[AhabSnake]

why do people think it's not coming? it took over a year for the keyone to get oreo, after it had already been released in market. it definitely will arrive. Otherwise they risk abandoning what's left of their userbase.

[Chuck Finley69]

why do people think it's not coming? it took over a year for the keyone to get oreo, after it had already been released in market. it definitely will arrive. Otherwise they risk abandoning what's left of their userbase.

It’s almost 90 days from when it was lifecycle estimated if compared with KEYone upgrade from Nougat to Oreo last year. With all the other rumors and speculation, it appears there’s not enough userbase to worry about profit wise.

[conite]

why do people think it's not coming? it took over a year for the keyone to get oreo, after it had already been released in market. it definitely will arrive. Otherwise they risk abandoning what's left of their userbase.

If it was coming, it would have happened in Aug or Sep.

Nor was it ever specifically committed to at any point.

[Bammerz]

Well, since they released the hardware tweaked Key2 Red in April this year ( +/- a month ) one would think they would support it with a letter upgrade. I realize the OG Key2 was a year old at that point, but the Red Edition was a hardware refresh attracting buyers to invest in a device created and sold in 2019.

I bought this phone for a pretty penny in April. It's the most I ever paid for a phone and I was hoping to get at least two years of use out of it.

If I get locked out of using it by my IT department demanding 9.0 I will be choked.

[Matt J]

It has always bothered me when they release a new version of a device (like the KEY2 Red Edition, or KEY2 LE) well into the original product's lifecycle and then stop supporting it when the orignal devices reached EOL.

For the average consumer, purchasing a brand-new KEY2 Red Edition or LE, they would assume that they would receive at least an upgrade from Oreo to Pie. Only to find out they are stuck on Oreo forever.

Having purchased a KEY2 soon after launch, it didn't even occur to me that I wouldn't get Pie.... and here I am.... stuck on Oreo.

My KEY2 is great, and performs like new, is super-fast and the battery life is still fantastic.... but... I do feel let down.

[Chuck Finley69]

It has always bothered me when they release a new version of a device (like the KEY2 Red Edition, or KEY2 LE) well into the original product's lifecycle and then stop supporting it when the orignal devices reached EOL.

For the average consumer, purchasing a brand-new KEY2 Red Edition or LE, they would assume that they would receive at least an upgrade from Oreo to Pie. Only to find out they are stuck on Oreo forever.

Having purchased a KEY2 soon after launch, it didn't even occur to me that I wouldn't get Pie.... and here I am.... stuck on Oreo.

My KEY2 is great, and performs like new, is super-fast and the battery life is still fantastic.... but... I do feel let down.

This has been going on since the original failure of BB10 in 2013 and the hiring of Chen to save the company. BlackBerry hardware was living on borrowed time since then and only lasted three more years until all the BB10 components purchase agreements were satisfied and hardware unloaded.

With BBMo and BBAndroid, we've seen no difference and we've known the situation beginning with the BBMP Aurora losing support almost immediately. We've, as long-term supporters, always known the risks, whether actually wanting to admit or accept.

[Sporkguy3]

Stinks about the company rules. The way I think about it is that BBAndroid is not exactly the same as regular Android. I like it for my purposes, but it doesn't sound like your company likes it. BBAndroid simply doesn't exist with 9.0 yet. My phone works great and I am satisfied for my part.

[Troy Tiscareno]

It has always bothered me when they release a new version of a device (like the KEY2 Red Edition, or KEY2 LE) well into the original product's lifecycle and then stop supporting it when the orignal devices reached EOL.

EVERY smartphone company follows this exact same practice - the support of any submodel is tied to the original release date of the original device in that model family. This has been the case since the Palm and early BBOS days, so it's not at all new to the industry.

The truth is that a huge percentage of the population couldn't even tell you what version of the OS they were on - probably half couldn't even tell you the name of the OS itself - so even though the more tech-minded might care, those same people are expected to know better, and to make their purchase decisions with their eyes wide open. "Caveat emptor" (let the buyer beware) always applies.

Feeling let down is understandable, but it should hardly be a surprise given the situation BB-branded hardware has been in since 2013. It's amazing that there are new BB-branded devices available to purchase at all, in any form, in 2019.

[the_boon]

Well, since they released the hardware tweaked Key2 Red in April this year ( +/- a month ) one would think they would support it with a letter upgrade. I realize the OG Key2 was a year old at that point, but the Red Edition was a hardware refresh attracting buyers to invest in a device created and sold in 2019.

I bought this phone for a pretty penny in April. It's the most I ever paid for a phone and I was hoping to get at least two years of use out of it.

If I get locked out of using it by my IT department demanding 9.0 I will be choked.

At least your Red KEY2 has a properly assembled spacebar and a much better resale value.

[danfrancisco]

I'm in the Christmas spirit and all I want for Christmas is Pie for my KEY2!

[Sporkguy3]

I am fine with the OS, I just want TCL, or someone competent, to keep making Blackberries.

[the_boon]

I am fine with the OS, I just want TCL, or someone competent, to keep making Blackberries.

Or just any PKB that's worth a damn lol (as in, not like the Typo gen 2 for iPhone)

[bberrist]

Well, I knew I'd buy into an abandoned system when I snatched a Key2 last week. Learned that lesson from my PRIV. There were dozens upon dozens of Key2s in Amazon Warehouse Deals of each: "as new" , "very good", "good" over here in Germany at that time. The highest numbers I've ever seen for any item.
I live in a major city yet not a single store offers BlackBerry anymore, though a lot of them had Key1 and Key2 in their shelves initially. The biggest nation-wide retailers even kicked them out of their online stores months ago. Just as with the PRIV, BlackBerry told the German tech press the update was coming so that it made it into reviews as an incentive to buy. I call it shady practice, but why should I care － I decided against updates and in favor of the PKB.
The phone lacks a camera but it's fine otherwise. I just hope it'll hold up until some other company offers an Android that's rootable and features a decent PKB.

[Tsepz_GP]

I still remember the proudness of getting 2 years update/patches that every members here always babbling out. Until google set a standard for android enterprise, every phone makers decided to follow by giving 2 years update. Then here's TCL.

Lol, oh yes, I remember that to! How quick things have changed, this is what happens when there are too many dependencies on shaky ground, suddenly it all stops.

I think what makes BB users lucky at his point is the same thing that makes Sony, HTC etc.... users lucky, in that nobody is really interested in hacking their devices as there are far bigger fish to fry out there and no hacker will spend endless hours trying to hack a phone used by less than 1% of the market.

I don’t think any XDA Developers have even tried Rooting them, as most developers these days want you to pay them through crowdfunding and donate a device for them to try root, as it’s no longer easy to do, gone are the Galaxy S2 days

[cyberdoggie]

At least your Red KEY2 has a properly assembled spacebar and a much better resale value.

Intriguing remark: is the spacebar on the Red Edition better than on the Silver Edition? I have a Silver Edition from the first batches and the spacebar is certainly not as good as it should be compared to the KeyOne for instance. Has the spacebar not been improved on later batches of the Silver Edition (to be comparable to the Red Edition)? Or is the Red Edition still better in this respect?

[elfabio80]

Intriguing remark: is the spacebar on the Red Edition better than on the Silver Edition? I have a Silver Edition from the first batches and the spacebar is certainly not as good as it should be compared to the KeyOne for instance. Has the spacebar not been improved on later batches of the Silver Edition (to be comparable to the Red Edition)? Or is the Red Edition still better in this respect?

From the esperiences you can read in the forum, it seems that the spacebar was improved in the red version of the Key2.

[conite]

Intriguing remark: is the spacebar on the Red Edition better than on the Silver Edition? I have a Silver Edition from the first batches and the spacebar is certainly not as good as it should be compared to the KeyOne for instance. Has the spacebar not been improved on later batches of the Silver Edition (to be comparable to the Red Edition)? Or is the Red Edition still better in this respect?

Assembly techniques seem to have constantly improved over time. Since the Reds are the most recent, they tend to benefit from this.

[the_boon]

Assembly techniques seem to have constantly improved over time. Since the Reds are the most recent, they tend to benefit from this.

Know what's even better?

When they're properly assembled from the start.

Example: KEY2 LE

[the_boon]

Intriguing remark: is the spacebar on the Red Edition better than on the Silver Edition? I have a Silver Edition from the first batches and the spacebar is certainly not as good as it should be compared to the KeyOne for instance. Has the spacebar not been improved on later batches of the Silver Edition (to be comparable to the Red Edition)? Or is the Red Edition still better in this respect?

There are Silver KEY2's whose spacebars will be nice and firm like the Red ones, but it's a gamble. Build date won't mean a thing with these since not a single Silver unit was produced after December 2018 I believe.
Some of the Black ones did see production at the same as the Reds (therefore in 2019) so improved spacebars can be found with these as well.
But there are no Black BBF100-2's assembled in 2019, for that, you gotta look for the dual SIM BBF100-6's.

However, that's not to say that every single one manufactured in 2018 will feel wobbly, but there's a complete inconsistency so it will vary from unit to unit.

[joshualebowitz]

As for BYOD, as mentioned in the recent John Chen fireside chat with Bank of America CEO, IT teams are realizing that this model may not be worth the cost savings when the risk of a bank information (or any other corporate info) can be compromised. Just "securing" email within the device is apparently not sufficient.

The trend is definitely moving away from BYOD and back to what BlackBerry used to focus on. They are, again, missing it.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

The trend is definitely moving away from BYOD and back to what BlackBerry used to focus on. They are, again, missing it.

But it's not.... BYOD grew in 2019 and is expected to continue to grow as it's being adopted in other markets now. Companies like BlackBerry and many others have continued to expand what BYOD can do. And with wearable and other IoT devices now entering the picture... that's not going to change.

While I can see cases in government and very regulated industries were BYOD is not practical, we are talking about a small fraction of what BlackBerry use to call their enterprise business. No where near enough to really support a hardware business that has to compete against now entrenched Apple and Samsung.

[joshualebowitz]

But it's not.... BYOD grew in 2019 and is expected to continue to grow as it's being adopted in other markets now. Companies like BlackBerry and many others have continued to expand what BYOD can do. And with wearable and other IoT devices now entering the picture... that's not going to change.

While I can see cases in government and very regulated industries were BYOD is not practical, we are talking about a small fraction of what BlackBerry use to call their enterprise business. No where near enough to really support a hardware business that has to compete against now entrenched Apple and Samsung.

Disagree. Then again, am currently in a show where our entire team is using BlackBerry devices to run the event, our client uses a combination of BlackBerry and iPhone devices, and our publicist just asked me if there was a way to switch her company back to a BlackBerry server. Heard the same thing at our event on Saturday, where one of the heads of a movie studio asked me if I had a good contact for him at BlackBerry. BlackBerry just doesn't have boots on the ground.

[conite]

Disagree. Then again, am currently in a show where our entire team is using BlackBerry devices to run the event, our client uses a combination of BlackBerry and iPhone devices, and our publicist just asked me if there was a way to switch her company back to a BlackBerry server. Heard the same thing at our event on Saturday, where one of the heads of a movie studio asked me if I had a good contact for him at BlackBerry. BlackBerry just doesn't have boots on the ground.

Having an EMM solution does not negate BYOD. In fact, it's best practice.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Disagree. Then again, am currently in a show where our entire team is using BlackBerry devices to run the event, our client uses a combination of BlackBerry and iPhone devices, and our publicist just asked me if there was a way to switch her company back to a BlackBerry server. Heard the same thing at our event on Saturday, where one of the heads of a movie studio asked me if I had a good contact for him at BlackBerry. BlackBerry just doesn't have boots on the ground.

I wouldn't expect a publicist or a head of a movie studio to know how to contact or buy BlackBerry's EMM/UEM solutions... the head of the IT department or the security advisers they use, would know.

While I applaud your teams usage of BlackBerry devices.... your personal experience doesn't line up with what we have seen in the last ten years. Your personal experience or the musings of some Banks CEO... don't change the fact that BYOD is growing.

[joshualebowitz]

I wouldn't expect a publicist or a head of a movie studio to know how to contact or buy BlackBerry's EMM/UEM solutions... the head of the IT department or the security advisers they use, would know.

While I applaud your teams usage of BlackBerry devices.... your personal experience doesn't line up with what we have seen in the last ten years. Your personal experience or the musings of some Banks CEO... don't change the fact that BYOD is growing.

You'll see BYOD disappear. Stay tuned.