[anon(73368)]

apple and google havent really "changed" their OS. They have modified and improved them. Thats a little different

as for where BB OS lacks IMO

truncation/poor html mail is a big one, that is more BIS than BB OS but its all part of it
no support for activesync
no email folder support for BIS
no real widget support
Poor web experience compared to competition
poor speed of the OS and fluidity
lack of good app/game development
screen resolution and appearance
5+ minute reboots and it reboots on its own way to often

flame away but there are plenty of others that will agree on every point i listed
Some of these will be fixed with 6.1 possibly and QNX should improve alot on these but some will still exist and the ones that do i think will be the big ones

have you tried OS6? reboot time is around 2 mins max. Looks like your talking about os5. Widgets? Really?

[avt123]

Widgets? Really?

What? Widgets are extremely helpful and straight to the point. No app, or browser needs to be open to see what you want. It is a legitimate feature and really comes in handy.

[tmelon]

I see android and apple fans constantly saying that the bb OS suck.

So what sucks so much about it and why are the others better?

I find nothing wrong with it as far as on OS but I guess I'm not mesmerized by shinny objects either. Not to say it doesn't have it's problems but I think they all do.

Lack of decent apps, no compatibility at all for semi-new phones such as the Storm 2 and Curve 8500 series, poor Browsing, long restart times, needing to restart after every Application update or deletion, lack of new features.

It's not like Android and iOS are perfect, but they are definitely more polished than BBOS. Like it or not, BBOS 6 brought nothing new to the Smartphone world, it just attempted to catch up with Apple and Google, and from most perspectives, it wasn't much of an improvement over OS 5.

It's no surprise that RIM is trashing BBOS for QNX.

[anon(73368)]

What? Widgets are extremely helpful and straight to the point. No app, or browser needs to be open to see what you want. It is a legitimate feature and really comes in handy.

Its preference not a need. JMO I just think a app is similar and does the samething.

[tmelon]

The user sucks not the OS.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Exactly. It's YOUR fault that the Browser is slow and the restart times are ridiculous.

Thank you for your input.

[anon(73368)]

Exactly. It's YOUR fault that the Browser is slow and the restart times are ridiculous.

Thank you for your input.

Again I notice everyone complaining about slow browser speed and restart times are people with os5 BB's. OS6 reboot times are like 1-2 minutes max and the Browser speed is a big upgrade to.

[tmelon]

Again I notice everyone complaining about slow browser speed and restart times are people with os5 BB's. OS6 reboot times are like 1-2 minutes max and the Browser speed is a big upgrade to.

But it's still not up to par with the competition. Page rendering is still a huge problem and the speed isn't a huge jump. But I do welcome the Tabs in the OS 6 Browser.

[anon(73368)]

But it's still not up to par with the competition. Page rendering is still a huge problem and the speed isn't a huge jump. But I do welcome the Tabs in the OS 6 Browser.

Have you tested os6 out? Big difference fron 5-6 and 6.1 is only gonna be better!

[tmelon]

Have you tested os6 out? Big difference fron 5-6 and 6.1 is only gonna be better!

I've briefly used OS 6 on display models in AT&T/Sprint/Verizon/T-Mobile stores since I'll be switching carriers this summer. It's not that BB6 is bad, but it is missing a lot of things and could use a lot of improvements. My plan was to get the Evo 3D or the iPhone 5 when they come out this summer.

[eds817]

I read many comments here on CB in the 9700 forum from people who are not happy with this or that. When you dig deep you find out they have their devices loaded with more apps then the device was designed for. It's the same with someone who has a 3 year old PC with a 250gb hard drive and 1gb of ram. Now thy install Windows 7 and other software products and when the PC begins having problems they blame it on the OS. There are a lot of BB users who have no clue what their device can or cannot do, just what they want it to do. When you spend 100's on a phone it's not easy do dump it every year for the latest and greatest.

Know your device, don't overload it and maintain it.

My biggest problem with OS6 on my 9700 is the memory leak. I would have thought there would be a fix by now.

[Chrisy]

I left BlackBerry because there was just no BlackBerry to upgrade to that had what I wanted. Mainly, a great browser. I also wanted a full touch screen device that could play video and YouTube nicely as well as video chat.

If the a QNX Storm was available on VZW after two years with my Tour, I may have gone that way. But RIM is just too outdated for me.

Now that I'm on Android I get what I need plus more, including free navigation. I found myself using a lot of Google apps on my Blackberry, and I figured I would probably enjoy a Google powered phone.

I use my phone in place of a PC and to keep in contact with friends and family around the country. That's why YouTube and a nice screen are important to me.

All the apps are a bonus. I have 4 vegan apps that have been so helpful. Widgets are another nice bonus that I didn't know about. I used the.Kayak flight status widget on my last trip and it was very handy!

I like that I don't need Desktop Manager or any PC software to update and sync my phone. My contacts, apps, calendar are all synchronized OTA. I really didn't like Desktop Manager.

[Chrisy]

Its preference not a need. JMO I just think a app is similar and does the samething.

I didn't know how useful widgets were til I started using them. The only thing similar on Blackberry is BerryWeather.

[Thud Hardsmack]

Its preference not a need. JMO I just think a app is similar and does the samething.

Chrisy has an excellent point. With an app, you need to launch it and maybe navigate a few menus to get the information you need; with widgets the basic info for many things can be monitored from the homescreen.

The trade-off is battery life in most cases: a closed app uses none whereas widgets are always on.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[chuckh0308]

Howarmat pretty much summed up quite a bit of it for me. It's not so much the OS specifically as it is the overall experience. It's a combination of problems that mostly revolve around certain parts of the OS and the RIM BIS/BES services, but also a bit around the hardware itself. The major ones are things I'm sure they could have (and should have) fixed a long time ago, but apparently were too hard headed to.

Anyway, it ultimately came down to two major issues that drove me to another platform. Just these two things alone might have kept me with BB had they been corrected:

1) Truncated email (and the lack of proper html support).
2) The poor web experience.

These days I just can NOT afford trying to do business with email and web limitations. Two years ago...sure. Now, not at all. A majority of the websites that I use on a regular basis would not render correctly with the BB (or any 3rd party) browser, and some I use require Flash support. Having to run to my computer every time I needed to access something online just plain got old. It was to the point where I only used the BB browser for two websites, one of which was the mobile version of CB. Anything else just wasn't worth the time and frustration. On Android, all the websites render perfectly for me, input boxes work, rendering is perfect, Flash works... And don't even get me started on how many emails I couldn't read.

So, it's not really the OS so much for me. In fact, there are a lot of things I miss from the BB OS. I find it extremely easy to learn, I love having clear text driven menus instead of trying to figure out what icons mean, and I loved some of the extra features such as bedside mode (which is the thing I miss the most).

[anon(73368)]

I didn't know how useful widgets were til I started using them. The only thing similar on Blackberry is BerryWeather.

Agreed but with widgets don't they run all the time? When I had them on my evo it killed my battery!

[anon(73368)]

I left BlackBerry because there was just no BlackBerry to upgrade to that had what I wanted. Mainly, a great browser. I also wanted a full touch screen device that could play video and YouTube nicely as well as video chat.

If the a QNX Storm was available on VZW after two years with my Tour, I may have gone that way. But RIM is just too outdated for me.

Now that I'm on Android I get what I need plus more, including free navigation. I found myself using a lot of Google apps on my Blackberry, and I figured I would probably enjoy a Google powered phone.

I use my phone in place of a PC and to keep in contact with friends and family around the country. That's why YouTube and a nice screen are important to me.

All the apps are a bonus. I have 4 vegan apps that have been so helpful. Widgets are another nice bonus that I didn't know about. I used the.Kayak flight status widget on my last trip and it was very handy!

I like that I don't need Desktop Manager or any PC software to update and sync my phone. My contacts, apps, calendar are all synchronized OTA. I really didn't like Desktop Manager.

With Sprint I get sprint navigation for free and Rim just came out with a BB travel app that I'm using for my next trip and it syncs with your email confirmation. It's awesome!

[anon(73368)]

Howarmat pretty much summed up quite a bit of it for me. It's not so much the OS specifically as it is the overall experience. It's a combination of problems that mostly revolve around certain parts of the OS and the RIM BIS/BES services, but also a bit around the hardware itself. The major ones are things I'm sure they could have (and should have) fixed a long time ago, but apparently were too hard headed to.

Anyway, it ultimately came down to two major issues that drove me to another platform. Just these two things alone might have kept me with BB had they been corrected:

1) Truncated email (and the lack of proper html support).
2) The poor web experience.

These days I just can NOT afford trying to do business with email and web limitations. Two years ago...sure. Now, not at all. A majority of the websites that I use on a regular basis would not render correctly with the BB (or any 3rd party) browser, and some I use require Flash support. Having to run to my computer every time I needed to access something online just plain got old. It was to the point where I only used the BB browser for two websites, one of which was the mobile version of CB. Anything else just wasn't worth the time and frustration. On Android, all the websites render perfectly for me, input boxes work, rendering is perfect, Flash works... And don't even get me started on how many emails I couldn't read.

So, it's not really the OS so much for me. In fact, there are a lot of things I miss from the BB OS. I find it extremely easy to learn, I love having clear text driven menus instead of trying to figure out what icons mean, and I loved some of the extra features such as bedside mode (which is the thing I miss the most).

Web experience is nice on os6 and its gonna be even better on 6.1

[howarmat]

Widgets can be on one of many home screens but update only on intervals same as many apps for bb. My weather updates hourly. Some widgets don't update but are just there for quick access, like a shortcut to you web bookmarks or a quick interface for winamp. They aren't running unless I start and are using them. Others are shortcuts to specific functions similarly to quickaunch but they are just one click away instead or 2 with QL.

Free google maps turn by turn is as good as any stand alone GPS in my opinion. **** its better than 80% of them i bet

As for my experience with OS 6.... I have 2-3 hours at stores playing with a torch and a little more with a 9700 that my friend has. I know it boots faster but my storm is still being sold at vzw so I can still use that as my experience and it be relevant IMO. And yes OS 6 is better but its still not there in terms of speed and overall experience

[chuckh0308]

Web experience is nice on os6 and its gonna be even better on 6.1

Maybe, but there were no OS6 devices that I wanted and I couldn't wait for 6.1 in the hopes that they also do away with truncated email, especially since we may not actually see OS6.1 for another 4-6 months. I'm not that patient...lol! And there are plenty of other things that sealed the deal...those were just the two biggest.

Maybe I'll back when QNX lands on the phones. Just depends on how it all comes together. There's no doubt in my mind that the potential is there; only the doubt of which direction RIM will go with it.

[Chrisy]

I use a weather widget, Kayak Flight Status, and a calendar widget. They don't use much battery.

The Kayak widget I only need when traveling.

Battery life is affected I'm sure. But I'm willing to give up some battery life for more usefulness. That's just my opinion. My device lasts 10 hours with 15 percent left. That works for me!

[Chrisy]

Maybe, but there were no OS6 devices that I wanted and I couldn't wait for 6.1 in the hopes that they also do away with truncated email, especially since we may not actually see OS6.1 for another 4-6 months. I'm not that patient...lol! And there are plenty of other things that sealed the deal...those were just the two biggest.

Maybe I'll back when QNX lands on the phones. Just depends on how it all comes together. There's no doubt in my mind that the potential is there; only the doubt of which direction RIM will go with it.

Agreed. I had a Tour. My only option was a Bold. That's not what I wanted. I wasnt willing to wait another 5 months for a Storm that won't have QNX. I'm excited to see it when it drops though!

For me, the switch had a lot to do with timing. I had my Tour two years. Thats long enough.

[anon(73368)]

Maybe, but there were no OS6 devices that I wanted and I couldn't wait for 6.1 in the hopes that they also do away with truncated email, especially since we may not actually see OS6.1 for another 4-6 months. I'm not that patient...lol! And there are plenty of other things that sealed the deal...those were just the two biggest.

Maybe I'll back when QNX lands on the phones. Just depends on how it all comes together. There's no doubt in my mind that the potential is there; only the doubt of which direction RIM will go with it.

I think the 6.1 devices will be out in less than 4-6 months. With the leaks already hitting the web that usually means its close. Cant wait!

[eds817]

I think the 6.1 devices will be out in less than 4-6 months. With the leaks already hitting the web that usually means its close. Cant wait!

Isn't QNX supposed to be out early 2012? Why not wait a few more months?

[13echo4]

If it didn't suck, then why would RIM be making such a radical change? Enter QNX.

Qnx might be the kernal but what is the gui going to look like? Kernals don't change because the older ones suck but because hardware needs and app resources demand it.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Plazmic Flame]

My biggest gripes with the BB OS:

1) Memory Leaks
2) Lack of App Memory
3) Battery Pull being one of the top apps
4) Doing a battery pull suggested for issues/glitches with the OS.