The irony is that you have done exactly what you say you hate that I have done, which is counter everything with "I know you are but what am I".
well i still haven't seen you give an example of how RIM has improved it's OS that much, which is my only point, it's minor upgrades and band-aids on every aspect of it. I'm sorry but you've failed to really exemplify exactly what is better about a bold than a curve, all you did was mention hardware upgrades when clearly this discussion has been about software from the start. The software difference between 4.5 and 5.0 is noticeable, however it's not drastic and it's all virtually speed increases. An 8330 does everything a 9000 can do, and a 9700 for that matter the newer ones may do it faster, but you're missing the point, nearly all functionality is identical. If you want specific examples well then ok.
The iPhone and Android platforms have a developer community that is dedicated and massive, making rich content featured apps that interact with the user, phone, and contacts in a way that blackberrys java os can not provide. the iphone was taunted for lagging with mms and push services, but as of date, RIM is now behind in push services. apple released 3rd party push services last year, RIM just did this last month. it's a big deal especially for a company that keeps putting out phones with extreme memory limitations. each year apple releases a software update for their platform, every year has brought numerous upgrades and features, from exchange support, to push services, to app store, the same applies to android, tho they're at a much faster pace. with blackberry, what we get are a myriad of nearly identical phones, what are there now, 5 curve models that vary slightly? a 9700 that is arguably worse than a 9000, or at least identical just smaller. a storm that is widely considered to be the joke of the mobile industry. a tour that has a 40% return rate. and each one, has the same old OS. the same unfeatured java OS that nobody wants to develop for anymore. apple and android have major developers, billion dollar companies developing for them. there are applications that can scan streets with your camera on an android phone and iphone and put up virtual reality directions and rich content
real time on your screen, meanwhile us blackberry users get this newsflash today
http://i41.tinypic.com/345dfzr.png
or
this
calling me a hater is absurdity at it's worst. whats wrong with me wanting blackberry to be better? and well, the simple truth is, that right now it's not better than android, the end. people can sit here and blindly defend RIM and charge full steam ahead with that thought, people can say OHHH YOU HATE BLACKBERRY WTF GTFO, but that simply isn't the case. i love blackberry, i just want it to be better, and judging from the past, i don't see it getting there. you can also keep screaming PROVE THAT BLACKBERRY ISN'T THE BEST, and claim i'm not giving examples but i've given plenty, especially in a side by side manner, theres not one single app that exists on all platforms that is better on the blackberry, blackberry twitter clients, facebook, instant messengers, radio, music, mail etc clients all are worse iterations of iphone and android offerings, and dramatically so. the stuff that android and iphone can do aren't possible within constraints of java. if java were the future, someone other than RIM would be using it. but as time goes on in the next year, you'll get more and more and more and more stories about developers leaving, projects being abandoned, and marketshare dwindling. why do i think this? because it's already happening, it's been happening, and until people stop being fanboys and face the reality of it, it's not going to improve.