[mrbluehorseshoe]

Recent blackberry OS updates have left BB devices stuck, dead in the water, with an OS that can never truly be updated, and with an OS no one wants to seriously develop apps for, since there is a new, non-compatible OS on the horizon. Last few years -

Blackberry 6 introduced - Not really updated much, nor apps developed for it, as another OS is immediately around the corner. So if you bought a new blackberry device like the Torch (a NEW device, an entirely NEW model, that you will NEVER be able to upgrade), you are stuck forever with Blackberry 6, with no other OS possible. It just seems particularly amazing/baffling to me, to do this to a new blackberry that you've only just introduced to consumers.

Blackberry 7 comes shortly thereafter, it is DOA, given that everyone is waiting for QNX/BBX/BB10 or whatever it will be called. You buy the top of the line Bold 9900/9930, but you can never update it. And again, who would develop apps for this DOA platform?

Blackberry 10 - No prior blackberries will work with this new system, either.

Can you imagine if Apple did this? I also own an older 3gs iPhone, and it works fabulously with the latest iOS. Sure, some features like Siri don't work with the 3gs iPhone, but most of the OS does. And that 3gs I own is a few years old, and at least 3 more iPhones have come out in the interim.

This is really annoying. RIM just makes one mistake after another, and I can see it alienating buyers.

Does this bother anyone else?

[poseidon5]

fret not, based on historical events, bb 10 will probably not appear until at least 2013 and by then you can re-contract if you still wish to stay with blackberry.

[mrbluehorseshoe]

oh, good point. so blackberry can't release an update to their operating system for nearly two years, and by then I can have the pleasure of paying another $200 or more, b/c now my device is obsolete and wasn't even good for ONE update?

that's suppose to make me feel better?

Again, can you imagine - iPhone 3g is released, then when 3gs is released, you can't update your 3g to new 3gs iOS upgrade. Then iPhone 4 comes out, and the 3g and 3gs can't use that new operating system either. Then iPhone 4s comes out, and the same drill...Why can't RIM enable their older hardware to work with newer OS's?

[anon(757282)]

New hardware and new OS. That is the best approach. Being backwards compatible is a pain and this is a lesson Microsoft has not learned yet. Cell phones are replaced ever 2 years or more frequently, even crapple. And their old models do not run all of the newest apps either. Older BBs do run many of the apps as new ones if the hardware is capable, just not the latest apps.

I am very happy with the development of new devices and software. I'll buy the new BB when version 10 becomes available.

That is business. New models with new features only available on the new phones. Otherwise, people would not upgrade and replace their phones. Get used to it. It happens with every line of phones.

[mrbluehorseshoe]

New hardware and new OS. That is the best approach. Being backwards compatible is a pain and this is a lesson Microsoft has not learned yet. Cell phones are replaced ever 2 years or more frequently, even crapple. And their old models do not run all of the newest apps either. Older BBs do run many of the apps as new ones if the hardware is capable, just not the latest apps.

I am very happy with the development of new devices and software. I'll buy the new BB when version 10 becomes available.

That is business. New models with new features only available on the new phones. Otherwise, people would not upgrade and replace their phones. Get used to it. It happens with every line of phones.

I understand hardware upgrades, and OS upgrades that make some apps inoperable with prior OS's. However, Apple, for example, upgrades their iOS regularly, and many of their older phones are still compatible with the latest and can upgrade. Now, for ex, you can upgrade the 3gs, 4, 4s with iOS 5. By blackberry standards, when iOS came out, only the very latest versions of the blackberrys would be upgradeable.

So if you had a Torch 9800, which launched in Aug 2010, you would not be able to upgrade BB 6 to BB 7, which launched just a year later. So the life of your Blackberry's OS, even when buying it on launch day, will get you through just half of your 2 year contract, before essentially becoming obsolete.

I don't think this happens with "every line of phones." Example - The iPhone 3gs came out in June 2009, and it remains upgradeable today, with the very latest iOS from Apple, almost 3 years later.

[southlander]

No not bothered by it at all. Yeah you *can* run iOS 5 on a 3GS. But I see almost no one with anything older than the iPhone 4. Apple making iOS 5 work on that older hardware is surely more about the iPod Touch, of which there are tons and tons in use.

I would absolutely hate running OS7 on an old 624 MHz processor. Yuck.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9930 using Tapatalk

[ichat]

Hey Os 7 has some needs and requirements to make it better. The older models don't have these capabilities yet. Yea, having a 'lite' version of Os 7 would be cool and would help a few but running Os 7 on older phones would be just weird.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Deathcommand]

Can you imagine if Apple did this? I also own an older 3gs iPhone, and it works fabulously with the latest iOS. Sure, some features like Siri don't work with the 3gs iPhone, but most of the OS does. And that 3gs I own is a few years old, and at least 3 more iPhones have come out in the interim.

The fact that I was a former apple fanboy makes me very useful for shooting trolls.

So here goes.

iPhone 2G 256Mb Ram, touch screen, 320x480, 4 buttons on the phone. 2MP Camera, Accelerometer.
Support Up to 3.2.3
1.0 Had no App Store, iTunes store or Separate Contacts App.

iPhone 3G 256Mb Ram, touch screen, 320x480, 4 buttons on the phone. 2MP Camera,
IPhone OS 2.0 added: App Store, Contacts were now a separate application, support for 3G Bands added, GPS Assisted Google Maps was introduced.
Touch Screen Technology Changed slightly from Zephyr 2 to Zephyr 3.
Upgradable to iOS 4. (No multitasking, very sluggish)

iPhone 3Gs 512Mb Ram, touch screen, 320x480, 4 buttons on the phone. 3.0 MP Camera. Finally introduces Video recording(for the 3Gs ONLY) Compass, Voice Notes, Copy and paste added.
Upgradable to iOS5, (No Siri)

iPhone 4 516Mb Ram, touch screen, 640x960, 4 buttons on the phone. 5.0 MP Camera, Video Recording.
Added GyroScope, Video editing, Introduced revolutionary concept called Multitasking which worked like magic.

iPhone 4.5 I mean iPhone 4s 516Mb Ram, touch screen, 640x960, 4 buttons on the phone. 5.0 MP Camera, Video Recording. Enhanced Camera, Siri Beta adds Accessibility options.

So.. Yes I can imagine if Apple released the same thing over and over.

[BigBadWulf]

Imagine a world where there was no progress, because people might complain the old model couldn't use it.