A few specific issues - advice?

Hi,

I am a long time Android user. Little experience with BB10 but I don't think thats relevant here.

I have had the Priv for about 3 days. Kind of impressed but also finding it quite buggy. Can anyone else confirm that they see similar issues to me?

1. Speaker volume seems to drop when phone put down/picked up/screen turned on. This is hard to explain... But I leave a podcast playing and put phone down. When I touch/turn on device the volume drops. It's not a hardware issue as the Android volume control has been lowered. It's like a undocumented gesture. I havent quite found the exact trigger.... Help!

2. Headphone output isn't very loud. I guess this cannot be fixed... But seems disappointing to me.

3. Anyone found out how to remove the app icon notification star icon? BlackBerry didn't code it well so if also interprets ongoing notifocations e.g. music playing as a notification.

4. I'm really struggling with the hardware keyboard... Just so slow and prone to error. I'm trying...but wow the keys are small.

Thanks everyone.

I don't know a thing about Android so I wouldn't know about anything except the last thing you mentioned about the keyboard.

I found it impossible to type accurately, the keys too small and cramped. And I think BlackBerry messed that up because Android experts coming back to BlackBerry are going to do so because of their memories of a great typing experience.

I know eventually I'll switch to Android and I wanted so much to love this slider. But without the keyboard I'm thinking I may as well give other brands some serious consideration.

The other things you mentioned probably can and will be fixed with software updates. I didn't get to test the speakers and headphones when I visited the Priv. Hope someone else can tell you if that's a software or hardware issue you're having.

But to me the keyboard thing is a deal breaker. I know I haven't used a physical keyboard for a few years but not sure that any amount of time will make me able to type on that keyboard blindfolded like I could with old BlackBerry's. They should have made the keyboard like a 9900 in my opinion.

You'd know how the OS is working in comparison to other Androids. That's a huge advantage I don't have. I wouldn't know if the software was buggy or just the way Android is suppose to be.

Z30STA100-5 / 10.3.2.2789 / T-Mobile USA

As an outsider looking in, it seems to me that BB10 is dead, so I guess this is the only chance you have to get a BB device (for now). < 1% market share is basically a rounding error, so this seems like the last opportunity to continue with hardware.

As for Android, there is a reason why its the most popular OS in the world. Some of those are purely business related (its more or less free, and it has all the apps) but its also really quite good. I like the fact BB didn't skin it too much, but they also seem to have not optimised well. I owned a LG G4 (same spec as this) and it for sure ran better - and they have a VERY heavy OS skin. The Priv is fairly fluid in normal operation but its quite buggy and the entire hub experience seems totally half baked. Also, how they messed up App Store updates in the Play Store is frightening... why do the BB app updates not appear in my "updates" list. Crazy.

Im struggling to adapt to this device. Android is a amazing "leveller" and companies like Samsung are running into this too - Android is Android. Every handset runs the same apps. Its hard to differentiate, especially now that cheaper devices perform basically as well as high end devices. The keyboard is the only significant differentiator this device has and as someone not used to having one... its quirky but hard to use. Im still trying though.

Can't speak for your top three, but as for the physical keyboard its an adjustment. Coming from android you are used the virtual keyboards, so my best advice is to make an effort to hit every physical key (harder and slower to start), its basically relearning a bit as you are used to just touching and getting response, Really make the effort and within a week you never have to think about it again.

Thanks for the advice

And do wait for marshmallow update as I read somewhere that most of apps and features installed by BlackBerry are optimised for android marshmallow. Take for example dtek app which will have ability to fix each single problem within an app to make your phone secure. Right now all you can do is just see and you have uninstall the whole app to make the performance meter go green

Posted via BlackBerry Passport SE

I actually doubt this is true. The BB apps are distributed only to the Priv (via the Play Store), and the idea that BB wrote all those apps supporting API Level 23 features with conditional logic for the Priv (API Level 22) to not use those features just seems like wasted effort. Either way, DTET would need to change to use Marshmallow as there is some overlap there. Currently DTEK is pretty useless and I assume this won't change much moving forward.

Will be interesting to see if BB actual deliver on their monthly security patch promise AND deliver Marshmallow within next 6 months. Im very dubious, but they have only 1 device (with some model variants...) so maybe.

Also... the headphone volume is killing me. As crazy as it sounds, this is likely the key reason I have for returning it. I have to use max volume pretty much all the time and even then its not loud enough on all songs... why do this BB!!?