[Kenisa]

The 9900 is the classic

[thurask]

I dunno, why can't I upgrade a 1996 HP to Windows 10?

[rthonpm]

Not enough RAM, not enough storage, unsupported resolution, unsupported hardware. Time and technology move on.

Posted via CB10

[byex]

I dunno, why can't I upgrade a 1996 HP to Windows 10?

^^^^^^This answers OP's question.

Posted via CB10

[anon(916519)]

While they may look the same they're not. The Classic is bigger - they tried to make them very close to the design theme of the 99xx.

[BBerryPowerUser]

I still use a 9900 bridged to a Playbook for one of my business lines. It works great. For what it is. It's a great sunset OS for email, text/Phone and some mainstream social apps like Twitter. You can even use apps like Slacker and Spotify and Tunein for audio streaming (important to me) and a few other main stream apps that still work fairly well.

HOWEVER, BB10 is a whole different animal and I'd not want it on the old 9900 for many reasons. The screen is too small, the processor is too slow, and the Ram is too thin to run it. I have a Q5 running BB10 and it's light years ahead of the 9900 on speed, memory and GUI (larger screen) to run BB10. I also have a Z30 to run big screen full touch BB10 and it's a game changer to me.

While I love the 9900, it's an old phone now. We are lucky it's still supported and we can get BIS worldwide. BIS is a great tool for roaming because it's very thin and you can roam with a BIS package for pennies compared to roaming with general data plans.

Enjoy the 9900, but embrace new OS and technologies. They are amazing.

[ohaiguise]

Whatever happened to 'we'll continue to sell OS 7.1 as long as people want it' - last quarter they shifted over a quarter of a million, but they stopped manufacturing OS 7.1 devices months (years?) ago.

[byex]

I still use a 9900 bridged to a Playbook for one of my business lines. It works great. For what it is. It's a great sunset OS for email, text/Phone and some mainstream social apps like Twitter. You can even use apps like Slacker and Spotify and Tunein for audio streaming (important to me) and a few other main stream apps that still work fairly well.

HOWEVER, BB10 is a whole different animal and I'd not want it on the old 9900 for many reasons. The screen is too small, the processor is too slow, and the Ram is too thin to run it. I have a Q5 running BB10 and it's light years ahead of the 9900 on speed, memory and GUI (larger screen) to run BB10. I also have a Z30 to run big screen full touch BB10 and it's a game changer to me.

While I love the 9900, it's an old phone now. We are lucky it's still supported and we can get BIS worldwide. BIS is a great tool for roaming because it's very thin and you can roam with a BIS package for pennies compared to roaming with general data plans.

Enjoy the 9900, but embrace new OS and technologies. They are amazing.

Is there any way to get email on the 9900 without having a mobile plan or BIS?

Posted via CB10

[BBerryPowerUser]

Yes but it involves a 3rd party application called Logicmail.
Your onboard email app must use BIS and there is no way around that. But Logicmail uses Internet tcp protocols. You need to download logicmail.org and set up your email account(s) and you are up and running.

Keep in mind that the entire architecture og a 9900 is set to use BIS so you will need 3rd party apps to get around this issue and they are growing thin. Luckily Logicmail is still available.



Posted via CB10

[anon(8063781)]

Is there any way to get email on the 9900 without having a mobile plan or BIS?

Posted via CB10

LogicMail is also in BlackBerry World (a fairly recent addition).

For more software that works without BIS, see http://forums.crackberry.com/tips-ho...ut-bis-996682/

[byex]

LogicMail is also in BlackBerry World (a fairly recent addition).

For more software that works without BIS, see http://forums.crackberry.com/tips-ho...ut-bis-996682/

Thanks! My 9900 that was collecting dust now has some new life in it.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[David Tyler]

Enjoy the 9900, but embrace new OS and technologies. They are amazing.

Well -- except Android. Don't wanna "embrace" that... ;D


Passport SE: All the snooty prestige of a device with a precious metal in the name at less than half the price!

[idssteve]

Well -- except Android. Don't wanna "embrace" that... ;D

If BB10 becomes the new legacy, will some folks' "BBOS derangement syndrome hatred" now shift toward BB10? Lol.

[anon(8063781)]

If BB10 becomes the new legacy, will some folks' "BBOS derangement syndrome hatred" now shift toward BB10? Lol.

I think you're onto something Steve. Now that android is BlackBerry's latest thing, BB10 users will slowly decline to "untouchable" status as the OS becomes deprecated. Soon we'll be welcoming them to the CrackBerry leper colony.

[idssteve]

ANYthing is "possible". Time & $$, ya know. I, for one, wouldn't want the car stereo clowns at QNX monkeying with OS7's GUI, for example. In Steve's perfect world, a genuine collaboration between RIM & QNX developers SHOULD have fitted OS7's toolbelt/pkb optimized GUI onto the solid QNX (BB10) foundation. Maybe OS8? At least until their glass oriented BB10 side got on its feet. If ever.

Choices have consequences. Abandoning 9900 form factor and GUI was a deliberate choice. Time & $$ being significant influences in that choice, no doubt. My personal conviction is that too many folks were viewing the "Apple problem" from a misguided perspective. But, that's a topic best left for "Steve's imperfect world". .

Short answer to OP: hardware. Our 9900 hardware barely runs OS7. My Classic's Q10 hardware barely runs BB10, IMO. Upping specs generally means more heat to reject and more battery for generating that heat... Ultimately leading to a larger device to provide heat rejection surface area AND to provide for adequate battery size.

OS7 GUI might, possibly, generate less heat than BB10's but I'd expect that only testing would truly prove that.

[Mr4aces]

ANYthing is "possible". Time & $$, ya know. I, for one, wouldn't want the car stereo clowns at QNX monkeying with OS7's GUI, for example. In Steve's perfect world, a genuine collaboration between RIM & QNX developers SHOULD have fitted OS7's toolbelt/pkb optimized GUI onto the solid QNX (BB10) foundation. Maybe OS8? At least until their glass oriented BB10 side got on its feet. If ever.

Choices have consequences. Abandoning 9900 form factor and GUI was a deliberate choice. Time & $$ being significant influences in that choice, no doubt. My personal conviction is that too many folks were viewing the "Apple problem" from a misguided perspective. But, that's a topic best left for "Steve's imperfect world". .

Short answer to OP: hardware. Our 9900 hardware barely runs OS7. My Classic's Q10 hardware barely runs BB10, IMO. Upping specs generally means more heat to reject and more battery for generating that heat... Ultimately leading to a larger device to provide heat rejection surface area AND to provide for adequate battery size.

OS7 GUI might, possibly, generate less heat than BB10's but I'd expect that only testing would truly prove that.

Humm interesting.

I have alway felt the BB07 was better than BB10.

It took the Classic to move me into BB10, but you know what since I came out of retirement I use the 9900 as my primary phone it is the best phone that was ever made.

9900 Primary Work Phone
Classic and Priv Personal Phone, however I a little reluctant to take the Priv to a job site.

Somebody needs to make replacement mother boards for the 9900!

BTW Last weekend I was elbow deep in thin set (mortar) the phone ran 3 times at the end of the day the keyboard was covered, just cleaned it off and it still is working fine, Would I have used the Classic or Priv with dirty hands? No!

[anon(8063781)]

Somebody needs to make replacement mother boards for the 9900!

A couple of years ago, a group of Chinese ThinkPad fans built a replacement Core i5 motherboard for the ThinkPad T43 (51nb.com released T50 (= new mobo for T4x's) in Shenzhen). If only we could get an improved motherboard like that to drop into our 9900s....

I guess the alternative would be to have a modded OS on the Classic (which I realize is bigger and heavier), but since the OS is locked down so tight, that's unlikely to ever happen.

[idssteve]

Humm interesting.

I have alway felt the BB07 was better than BB10.

It took the Classic to move me into BB10, but you know what since I came out of retirement I use the 9900 as my primary phone it is the best phone that was ever made.

9900 Primary Work Phone
Classic and Priv Personal Phone, however I a little reluctant to take the Priv to a job site.

Somebody needs to make replacement mother boards for the 9900!

BTW Last weekend I was elbow deep in thin set (mortar) the phone ran 3 times at the end of the day the keyboard was covered, just cleaned it off and it still is working fine, Would I have used the Classic or Priv with dirty hands? No!

Funny thing is, just last Monday we set, aligned & grouted some alignment critical equipment. (Yes, I'm an Old School Engineer who still gets dirty. ) Like usual, we "dry packed" (mortar consistency) cementitious non-shrink. Like usual, every one of us got critical calls while elbow deep in dry packing. Like usual, every one of us swapped in new keyboards after the job & before heading for lunch. We use "self leveling" epoxy sometimes also... Just plain "kid fun messy". Lol.

You're right. OS7.1's GUI was optimized for toolbelt & keyboard. Obviously a labor of love for SOMEone on that team. BB10's gui was optimized for touch. "Zero Sum" mentality argues for one OR the other. A legitimate argument ONLY if one can succeed without the other. Apple & Google leveraged their programming & $$ resources to assemble new OS's from scratch. From ground up. RIM's bank simply couldn't match those bets. BUT their "four Aces" was their EXPERIENCE advantage. An advantage they stupidly surrendered by prematurely abandoning bbos's GUI and its users, IMO. They traded their aces hoping for a straight to match that "10", I guess. Lol.

Zero Sum thinkers argued against producing both Chevy and Cadillac. Sloan, Kettering, etc understood the sophisticated support that the two, and more, product lines provided each other. In 1970, Chevrolet division alone grossed greater than the nation of Japan's GNP. From there Pete Estes led the way into Zero Sum and look where GM is now... Too bad ML & TH couldn't see that far across the border.

[tmarkt]

The 9900 is the classic

A better questions is, any can't the classic run OS7?

[rthonpm]

Zero Sum thinkers argued against producing both Chevy and Cadillac. Sloan, Kettering, etc understood the sophisticated support that the two, and more, product lines provided each other. In 1970, Chevrolet division alone grossed greater than the nation of Japan's GNP.

Yet quality coming out of GM in 1970 was garbage. In many ways, BlackBerry fell into that same kind of trap: successful but saddled with an archaic technology stack. Much like GM, BlackBerry stayed with an old line way of thinking in not developing past BBOS. Once newer competitors without the legacy baggage came on, they were lost and scrambling for answers.

GM was big in 1970 because they and the other US manufacturers were the only game in town. Once the Japanese came in and actually built with a degree of quality and efficiency that the Big Three couldn't meet they were done: 1950's engineering and labour couldn't beat automated factories and TPS.

BlackBerry was the only real smartphone choice so everyone had one, once Apple and Google came around with their own platforms and built beyond what BBOS was or could do because of its kludgy build, they couldn't compete with it. BlackBerry 10 took too long to get out the door. Even a year or eighteen months would have given it a much more competitive chance.

Posted via CB10

[idssteve]

Yet quality coming out of GM in 1970 was garbage. In many ways, BlackBerry fell into that same kind of trap: successful but saddled with an archaic technology stack. Much like GM, BlackBerry stayed with an old line way of thinking in not developing past BBOS. Once newer competitors without the legacy baggage came on, they were lost and scrambling for answers.

GM was big in 1970 because they and the other US manufacturers were the only game in town. Once the Japanese came in and actually built with a degree of quality and efficiency that the Big Three couldn't meet they were done: 1950's engineering and labour couldn't beat automated factories and TPS.

BlackBerry was the only real smartphone choice so everyone had one, once Apple and Google came around with their own platforms and built beyond what BBOS was or could do because of its kludgy build, they couldn't compete with it. BlackBerry 10 took too long to get out the door. Even a year or eighteen months would have given it a much more competitive chance.

Posted via CB10

Yep, very parallel story. I've always said that Chevy's Vega was the car that made Toyota... Lol. Chevy is still around, partly, because they didn't stupidly alienate their legacy customers by dropping the smallblock V8 two years before introducing Vega's aluminum four as its replacement. Ridiculous as that sounds, that's exactly what BB did.

BBOS's obsolescence got prematurely announced YEARS before the first half baked BB10 device was available. BBOS needed replacing. Killing it off before its replacement was available didn't replace it, it just killed it. Leaving little to fill the vacuum for far too long.

Building a brand new OS from ground up is a monumental challenge for tech monsters like Apple & Google. BB's only chance against that overwhelming onslaught was to leverage their superior experience. Sequestering qnx from RIM's experience asset inexplicably surrendered that lone advantage, IMO.

18 months might have made quite a difference. 3 yrs could've made ALL the difference.

[anon(8063781)]

Hmmm.... automotive parallels.... There's a pretty good argument that BlackBerry is the AMC of the smartphone industry. They might have named their phones Pacer, Gremlin, Hornet, and Javelin....

[iRetired]

Then they turned to Nature and gave us the Storm and the Storm 2.

Don't forget they threw us a Curve too.

[idssteve]

... I'd take an AMX, myself. Lol. Of course the CJ/Wrangler niche still lives on.

Other than specific niches, I'm not aware that AMC or Nash Hudson Kaiser ever enjoyed dominant market share. BlackBerry, in contrast, was once THE dominant smartphone player.

Tying in with OP, I do recall when retrofitting smallblock Chevy V8 into CJ chassis was fairly popular. OBD/OBD2 & EPA & etc makes fun like that a little less popular these days. Retrofitting Classic internals into a Bold chassis would significantly alter "approved" RF characteristics. Winning FCC approval is likely well beyond "home garage" capabilities. Fun to ponder, tho...

[ohaiguise]

OS 7 actually performed quite well on the upper-end Bolds.

I daresay if the code was maintained, supported and optimized and backed with hardware such as dual- / quad-core CPUs and several gigabytes of RAM, it would be just grand.

Just because it runs as a JVM doesn't mean it absolutely has to perform horribly. You know lots of modern enterprise apps run as JVMs too?

It took two years after the initial release of OS 10 before that OS was capable of replacing the functionality of OS 7.

They should just have forked from Android at the very start.