[joyride]

I'm coming from a Nokia N9 and this is a killer feature that I absolutely cannot do without. I don't know exactly what to call it but basically the N9 screen is always on and in standby mode it will display the time, any notifications like missed calls, emails, texts, etc and is infinitely customizable. This is 100000000x better than having a notification LED.
#N9Hacks: Standby Screen Mod (Terminal + App) - My Nokia Blog

This phone is over 2 years old and quite frankly I'm surprised this feature isn't more widespread by now. Some of the newer Lumias have it but you couldn't pay me to use a Windows Phone.

Being that the Z30 has an AMOLED screen, this is more than possible. However, I can't seem to find any information on if such a low power mode screen exists or if there is an app for it. Any help or information would be appreciated!

[bbmjack]

This feature it's not on BlackBerry 10 unfortunately

[John Vieira]

I used to have an N9 too, and I wish I had that as well.

Sorry, you'll have to get used to it, but if you get an app to change the led, it's not too bad.

Posted via CB10

[joyride]

Ahhhhh, that's too bad. I should have mentioned, I don't have a Z30 yet but was thinking of upgrading. It seems like a very nice device otherwise but I really hate giving up features, especially one as useful as this.

John, did you go straight from your N9 to BB10? How did you find the transition otherwise?

[John Vieira]

I did go from the N9 to BB10. I picked up a Z10 and later upgraded to a Z30.

I liked the upgrade, the hardware of course is much improved, and the software is nice.

The UI is good, and you get used to it quick, but it still feels a little less developed than the N9.

The hub however is excellent, and I would miss it if I went back.

It's also a lot less customizable, and there aren't really any files you can load and stuff. No terminal, things like that. It's much more locked down. I still keep an old N900 around to play with for those things.

Otherwise, it's nice to have a device That's actually supported. When I first got it, I was just "meh", it was nice, but the N9 did everything and it was much better. But that opinion has changed and the constant updates that BlackBerry has put out, have been excellent.

Overall, it feels like an evolution of the N9, aside from some UI regressions, that you can get used to.

It also helps that a lot of the updates are basically user info fed, and a lot of the extra functionality that has been added was stuff 3rd party devs had added to the N9 anyway.

The only things I really miss are the closing an app with one motion, it's 2 steps on BB10, the lpm, the face recognition for tagging in the camera, and the event view was cool, but replacing it for the hub is ok as well.

Also the multiple chat with the same app, but different protocols is missing, but the hub basically does the same thing.

Overall, some advantages (amazing for email) and some disadvantages, a few missing things in the UI mostly.

The camera is also not as good. Not bad, but the N9 camera was pretty good.

At the end of the day I think you'll enjoy the upgrade, BB10 is an excellent OS, and the Z30 is fantastic.

Those things you'll miss, you'll probably always miss, but the N9 was so far ahead of its time, if anyone has a chance to catch up, it's BB10.

Posted via CB10

[joyride]

John, thank you for the detailed post.

The whole N9/MeeGo/Elop saga is quite depressing to think about. Nokia had so much right with this phone and OS that the whole thing feels like a giant travesty. I hope Elop chokes on his stock options and that his tombstone is one big live tile, with his last name truncated off.

Emotions aside; your post makes the Z30 sound like it could be a great phone after some getting used to. I had hoped Jolla would deliver but the lack of 3G in North America makes it not an option. Tizen is nowhere to be found and Nokia lost all hope for itself long ago. It’s really looking like I’d have to wait another two years to find an actual successor to the N9 and that’s most unfortunate. I may just take Blackberry up on their 30 day money back guarantee and see if I can cope.

Thanks again.

[ceckland]

In support of the Z30...
BB10 is being developed and improved at an incredible rate. When it was first released a little over a year ago, it had a fraction of the functionality that it has now, and 10.3 promises even more steps forward, including the face recognition in the camera that the previous poster missed coming from his N9.
I don't know if that's an incentive for you, but the OS is definitely not stagnant, and it will continue to improve.

Posted via CB10

[John Vieira]

The face recognition is unfortunately not the same, even in the upcoming 10.3

On the N9, it would recognize faces of people in pictures taken previously. And you could tag those people.

Those tags would carry over to Facebook if the picture was uploaded, and you could even search pictures by someone's name.

It was very comprehensive, and I doubt that BlackBerry will ever add that. I hope they do.

Posted via CB10

[ceckland]

Ah, that's impressive. It reminds me of some of that "auto-tag" software that you see in gallery applications.
I was never a huge fan of it, especially with Facebook integration, for privacy reasons, even if it's just on principal, but I can see how it would be useful and why a lot of people would like it.
Maybe send BlackBerry a suggestion? It would be a sweet option and would add a lot to the OS.
It's really too bad that advertising budgets and specific companies (aka Apple and Samsung) have become so big, because a lot of great software, and resulting benefits of competition, etc., is just getting cornered out of the market.

Posted via CB10

[noelwoodward]

You might get to see something of that sort in the 10.3 os update...face down, the screen goes into standby mode and when you lift the device, the screen turns on! however, 10.3 won't be out until September...worth the wait in my opinion! The ui keeps on improving with each update and the os has certainly matured in little over a year now...great work by BlackBerry

Posted via CB10

[John Vieira]

While it's a neat feature, I don't get the whole "screen down to turn off screen thing"

How am I supposed to see if I have any messages like that?

Assuming on silent of course.

Especially since they are also going to add a feature to light up the screen when a message arrives. It makes little sense.

Posted via CB10

[Dat Gui]

You might be interested in the yotaphone

[Dat Gui]

Also my two cents coming from someone who upgraded from ios to bb10 right away. Let start off by just saying I was a HUGE isheep. I thought it was the perfect os, best market for gaming and apps. Then I had to upgrade my phone. It was obvious I should get the iphone 5s right, it would only be natural. But apple just released ios 7 and let just say it is a kids os. I don't care what people say it's like a kindergartener made it. So I researched on phones as a possible alternative. The z10 looked like a nice phone.

It was the only phone that was the same size as the iPhone, I was against having phones bigger than they st that time. Hardware wise it was OK, could have done better. Camera gets the job done but it's one of the areas that needs to be upgraded in the next flagship. As

[Dat Gui]

as far as sof taste wise, they dominated with the os. And the updates made it better. As of 10.3.2 right now there's only two major things they need to update, the others are all miniscule and I would say it would be on par with ios and android in only the 1.xx years it has been our. Maps gets the job done but it was like when apple first released their maps, voice control is miles behind siri. There's some other tweaks that I'm sure will be added but I don't mind it. Also I don't think I can go back after using the keyboard. It is amazing, something that needs to be tried before buying a bb10 device because in sure it will be a winning factor

[dararede]

I am also searching new OS after MeeGo. Sadly BlackBerry doesn't have active standby screen, killing feature if you ask me, and that is the reason I still use N9. LED just can't compare with this and I see there is no interest in BB community to somehow tell BB we want this because BB10 is good but for ex N9 users.

[korpulenteskind]

I'm coming from an N9 too, and I have to say that I really cant understand how you could EVER make another phone without LPM features... it is simply that useful. But the same goes for the N9 Feed... with RSS, Facebook etc... simply an awesome phone. Sad story.

On the other hand I have to say: Maybe some skilled developer could just end this. I mean bedside mode is there. If someone could just hack the bedside mode kind of, and make it display notifications or whatever + the time. And then change the lock button to enter bedside mode... voila. Or BB could just implement that, it wouldnt be such a great deal.

[dararede]

Yeah man, I would pay $50 for that app. BB needs to understand that lot of N9 users are BB10 users because OS is somewhat similar.