[Ray Truant]

I've got a Samsung Note 3 that I've been happy with for over a year, but the finish is chipping off. Last time I was with BB was a Torch, which was a pretty awful experience.
Quick questions:
1. How many Android apps can run really on this strange square screen. Really, not "all of them".
2. My most used app outside of office stuff is Waze -good on the Passport?
3. Chromecast? Yes, no?
4. international connectivity...This is awful with iphone and Android -still good with BB?
5. Dashcam apps?
6. Flipboard?
7. Any camera shutter lag?
8. Any hardware to mount on a dash?

Overall, Android to BB , good experience?

[yohannrjm]

I've got a Samsung Note 3 that I've been happy with for over a year, but the finish is chipping off. Last time I was with BB was a Torch, which was a pretty awful experience.
Quick questions:
1. How many Android apps can run really on this strange square screen. Really, not "all of them".
2. My most used app outside of office stuff is Waze -good on the Passport?
3. Chromecast? Yes, no?
4. international connectivity...This is awful with iphone and Android -still good with BB?
5. Dashcam apps?
6. Flipboard?
7. Any camera shutter lag?
8. Any hardware to mount on a dash?

Overall, Android to BB , good experience?

I have used Android phones pretty recently (not the Note), and I've been using the Passport for the last few weeks, so I can answer some of your questions.

1) I haven't used all Android apps, but if you install Snap you'll have access to pretty much all of them. If they rely on Google Play services, they will not run (without further tweaking). All the apps I've tried that do not need Play services run well, though the display may not be ideal.

2) I don't use Waze, but people here have said it works fine. They'll have to weigh in.

3-5) No idea.

6) Flipboard works well.

7) Camera is slow to focus. This seems to be a software issue, so it should be fixed soon.

8) No idea.

Overall, my switch from Android to BlackBerry has been seamless. Only a few of my ride tracking apps won't work, because they rely on Google Play services. The BlackBerry experience is great, but will depend on your usage characteristics.


Sent from my Passport using Tapatalk

[Ray Truant]

Thanks, it took a bit of research, but I ordered a Passport.

[Tabdus]

Thanks, it took a bit of research, but I ordered a Passport.

Excellent! I hope you enjoy your new device.

Posted via CB10

[sebstarr]

You will love it! Check the boards for how to add snap to your device to get access to additional android apps

[southlander]

Only android apps that require Google services framework to actually run should not work. There are apps that can use but do not require it. Like for mapping functions. They might annoy you with pop up warnings but that is all.

I have found that any android app I run does scale and look good on the Square screen. Some I use....

Yelp, trip advisor, flicker, Google maps, Imdb, chase bank, discover card, uber, eBay, instagram, PayPal, Spotify, twit pro, tune in. All look great.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[naveedk]

I can safely say that Flipboard works brilliantly on the Passport. Of course, since it isn't natively available on the BlackBerry Store, I had to sideload it using Snap. But, it works great. Just as the square screen breaks the candybar paradigm, pages flip sideways on the Passport :-)



Posted via CB10 on an AWESOME Passport

[igor10000]

I can safely say that Flipboard works brilliantly on the Passport. Of course, since it isn't natively available on the BlackBerry Store, I had to sideload it using Snap. But, it works great. Just as the square screen breaks the candybar paradigm, pages flip sideways on the Passport :-)



Posted via CB10 on an AWESOME Passport

Sideloading is converting apk to bar, installing debug token, connecting BlackBerry to PC and using software to install the bar file.

Since 10.2, you install straight from the apk. Why people cling to the term "sideload" baffles me.

Sorry for the off-topic.

Posted via CB10

[FSeverino]

The one thing I will say is the 'zoom out' option on android apps is fantastic. I use the zoom out version of Evernote and wordpress, it is more like the tablet versions then phone ones. You see so much information, I was amazed when I first discovered it.

That being said there are some apps that get confused and don't work either way. Like you can't scroll, or you can't see a column. But that is only a few, and almost always a game.



Posted via CB10

[naveedk]

Sideloading is converting apk to bar, installing debug token, connecting BlackBerry to PC and using software to install the bar file.

Since 10.2, you install straight from the apk. Why people cling to the term "sideload" baffles me.

Sorry for the off-topic.

Posted via CB10

Apologies for the ignorant use of the word 'sideload'. I do realise that .apk files get directly converted to a usable format ever since 10.2. I'll keep this in mind for later :-)

Old habits die hard, sorry!

[yohannrjm]

I can safely say that Flipboard works brilliantly on the Passport. Of course, since it isn't natively available on the BlackBerry Store, I had to sideload it using Snap. But, it works great. Just as the square screen breaks the candybar paradigm, pages flip sideways on the Passport :-)



Posted via CB10 on an AWESOME Passport

That's strange! The pages flip normally for me on my Passport. It must be a settings thing.



Sent from my Passport using Tapatalk 2

[naveedk]

That's strange! The pages flip normally for me on my Passport. It must be a settings thing.



Sent from my Passport using Tapatalk 2

You know, strangely enough, when I first installed the apk, it flipped vertically as it's supposed to. I closed the app, and upon reopening, the flip orientation changed inexplicably.

Can't find any settings to change it back. There was one that said, 'layout' or 'orientation' but it didn't work regardless of what I chose.

Sent from my Passport using Tapatalk

[VeryBumpy]

Thanks, it took a bit of research, but I ordered a Passport.

So how is it in your opinion?

[Ray Truant]

I've been using these smartphones since 2002. I had BBs for years, then switched to iphone, then Samsungs, Note 2, then Note3.
Iphone 4 was the worst experience, I found the connectivity pretty weak and the battery would not last a day. I do a lot of typing of scientific and medical terms , so on-screen typing and autocorrect are tedious. Within apps, they are all pretty much the same and frankly little difference.
The Samsungs were great to use, long battery life, but they connected poorly to external carriers when I travelled, and the plastic cases looked horrible after a year, with the fake metal trim chipping off.
I'm finding the battery life on the Passport is 1/3 longer than the Notes, so for me that's three days with all radios on, but is seems the BB GPS and Bluetooth use very little additional power.
I've managed to find all my most common apps from Android. They work the same, except I have yet to see a app stop working on the Passport.

One exception is a dashcam app. I use a Scoche magnetic holder (metal strip placed between battery and case) with dashboard grip mat, which is very good, and allows me to use the Passport as a GPS navigator through Waze and a dashcam.
I can only find two apps, and neither seems to work well.

I'm really liking the square screen and interface, and the browser. Camera is OK, but not as good as Apple's or Samsungs.

I have to say I'm really not impressed with the media reviews these devices, because they misrepresent some brands and gloss over major design flaws with others, and they all appear opinionated and focusing on fashion, and not actual use of the devices practically. I've read you cannot watch Netflix and have no Google support on Passport, which is nonsense -just use the browser and save a shortcut to the desktop, it works better than poorly updated apps.

Few things I would change: USB 3 interface and charging instead of the slow USB2, and the leather holster price is ridiculous at $150. I would like it to have Chromecast support. I would prefer a thicker device with an even bigger battery. It really makes no sense that the designers are pushing thinner phones that are harder to hold on to, unless you fit some ugly rubber case.

For email and scheduling, contacts, it's better than any other phone. I really like Hub and the quick access to settings.

[ubizmo]

I do a lot of typing of scientific and medical terms , so on-screen typing and autocorrect are tedious.

You'll want to make friends with Word Substitution, in Settings>Language and Input>Prediction and Correction. This will allow you to make abbreviations for terms you use a lot. It can be an incredible time-saver, if you take the time to set it up.

is seems the BB GPS and Bluetooth use very little additional power.

I don't use Bluetooth much, but I keep GPS on, with no noticeable hit in battery life. One nice thing about BB10 (and BBOS before it) is that it shows you when the GPS is active; there's a little "ghost" GPS icon that appears in the upper left part of the status bar, near the battery icon. So you don't have to wonder whether GPS is eating up power in the background. If it's on, you can see it and you can find what's using it and turn it off if you want.

It's fair enough to say there's no "Google support" if that means Hangouts and Docs. There's an app for Google Talk, but it's pretty rough. You can get Google Maps to run, but it takes a bit of fiddling, and of course it's possible that Google will bring the legal hammer down on such things.

[RexdaleNap]

Most of google play service is ported and lol I came from note 3 as well.

Would have to be paid lot of money, to go back for even one day.

Sound quality even with viper is lacking next to king Passport.