[campbecw]

Thanks to my work position, I often find myself having to defend my use of a BB (I work for Telus, and most people in the industry are either delusional iPhoners, or tech-geek android lovers). As a result, I feel like I've finally come up witha comprehensive reason to the question "Why do you use a BlackBerry?"; or, in my case, "Why BlackBerry10?"

While many of the things that exist on BB10 are not totally unique amongst the competing operating systems (with some noteable exceptions, like the HUB), the number one reason I can come up with is that all those things come on BB10 OUT OF THE BOX.

That is, the moment you open the box and boot up your phone, you have a MASSIVE powerhouse of features that, while available on other devices, only become available once you instal a slough of 3rd-party applications with conflicting values, principles of privacy, competing philosophies, marketing campaigns and reliability.

To illustrate this, I've compiled a list below of features that you find on a BB10 device right out of the box. I've tried to ignore device-specific features such as the hardware keyboard, touch-enabled on the Passport, the AMOLDED screen of the Z30, etc. I chose to do this because I want to highlight BB10 as a whole, so that a pentential buyer can look at it and say, "Wow, this is clearly a fantastic choice no matter what device I get." and then can go on to investigate which actual device (Z10, Z30, Q10, Q5, Passport) would suit their needs.

This is all about the naked OS.

In no particular order (since it would be impossilbe for me to rank these features):

1. The HUB. This one IS indeed unique amongst all the OS's. It is a unified inbox. On every other device you need to open and close and open and close a bunch of applications in order to see your text messages, BBMs, WhatsApp messages, Facebook posts, Emails, system notifications, voicemail, phone history, etc. Not on BB10. All of this enters a unified, manageable inbox so that in one glace you can see it all, access it all, reply to it all, delete it all... everything. Sounds daunting? Read the next one, it'll help.

2. Priority HUB. Part of being a HUB user is knowing that you don't care about everything equally. Thanks to the Priority HUB, you can set up contact specific, account specific, conversation specific, subject specific, etc., rules that filter your HUB experience to show you only what you care about most, leaving the less important stuff for you to do later. This way you can prioiritize your communications easily, but still get everything in a unified inbox. Coming from an Android device to this was a mind-blowing experience.

3. File Manager. For you iPhoners out there who hate the fact that you have little to know access over your phones files, or for your Android users out there who have downloaded a dozen ad-ridden, bloatware-type file managers to move your stuff around and actually take control of your mobile experience, look no further. The BB10 OS comes with an absolutely AMAZING file manager. With it not only do you have unprecedented access to your phones file structure, but you can cut and paste between your phone and ALL your synced sources through this one program. If you have a file on Dropbox, don't bother using the Dropbox app to get it onto your phone; use the file manager where you can manage it all. Same goes for Box, SkyDrive, etc. Files can be managed between all these different account sources, your phone's Flash memory, and your SD card though this ONE beautiful, integrated application. That not enough for you? Catch this: you can even use the File Manager to access.... your bloody PC(s; it supports MULTIPLE PCs simultaneously) file structures as well! Have a document on your home PC, but you're at the office? No prob Bob: just open your file manager and find it, cut and paste to your phone... or your SkyDrive... or your DropBox. Whatever you want! Type something on your phone but you want to save it to your laptop? Great, you can, because your phone has access to your home PC's file systems remotely. Want to save it on all your PCs? Go for it! They can all be accessed through this file manager. Want to ZIP a bunch of files together and move them around in a cluster between your phone, SD card, clouds, and home PCs? GET THIS: YOU CAN ZIP STUFF TOO. All with this one program, that comes with BB10 out of the box. Ghost Commander, stand aside: you suck.

4. Remote Access through BBLINK. Wondering how it is possible that the integrated, pre-loaded file manager can have that kind of access to your PC? Well, it comes with the stock software that is installed on your computer when you plug your BB10 device into it via USB. BBLINK automatically sets up a secure link between your phone and your computer that allows you to access everything on it while you're away. You could be in Jamaica, on a beach, with your phone, and load up your home PC. You could be at a friends whose Netflix bill didn't get paid, you all want to watch a movie. Lucky for you there are tons of movies on your home PC. Thanks to BBLINK and Remote Access you can just stream those puppies to your phone. Automatically. You're pre-qualified with all the stock software to do this. Amazing.

5. Picture Password. I sit there laughing at people drawing patterns on their phone or punching in 4-number pin codes, thinking they secure. I can watch someone punch that in once and know exactly what their passcode is. Steal the phone, bam: access is mine. BlackBerry knows this, and they invented a new kind of password that someone could watch you punch it in a thousand times and they'd never get it. I've actually explained to people how it works, and shown them the password over and over and over and they can't get it. YET, you can enter it with one finger, in one movement. Quicker than you could type in any 4-number pin. I wish I could explain more but you have to see it to get it. But trust me, picture password is the most innovative password system ever made.

6. The Calendar. Of course it is better than any other calendar out there: it's a bloody BlackBerry. But why? WebEX integration. Ability to send automatic "I'm late" notifications to meeting attendees. Ability to change preferences like what day is the first day of the week, whether or not to number the weeks and, if so, which week should be designated "week #1", automatic meeting modes that change your notification profiles when you are in a meeting, integration with the note-taking application. etc. And this is the STOCK Calendar app. Remember? This is a list of stock features... no download required.

7. Quick Settings. Pull down from the top in any screen (on 10.3) and you'll get access to your quick settings. Yeah, android does this, but this is much more powerful. Andoird's is a series of on off switches. This is a CUSTOMIZABLE series of on/off switches that double as quick access to their full settings menus. Tap the icon, its the swtich. Tap the words, and you're knee deep into a settings menu that would have other taken seven taps to get to. Efficient. No rooting required.

8. Custom LED light profiles. YES! It's finally here. 10.3.1 lets your customize your LED profile. Blue for calls. Green for texts. Whatever you want! And this is stock! No need for a third-party app.

9. Music Equalizer! Yes! It's also here on 10.3. Don't download an equalizer that'll come with bloatware and apps. Just use the one that's in the BB10 and make your music sound how you like.

10. Docs to Go. This is an app thats worth ten bucks on any other OS. Here its free. Yeah, office apps are anything new, but remember that this one comes integrated with that nifty file manager I mentioned earlier. Create a document on your phone, save it to your desktop. Load one from your desktop, edit it, and save it to your OTHER desktop. Or to your SD card. Or wherever you want!

11. DLNA. Lots of device support proprietary versions of DLNA: this will work with any DLNA. In other words, it's actually an honest member of the Digital Living Network Alliance. Whatever media content you have, push it to any DLNA server, be it made by Microsoft, LG, Samsung. Whatever you want. Just, not Apple of course, because Apple only lets Apple things talk to other Apple things. BUT, what this means is if you go to your friends house an want to show them pictures you took on your vacation on their SmartTV, you can! I know that advertising from others say you can too, but they require setup and compatibility. This will work! Built in! Any DLNA. ANY.

12. BlackBerry Blend. There isn't a big enough deal being made about this. Let me put a scenario to you: you're home from work, your phone you put to charge in your room, and you load up your computer. Wouldn't it then be nice to be able to access the same HUB (with all your emails, texts, BBMs and such) that you have on your phone from your computer? Or, better yet: you buy an iPad because, well, tablets are a thing now. But the bloody thing only sends iMessages to other iThings. No longer! BlackBerry blend comes preloaded on 10.3 and beyond and it allows your to connect your device to other devices like iPads, Samsung Tabs, Windows computers... hell, even Apple computers! And you can text, look at the calendar, manage your contacts, manage your files, move things around, drag and drop, all from your PC or tablet... while your phone is in the other room.

13. Device Monitor. Lots of phones out there now have the cabaility to tell you info about how well your system is running; data usage, battery usage, etc. However, BB10 takes it to a whole new level. We've got line graphs, pie charts, and tables. Not only on a system-wide basis, but also on an app by app basis. Tap an app and see its battery usage and when it spiked on a line graph, see how much data it has used both generally, and on what day and time, see how much it has downloaded and uploaded on a particular date in a beautiful column graph. See how much memory it is consuming as a percentage of the whole, or at a specific point in time. See trends over longer dates. Again... no need to download battery doctor, or whatever it is people are downloading these days to monitor their system usage. Out of the box.

14. No need to install virus scanning software either! Which, we all know, most o fit is dubious anyway. BlackBerry has its own, built in software that'll scan even Android apps to make sure they're safe. Out of the box!

There is a whole lot more. But that's a pretty good start.

And I want to highlight again, this is all without downloading new apps or installing new apps. This is fresh out of the box stuff!

If you ever wanted to know "Why would I use BB10?" Now you know: it is the best mobile OS on the planet. Perhaps it doesn't have the most apps, but apparently it doesn't need it, since everything awesome that apps make iPhones and Android devices do, is already here!

Pick one up. Give it a shot. You'll be blown away by how LITTLE apps you end up downloading.

Edit: I screwed up the numbering originally. Fixed.

[sk8er_tor]

You're absolutely correct. When it comes to comparing the BlackBerry 10 operating system to any other mobile operating system, there's no competition. If these so-called "reviewers" on WSJ, Re/code, BGR, The Verge, CNET, etc. actually used a BlackBerry 10 phone for a week and gave it a real chance, their story would be different... that is unless some of these guys aren't paid by Apple or Google as I suspect some are.

[A_Aviator_A]

Thanks for the write-up. It looks like it took some time to type up, so your efforts are appreciated. Being an owner of an iphone5S and two BB10 devices, I agree with some of your points regarding overall use of the BB10 OS. I find it substantially superior to iOS for what I use my phone for, and I love the BBLINK PC integration as compared with the itunes closed system.

[omega supreme]

You should retitle your thread to say 10.3 os ONLY (of which there are several threads detailing the new features)... 90% of what you claim is NOT available to people that are still on 10.2...

As for sharing files between your pc, it's not as exciting as you make it seem seeing as how your pc would have to be ON all day for that to work, and i don't know too many people that would go on vacation and leave their pc running at home the whole time.

Posted via CB10

[ymb]

You totally skipped the smoothness and efficiency of bb10 and the predictive text and swiping on the keyboard to get it (physical included)

Posted via the awesome power of BlackBerry 10 on one of my lovely devices probably my beautiful beast called Z30 or my great Q10 or my lovely Z10

[campbecw]

You should retitle your thread to say 10.3 os ONLY (of which there are several threads detailing the new features)... 90% of what you claim is NOT available to people that are still on 10.2...

As for sharing files between your pc, it's not as exciting as you make it seem seeing as how your pc would have to be ON all day for that to work, and i don't know too many people that would go on vacation and leave their pc running at home the whole time.

Posted via CB10

I dunno what 90% you're talking about. Ten of the thirteen things are on 10.2.

As with most things, it'll all depend on your usage type. My write up wasn't to say that everyone will love these features or use them. It was to highlight that all this comes built into the OS.

About leaving your PC on, as with most things, it is an amazing feature depending on your usage type. Every feature is usage type specific, but the point still stands: these are all out of the box, first party features, which indeed makes this exciting.

I, in fact, have a PC that I use as a media server that I do leave on all day.

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[campbecw]

You totally skipped the smoothness and efficiency of bb10 and the predictive text and swiping on the keyboard to get it (physical included)

Posted via the awesome power of BlackBerry 10 on one of my lovely devices probably my beautiful beast called Z30 or my great Q10 or my lovely Z10

I did skip the keyboards, and on purpose. Since I was trying to go for device agnostic OS features, and the keyboard typing experience varies from device to device. Though, I whole heartedly agree: the typing on all BlackBerry 10 devices is amazing. I wrote this on my Passport.

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[zocster]

Nice write up!

Sent from my Q10 using Tapatalk

[Thunderbuck]

That's a great list of the advantages BB10 has over other devices. You've summed it up very well!

[omega supreme]

I dunno what 90% you're talking about. Ten of the thirteen things are on 10.2.

As with most things, it'll all depend on your usage type. My write up wasn't to say that everyone will love these features or use them. It was to highlight that all this comes built into the OS.

About leaving your PC on, as with most things, it is an amazing feature depending on your usage type. Every feature is usage type specific, but the point still stands: these are all out of the box, first party features, which indeed makes this exciting.

I, in fact, have a PC that I use as a media server that I do leave on all day.

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10? I only saw 7, but still...my point is you claim that it comes built in, "out of the box" , which it doesn't. Someone, cannot go out and buy a bb10 device right NOW (outside of a passport) and have all those features out of the box without installing the leaked os....that's my point.

my other point with pc sharing is any casual reader would think that you can share files, stream movies and all, yet you failed to mention your pc would HAVE to be on while you're away, which isn't very practical. Which in the end, that's usually why people buy phones to begin with.
I know that it depends on consumer usage but you're listing all these things with disregard of pc usage.

Posted via CB10

[qabb]

Good list!

Posted via CB10

[jefbeard911]

Nicely done!

About half of those were on my 10.2.1 Z3 to begin with and with a 10.3.0 upgrade I've got just about all of them.

via CB10 from my awesome BlackBerry Z3

[campbecw]

10? I only saw 7, but still...my point is you claim that it comes built in, "out of the box" , which it doesn't. Someone, cannot go out and buy a bb10 device right NOW (outside of a passport) and have all those features out of the box without installing the leaked os....that's my point.

my other point with pc sharing is any casual reader would think that you can share files, stream movies and all, yet you failed to mention your pc would HAVE to be on while you're away, which isn't very practical. Which in the end, that's usually why people buy phones to begin with.
I know that it depends on consumer usage but you're listing all these things with disregard of pc usage.

Posted via CB10

I was really puzzled by your reaction and discovered I had numbered the items wrong (originally I duplicated 4, resulting in 13 items when in fact I put 14). I fixed that. Now that the numbers are straight, and so that readers know, 8, 9, 12, 14 are 10.3 or 10.3.1 software version specific (which will be the norm come Nov). The other 10 items are for any BB10 device. (which is still more than 10%...)

[omega supreme]

I was really puzzled by your reaction and discovered I had numbered the items wrong (originally I duplicated 4, resulting in 13 items when in fact I put 14). I fixed that. Now that the numbers are straight, and so that readers know, 8, 9, 12, 14 are 10.3 or 10.3.1 software version specific (which will be the norm come Nov). The other 10 items are for any BB10 device. (which is still more than 10%...)

Well you forgot about #2, there is no "priority hub" in 10.2.
As for the calendar you cannot send an auto message saying you will be late, nor can you set custom profiles to turn off and on at a specific part of the day with 10.2 os.

Posted via CB10

[campbecw]

Well you forgot about #2, there is no "priority hub" in 10.2.
As for the calendar you cannot send an auto message saying you will be late, nor can you set custom profiles to turn off and on at a specific part of the day with 10.2 os.

Posted via CB10

I dunno what carrier version of 10.2 you have, but...

http://m.crackberry.com/exhaustive-l...blackberry-102

Priority HUB and "I Will be Late" were certainly available by 10.2, let alone 10.2.1 which IS available on all out of the box devices.

You seem to want to troll this post, but the reality is, well over 10% (which I cite since you argued that, quote, "90%" of the things I listed are 10.3 specific) of the features I listed are on all devices right this hot second. So, A for effort, but really, with only four of the 14 things listed being 10.3 specific - and furthermore, being a buyers guide for people thinking about purchasing BB10 in the future when 10.3 will be available - this is a fairly useful, and accurate write-up.

Rather than trying to shred this, how about you contribute? What out of the box features can you think of that I missed? Reflecting on it now, the lock screen notification/preview system is fairly unique and awesome.

[Joshu42]

Well you forgot about #2, there is no "priority hub" in 10.2.

Of course, there is the Priority Hub in 10.2.x ...

[campbecw]

Of course, there is the Priority Hub in 10.2.x ...

That's what I thought...

[bakron1]

Nice writeup and right to the point, I preach the BlackBerry brand here in the USA all the time and folks are so hung up on IOS and Android that it's like preaching to a brick wall.

I still continue on with my z30 or my passport proudly in my hand. I always here folks say the same thing when I pull my BlackBerry device out of my pocket. BlackBerry!! I thought they where out of business!!

I then show them the passport or the z30 and all their great features by demoing OS10. Then as their jaws hit the floor, I smile and say, I don't think so and move on.

Posted via CB10

[campbecw]

Nice writeup and right to the point, I preach the BlackBerry brand here in the USA all the time and folks are so hung up on IOS and Android that it's like preaching to a brick wall.

I still continue on with my z30 or my passport proudly in my hand. I always here folks say the same thing when I pull my BlackBerry device out of my pocket. BlackBerry!! I thought they where out of business!!

I then show them the passport or the z30 and all their great features by demoing OS10. Then as their jaws hit the floor, I smile and say, I don't think so and move on.

Posted via CB10

You're like a crusader. Haha. Or the Littlest Hobo, helping one person at a time and then moving on.

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[psarna]

Nice writeup. I will have to bookmark this post (or maybe copy it and save it on my Z30) for showing it to people when they ask me why BlackBerry 10?

Posted via CB10

[Ed Gar]

BMed.

[campbecw]

BMed.

I dunno what this means. I hate missing out on lingo, haha.

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[MeerMusik]

Thanks for the write up.

Yes BlackBerry has a lot of great Functions / Options. But what I am waiting for since OS 10.0:

Call Blocker Function and the possibility to finally read and send GPG / PGP encrypted eMails.

I can't wait every Day the whole Day until I am back on a PC to answer Password resets and such stuff. As an Admin, I find it very cynical that BlackBerry calls it a "Secure Device" while it's missing today's Standard Functionality.

Especially as they have said, that they will go Full Enterprise Customers and that they will leave the Consumer Market at all behind. I hope BlackBerry will give me with 10.3.1 a reason not to switch the Platform. Its a shame

Via CB10 App / [email protected]

[ymb]

I did skip the keyboards, and on purpose. Since I was trying to go for device agnostic OS features, and the keyboard typing experience varies from device to device. Though, I whole heartedly agree: the typing on all BlackBerry 10 devices is amazing. I wrote this on my Passport.

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I was trying to bring out that all BlackBerry devices excluding q10/5 allows swiping on the keyboard

Posted via the awesome power of BlackBerry 10 on one of my lovely devices probably my beautiful beast called Z30 or my great Q10 or my lovely Z10

[campbecw]

I was trying to bring out that all BlackBerry devices excluding q10/5 allows swiping on the keyboard

Posted via the awesome power of BlackBerry 10 on one of my lovely devices probably my beautiful beast called Z30 or my great Q10 or my lovely Z10

That's true. And typing all this on a Passport, I can vouch for its awesomeness, haha!


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