[shawnlanglois]

Hi all,

I've jumped from mobile OS to mobile OS in the past (ranging from WebOS to iOS to Windows Phone to Android) but oddly enough have never owned a BB product.

I'm in the market for an upgrade, and I'm looking to find the device that would be the best productivity tool. I've narrowed my choice down to the Note 3 and the Z30. Basically, I'm less interested in pure specs, and more interested in what each device brings to the table in terms of getting work done.

To that end, I was hoping to get some input from Z30 owners on what they feel the best productivity features the device brings to the table. By and large I am looking to compare these features to the functionality that the S Pen of the Note 3 brings. Oh, and if anyone has direct experience with both devices, I'd sure like to hear your opinions.

(by the way, I'm currently using a Moto X, which is a great device but the battery life is killing it's reliability as a work tool)

Thanks all!

[Erik Lehman]

Once you get used to it it's the fastest most productive os out there.

Z30 10.2.1.537

[Dale Lindley]

If you want a speedy os and great integration and a fantastic battery life and a premium device the z30 is the winner here. What you have to do with this great device is give it a week to totally understand where BlackBerry was coming from when they created bb10 it is simply beautiful and professional.
Don't get me wrong the note 3 would be my second choice but I've had a play with one for a few days and it just didn't feel right for me. What I mean by that is the os is not as fresh as I'd of hoped and a lot of the features are more of a gimmick than of productivity means. The screen is amazing but android just feels like it's a bit cartoony and not professional. That's my opinion.


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[shawnlanglois]

Thanks for the replies!

While I'm definitely experienced and familiar with Android, my 1st mobile OS love will always be WebOS. One of the things that I find appealing about BB10 is the gesture use that seems at least passingly similar to WebOS.

In terms of productivity, I think the items I'm looking at hardest are:

- How accessible is the Hub in regards to keeping important information easy to find. I like the idea in theory, but I worry that too much information from too many sources in one place could dilute access.

- I'm a big fan and user of Evernote, and I understand that there is some tight integration at play. Does it present real value in terms of keeping information easy to access and edit?

- My big concern with BB10 is the lack of Google integration. While I'm not deeply entrenched, I do use Drive quite a bit. I'm not opposed to switching to a new service, but is there anything available that works as elegantly and also offers the ability to collaborate on documents?

- The big appeal to me for the Note 3 is the S Pen. It seems like a very powerful productivity tool that I can see a lot of use for. Are there any BB10 features that may not be as wide known but offer some awesome productivity as well?

Thanks!

[MelCali82]

Comparing bbos10 with android is one thing but when compared to a galaxy note, it's a whole new comparison. ..

With the spen and snote, you have the option for your notes to automatically sync to evernote. It shows up right away.

Multi Window is a big plus for me. I am a freelance graphic designer and mostly use multi Window between adobe reader, file explorer, gmail/email and evernote. If I am crating a project quote, I just pull up adobe reader and the email in two different windows so while I edit a pdf, I can just look at the email for reference without ever leaving an app. You can also shuffle though apps within a Window. What's also useful is the ability to drag and drop files. If I need to send a pdf, I just browse the file explorer and drag a file to the email and it will automatically attach it. No need to go to menu and pick attach file.

I am not sure what your use would be but the spen has been integrated more. Anything you write can be used with another app. If you jot down a number just draw a square around it and so choose your action.

3gb of ram may not be needed but pretty sure it helps with the note 3. While streaming a movie from my note 3 to the xbox, I can have two windows open and alternate between apps without any lag or heavy drain on battery. So while I play a movie for the kids, I can go on about my business.

All of those gimmicks such as air view and the ones like movie pausing if you turn away.. I turned them off. Some of them are useful though and I actually use. Like voice actions. I can say stop or snooze while alarm is going off. Say answer or reject for incoming calls.

IMO.. Samsung seems to be the only ones to take advantage of the bigger screens. That's why I always choose the note when it comes to bigger phones. It's not just a "bigger" experience.

Oh and forgot to mention... BBM supports Multi Window on the Gnote.

[1khalid]

With bb10, your home computer is your own personal cloud. As long as your computer is on you can access your files over a secure link anywhere in the world with your BlackBerry.

The Hub is outstanding. If you receive tones of messages and emails and don't have time to answer them just pinch the hub and only unread messages show up and unprincipled to show all messages. Plus within the hub there is a lot of tools like colour coding messages and you also get Priority Hub for more important emails.

Full Bbm with clear as day video calling.

An amazing battery. My easily lasts through out the whole day.

Tight Evernote integration.

Box and Dropbox are also tightly integrated into the OS.

FM radio that doesn't use data, pick up the signals over-the-air.

Can use a lot of Android apps.

There are absolutely no shortage of Native apps especially for business productivity. Check stocks, scan to text, can read and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint presentations

Excellent speakers and microphone

It's the ultimate mobile OS for multi task. Can talk on the phone, take notes, surf the Web at the same time.

Miracast

Can use an external 64 gb Micro SD card

Encrypt your entire phone including your SD card just in case you lose your phone with important information on it

No buttons, peek and flow easy, fast and efficiently

You can attach a USB thumb drive and transfer files with and adapter.

Can hook up a blue tooth mouse, keyboard and either use Miracast or use a home cord to attach to a monitor and do your work on a big screen

It's good on and on......

Posted via the best phone on the market, the Z30!

[1khalid]

You can also map a drive to both your internal flash drive and your SD card over a wireless network


Posted via the best phone on the market, the Z30!

[rusty502]

As nice as the Z30 is, it's hard to beat the note 3, it is a beast, and as already stated the muti window, S pen, handwriting recognition, and performance make it hard to beat as a productive device.

[BUDDYFUNLOVE]

I had a note 3 and now have the z30...and really, the note 3 (and most samsung touch wiz devices) are just too gimmicky in my opinion.

My wife lives the value adds for the galaxy s4 she has...but I found all of that on the note as junk and bloat ware. even the spen functions, though neat...we're useless to me are rarely utilized.

My friend loves his and uses the pen a lot, I just never found it useful.

BlackBerry 10 offers a more polished user interface in my opinion. I will always be and android lover...but I am not a touch wiz lover.

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[rusty502]

I had a note 3 and now have the z30...and really, the note 3 (and most samsung touch wiz devices) are just too gimmicky in my opinion.

My wife lives the value adds for the galaxy s4 she has...but I found all of that on the note as junk and bloat ware. even the spen functions, though neat...we're useless to me are rarely utilized.

My friend loves his and uses the pen a lot, I just never found it useful.

BlackBerry 10 offers a more polished user interface in my opinion. I will always be and android lover...but I am not a touch wiz lover.

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I have both and I didn't use the S pen at first, but, after I educated myself and learned what all I could do with it, such as pen windows, the ability to draw a box around something in a document or Web page and copy it or insert it in an e mail, all open on the screen at one time, handwrite quick notes such as a name or phone number and link it instantly to my contacts, and so on, no way I would give it up now. I love my Z30, but as a work device, for MY needs, Note 3 wins hands down

[SmileDahling]

Thanks for the replies!

While I'm definitely experienced and familiar with Android, my 1st mobile OS love will always be WebOS. One of the things that I find appealing about BB10 is the gesture use that seems at least passingly similar to WebOS.

In terms of productivity, I think the items I'm looking at hardest are:

- How accessible is the Hub in regards to keeping important information easy to find. I like the idea in theory, but I worry that too much information from too many sources in one place could dilute access.

- I'm a big fan and user of Evernote, and I understand that there is some tight integration at play. Does it present real value in terms of keeping information easy to access and edit?

- My big concern with BB10 is the lack of Google integration. While I'm not deeply entrenched, I do use Drive quite a bit. I'm not opposed to switching to a new service, but is there anything available that works as elegantly and also offers the ability to collaborate on documents?

- The big appeal to me for the Note 3 is the S Pen. It seems like a very powerful productivity tool that I can see a lot of use for. Are there any BB10 features that may not be as wide known but offer some awesome productivity as well?

Thanks!

I have a Z30 and I'm a former owner of the Samsung Note 10.1

The Note was an amazing device. Absolutely amazing as a productivity tool. The s pen was out of this world and I would have very few qualms about recommending the device to a friend. If I wasn't on the outs with Google in general (privacy concerns) I might even buy it again one day.

That being said, as large as the Note III is its still a phone. It's not quite large enough, in my opinion, to take advantage of the world the S pen offers. I've played with my brothers Note III and it felt too cluttered and gimmicky. There is a big difference between having all the options available on a tablet versus a phone.

The Z30 is my productivity tool of choice. The hub is amazing but I can see how it sounds overwhelming, especially for someone who receives a ton of messages a day. I don't think enough people highlight the ability to partition sections of the hub - it's not all or nothing. You can choose what goes into it and see individual accounts easily through the left hand side menu (see attached - please don't spam my inboxes).

Evernote is baked into the OS via Remember. I'm not a big fan of the Remember OS but others might be able to weigh in more on this topic. I use the Evernote app and find it performs perfectly for my needs.

Hope this perspective helps!

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Attachment 248373

[Insync]

Pinch zoom from hub is a great feature to bring together instantly the unread messages from all communication modes.

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[BobWalker]

Background: I haven't used the Note 3 but have compared side by side with my friend's.

If you need Drive, you can get it using an app called Playcloud. It also has SugarSync, SkyDrive, and a very nice secure FTP client built in. It fits in nicely with the local storage so it's wicked quick to move files around. That said, I don't use it much because I prefer Dropbox integration with the built-in file manager and Link to my home computer. Remote file access is an awesome feature.

The search on BB10 is nothing short of amazing. It has made me much more productive. You can easily find emails, texts, documents, apps, contacts, pages in browser history, songs -- whatever -- it finds it within your typing three or four characters. To me, this is a huge productivity boost.

The keyboard... well, yeah, it saves a lot of time and trouble.

Remember is an impressive productivity tool, and I've only started to use it recently after using BB10 for a few months.

Docs2Go -- very nice and well integrated with groups, calendar, email, etc.

Lots of other stuff... but I'll tell you my experience with Android on a new "high end" Samsung device:

It's like a young woman who does makeup and accessories well so she looks kinda hot but really isn't. She ages unbelievably fast and gets laggy and naggy within months.

This part is personal preference, but to me the size of the Note 3 is absurd. I don't want a mobile computer that won't fit in my breast pocket. It just seems very emasculating to me, but then I'm an Alpha kind of dude. I won't carry a man purse - ever.

If I need a bigger screen, the Z30 makes it easy. Miracast, Wifi direct, DLNA, HDMI If it's an older unit... and it uses 1080p on those screens when it counts.

Anyway, my personal experience with BlackBerry is still pretty fresh, but I VERY much prefer it to my experience with Samsung.

That said, the Note 3 looks like an OK device and it might work for you. Just don't be surprised if the split screen and stylus aren't looking so hot in the productivity department after a couple months of use.

Speaking of the split screen: gimmick. Active Frames on BB10 gives me the equivalent of eight screens, basically.

Anyway, I'm typing too much. Too easy to do on this beautiful beast...

One more thing: Battery life -- you'll never worry about it with the Z30. Note 3 might be good that way too, but I can tell you that the S4 did not live up to its hype. The Z30 -- wow on power management.

Good luck. Whatever you get, I hope you're happy with it.

[Tre Lawrence]

I try to desist making sweeping generalizations with regards to productivity, as a quantitative measure of productivity (like communication) differs from person to person.

For example, I am slow as heck on iPhone, WP8 and even the BB10 keyboard. A lot of people swear by them and are very effective on them. I say one should pick the platform on the best network that causes the least amount of concessions.

In the right hands, any platform can be a productive platform; choice is a great thing.

[MelCali82]

This is my battery life on the note 3. I don't close apps manually and never conservative with usage.

Having active frames and up to 8 apps open at a time on bbos10 is cool but you still have to cycle through one app at a time.

The main selling points of the note 3 over every other Android and every other smartphone besides having high end specs is the multitasking and spen

If you get a Samsung for the air view gesture stuff, prepare to be disappointed

[shawnlanglois]

Hi again all, thanks for the great replies!

A few points:

Size - The size of the Note 3 is a bit of an issue. I find the device awfully large. If another device (say the S4) had the S Pen integration I would go that route over the Note 3. In essence, I am considering the Note 3 in spite of the size, and not because of it.

Device specs - Are really of little concern. 3GB of RAM or the latest S800 don't affect my decision. I don't plan on doing any 3D gaming on the device. So long as it runs day to day activities relatively lag free, I am happy.

Touchwiz - Honestly, I am not the biggest fan of Samsung's skin. The S Pen and the related tools are the prime motivator of my interest, with split screen as a distant second. Everything else seems really gimmicky and of limited interest.

Battery life - This is a very important factor for me. It doesn't have to last days at a time, but I really need reliability. If I know I can get 12 hours (for example) of moderate usage, I want that to be consistent. Both devices have beefy batteries, which is one of the reasons they are on my radar.

Collaboration - Thanks for all the tips on how you can sync files with the Z30, much appreciated! Is there a way to collaborate on the files though? For example: both me and a co-worker need to make real time edits to a documents from separate locations. Is there an easy to implement solution for this?

The Hub - Can you group items of different types under 1 heading? For example, if I am getting say emails, text messages and Facebook messages from 1 person, can those be easily grouped and sorted in the Hub? I love the Hub idea so much in theory, I'm just a little worried about the implementation.

Thanks again everyone. It's great to get some feedback from people knowledgeable and passionate about the platform.

[SmileDahling]

Hi again all, thanks for the great replies!

A few points:

Size - The size of the Note 3 is a bit of an issue. I find the device awfully large. If another device (say the S4) had the S Pen integration I would go that route over the Note 3. In essence, I am considering the Note 3 in spite of the size, and not because of it.

Device specs - Are really of little concern. 3GB of RAM or the latest S800 don't affect my decision. I don't plan on doing any 3D gaming on the device. So long as it runs day to day activities relatively lag free, I am happy.

Touchwiz - Honestly, I am not the biggest fan of Samsung's skin. The S Pen and the related tools are the prime motivator of my interest, with split screen as a distant second. Everything else seems really gimmicky and of limited interest.

Battery life - This is a very important factor for me. It doesn't have to last days at a time, but I really need reliability. If I know I can get 12 hours (for example) of moderate usage, I want that to be consistent. Both devices have beefy batteries, which is one of the reasons they are on my radar.

Collaboration - Thanks for all the tips on how you can sync files with the Z30, much appreciated! Is there a way to collaborate on the files though? For example: both me and a co-worker need to make real time edits to a documents from separate locations. Is there an easy to implement solution for this?

The Hub - Can you group items of different types under 1 heading? For example, if I am getting say emails, text messages and Facebook messages from 1 person, can those be easily grouped and sorted in the Hub? I love the Hub idea so much in theory, I'm just a little worried about the implementation.

Thanks again everyone. It's great to get some feedback from people knowledgeable and passionate about the platform.

The Hub

There isn't anything quite as detailed as you outlined - yet, anyway. I'm sort of hoping for smart folders like that in Hub. Maybe one day. You can, however, set rules up for your priority hub. I attached a few screenshots.





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[shawnlanglois]

The Hub

There isn't anything quite as detailed as you outlined - yet, anyway. I'm sort of hoping for smart folders like that in Hub. Maybe one day. You can, however, set rules up for your priority hub. I attached a few screenshots.

Posted via CB10

Thanks for that! Details things nicely.

It's a bit of a shame as it seems like a wasted opportunity there. I like the idea of a priority system, but it seems a little limited. I really like the idea of a centralized space for all communications, but there is worry that when I get swamped, things will fall through the cracks.

[SmileDahling]

Thanks for that! Details things nicely.

It's a bit of a shame as it seems like a wasted opportunity there. I like the idea of a priority system, but it seems a little limited. I really like the idea of a centralized space for all communications, but there is worry that when I get swamped, things will fall through the cracks.

Agreed on the wasted opportunity. As for things slipping through the cracks, I'm not sure there is anything anyone can do about that. You can always check accounts individually like you would on a phone on any other OS and you're faced with the same limitation of potentially missing something.

I do love the pinch to see either unread or flagged messages in the Hub. That's how I limit things falling through the cracks. I simply flag whatever I need to action later and then "pinch" the Hub to see my "need to action" items.

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[enesberry]

I see that you are concerned about the lags and bugs on the devices, and if you want to know who is the winner here, I will tell you that it is the Note3. This device is so lagy and bugy that it will start to freeze on everything that you do. That's why it takes the cake, because the touch wizz sucks big time. If you listen to me, go buy the z30. It is a hot device. Look recently I had the chance to meet my cousins and one had the note3 and the other one had the iPhone 5s, and I had the z30. Boy what a difference was between those three, the iPhone was pretty sh*tty, and to think that I thought before the iPhone was really fluid as a device, when it turned out otherwise, everything you try doing on that device felt rather slow and boring. But enough with the iPhone cause we are here for the note3 vs z30, so yeah I started using the note3 cause I was curious, well I started playing around with that device at around 3 a clock and I ended playing at around 6. Till than the note went from 70% to 45%, where as my z30 had only 34%. By the end of the day the note went to 10% without using it and the z30 went to 30% using it. Yeah the battery life on the note3 sucks big time, plus that it feels rather slow when you switch from an app to another and the android touch wizz on the note3 it feels slow and not designed for productivity. You should know that the multitasking on the note 3 is not a real multitasking, but on the z30 it is different, all the apps stay open at the same time, and they do not pause like on the note3. And as it belongs to the hub, if you had the chance to use it you would speak otherwise, and you would understand that the notification system on the note 3 sucks ***. Well that's all. I suggest you give the z30 a try since you said it by yourself that you haven't used a BlackBerry device.

[zipro]

I've had both and I'm in the process of selling both :-) (Note 3 already gone).

Note 3: the pen is superfluous. Unless you have a specific need for it and buy the Note 3 for that reason, you'll never use it. Touchwiz is fugly and it's very slow. I've used many different Android devices over the last couple of years (unit recently, I was in charge of purchasing mobile devices for a company) and Touchwiz devices have all been laggy - the N3 is no exception here. It's faster than the S4, but it's drastically slower than a Sony Xperia Z1 or a Nexus 5. It'll zip along nicely until suddenly it seems to hit a stutter and will then slow down until you reboot it. I've seen this on at least 10 Note 3, so it's safe to say that most of them have that issue. Samsung has now promised that the next iteration of Touchwiz will be as fast as it should be on a Qualcomm 800 processor, but it's unclear if the newly-designed UI the S5 will receive will ever make it to the N3. Apart from that: the choice of materials on the N3 is abysmal. On my own device, the color started coming off on the silver edges after less than 3 weeks.

As for the Z30: that one's a great device but there are two things about it that I really don't like: 1. the hub is just too messy for my taste. Some people might enjoy having one large, cluttered inbox filled with the messages from all kinds of services, I don't. It's somewhat better now in 10.2.1 with the gesture that'll only show unread messages but it's just not for me. The second thing is apps. Native apps run really smoothly and are a joy to use on the Z30 but there are so darn few of those. Most apps in the App World are Android ports. And those just don't run smoothly - they're now BEARABLY quick, but still much, much slower than on a native Android device. The same goes for all the side-loaded APKs, of course. The ports are only just good enough and for a business user the speed at which they run can become frustrating very quickly.

If you need a 5"+ screen, don't mind the weight (as you apparently don't if you consider the N3 or the Z30), need all day battery-life, need a robust phone that's hard to kill, I'd recommend looking at the Sony Xperia Z1(s). It's fast, it's water-proof, it's built like a tank and the battery will easily last all day. If you want to get rid of Android, a wild-card might be the Nokia 1520 or a Nokia Icon (if you're on Verizon). Some of my co-workers opted to get the 1520 and are fairly happy with it. Still a small trade-off in terms of apps compared to Android or iOS, but it has a truly stunning screen, a great camera, great build quality and almost unmatched battery-life. It's close to impossible to kill the battery in one day even with heavy use (my coworkers rely on tethering etc. on a daily basis). Productivity is very high on WP8 - the OS is extremely simple to use, and integration with MS-based services and products (Outlook, MS Office, Skydrive etc.) is unmatched. The Z1 is a typical Android device but it's as clutter-free as the N5 - which puts it in stark contrast to the N3.

Anyway, that's just my 2 cents.

[shawnlanglois]

@Zipro

Thanks for the info!

Unfortunately I am limited to what my carrier offers, which more or less means no Windows Phone (I'm with Bell in Canada). I've used Windows Phone in the past, and have been impressed with it. My only real issue with it is the lack of true file storage and manipulation. Having to use Skydrive is clunky for when I need to work with multiple files at once.

I actually bought the N5 on release. It's a very nice device, by and large, but suffered from 2 things. Poor battery life, and little in the way of integrated productivity. Stock Android is definitely nice and smooth, but it lacks certain features that really help you get the most out of your device. You can build up on that with apps from the Play Store, but then you run the issue of a lack of real integration amongst them. The value additions from OEMs can really be handy.

The Z1 would be on my radar more if it weren't for the screen. Sony has terribly washed out colours, including blacks that look more like greys, as well as bad viewing angles. I'm 100% fine with 720p screens (heck, I actually prefer them to save on battery life), but I like to see screens that pop. For that reason, I tend to stick to AMOLED ones.

Thanks for the feedback though. It's great to get multiple perspectives, and your thoughts on the lag with the Note 3, especially across so many units is very useful.

[BobWalker]

Google doesn't own real-time document collaboration. There are a ton of ways to do this, including BBM. Personally, I do not permit employees to send our business data to Google. It's strictly amateur hour if you're using Google Docs for collaboration - just my opinion.

I actually was worried that the Hub would be cluttered before I started using it. It's not. It's brilliant. I have four email accounts, Twitter, BBM, SMS, and a bunch of apps pushing into the Hub, and it's extremely quick to find anything. It's something you can't appreciate until using it, a true game changer.

You can cycle through apps so quickly that Active Frames is basically a split screen with any of the eight parts being expandable to the full screen with a tap. The split screen thing on the Note is a joke in comparison. Sorry, it just is. I wanted to like it but found it completely useless in a recent side by side comparison.

If productivity is your thing, BB10 is your thing. Android is a good platform for tinkering but really bad for keeping your stuff together, and its UX is just awful and dated once you get used to the BerryFlow.

[glidewells]

One thing I like about the hub is the ability to separate accounts out and not have everything show under the main hub.








This allows you to keep the hub organized, very effective imo.

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[irweezyy]

Thanks for the replies!

While I'm definitely experienced and familiar with Android, my 1st mobile OS love will always be WebOS. One of the things that I find appealing about BB10 is the gesture use that seems at least passingly similar to WebOS.

In terms of productivity, I think the items I'm looking at hardest are:

- How accessible is the Hub in regards to keeping important information easy to find. I like the idea in theory, but I worry that too much information from too many sources in one place could dilute access.

- I'm a big fan and user of Evernote, and I understand that there is some tight integration at play. Does it present real value in terms of keeping information easy to access and edit?

- My big concern with BB10 is the lack of Google integration. While I'm not deeply entrenched, I do use Drive quite a bit. I'm not opposed to switching to a new service, but is there anything available that works as elegantly and also offers the ability to collaborate on documents?

- The big appeal to me for the Note 3 is the S Pen. It seems like a very powerful productivity tool that I can see a lot of use for. Are there any BB10 features that may not be as wide known but offer some awesome productivity as well?

Thanks!

The hub can get cluttered up but there is a search feature that will sort all that out when you need to find something fast! Also you can filter the hub by specific account it you want/need to.

Evernote integration in the remember app is awesome! I use it daily.

Google drive doesn't work bit the drop box integration is really good, same with box. I have a computer at home that runs all the time so I don't use cloud storage as much as I use the remote file access. BlackBerry has developed one of the best file managers available on a mobile device! It doesn't get nearly as much recognition as it should.



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