[rickap7]

I have been looking around the site for a few months now and love it. But was wondering about the "leaked" OS's that keep showing up. I have a Storm with .75 on it then I see a leaked .83,.85 now .86 whats the deal who makes these OS is it RIM or others? Do they really work, are they worth downloading?
If they work why doesn't BB release them.
I saw a video on CB showing the .86 working -real fast.
When might a REAL OS update come out?
Thanks

[spotmark]

Think of the leaked OS systems as works in progress. They are made by Rim (Blackberry), and some of them are submitted to the various wireless carriers, who then test them in house, and decide if they wish to release them to the public. Rim will also give them to software developers so they can make sure their programs work with the new OS. As long as you download the leak from a reputable place, ie posted links on places such as Crackberry, you shouldn't have any problems. If for some reason you don't like the new OS, you can always go back to an official one.

[JohnDPoz]

To add to the above post. Yes they are official releases from RIMs side. They do in house testing and determine is to be good to be released to the the carriers. The carriers then do MORE testing to determine if they like it and/or want to release it to the public.

Most people don't have problems with the leaked OS but there is always a risk. But like Spotmark said, you can always go back to the latest officially released version.

[toyman300]

You are not alone in wondering "hmmm whats up with that" There are a number of folks who keep the finger on the pulse of the site but not sure what\if they should dabble... My advice as an experienced blackberry trouble shooter? Play the safety. If you're in any doubt its best to leave the playin in the pool (on the 15ft end) to the swimmers so to speak.

The leaks typically always from RIM and in my humble opinion ONLY my opinion, are deliberate. Which is not a bad thing. Its a wide open option for testing the OS on units that are not in a lab and under conditions that have no real variations in things such as installed software and even usage habits.

There are no real consequences to releasing the "unofficial" release into the wild and see what comes back in regards to issues. If you want to give it shot its often worth the shot. Do some reading on the failover plan. Worse comes to worse you want to be able to restore your unit in case of issues that dont resolve easy.

I'm a crackberry crackhead to the bone. I have both the Storm and the Curve and have updated them every chance I got. BUT, Im also a techy that can fix them both if the whole thing goes south. Also be advised that in every case the leaks are play at your own risk. So if youre not sure maybe just watching from the sidelines is the best plan. You'll see why as you watch some go great and others down in flames. Doesnt happen often but when it does you'll be one of those goin "whew" glad I didnt mess with that!!!

Good Luck!

[bbstormz]

I'm tempted to upgrade... But don't have the balls...yet lol

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[SickNic]

Same here. I had no problems updating my HTC Dash to winmo 6.1 when it hadn't been released, but I also knew how to do a hard reset on it to restore it to factory settings. With the Storm, it's my first blackberry and I really don't want to break it. I love it too much.

[kuroshio]

It's kinda hard to 'break' a blackberry. Even when I had the white screen 'reload software' error and couldn't load an OS, it wasn't because of the phone or the leaked OS. It was because of the Windows 7 Beta

It's still very much a comfort level thing. If you ain't comfortable, don't do it. But so long as you:

1. Don't Panic
2. Backup everything
3. Have access to the net (and therefore Crackberry)

you should survive

[ghosthound]

as far as i can tell.. these leaks should not be released as official updates. Though they are much faster than .75, They suffer some very crippling bugs. The most common is the VZW screen lockup which requires a battery pull. I don't know about you, but a battery pull is a quick way to kill the battery for me. This is not acceptable.

[mistamista2000]

To add to the above post. Yes they are official releases from RIMs side. They do in house testing and determine is to be good to be released to the the carriers. The carriers then do MORE testing to determine if they like it and/or want to release it to the public.

Most people don't have problems with the leaked OS but there is always a risk. But like Spotmark said, you can always go back to the latest officially released version.

These are NOT official releases from RIM. They are released by RIM to beta testers and although they are not supposed to, one is sometimes leaked to the public by one of the testers.

People have issues with betas, some minor, some more major (check the
Storm OS/OS Beta Discussion thread). True, you can always go back to an official release, .75 or .76 (depending on your carrier).

[Vic0645]

Just update and try them out. Its easy enough to do and if you dont like the update then just go back.

[SickNic]

I tried it out. It was fairly painless, and I'm psyched at the improvements. I only upgraded to .85, I didn't trust .86 with what I've read on these forums.

[jlye834]

.86 fixes some issues but it also introduced some other issues as well. They are NOT official releases. They are potential releases that have to go through more testing by the carriers. It's like a second set of eyes proof-reading your essay. Sometimes if you're doing the same thing over and over again your brain goes into pattern mode and misses details. That's why it's LEAKED.

Example: someone at Verizon or with someone who has contacts within Verizon releases the install file to us.