1. xDAKx's Avatar

    I've had BlackBerries since late-2008, I started with a Pearl 8100 (with a cool 64MB of RAM, and OS 4.5!), then a Curve 8900, a Bold 9000, a Storm 9530, a Tour 9630 (on T-Mobile!), another Bold 9000, a 9700, and quite a few more. I've seen the BlackBerry world quite a few times, and in the time I've been on CrackBerry, I've learned quite a bit.

    Since around Mid-2010, The CrackBerry Nation has changed quite a bit, sadly I've seen many of the friendships between people on here become frayed, and generally, the voice of this community become rather bitter, and when you combine that with rumours of RIM "dying" it causes a panic with me, and when the Torch I got in December turned out to be a slight dud, I jumped ship to iOS, with an iPhone 4.

    The iPhone is great, nice screen, lots of memory, good music player, good messaging, good email, good apps, decent signal quality, good voice quality, good syncing, good accessories, good battery life, good keyboard, good support and a great camera.

    However, there is an issue I seen with that, there's a lot of good, yet a lack of much great there. Since having a BlackBerry, I've been spoiled with great keyboards, great messaging and great battery life and great security.

    Rapidly once I had my iPhone 4, I knew I'd be taking on quite a bit of change, since the iPhone and BlackBerry have very little in regards to resemblance's, I was fine for the first week, the second and the third, but just as many have said before me, you really do start to miss what you have with a BlackBerry. The experience while good, is simply not the same.

    I'm a teenager (a rather professional one, a graphic design intern) and therefore when I'm not focused on getting things done, I'm communicating, and I'm connecting with others, It's not unheard of for my text volume in a month to hit 10-15k messages in a month, and that's small compared to what some teenagers can pump out in a month.

    While the iPhone is a good messaging device, some, like me, will never become adjusted to tapping on glass, an audible response is great, but if I'm on a light rail train, a bus, or even just in Starbucks, that audible response is useless, physical keyboards, while unable to be adjusted and modified to fit within a certain usage scenario like a software keyboard, are able to provide a superior experience all the time, regardless of the environment they're being used within, which, in my opinion, offsets any benefit you get from the ability to modify/adapt a software keyboard to the scenario they're being used within. The Torch is in an interesting position in this, because it has both.

    Another big thing for me, is reliable and clear voice call quality, I don't care about using Skype on my device, or any other VoIP service, I just want a good, clear call each time, every time, and while the noise cancellation in the iPhone 4 does a great job, it's still sub-par versus what even my Bold 9000 offered for voice quality on both ends.

    Battery life is key too, without battery your carrying around lots of pretty, shiny plastic and glass which is totally useless, The iPhone has improved greatly from previous generations, yet even the iPhone 4 can't match the 2 days of 3G battery life in my 9700/9780, I was able to go spend the weekend at my girlfriends house, and not even pull the wall charger out for my device before I got back home, my girlfriend charged her Droid X twice in the same amount of time, but used it less than I used my 9700.

    For those with a Torch, or any device, thinking of switching, I really urge you to take a step back and look at what your really using on your device, the magnetic pull of the other platforms (Android, iPhone, WP7) is massive, however the grass really isn't always greener on the other side, while some of your friends may be rocking an iPhone 4, or a Nexus S, and love it, take it from someone who's rocked both, they're not for everyone.

    As someone who's passionate about mobile devices, I see so many people on CrackBerry, and even Android Central and TiPB who are jumping to other platforms because it's the "cool" thing to have, just like back in 2004 with the RAZR (Yes, I had a RAZR at one time.) and then come back to CrackBerry, or their other "previous community" to stir up dust and upset the community, why they do this is beyond me.

    When your thinking of switching, seriously slow down and consider what the pros and cons of each platform your thinking of switching to are, versus what you already have, I've physically sat people down and done this with them, and 9 times out of 10, they were about to make a decision based on the appeal and marketing of the other platform, rather than making a decision on things that matter.

    I'm not trying to stir up an argument here, I'm simply rather trying to make a point, and share what I've learned the hard way with others before they possibly make the same mistakes I have.

    Personally, I'm coming back to the Torch, because while I love iOS, an iPhone 4 doesn't offer me any benefits that I couldn't obtain via an iPod Touch, the downsides are actually larger than the benefits, meaning I have to work harder to get things done.

    There are lots of great new platforms out there today, and many will suit the needs of many people, some will find the benefits of another platform to be worth any problems or downsides the platform may hold, and it's then totally reasonable to switch, if you feel so compelled. BlackBerry isn't for everyone, neither is iOS, WebOS, Android, or WP7, and I think we all can understand that, and I think what we're going to see with BlackBerry soon is going to really light a fire under the platform again, like it or not, RIM sat on their bum for too long, however I'm pretty excited about the future, and I think those who have kept their 'Berries close receive some long overdue devices to bring us (the community and consumers) in line with other platforms, and to bring more appeal back to BlackBerry.

    I'm excited for the future, and I know others here must share that sentiment.

    (Sorry for such a long post, I've wanted to write something like this up for a while, but I only now went about doing it, hopefully it wasn't do random! I know this doesn't contain much about the Torch in the end, so if a mod feels it's better in the general discussion forum, or elsewhere here on CrackBerry, please feel free to move the thread.)
    04-08-11 08:46 PM
  2. Masahiro's Avatar
    Very nice writeup (and photos too!). This just about sums up my preference for BlackBerry. Massive touch-screens, super fast processors, front-facing cameras and all that jazz is nice and all. However, at the end of the day, it's all about seeing that blinking LED, sliding out my keyboard (unlocking if necessary), pressing the convenience key and going straight to the message folder to punch out a reply. As simple as that sounds, it's just not physically possible to do on a phone like the iPhone.
    04-08-11 09:11 PM
  3. kcmo's Avatar
    Very nice read! I've used BBs for about 4-5 years now. Also had an itch to try another platform and did so with Android last year. That lasted 6 days! LOL! Came running back to my BB which I plan to stay with! It JUST WORKS for me. I'm definitely looking forward to the new BBs coming out!
    04-08-11 09:20 PM
  4. tonyhatchetman's Avatar
    Nice job .

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    04-08-11 09:23 PM
  5. Gucci33's Avatar
    I could not have posted ot better!

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    04-08-11 09:59 PM
  6. californiablackberry's Avatar
    Very well written post, and good use of words.
    I also enjoy the picture, from Tumblr, because Tumblr is amazing.
    04-08-11 10:03 PM
  7. xDAKx's Avatar
    Thanks for all the praise everyone.

    Very well written post, and good use of words.
    I also enjoy the picture, from Tumblr, because Tumblr is amazing.
    Haha. That's a photo from my Tumblr site that I made using a collection of photos I took of all my devices over the past few years, and I agree, Tumblr is pretty smashing.
    04-08-11 10:24 PM
  8. BlackStormRising's Avatar
    Wow, you took those photos? Smashing indeed! I seriously thought they came from a RIM web page. Well, you did say "I'm a teenager (a rather professional one, a graphic design intern)". I agree with that!
    04-08-11 10:36 PM
LINK TO POST COPIED TO CLIPBOARD