[werkregen]

Hi everyone,

I own the Classic for a bit over a month and I'm sharing my personal and subjective opinion on it. I will edit the post if the latest update changes anything important.

Configuration:
BlackBerry Classic SQC100-1 on Orange Romania, unlocked
Software Release: 10.3.1.1565 (updated today)
Encrypted, no microsd card; no screen protection; BlackBerry Pouch

Previously owned: (a few others), iPhone 4, Nexus 5
Tested for 1-2 weeks: BlackBerry 9320, BlackBerry 9900, iPhone 5s, BB Q10

Frequently used apps: SMS, email, telegram (android), google maps (android), CB10, ToDoist (android), SimpleNote (android)
Using occasionally: WhatApp,banking app (android), twitter, camera, Evernote. I don't have Snap. I use apks from play store and extracted from N5.
General Usage: business and personal. It's the only phone I use so I'm always in calls, reading e-mails, using it as an organizer and occasionally some article reading.

Pros:
- Keyboard. It's better than the Q10, 9320, 9900. Typing faster than on touchscreen, not by much yet (used swype with 2 languages on android which rarely failed) but it's more accurate and enjoyable.
- The HUB. Best thing a phone can have. This and the keyboard were the main reasons for the purchase
- signal quality. Pretty good radio i'd say.
- very good voice call quality at both ends.
- customizable LED for notifications. Had it on the N5 but it works better on BB.
- comprehensive activity log. Very useful to see every interaction I had with a specific contact, whether it's calls, mails, texts, etc. Unlike the iPhone which had a 100 calls or 1 month limit (last time I checked on the 5s).
- toolbelt
- pretty good built-in speaker
- Android runtime. This is why I didn't buy the Q10 at launch.
- Profiles. You have to get dedicated apps on android if you want more than DND.
- the camera is ok
- performance. Seen many people complain about its old hardware. I'd say it has above average performance.
- battery life. I keep it on 3G (as I did with all devices) because reception isn't that good yet on 4G and I usually get more than a day on a single charge. It definitely lasts more than previous devices with bluetooth and location turned on.
- SOLID device. Nice to hold in hand.

Cons:
- screen size. It's ok but I'm not using youtube or other media apps as much as I used to on the N5. Not a problem for me because I expected this, but for those who consume media a lot I wouldn't recommend the device.
- overall the software doesn't seem optimized for the device. I've found several bugs and inconsistencies. There are some things that haven't been adapted from full screen to keyboard. I'll detail some of them below.
- BlackBerry World for native apps not even close to the quality and quantity of Apple and Google Play. Yes, you can use android apps but they don't perform as well as they do on android.
- Maps. Nothing beats Google's Maps. I have beMaps Pro but I didn't figure out yet how to switch to turn-by-turn view. The few times I tried it sent me to the native maps app which is insufficient.

Bugs:
- Big - Names attached to contacts disappear from time to time. I'd say 1 out of 10 calls I get only the number and not the name. Formatted all numbers correctly, reset device to factory settings and unmerged contacts. Nothing worked. I didn't have this problem on other devices no matter the formatting (synced with google).
- Big - Call log. On 3 separate occasions half of my call history wouldn't be listed and I had to do a soft reboot for them to reappear.
- Big - Bluetooth. With latest update I have problems connecting it to my car. Keeps asking for PIN, connects after 10 attempts and after 3-4 minutes it starts asking the PIN again.
- changing volume while playing youtube videos and sometimes songs within the music app will make some weird cracking noises (not from the physical keys). It happens on speakers, headphones or bluetooth.
- at first run it didn't want to connect to my work WLAN with no error message. I switched the router from WPA to WPA2 and it worked.
- Sometimes I have to mark missed calls as "read" for the notification to go away. It fixes by itself.
- Battery in the device monitor is very inaccurate. For example, after a full charge, when the device hit 50% I checked the monitor and I had only a straight line at 70%. Not the only bug I found there. Also I don't trust the consumption per app. I had an old Maps apk which clearly drained my battery, but the monitor showed only 1% consumption from the app and under 5% for android runtime.

Annoyances/wishlist:
- Keyboard. The space button and the back button on the ribbon feel a bit weird sometimes.
- Camera rattle. Brand new - didn't feel a thing. Now when I place it on the table I feel a bit of rattle. Someone else on the forum suggested it's from the camera. I don't have problems with it though.
- toolbelt - trackball: more accurate on the 9900 and was illuminated. End Call button - should work from anywhere in the system, whether the device is locked or not. It should be some sort of hardware function.
- Physical buttons are not locked while in holster. I accidentally turned it off a couple of times in my pocket. I now insert the phone top-up - problem solved.
- Bedside mode doesn't allow calls from favorite contacts. I found a workaround. I've set an empty mp3 for all silent profiles and I used custom settings for favorite contacts.
- Original BB case hits the volume down button when inserted into the pouch. Also difficult to get the phone out due to volume-up's placement so close to the top edge and tight pouch fit. I guess in time it's going to loosen up.
- I simply hate BB Link on my mac. I can't drag and drop files, for photos it syncs exclusively with iPhoto which I don't use. I could only copy 250 photos at a time and I had to restart Link several times to get all my photos to the device. I didn't see an option to copy anything other than documents, photos, music and videos. So if I wanted to transfer an apk I had to use the ip address and the transfer was extremely slow.
- BB Link and Blend should be merged.
- YouTube "app" is actually a browser shortcut
- when I send an email from my computer it takes more than 5 minutes to show up in the HUB without a refresh or without specifically checking the sent directory.

Overall the device feels solid, with good performance and I don't think that the problems listed above are due to a faulty unit.

I'd suggest to new owners:
- disable non essential apps from running while minimized. Android apps are usually resource hogs and one time, due to a poorly designed webpage, the browser kept reloading it in the background and sucked up half my data plan in 20-30 minutes
- buy the pouch with the clip. I've seen a 9900 pouch that was so loose that the phone would come accidentally. I suspect the same will happen with this one.
- get CB10 - great resource for new owners and supertube to replace the youtube "app"
- use evernote. I consider it a powerful productivity tool.
- have patience with it. It can take time to adjust coming from Android and more from iPhone.

My conclusion:

I was (and still am) pretty excited for the device but one week into owning it I had to start tinkering with it and try all sorts of workarounds. I almost switched back to my N5 a couple of times due to the contacts and call log bugs, but I kept my patience for now. I hope these will get fixed because I'm not sure I'll continue using it if I can't get the simple "feature" of showing a contact name to work.

I feel like the software isn't fully optimized for the Classic and I think BB has to up its game if they want people to switch over from other manufacturers. I mean, I tried to show a friend the awesome power of "Activity" for a contact and after 10 seconds of delay it showed me half the activity and the rest after 10 seconds more (not a long one too). I surely "convinced" him of the power of the BB ).

It's a good device but I'd like to see more software improvements and a bigger store for native apps.

[hazary]

Great thanks

Posted via CB10

[BBPandy]

Thanks for the great review. I agree with your bugs/annoyances. I think the trackpad is why it's taken BlackBerry so long to release 10.3.1. They spent most of their time rewriting BB10 to work with a trackpad after it was specifically written to not need physical buttons.

As for the KB not locking, I don't know why this wasn't fixed ages ago. I have had the Q10 since the day it was released & it's always had that annoying problem. You would think they would have fixed something that simple sometime in the past 2 years

Posted via CB10

[werkregen]

I saw several people here who don't want their keys to lock when the device is holstered because they actually use them. I think for this particular holster it's useless anyway as the pouch presses on the volume-down key and when I take it out I press the volume-up button every time. Also, if I'm wearing tighter jeans and I'm sitting down, the phone will turn off 2/3. An option to enable/disable lock and volume buttons would solve all problems.

P.S: wrote half an hour on the post - in the wrong section of the forum ).