through BlackBerry servers, but I imagine there's a benefit of doing so on BlackBerry's end, and that doing so provides the average user with an out-of-the-box security advantage since NOC data is basically invisible to the general Internet.

    Again, my admittedly uneducated interpretation of how the BlackBerry Services work.


    Posted via CB10
    10-20-14 03:33 PM
  6. AnimalPak200's Avatar
    It depends on the relative locations of the BlackBerry and the PC/Tablet. If they are connected by USB then probably not, though login may be handled by BB servers. If both are on the same network, via Wi-Fi for example, then again probably not, except for rendezvous and login maybe. However if they are on separate networks, behind NAT routers, then BB servers would carry the data.
    I wouldn't really call that a cloud services. At least not any more than I would BBM a cloud service. It's just relaying and routing a data transfer. Nothing is being stored anywhere (as far as we know) for the purpose of synching across devices.

    Posted via CB10
    10-20-14 03:36 PM
  7. AnimalPak200's Avatar
    FYI: taken from the BlackBerry Blend Security notes PDF


    BlackBerry Blend data use-img_20141020_163938.png


    BlackBerry Blend data use-img_20141020_163952_edit.png


    BlackBerry Blend data use-img_20141020_164000.png

    Posted via CB10
    eldrover likes this.
    10-20-14 03:41 PM
  8. Richard Buckley's Avatar
    I wouldn't really call that a cloud services. At least not any more than I would BBM a cloud service. It's just relaying and routing a data transfer. Nothing is being stored anywhere (as far as we know) for the purpose of synching across devices.

    Posted via CB10
    Where did I say anything about cloud services?

    Posted via CB10
    10-20-14 04:06 PM
  9. AnimalPak200's Avatar
    Where did I say anything about cloud services?

    Posted via CB10
    You didn't, but countered a post saying that Blend did not involve the cloud. My apologies if I misunderstood. In any case, the documentation shows BlackBerry servers deal with handing out tunneling certificates and validating BBID.

    Posted via CB10
    10-20-14 04:36 PM
  10. Richard Buckley's Avatar
    You didn't, but countered a post saying that Blend did not involve the cloud. My apologies if I misunderstood. In any case, the documentation shows BlackBerry servers deal with handing out tunneling certificates and validating BBID.

    Posted via CB10
    Yes. Thanks for that info. Didn't have the specifics but it makes sense the servers have some role depending on the network technologies in use. Now we know.

    Posted via CB10
    10-20-14 07:32 PM
  11. jermasides's Avatar
    I''ve read the thread. Contrary views by experts - that's disconcerting. But perhaps now that some time has passed we can revisit this.

    I just upgraded the 1Gig monstrosity 10.3.1. So far so good - like getting a new phone 1 year into my 2 year contract. Checking out Blend.

    OK. Post pairing of Z30 and iMac:
    iMac on a wifi network.
    Z30 on Bell network. Wifi, Bluetooth, VPN, MHS, IT are all off. USB not connected.

    Open BBBlend on iMac. Connected. Dashboard up and running.

    Technically these devices are on separate networks. My first thought was that there must be a direct connect between the two devices. Like BBBridge over Bluetooth from the Playbook to my Torch a couple of years ago. Isn't that also kindof how Appletalk works?

    But my concern with blend, as should be the concern of anyone who relies mostly on their mobile data plan, is usage.

    Since there is no BB cloud storing our data - "that we know of" - then for the messages, bbms, text messages to be displayed on my iMac, it must be data use from my phone using the internet. For me to then access file manager using the dashboard, and go to my photo folders stored on my phone, and view a photo, will not that view be data transferred over the internet?

    So my questions are: Is the data being transferred over the BB network infrastructure, or thru Bell? Is the data showing up on my Blend Dashboard compressed - like thumbnails - and more data is transferred when a particular email from the phone is opened, or photo is clicked upon?

    BBBlend on the Z30 should have a data usage monitor like the MHS - which is invaluable to me as I mostly us my Z as a 6G/month turbo stick for my iMac and MBP.

    Thoughts?
    02-25-15 04:22 PM
  12. Richard Buckley's Avatar
    I''ve read the thread. Contrary views by experts - that's disconcerting. But perhaps now that some time has passed we can revisit this.

    I just upgraded the 1Gig monstrosity 10.3.1. So far so good - like getting a new phone 1 year into my 2 year contract. Checking out Blend.

    OK. Post pairing of Z30 and iMac:
    iMac on a wifi network.
    Z30 on Bell network. Wifi, Bluetooth, VPN, MHS, IT are all off. USB not connected.

    Open BBBlend on iMac. Connected. Dashboard up and running.

    Technically these devices are on separate networks. My first thought was that there must be a direct connect between the two devices. Like BBBridge over Bluetooth from the Playbook to my Torch a couple of years ago. Isn't that also kindof how Appletalk works?

    But my concern with blend, as should be the concern of anyone who relies mostly on their mobile data plan, is usage.

    Since there is no BB cloud storing our data - "that we know of" - then for the messages, bbms, text messages to be displayed on my iMac, it must be data use from my phone using the internet. For me to then access file manager using the dashboard, and go to my photo folders stored on my phone, and view a photo, will not that view be data transferred over the internet?

    So my questions are: Is the data being transferred over the BB network infrastructure, or thru Bell? Is the data showing up on my Blend Dashboard compressed - like thumbnails - and more data is transferred when a particular email from the phone is opened, or photo is clicked upon?

    BBBlend on the Z30 should have a data usage monitor like the MHS - which is invaluable to me as I mostly us my Z as a 6G/month turbo stick for my iMac and MBP.

    Thoughts?
    In your scenario, because Wi-Fi is off, Blend data will be using the Bell wireless network. If you had Wi-Fi on, and were connected to a hot spot then the data would not be using the Bell wireless network. BlackBerry network infrastructure will always be used at some point because that is how the Blend application and the device can figure out how to talk to each other.

    I've used blend in my DA-C without a SIM card without difficulty, so long as the DA-C has Wi-Fi connectivity. I'm sure that the data used by Blend would show up in the Device Monitor page for the appliction, so you can keep track of it there.
    02-25-15 08:27 PM
  13. jermasides's Avatar
    In your scenario, because Wi-Fi is off, Blend data will be using the Bell wireless network. If you had Wi-Fi on, and were connected to a hot spot then the data would not be using the Bell wireless network. BlackBerry network infrastructure will always be used at some point because that is how the Blend application and the device can figure out how to talk to each other.

    I've used blend in my DA-C without a SIM card without difficulty, so long as the DA-C has Wi-Fi connectivity. I'm sure that the data used by Blend would show up in the Device Monitor page for the appliction, so you can keep track of it there.
    Edited for relevance after further testing.

    Thanks for your reply Richard. Before getting to it, I used MHS on the Z30 and connected the iMac using wifi. This is my standard practice. I connected to Blend Dashboard. Using the MHS data monitor on the Z, I am able to see in real time sent and received data from the iMac over the Z-modem. This is data being used on my plan. And the principle that I asserted earlier is confirmed: The dashboard uses up some data - when creating "the tunnel" (as pointed out in the datasheets about - thank you AnimalPak for that!). But then data transfer is stagnant until you touch a thread in bbm or sms or email threads or click on a photo or go to file transfer. The tunnel creates what I will describe as a light version - like thumbnails in iPhoto - in the dashoard app, and clicking on specific items expands/downloads them. Not unlike "request hd picture" links in bbm chats.

    Richard - There was a post above that showed before and after pics of mobile data usage. The contributor did a nice job of detailing the difference, which if I recall correctly, the bulk of his transfers were attributed to "system" data. I have been experimenting and monitoring using the same Mobile Data Usage feature.

    I recreated the Blend link using internet-connected wifi on the iMac, and Bell on the Z30. This is the typical approach. Monitored the data transfers using the Device Monitor's Mobile Data Usage charts. When established, BlackBerry Blend on the Z says it is a "mobile network connecion" between devices.

    My data transfers using Blend's "mobile network connection" with my iMac show up as "Device Connections" usage. That's the Blend tunnel, which is counted in Total Mobile Usage data, but not as System data. So maybe that has changed since the Passport release of 10.3, since I did not see Device Connections in AnimalPak's pictures above. They've differentiated between the two different paths. I will be interested to see if Bell differentiates between this tunnelling data transfer and usual Bell System "RIM" data. [edit: More on this coming. While the iMac was connected by MHS I transferred data. MHS indicated 450 Megs of data. 425 Received - 25 Sent. This data has not shown up on my Bell data sheets. I suspect the MHS link between the two devices not only allows the iMac access to the internet via wifi, and access to each devices files, but when data is transferred thru Dashboard using MHS the data is local, and does not traverse the internet. I will try some more experiments to confirm - but it looks like Dashboard DOES infact create a LAN when both devices are using the same wifi network.]

    But what I was saying was that Mobile HotSpot has realtime sent data and received data as part of the MHS screen, which has been invaluable to me over the years when monitoring data use when my iMac is connected via wifi. It would be nice if the BlackBerry Blend page had the same realtime data transfer details instead of going to the Device Monitor.

    Contrary to some earlier suggestions - Blend is not a direct local link to your BB, nor is it a cloud service. My non-techie description is that it's an advanced BBBridge, using tunneling protocol on the BB infrastructure to create a secure connection. I believe it uses your data plan. It's like the Bluetooth model using BBBridge, but Bluetooth doesn't reach the office if the phone is in your kitchen. It goes the other way too. I just used Blend's file manager on the Z30 (accessed by clicking my paired iMac shown in BBBlends Device Connections) to navigate to my iMac's iTunes folder, copied a 9 meg song, and pasted it into my music folder on the Z. Exactly 9 megs showed up on Device Connections data.

    So with the 2 unique device identifiers having established a tunnel/bridge/secure link, you can access files on your computer from your phone, as long as the computer is connected to the internet. That's an advantage if your phone is not sitting beside your computer - in which case use the local BB Link with no mobile data usage.

    My synopsis is that data usage thru Blend using the mobile network connection - apart from the initial establishment of the tunnel and downloaded ghost image in the dashboard [edit: ~9 Megs] - is no different than using the Z as a modem for the iMac. The benefit of having a BB Dashboard as part of the workspace is actually an awesome thing, even when your phone is right beside you. How often do you glance over at the phone to see if the cylon is blinking at you? Having those instant features like email, sms, and bbm notifications on the desktop is a welcome feature. Also a very nice feature in the dashboard was clicking on a link provided in a bbm chat and having it open up in Firefox on my 27" screen. Winner! The upgrade is very nice on the phone, very fast and no lag between screens and apps, and this feature is a nice addition to my computer experience. SMS and BBM messages use negligible data using the dashboard.

    I would, however tempting it may be just to do it, never access a 1Gig movie on my computer over my phone using Blend.
    Last edited by jermasides; 02-28-15 at 12:33 PM.
    02-25-15 11:08 PM
  14. jermasides's Avatar
    The Remote Desktop Manager thing is a neat feature. No argument.

    For the dashboard enthusiasts who have the phone beside their computer/workstation, it would be great if they made BB Link more relevant by incorporating the Playbook's BBBridge-like features of sms, bbm, email, and file manager into a "local" dashboard.

    Upgrade Link to mirror Blend's dashboard, creating a locally Blended pairing!
    Last edited by jermasides; 02-26-15 at 05:34 PM.
    02-26-15 04:55 PM
39 12

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