[raisinbagel]

Hey everybody, I'm a new blackberry user and new to crackberry.com and I had a question for everyone here. First off I'm a pretty short term smart phone user. I bought the iphone 3g when it originally came out. I loved my iPhone and it lasted me up until about April of this year and I decided it was probably time for a change. I became a bit of a smart phone fanatic, and I had been seeing and hearing all of these great things about android so I went to Verizon to buy a Moto Droid. I've been using it as my daily driver until about a week ago when I decided to go back to at&t. I didn't think I wanted a new iPhone because I figured it was just going to be more of the same, and the reason I didn't want my 3G in the first place. I watched many videos on the Torch and I decided that was the phone I wanted to get. I bought the Torch, but trying to get used to having a blackberry all I came across were things that were discouraging about the phone. First I had a faulty lock button and had to return my 1st phone. On the phone im currently using it is physically good, but I keep finding problems with the software that bother me. I'm in love with the phone but certain things seem to get under my skin, and I'm afraid I'm going to quickly become annoyed with this phone.
1) I have problems with the notifications menu. It shows everyone birthday on my phone and on facebook, but shows ait annually as well. So I have to look at their birthday for the next couple years, and I was unable to find an easy fix for this.
2) From time to time my launcher bar and my apps go hidden, and there is no routine way to get them back. I just have to keep trying differnt things with the phone and they will randomly appear again.
3) Alot of apps I cannot access in the store. I wasn't able to download apps that I need like paypal, or ebay, and I had to go to the pandora website in order to download pandora onto my phone.
4) The browser just seems to sluggish and slow for me. It tries to load full versions of most websites when they have mobile versions that are formatted for such devices as the blackberry. Trying to view my paypal balance at school was a painful process, and could have easily been avoided if I could of just had the app! (this is just a minor grudge, something I could definatly live with.)
Basically what I wanted to ask what most of you being long term blackberry users I was wondering what your opinion would be for me. Do I stick with the torch and try to see if the dev community can develop some great apps for the phone, and see if blackberry can improve bb6 through their future software updates? Or do I jump ship and go with an iPhone 4, or wait for Windows Phone 7. I'm a pretty heavy phone user and I use my phone mostly for texting, reading news, as my dedicated camera, and for a moderate amount of social networking. Sorry for this long winded post and thanks for your comments guys

[jeffreii]

I think you should upgrade to .225 (the latest leaked OS version) and see how much faster everything is - including the browser. Links in my signature will guide you through it. It takes 20-30 minutes and will make things a lot better!

Just make sure to follow the upgrade procedure carefully and private message me if you have any questions or issues.

[raisinbagel]

Can you explain the changes in .225 first before I do this?

[AgentScribe]

Can you explain the changes in .225 first before I do this?

Read this thread for what .225 improves over the stock OS on the Torch. Also, welcome to BlackBerry.

For your Facebook-birthday issue, open your FB app and go into options and disable the Calendar share feature. I think this will help you.

[KahneFan]

1) I have problems with the notifications menu. It shows everyone birthday on my phone and on facebook, but shows ait annually as well. So I have to look at their birthday for the next couple years, and I was unable to find an easy fix for this.

- It did this for my b-day. Pulling the battery out (battery pull) was enough to fix this. Although, if you load a newer operating system, it will fix this by only showing your 3 most current calendar items.

2) From time to time my launcher bar and my apps go hidden, and there is no routine way to get them back. I just have to keep trying differnt things with the phone and they will randomly appear again.

- The launch bar can be moved and it has a memory. If you hold your finger on the bar and drag it up or down, it will remember where you leave it. So, if you happen to have held your finger on it when you drug it down, it may "disappear". Simply pull it back to a position you want it in (0/1/2/3/4 rows)

3) Alot of apps I cannot access in the store. I wasn't able to download apps that I need like paypal, or ebay, and I had to go to the pandora website in order to download pandora onto my phone.

- This is still a new OS (BB6), so many apps have not yet been converted, although they are catching up.


4) The browser just seems to sluggish and slow for me. It tries to load full versions of most websites when they have mobile versions that are formatted for such devices as the blackberry. Trying to view my paypal balance at school was a painful process, and could have easily been avoided if I could of just had the app! (this is just a minor grudge, something I could definatly live with.)

- If they have a mobile site, you may need to point your browser to it. For (most) sites, it's just m.siteurl.com


Basically what I wanted to ask what most of you being long term blackberry users I was wondering what your opinion would be for me. Do I stick with the torch and try to see if the dev community can develop some great apps for the phone, and see if blackberry can improve bb6 through their future software updates? Or do I jump ship and go with an iPhone 4, or wait for Windows Phone 7. I'm a pretty heavy phone user and I use my phone mostly for texting, reading news, as my dedicated camera, and for a moderate amount of social networking. Sorry for this long winded post and thanks for your comments guys

- You have 30 days and only you can decide if this is the phone for you. Some people, the I4 is best, for some the Torch, for some and EVO and for some, the cheapest easiest candy bar phone

[kraski]

You've gotten some good answers, so far, Raisinbagel. If I can throw some thoughts your way, I hope they'll help.

I'm about as new to BB as you are. My past smartphone experience has primarily been with WinMo phones, but I do have some Android experience. Like you, the Torch has been my first BB phone. And my take on the Torch is that it's a great phone & OS6 is a great OS, but RIM rushed it to market before it was ready. Consequently, installing the leaked OS updates is essential. Each update brings the phone closer to where it ought to have been, in the first place. So, do install .225. And, after checking comments on future updates, keep updating, as appropriate.

I'm sure you're familiar enough with most of the benefits of using a Blackberry. One I'm discovering is the OS update procedure. Although the exact procedure seems more precise than with other OSes, it's really that the procedure is simple & very clearly defined. And, if it doesn't work right, the BB updating is the only one I've seen where it's easy to do a "do over". So, if needed, you get another shot at correctly & easily updating the OS.

You mentioned seeing all the horror stories about the Torch. Remember that pretty much any new phone is going to get that same kind of comment. Initial quality is pretty consistently worse as phone companies rush the new model out to market. Along with that, a good percentage of forum threads start because someone has an issue with a phone. Some want to complain, some want a solution. But the negatives about the phone are highlighted much more than the good qualities. So, take that with a grain of salt.

My own experience has been "interesting", to say the least. I've had exceptionally good experience with the various incarnations of AT&T Wireless for close to 20 years. Then, pretty much right in line with buying the Torch, coverage in my area went "to **** in a handbasket", at rocket speed. I was experiencing a lot of things others commented on, but couldn't pinpoint whether the issues were the phone or the carrier outages. Most of it seems to be carrier related (verified by AT&T reps & techs) & what isn't seems to be addressed by the OS updates. I'm going to see if I can get an extension on my 30 days, just to be sure. But, as things sort out, I'm pretty sure that I'll be keeping this phone.

[raisinbagel]

Thanks so much for your input everyone. You've really helped me through this process and I feel now that this community alone is a selling point of a blackberry.

[Rickroller]

Keep us updated with how you make out once you install the .225 OS. This site is one of the best ones i've come across, and one can always find all sorts of feedback and tips for pretty much any question.

Once some Themes and Hybrid OS's start dropping, i think your gonna really see how much fun and customization is really available on the BB platform

[jacmeister68]

Follow all this great advice, the updates are a must. I have had at some time all of the top smartphones to use through our business and my opinion is that bb is second to none.

Give the torch a bit of time, its unfortunate that you jumped in at the start and had a few hiccups like all of the other early adopters. I can also assure you that the help on these forums is second to none. Its what makes the crackberry nation great.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com