Originally Posted by
Omnitech The reason is because your Exchange admin is blocking Blackberry devices. But you already knew that.
The reason it works with the other email apps is because they are setting a default string, and they are setting a default string because A) the software is default Google/Android software, and/or B) they have no reason to do otherwise.
Touchdown of course doesn't care what the ID is which is why it allows you to change it, and since most people that use it are doing so to workaround some limitation or problem with the native MUA on the device, Touchdown is the "alternative" and they are obviously trying to make it more likely it won't get blocked by a software/device policy. That works in their favor and helps make them more money, but not necessarily to the liking of system administrators, which will lose the ability to ensure that users get a quality experience. (As well as not being able to capriciously block clients, but that's a separate issue) It also may violate some sort of Microsoft IP contract or technical directive to spoof the device ID.
BlackBerry does have a reason to do otherwise, because it likely wants to make sure that the mail server knows that this is not a generic Android MUA, it is a custom BlackBerry MUA that does not work like those other ones. I'd call that responsible coding, personally. Though unfortunately the world rarely adapts to change very well, which is why we still have people in the tech industry that don't know that Blackberry even exists any more, and why we are still trying to get people to stop using 10 year old web browsers riddled with security vulnerabilities.
There is no distinction between "hard" or "soft" coded device type, the system was never designed to have that parameter be user configurable. (Or else it would be entirely pointless, I hope you can see that obvious fact.)
Obviously a last-minute band-aid on another self-inflicted wound. What they SHOULD have done was gone on a PR initiative and distribute info to Exchange admins about how to whitelist a Priv user - but given that they can't even properly update their own knowledgebase article on it, obviously we are back to the usual BlackBerry habit of shooting themselves in the foot a dozen times before they figure out what hit them..
I never made any assertion that the Priv doesn't run Android. You're missing the point. The only relevance that the device handshake we are discussing has is the communication details between the mail client and the mail server. It doesn't impact any other aspect of the device. Technically the "Android" part is secondary, it is there to give a "general idea" of what the server should expect from the device if there are no more granular rules set. And that usually works OK if the mail client is the default or common variant. The Priv is not. It uses a unique EAS MUA that was just introduced 2 weeks ago. It works differently than Google's EAS MUA, it works differently than Samsung's EAS MUA, it works differently than HTC's EAS MUA. Having a unique identity when your product has unique functionality is precisely why this authentication mechanism was created in the first place. (Because in fact, the EAS MUA in the Priv is likely to be far more similiar to a BB10 device in terms of how it communicates with an Exchange server - which is the only thing that matters here - than it is to any existing Android EAS MUA. Which is why the logical choice is to make it look like... a BlackBerry. ;) )
Of course - because BlackBerry Hub is not supported or recommended to be installed on any device other than a BlackBerry. ;)
The reason why things interoperate more smoothly on a Nexus or a Samsung is because there are hundreds of millions of them already out there. Gonna be a long time before Blackberry's email client gets that kind of usage and attention to bug fixes by the vendors it has to interoperate with.
I don't know, why would you? Why did you buy a BlackBerry Android instead of a more popular option? The easiest path is always the one that goes downhill yanno. :)
Oh, and as you have hopefully figured out by now, it's not just a "stock device". There are differences. Exchange ActiveSync functionality is one of them.
Meh. More like, more poor planning from BlackBerry and lack of followthrough and polish. All of this could have been easily anticipated, and addressed before the devices shipped, without having to throw bandaids at it after the fact.
That doesn't change the fact that IMHO, setting the device hardware ID to BlackBerry is the proper behavior, because of the custom MUA. There is no other way to communicate that fact to the server, and it's an important piece of data to convey.