[scootnyinzer]

I bought my first BlackBerry in 2007 on T-Mobile (an 8700?) for 0 down and $49 rebate just for signing up. Two years later, the iPhone was available, but only on ATT, and TMO was willing to offer a better/cheaper plan, plus a $49 down 8900. It was actually a very nice, cheap phone back in the day. Next, I tried a MyTouch android phone (HTC) but the screen wasn't bright enough to use in the outdoors and the battery was dead by 3pm. I sent it back and said, at the very minimum, no matter how many wizbang features this phone has, if I can't see the screen and there are no buttons to press and the battery dies too early, what good is the phone to me?

So I waited for the 9900, which was a wonderful phone, except for the stupid battery pulls and crappy camera (the 8900 was better, imho). But I am an old school guy who still used a smartphone for primarily communication related tasks, so I shrugged off the occasional limitations, since my device did the "important stuff" exceptionally well.

Next upgrade, I had the CHOICE of an iPhone 5 or a Z10. TMO was charging $10 a month more for the iPhone, which was not the deal-breaker. Rather, I had been reading how thousands of earnest, hard-working Canadians were fighting for the survival of their company, and their jobs and I felt a connection that I had to acknowledge with my $$. I was told on more than one occasion that this was the most irrational reasoning to ever motivate a purchasing decision, but I believe that how I spend my money and my personal values, which I hold dear, should not be at odds.

Over the next two years, I questioned the wisdom of that decision, as it seemed likely that BlackBerry would not outlast my 2 year contract on my Z10, but they survived. Barely.

So I was ready to jump to iPhone next, but then came the Passport. I love to read, news, Kindle books, whatever. I am a social media user, email, bbm, text and of course, I love a great speaker phone. So Passport checks all my high priority needs and there are acceptable workarounds for the lower priority needs. So I paid $599 for an unlocked Passport. And I am happy.

However, my partner of over 2 years, who is the consumate Apple Fanboi is pressuring me to switch to Apple iPhone 6. I don't really want to switch, but I have a feeling that this is REALLY about something more than switching OS platforms. My question is, has your commitment to an OS platform ever been used as a proxy for your commitment to an intimate relationship, and should one stand his ground as a matter of principal?

Posted via CB10

[arfin]

I recommended BlackBerry to my girlfriend, but she was already a BlackBerry fan so it wasn't a difficult decision.

Now if she were to disagree and want an iPhone I wouldn't be bothered about it at all, she will be using the phone, not me. After all it's just a phone, if you can't even chose the phone you want without getting slack over it, imagine what his reaction may be if you guys disagree over a serious matter.

Posted via CB10

[mlbrowninsc]

I am very happy with my Passport but my wife uses an iPhone and wouldn't even think of using the BlackBerry. No problem. She's welcome to use what she wants. Personally every time I pic up my iPad I wonder why she likes apple so much bust she probably thinks the same any time she picks up my Passport lol


Passport on AT&T

[H4zN]

Wow, if phone preference is a condition for your relationship, you really gotta go see a shrink to reprioritize pretty much your whole life. But that's my opinion.

No OP, as a matter off fact, I've never dated a BlackBerry user since BB10 arrived and I haven't let girls who I've dated (who were mostly iPhone users) influence anything over their opinion about my BlackBerry.

And yes, if you don't feel like parting with BlackBerry and his preference is the only reason you'll switch, then yes, stand ground. No is always an answer!

Posted via my 'Classy' Classic

[brushaway]

Ha, no. Altho i do say that her iphone sucks at times and she calls my passport a calculator. Tough love.

Posted via CB10

[H4zN]

Ha, no. Altho i do say that her iphone sucks at times and she calls my passport a calculator. Tough love.

Posted via CB10

LOL I've heard that calculator comment too! ;D

Posted via my 'Classy' Classic

[Coffee Shampoo]

I can't believe I'm even reading this. Just tell her you'll use your BlackBerry and she'll use her iPhone. There, problem solved.

[Sulaco757]

I would agree with you OP that it's about more than switching OS platforms. Personal power plays come out in every relationship, and everyone wants to be accepted as their way is best. The conformity defines them.

How did Apple raise such a huge fanbase? It wasn't because of superior products, although they aren't mediocre either. Steve Jobs knew how to play cult-like human nature off of itself to build business. Even after his passing the machine is in full force.

As you pointed out, very few people started using iPhones when they were new because they were exclusive to AT&T in the US atleast. Sprint and Verizon users are still on their first or second generation iPhone. They are blissfully unaware of the continuous upgrade cycle they are getting themselves into, or completely okay with it and are signing up in the "iPhone for life" leasing programs. Apple used to be about sustainable, simple and near minimalist products that would last years over the competition (read macbooks). Today Apple seems more bent on ruthless consumerism.

You mentioned in a previous post that you witnessed your partner upgrade not just his phone when it started creating problems for him (which most can see are doctored that way), but he also upgraded his tablet in hopes to find a solution. Apple's plan at work, exploiting their fanboi's and installed base. Is that something you really want to be a part of, forking over $1000 every fall to Apple just in hopes to get back to that original user experience?

Does no one else see how unsustainable that model is, how manipulating your product to become artificially obsolete isn't the answer? Like I alluded to earlier, most iPhone users won't become fully aware of the cycle until they have 3-4 generations of iPhones, and in 2014 the only people in that category were AT&T users. Some people don't mind upgrading to the latest tech every 6 months, and if they are conscious of it good for them. I have no quarrel with fanboi's who feel like they are supporting their brand. Heck it's why I'm on Crackberry right now. But for the rest of us who want a reliable longterm product experience, I would seriously point them away from Apple. Most corporate users sport nothing older than an iPhone5, which leads me to believe their IT departments aren't fully aware of how expensive their mobile programs will begin to run. They signed up for hype, not a platform that will last.

To me personally, Blackberry is the only company that still provides a longterm user base some futureproof tech. It may be limited in gimmicks and features, but you get the feeling holding any of their devices that an extension of yourself is forming. And nobody likes to continously change that up, they want it to last. I just hope BlackBerry doesn't surrender to the market practices of exploiting their user base every 1-2 years. I truly hope their BES12 platform is built to last a very long time, just like Chen has said.

 Posted via CB Chen 

[AsianStorm]

Problem solved. Ask her to download app $hot... everyone will be content!

Posted via CB10

[devin266]

I can't believe I'm even reading this. Just tell her you'll use your BlackBerry and she'll use her iPhone. There, problem solved.

He...it's a He :/

Posted via CB10

[FrankUnderwood]

Do what you want. It's a phone for crying out loud. If your partner would leave you over your choice of product...thats pretty bad.


Posted via CB10 on the President Underwood version of the BlackBerry Classic

[xueyaotianxia]

You use whatever you want to use bud...no one tells you what to use...problem solved.

Posted via CB10

[makie]

Dont switch of you Dont want to! Ive had every OS last year, so I'm not loyal to any OS. Switched my i6 with a note 4 around 2 months ago and today Switched to the passport.

Of you like blackberry them keep it. It you are getting forced into Apple by your partner them i would end the relation shop, because some can't just force you to do things you Dont like...

Posted via CB10

[Hai Bo]

However, my partner of over 2 years, who is the consumate Apple Fanboi is pressuring me to switch to Apple iPhone 6. I don't really want to switch, but I have a feeling that this is REALLY about something more than switching OS platforms. My question is, has your commitment to an OS platform ever been used as a proxy for your commitment to an intimate relationship, and should one stand his ground as a matter of principal?

Posted via CB10

Wow! It's amazing to read that last paragraph.
To the OP, when you wrote that paragraph, I guess you knew the answer already. It really depends on how deeper you want to go into this relationship so you can:
- play it smart enough, keep your phone, and proxy your commitment through something else, let's say a choice of toothpaste.
- keep your phone and set the limit for other's personal opinion re. your phone choice, and say this is how far you could go now.
- ask your SO to respect your preference, if not show the middle finger and say goodbye.
Of course you can always give in and abandon the other things those you love.

[Denise in Los Angeles]

So I paid $599 for an unlocked Passport. And I am happy.

However, my partner of over 2 years, who is the consumate Apple Fanboi is pressuring me to switch to Apple iPhone 6. I don't really want to switch, but I have a feeling that this is REALLY about something more than switching OS platforms. My question is, has your commitment to an OS platform ever been used as a proxy for your commitment to an intimate relationship, and should one stand his ground as a matter of principal?

Posted via CB10

Stand your ground because you are happy with your Passport. You have the right to choose the phone that you love.

[scootnyinzer]

Nobody is leaving anybody. I simply do not understand why it is so important for Apple Fanbois and girls to recruit those closest to them. I never thought of switching phone platforms as a grand gesture, but is it? Should I considering joining the iPeople or is it some sort of cult?

For the first 5 or 6 years of my smartphone relationship, contracts and carrier exclusives kept me from iPhone. I learned to adapt to using a BlackBerry, like a blind man's other senses enhance and compensate for his lack of sight, I learned to survive and even thrive in the modern world without this app or that one.

For the very first time with my Passport, I can say it that I am holding something objectively as good or better than an iPhone, albeit very different.

I am told that I am stubborn and stuck in my ways because I am one of the dead-enders still using a BlackBerry.

But I swear by my collection of vinyl records and my vacuum tube amp, which provide a sound fidelity nobody under the age of 40 has ever experienced, not every advance in technology is an advancement.



Posted via CB10

[dbmalloy]

Wrong question.... OP should simply ask "what does the Passport not do that I need it to?"... if it checks off all the boxes for you... why bother????

[sk8er_tor]

If you enjoy being constrained, then go ahead and switch. But just try doing something as simple as listening to music on YouTube while you're reading on your Kindle app or checking an email that came in. Not possible on iOS or even Android and yet people have the gall to critique BlackBerry. If you're happy with BlackBerry, then why on earth does your partner want you to switch? Why can't your partner just be happy that you're happy? I don't get it.

[clickitykeys]

My question is, has your commitment to an OS platform ever been used as a proxy for your commitment to an intimate relationship

No. Never.

, and should one stand his ground as a matter of principal?

There needs to be a discussion, but the OS platform is manifestly not the thing that needs to be discussed. :-)


Q10/10.3.1.821

[mefretwell]

I wouldn't swap OS if it really worked for me, for anyone else and their opinion. What you should be asking is, to your partner, Why is it so important to him that you switch. Open lines of communication will help keep any relationship strong. If he would really dump you or be hurt if you didn't switch OS, then what kind of relationship do you really have?

[benbraun322]

Not sure how someone can judge their relationship over what smartphone they have.

That honestly seems pretty weird to me and if that's seriously a deal-breaker for some reason and you like her just switch I'm sure you'll survive.

My girlfriend has an iPhone 5S and she's happy with it.
It's exactly what she wants, it's easy to use, looks nice, doesn't need tampering and is very straightforward.

Like everyone else shes always jokes and tells me to drop my Z30 and get an iPhone. But when I shoe some feature of BlackBerry 10 OS everyone's like that's amazing and are secretly thinking about switching themselves.

The only reason I would ever get an iPhone is for FaceTime it seems like a great feature I would like to have but totally not worth leaving my Z30

BlackBerry Z30 Chenpion

[yasikhi]

, if you can't even chose the phone you want without getting slack over it, imagine what his reaction may be if you guys disagree over a serious matter.

Posted via CB10

10000000% agree. Best quote of the day.


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[AnimalPak200]

I let my wife try an iPhone for a while due to an app that she needed for work that was on iOS and android (this was before BB10). She absolutely hated the single button idea, and she's never been a fan of touch screen keyboards so you can imagine how the iPhone's subpar keyboard fared.

Anyway... we returned the iPhone, she went back to her Bold 9900 and got her an iPod touch instead to use solely for that app. Eventually I got her a Z10, Q10 and now she's very happy with the Passport and can use her android work app.

Unfortunately they just issued her a work iPhone 5S (mainly so she has a number to give out to patients that isn't her personal one)... nice phone, but it looks like it has a thin sliver for a screen next to her Passport. Kinda funny.

Hopefully BlackBerry allows non enterprise customers to buy the movirtu virtual sim functionality and we can get her work number on her Passport.

But my point is,.. phone brand allegiance is as important as political party affiliation,.. you obviously chose a terrible partner!

Lol jk... what I really mean is: each should use whatever works best for their needs, which,.. being two different people (despite all the romantic ideals of "being one, blah, blah") are often different.


Posted via CB10

[thymaster]

The foundation of your relationship shouldn't be built on a phone preference. You should be confident and really show that you love your Passport then your partner can't deny you of your right to using something you love.

[blueburk]

I am told that I am stubborn and stuck in my ways because I am one of the dead-enders still using a BlackBerry.

on that note good by, nice knowing ya u can go >>>>.............