[Raestloz]

I'm practically the only technology literate in my household. The next technology-literate kin is 40 miles away on the next island.

So, how do I explain BlackBerry 10's good points to the technology-illiterate? People who don't even care about BlackBerry 10, only about "it's BlackBerry either way".

Shove me "Android runtime" and "Military-grade OS base" and my mouth froths, I tell them that and they might ask me if they're good with peking duck.

Or, in short, how do I convince them that the new BlackBerry does, in fact, managed to pull itself together and released something worth not getting an iPhone or Android? Especially because they go "dual core BlackBerry? Crap son, I hear Samsung's going OCTA"

[anon(5639363)]

Or, in short, how do I convince them that the new BlackBerry does, in fact, managed to pull itself together and released something worth not getting an iPhone or Android? Especially because they go "dual core BlackBerry? Crap son, I hear Samsung's going OCTA"

I usually just have to convince them that they can trust me when I say "If you don't buy a Z10 I WILL kill your little dog I have kidnapped"...

[Jean-luc_Picard]

Just explain that it's a microkernel RTOS with an amazing HTML5 interpreter, and Dalvik VM, and... oh, wait... technology illiterate? Just tell them that Nuclear reactors and airplanes and a lot of other stuff runs a version of BB10 (so it doesn't crash), the browser can display more Web pages properly, and it's the fastest browser on mobile, and it can run Android apps, and it's very smooth. Maybe add in something about the camera's time shift, or the hub, or something like that, but the easiest thing to do would be to just let them play with a Z10. Then they'll get it.

[bobauckland]

Just explain that it's a microkernel RTOS with an amazing HTML5 interpreter, and Dalvik VM, and... oh, wait... technology illiterate? Just tell them that Nuclear reactors and airplanes and a lot of other stuff runs a version of BB10 (so it doesn't crash), the browser can display more Web pages properly, and it's the fastest browser on mobile, and it can run Android apps, and it's very smooth. Maybe add in something about the camera's time shift, or the hub, or something like that, but the easiest thing to do would be to just let them play with a Z10. Then they'll get it.

So your advice is to lie to them? I think the dog idea will work better.

[Jean-luc_Picard]

Which part was lying?

[Cesare21]

So your advice is to lie to them? I think the dog idea will work better.

Will you, dear sir, explain which part was dishonest? The 'version of BB10' is a bit suspect, but for a tech illiterate it doesn't matter which version it is, has it passed manual QA, and so on. The rest of it pretty much sums it all up.

[bobauckland]

Just explain that it's a microkernel RTOS with an amazing HTML5 interpreter, and Dalvik VM, and... oh, wait... technology illiterate? Just tell them that Nuclear reactors and airplanes and a lot of other stuff runs a version of BB10 (so it doesn't crash), the browser can display more Web pages properly, and it's the fastest browser on mobile, and it can run Android apps, and it's very smooth. Maybe add in something about the camera's time shift, or the hub, or something like that, but the easiest thing to do would be to just let them play with a Z10. Then they'll get it.

Bolded parts are either misleading or incorrect.
Microkernel is a word thrown around but has had no impact on anything as yet in real world terms.
Nuclear reactors and airplanes do not run BB10, they run an OS that forms a very small part of BB10, but they cannot talk to each other.
My Z10 has crashed.
What does display more web pages properly even mean? Compared to what?
Fastest browser on mobile? Does that bear out in real world usage? I haven't noticed.
It does not run all Android apps. Sideloading requires risks and knowledge tech illiterates are unlikely to have or want.
Its very smooth so far cos it imposes limits no other OS does like only 8 active frames.
Time Shift is on many Android devices.

So overall, the dog idea would be a winner.

The Hub is a huge differentiator, Flash in the browser, the UI is very pleasing to use, those are the main differentiators so far.
I do agree giving someone the phone is the best way to experience it, but the longer you spend with it the more noticeable some of the lacking apps becomes, at least this early in the game.

[machoman1337]

The easiest point to explain to tech-unsavvy iPhone owners is the file system. As it should be, you can plug a Blackberry (both older ones and the new BB10s) into any PC, whether it's Windows, Mac, or Linux, and immediately have full control over the file system from that PC. That means you can drag and drop ANY kind of file between the Blackberry and the computer, as long as there's space. And you can plug the Blackberry into a computer that isn't yours and easily transfer your music and photos over. No bull****.

In English, it means you can use the Blackberry like a USB drive. And you don't need to be annoyed by iTunes.

My own mother is a bit of a luddite and even she saw this as a reason to ditch her iPhone and use an Android. The Android is kinda complex for her which is why I plan to get her a BB10.

However, other good points like the swiping, the active frames, the security, etc will be lost on the ears of the tech-unsavvy. Try explaining the advantages of Linux over Windows to the tech unsavvy - you might as well be speaking a different language. The only thing tech-unsavvy people know is apps, apps, and more apps.

[Rayysai]

Microkernel is a word thrown around but has had no impact on anything as yet in real world terms.

Actually, very yes. You see, currently with iOS and Android, when an app crashes or hangs, it affects the whole user experience. You usually have to wait for the 'force app' button to come up or for it to handle itself. With BB10, since the OS is a microkernal architecture, it allows each running app to run isolated from each other. Therefore, if an app hangs or crashed, it doesn't affect the rest of the user experience (Usually, BB10 just shuts it down instantly and you'll see the icon go a little faded while it starts it back up again). With iOS or Android you have to wait for the OS to handle this one issue before you can do anything else.

Real World Application: I've had this happen to me a few times, especially during the calendar invite bug (that was recently fixed in the latest update). Whenever I went to select the Start and End times for the meeting, the Calendar would automatically shut down, the icon would fade a bit and it would restart. In other platforms, this 'hang' or 'crash' would stall everything and you'd have to sit there and wait for it to fix itself (or just do a forced reboot or forced close). The isolation of each app on BB10 doesn't make the user feel that lag, drawback. It just shuts it down and you can go do other things while it restarts the app.

As for your other points:

Nuclear reactors and airplanes do not run BB10, they run an OS that forms a very small part of BB10, but they cannot talk to each other.
True, however the architecture is very much the same. Also, they don't need to talk to each other, it's not like people are going to want to hijack airplanes with their phone and need BB10 as a great selling point to do this

My Z10 has crashed.
Of course, but the way it handles crashing is unique and incomparable to iOS/Android, in a better way

Fastest browser on mobile? Does that bear out in real world usage? I haven't noticed.
Yes, there have been side by side tests on websites such as gadgetmasters where the BB10 smoked the Galaxy S3 as well as the iPhone 5. Furthermore, it has the highest HTML5 score on the released platforms to date

It does not run all Android apps. Sideloading requires risks and knowledge tech illiterates are unlikely to have or want.
It runs non-sideloaded android apps as well, just go to Blackberry World and downlaod some (i.e. Open Sea). There are apps in there that are android, you can tell when you load them

Its very smooth so far cos it imposes limits no other OS does like only 8 active frames.
While true, it's very unlikely that many people leave or need more than 8 apps running actively. Many friends of mine who have countless apps open on their iPhone have them in suspended states and that's just because the 'task manager' for iPhone is horrid

Time Shift is on many Android devices.
sure, though it doesn't take away from it being a cool feature on BB10

The Hub is a huge differentiator, Flash in the browser, the UI is very pleasing to use, those are the main differentiators so far.
I do agree giving someone the phone is the best way to experience it, but the longer you spend with it the more noticeable some of the lacking apps becomes, at least this early in the game.

Personally, BB10 has the best OS I've ever used, and I mean OS as in OS, not as in 'app ecosystem'. I mean simply as in the intuitive, easy to learn, logical way Blackberry has built the user experience. The Apps are certainly not there yet but personally the OS is enough to win me over. When I talk about the features of BB10 to non-tech friends I say the following:

1. It has the best virtual keyboard in the market. It simply does. I don't care much for swype and flick typing has gotten me to write just as fast, if not faster than, my Bold 9900. You can pound out tons of messages with ease

2. The calendar is so smart with its dates ranging in size in accordance to how busy you are, furthermore, when you click into a meeting, it pulls info from their company, social networks as well as a history of past emails/calls/texts you guys shared including files that you recently worked on together. This is huge. You don't have to go to each app to find this info, it's all in one place, where it should be.

3. Peek is genious. I can't tell you how much I love just looking into the Hub when I'm doing something and very quickly and easily being able to discern my next order of business

4. The HUB is genius. It's more than a unified inbox. You can actually act within apps from within the hub. I.e. you can like a facebook post from within it without having to open facebook

5. The screen is beautiful, higher resolution than iPhone's famous retina screen. everything looks beautiful from videos you stream on youtube to any you personally take

6. The camera is very smart. People just don't understand it. Where ever you drag the focus point is where the camera meters, so you have full control over how the photo turns out. Since it's a camera phone, the aperture is so small that no matter where you put the focus point the whole photo comes in focus anyway, so enjoy your control over it

7. The browser is superb, very smooth and renders full pages with ease.

8. It has a great game ecosystem, there are so many fun ways to kill time

9. Integration into cloud like dropbox and box is wicked. it's so easy to backup your files, so easy

10. It's only getting better. This is a brand new OS and there's so much on the way. this is the new, fresh thing on the market. Give it a try, play around with it. You'll love it once you actually experience using it for a bit

[Zirak]

I find the opposite effect, the more I use it the less I notice missing apps.
Take it for what it is, if it does/does not do what is desired, stay or move on accordingly. Do I want a 2 door or 4 door?
How is it these threads transform in those ridiculous should I stay or go arguments.

[bobauckland]

Actually, very yes. You see, currently with iOS and Android, when an app crashes or hangs, it affects the whole user experience. You usually have to wait for the 'force app' button to come up or for it to handle itself. With BB10, since the OS is a microkernal architecture, it allows each running app to run isolated from each other. Therefore, if an app hangs or crashed, it doesn't affect the rest of the user experience (Usually, BB10 just shuts it down instantly and you'll see the icon go a little faded while it starts it back up again). With iOS or Android you have to wait for the OS to handle this one issue before you can do anything else.

Real World Application: I've had this happen to me a few times, especially during the calendar invite bug (that was recently fixed in the latest update). Whenever I went to select the Start and End times for the meeting, the Calendar would automatically shut down, the icon would fade a bit and it would restart. In other platforms, this 'hang' or 'crash' would stall everything and you'd have to sit there and wait for it to fix itself (or just do a forced reboot or forced close). The isolation of each app on BB10 doesn't make the user feel that lag, drawback. It just shuts it down and you can go do other things while it restarts the app.

As for your other points:

Nuclear reactors and airplanes do not run BB10, they run an OS that forms a very small part of BB10, but they cannot talk to each other.
True, however the architecture is very much the same. Also, they don't need to talk to each other, it's not like people are going to want to hijack airplanes with their phone and need BB10 as a great selling point to do this

My Z10 has crashed.
Of course, but the way it handles crashing is unique and incomparable to iOS/Android, in a better way

Fastest browser on mobile? Does that bear out in real world usage? I haven't noticed.
Yes, there have been side by side tests on websites such as gadgetmasters where the BB10 smoked the Galaxy S3 as well as the iPhone 5. Furthermore, it has the highest HTML5 score on the released platforms to date

It does not run all Android apps. Sideloading requires risks and knowledge tech illiterates are unlikely to have or want.
It runs non-sideloaded android apps as well, just go to Blackberry World and downlaod some (i.e. Open Sea). There are apps in there that are android, you can tell when you load them

Its very smooth so far cos it imposes limits no other OS does like only 8 active frames.
While true, it's very unlikely that many people leave or need more than 8 apps running actively. Many friends of mine who have countless apps open on their iPhone have them in suspended states and that's just because the 'task manager' for iPhone is horrid

Time Shift is on many Android devices.
sure, though it doesn't take away from it being a cool feature on BB10

The Hub is a huge differentiator, Flash in the browser, the UI is very pleasing to use, those are the main differentiators so far.
I do agree giving someone the phone is the best way to experience it, but the longer you spend with it the more noticeable some of the lacking apps becomes, at least this early in the game.

Personally, BB10 has the best OS I've ever used, and I mean OS as in OS, not as in 'app ecosystem'. I mean simply as in the intuitive, easy to learn, logical way Blackberry has built the user experience. The Apps are certainly not there yet but personally the OS is enough to win me over. When I talk about the features of BB10 to non-tech friends I say the following:

1. It has the best virtual keyboard in the market. It simply does. I don't care much for swype and flick typing has gotten me to write just as fast, if not faster than, my Bold 9900. You can pound out tons of messages with ease

2. The calendar is so smart with its dates ranging in size in accordance to how busy you are, furthermore, when you click into a meeting, it pulls info from their company, social networks as well as a history of past emails/calls/texts you guys shared including files that you recently worked on together. This is huge. You don't have to go to each app to find this info, it's all in one place, where it should be.

3. Peek is genious. I can't tell you how much I love just looking into the Hub when I'm doing something and very quickly and easily being able to discern my next order of business

4. The HUB is genius. It's more than a unified inbox. You can actually act within apps from within the hub. I.e. you can like a facebook post from within it without having to open facebook

5. The screen is beautiful, higher resolution than iPhone's famous retina screen. everything looks beautiful from videos you stream on youtube to any you personally take

6. The camera is very smart. People just don't understand it. Where ever you drag the focus point is where the camera meters, so you have full control over how the photo turns out. Since it's a camera phone, the aperture is so small that no matter where you put the focus point the whole photo comes in focus anyway, so enjoy your control over it

7. The browser is superb, very smooth and renders full pages with ease.

8. It has a great game ecosystem, there are so many fun ways to kill time

9. Integration into cloud like dropbox and box is wicked. it's so easy to backup your files, so easy

10. It's only getting better. This is a brand new OS and there's so much on the way. this is the new, fresh thing on the market. Give it a try, play around with it. You'll love it once you actually experience using it for a bit

When was the last time you actually used a competing platform, for example Android?
I have had apps crash on me in Android, home button gets me out of the app and back on my home screen.
If you think everytime an app crashes you need to reboot or wait for the OS to do something then you either haven't used a recent Android device or you didn't use the appropriate buttons/functions.
QNX/microkernel was supposed to bring better multitasking and efficiency.
Instead the multitasking is pretty much equivalent, being generous, and the battery life is not that much more spectacular.
I have had the whole system crash.
What I have noticed is when certain apps get buggy, only a reboot solves it. For example, when the Calendar app plays up, it will keep playing up and crashing until a reboot. On Android, the minute it's terminated and retried, I've found most apps work again without a reboot.

We both agree about the airplane/nuclear reactor line in that it's irrelevant towards selling the phone.

The browser is better in benchmarks. I'm talking about real world feel. Do you think it's drastically different? It's miles better than my 9900 but feature wise Chrome is still the boss in this area. Flash is, however, a huge deal with the Z10.

OP stated it runs Android apps. You're not gonna sell many Android users on the device by saying it runs Gingerbread versions of some Android apps, are you?

I agree with a lot of your post, I agree that the feel of the OS is beautiful and it just feels and flows well.
But in terms of how you sell a competing OS user on that 'feel', I don't know.
It's hard to explain, or even show, in less than a week.

I disagree with your point about focus, I've put the focus on the wrong area of a pic and ended up with some very blurry shots indeed.

[Jean-luc_Picard]

Nuclear reactors and airplanes do not run BB10, they run an OS that forms a very small part of BB10, but they cannot talk to each other.

The question was how to say BB10's good points in a way that could be understood by technology illiterate people. Based on my experience with technology illiterate people I assumed that they would not understand that BB10 is based on a QNX operating system, and that QNX is responsible for running nuclear reactors and such, so I went for an oversimplification. As for the fact that they can't talk to each other, I fail to see the relevance. I doubt that you could buy a nuclear reactor and have it communicate with any other nuclear reactor you find, even if they were the exact same OS, so why would you expect a phone to be able to communicate with nuclear reactors even if it is the same OS?

My Z10 has crashed.

Alright, so "Doesn't Crash" was an exaggeration. No OS will never crash, but in standard use the Z10 crashes rarely enough to be negligible, and the underlying core crashes even more rarely, meaning that they'll likely improve it farther.

What does display more web pages properly even mean? Compared to what?

Compared to all mobile browsers and most desktop ones the BB10 browser has the highest HTML5 score, and it has flash. That means that websites with flash show flash content, and you don't have as many rendering errors from lax HTML compliance. This is especially good because for the sake of simplification to speak to technology illiterate people, it really should only be compared to the Android and iOS native browsers, where BB10 is much better.

Fastest browser on mobile? Does that bear out in real world usage? I haven't noticed.

By this point they're all fast enough, so it's fairly irrelevant which one is half a second faster, but many tests have been done and with BB10 side by side with latest iOS and Android devices, BB10 is the clear victor.

It does not run all Android apps. Sideloading requires risks and knowledge tech illiterates are unlikely to have or want.

Where did I say it runs ALL Android apps? I just said it runs Android apps. You can also get a lot of them from BlackBerry World. Sideloading is not necessary.

Its very smooth so far cos it imposes limits no other OS does like only 8 active frames.

So the fact that it has 8 active frames instead of 0 makes it run faster? I kid, but I never have more than 5-6 open at a time anyway, and most people I know don't even have that many, so the limit of 8 is irrelevant. Also, other OSes with actual multitasking have some sort of a limit anyway. Notice how if you use up all of the memory on a PlayBook it closes apps? Or how on some if you open too many apps then it's so slow that it takes forever to get to where you have to go to close the apps?

Time Shift is on many Android devices.

But BB10 is the only PLATFORM to have it. IOS devices and most Android devices do not. As long as not everyone has it it can still be a positive of the platform. Sort of like how Airplay is still a significant feature even though most Android and BlackBerry devices have DLNA. This is a feature which is cool enough to be worth showing off, but you should notice that it's in the "Maybe show this Off" section, as opposed to the "Here's what sets BB10 apart from the Competition" section.

[R Field]

Explaining it to the technology illiterate groups, well think of how you would explain something to a young child. More pictures and less words so their eyes don't glaze over when you start using big words. Keep it simple and to the point, have them try it if you can. Its easiest to let them see for themselves and have you explain it that way.

[Rayysai]

When was the last time you actually used a competing platform, for example Android?
If you think everytime an app crashes you need to reboot or wait for the OS to do something then you either haven't used a recent Android device or you didn't use the appropriate buttons/functions.
I disagree with your point about focus, I've put the focus on the wrong area of a pic and ended up with some very blurry shots indeed.

I used the GS3 and maybe I didn't explain myself properly. What I mean is, because android is a monolithic kernel, even though you've opted out of the failing app doesnt' mean the overall system has opted out. Monolithic kernels dont split their resources up so even though you're outside of the failed app, resources are still being drawn and used up by it which, depending on the app, or the resources it needs, can slow down the rest of your experience.

I do photography as a hobby and the only reason I can see you getting a noticeable blur is if your focal points are very far apart from the background. Phone camera apertures are so small, and as the laws of aperture go, the smaller the aperture (i.e. F16 is a small aperture vs F1.5 which is a really big one) the more depth-of-field you have in the photo (depth of field being the more that is in focus in the picture). Now I've heard that the BB10 camera can do some pretty large apertures (i think i heard F2.2) but regardless of that, the actual lens opening is so small that it makes it almost negligable.

As for selling them on the feel, I just put it in their hands and walk them through some features. I ask, "what would you use the phone for?' and run them through how to do it on the Z10

[jdhooghe]

How about listen to their needs and if the Z10 fits the bill compare, fairly, the pluses and minuses of both? It doesn't matter if they are technology illiterate, each of us has their own use for phones. If they want apps everyone else has, then you know they will be happiest with an iPhone or android. If they want good messaging and keeping up with social stuff, have them check out windows phone or BlackBerry. If your into email, have them check out iPhone, android and blackberry. Be fair. Sit them down at a computer and show them videos of each. If they like what they see, go more in depth. If you force on them something that you like but they don't, you will no longer be trusted.

[tjseaman]

Maybe simply hand them the phone when you're together. Seeing and using the device may be the best way for nontechnical people. My wife for example doesn't care about specs. What can she do and does she like it. Simple and sweet just like her.

Posted via CB10

[nephaestous]

I used the GS3 and maybe I didn't explain myself properly. What I mean is, because android is a monolithic kernel, even though you've opted out of the failing app doesnt' mean the overall system has opted out. Monolithic kernels dont split their resources up so even though you're outside of the failed app, resources are still being drawn and used up by it which, depending on the app, or the resources it needs, can slow down the rest of your experience.

Hello, I just wanted to say that this is not a fact, the difference in approach between a monolithic and microkernel is mostly in whether the drivers and other modules reside in user space or kernel space.

In a monolithic kernel, specifically linux, as it is the kernel used in Android, the device drivers, filesystem drivers and memory management is done in kernel space, whereas in Neutrino, these are loaded in userspace.

Applications, whether in Android, Linux or QNX are always run in userspace. When a process is killed in userspace all the memory is freed, always. The difference you may notice between Android and QNX is due to the process manager been more eager in QNX to kill a hung process, and more conservative in android.

The micro vs monolithic kernel debate was mostly a debate between portability between processor architectures and code optimization, however linux is available and very well maintained in the current ARM architectures, and so is QNX. That said, QNX has the advantage that as most of the kernel services are provided by userspace servers, they can be updated without rebooting the kernel (think filesystems, networking stacks, et cetera) whilst in linux the whole kernel must be updated. This, however, is rather useless in cellphones as:
A) They can be rebooted without consequence, whereas a nuclear reactor cannot be.
B) Updates normally affect both kernel and core os applications, and are distributed as a filesystem image which must be flashed to the whole NAND partition.
C) Even so, linux can be updated with a new kernel without having to reboot the system until the new kernel needs to be loaded, and it was proveen by the good people at ksplice that it can be infact reloaded without a complete reboot.

The whole QNX vs Android debate on crackberry is rather difficult to understand to me; it seems that people who speak about kernel designs do not actually have any embedded operating system design experience!
There are many merits in the microkernel design, but they are mostly in updatability and mantainability.

Now, another aspect about QNX that is often brought up is the RTOS design, which is interesting in an appliance that needs real time processing but a hindrance in a multiple purpose os, as the scheduling algorithms must allocate time to interrupts and processes that are not necessarily critical for the functioning of the phone. The only advantage of having a RTOS design in a phone would be that radio interrupts are always handled in a maximum delay, however ram cannot be dynamically allocated and therefore if apps are compiled to run in real time priority the memory usage is awful and the processor never would idle.

Because of this, if the people at blackberry ever uses real time priority it would never, ever be in userspace apps, only in the radio kernel and such processes.

PS. Sorry for the bad english, I'm not a native speaker.

[stevepar]

Why did the OP bother to post his question, he seems to have, like and prefer his own answers anyway :-) I just let people play with my Z10, seems to work quite well...

[DAY1000]

Just send them to the Z10 forum on Crackberry, at least they'll have company there...

[Raestloz]

Because I need help? I posted this just yesterday, and I have things to do other than stalking CrackBerry forums.

I appreciate the discussion guys, and it provides me with lots of info about the QNX. So far, the best advice seem to be "hand them your Z10". Mine is coming within a few days, about 3 days or so, give or take 1-2 days. Maybe then I can do it.still, more suggestion are appreciated, especially regarding what I should say, to complement the hands-on experience (or to replace it, for use in chats or calls)

My sister already told me to wait for S4. I'd have none of that.

[simonorourke]

I never bother with trying to explain, I simply hand them my blackberry and tell them to try and do the things they want.

Then I watch over them like a protective mother so they don't drop my baby.

Posted via CB10