[MC_A_DOT]

Nor does it equal privacy and avoiding Google knowing everything about you.

Tin


Foil

[TgeekB]

This conversation us way off course.

Z30something

[ALToronto]

Great. But your use case doesn't suffice for the majority of users out there not the mainstream. I'm sure they do work just fine....I'm sure they work great. However, the reality is that there are the same if not more robust solutions.

And this is why we are the 1%. Of course there are people who need a phone just for calls, email and a few other basic services. For us, BlackBerry fits the bill. I do use about 20 apps on a weekly basis, and these are apps that were not pre-installed. I had to install Google Play for two apps, both coffee stores. Now, of course, I get notices from Google that yet another contact of mine has reviewed some app. It's kind of creepy, but ultimately inconsequential.

I recently talked to someone who had some late-model Sammy, and he was very excited that it had a humidity sensor in the phone. Seriously? Do I really want to know the humidity level inside my pants pocket? But people fall for these gimmicks. And here we are, diehard BlackBerry users, in a super-exclusive club.

Posted via CB10 from my awesome Passport

[MC_A_DOT]

I recently talked to someone who had some late-model Sammy, and he was very excited that it had a humidity sensor in the phone. Seriously? Do I really want to know the humidity level inside my pants pocket?

Posted via CB10 from my awesome Passport

Some people like weird apps.

At least they have the choice to download it.

[solitude1984]

Great. But your use case doesn't suffice for the majority of users out there not the mainstream. I'm sure they do work just fine....I'm sure they work great. However, the reality is that there are the same if not more robust solutions.

This is true. I rarely use stock apps because I'm quite picky about what I like. I have about 40 (non-stock) apps on my phone that I use on a regular basis. The more apps an app store has, the greater the chance that users will find one that satisfies their wants and needs. Quite frankly, I wouldn't have it any other way.

[Prem WatsApp]

Serious question

Would you pay for crackberry?

And your email, and mapping/location services, and all content/news/sports websites...

!

Yes, I

P.A.Y.

for my email. Three accounts, business, play & shopping, and private

3x $49 per year

For E-MAIL, for crying out loud! Something you get for "free" just about everywhere, Google, Outlook, iCloud, Yahoo etc...

No ads, and IMAP is simply beautiful. :-D


�   Wife currently leaping around for joy with her new toy....   �

[Joao Oliveira]

Any device or platform bogs down over time (yes, even BBs) after installing more and more apps, cache files get larger, running more apps simultaneously, not properly shutting down inactive apps, etc.. It's not an age thing, it's a lack of user maintenance issue. In my family, there are a few Android devices, a couple iOS devices, a couple Windows devices, and a BB device, all of which have been running for at least a couple of years, and all running just fine without being slow and clunky on a daily basis. And not one of them was immune from needing the occasional cleanup to ensure that they stayed that way.


Penned via Tapatalk

not even close to the same degree as android... Especially iphones, take some serious OS beating to start to slow down... Androids seems to slow down by just looking at it

[Joao Oliveira]

Yeah OK.

Do you feel better about your choice of device now that you got that off your chest? I hope so.

Now go put a shirt on.

[amjass12]

Holy moly you are unbelievable lol. You think you got your BBOS and all of a sudden you knew the thing inside out? Who do you think you're kidding? You had BBOS for over 10 years apparently. You probably don't even remember the learning curve you had coming from a pager...
You think it was easy because it was the only thing you knew, and you kept getting it into your mind for years and years on.

This is the case with every single piece of technology. Everyone has had to learn how to use any device which would then lead to them thinking it's the easiest device in the world!

Posted via CB10

[Bbnivende]

I had the misfortune to ask a question on iMore because my wife owns an iPhone. One response was "nobody cares" another response was "we do make the iphone or develop Safari".

The other half does not have Crackberry and that alone is reason enough to keep the faith in BlackBerry . Maybe BlackBerry should use CrackBerry as an installed app !

[vtpmt81]

There's a lot to be said for both Android and iOS. I've gotten to be quite familiar with Android, at least, from using a Samsung tablet for the past several months, and I provide "support" for a few family members with iOS devices, too. While I understand the appeal, I have to say I'm still really happy with my Passport.

BB10--to me, at least--has the best-looking UI, and in my own experience the most consistent. Neither Apple nor Google have successfully topped the Hub yet, and the typing experience even on the vkb BB10 models is still orders of magnitude better than anything available on Android or iOS.

There's things I'd like, for sure. BB10's Picture Password is cool but facial recognition or fingerprint scanner would make me happy, as would wireless charging (I don't get why they've offered that only for certain carriers). I'd love to have Google Play Music on my phone [Cool! Play Music Android app actually runs pretty decently! Even supports the BB media keys!]

We'll see how things go in the next year or so. Windows Phone is getting a LOT better, and I know BlackBerry will be hard-pressed to keep up with the competition as

Pretty much agree with everything you have posted.

Microsoft is always a threat because they have the PC market on lock and the tablet market is dropping. A lot of the advantages that iOS and Android have in tablets is being reduced with the number of windows tablets and 2 in 1s that OEMs are releasing.

If Microsoft can actually get their mobile OS together and have it play well with PCs - they could start to grab some marketshare.

BlackBerry did some real innovative things to gain marketshare 10 years ago and it seems like they are going back to their roots of making their enterprise customers happy. The Pearl and Curve were very unique devices and now the Passport and the new slider they are working are unique as well.

BlackBerry 10's core OS is great on its QWERTY and Touchscreen phones - the only real hardware issue has been the double typing on the QWERTYs. BlackBerry needs to find a way to make a phone without major compromises and is feature rich. BlackBerry has shown they have solid camera software (Classic), has a snappy OS (Passport/Z30), get great battery life (Z30), and can do innovative things with the software (action swipes and Blend). They just need to put it all together for a truly great and competitively priced flagship and midrange QWERTY and touchscreen phone. The Passport is great but it is a niche phone. The Classic is solid but is underspeced. While it has a good camera, great keyboard, and decent battery life - it seems like it could have been better.

Making a great phone with excellent specs doesn't guarantee that it will sell but it would be a start. Oh and design is also important - it needs to look sharp.

[Supa_Fly1]

To me, although the hardware and finally the UI is nice and matured, it's about Slavery in the terms of Survitude.

I'm not a whole and do not wish to have my personal identity and preferences in who I am, what I do and where I choose to do things and with whom that is completely unique to me be SOLD for the highest and soon in 10yrs even for worse the lower dollar!!

This isn't NYC of the mid 1800's = a slave port. Read your history kids.

This post is NOT a Joke. Think about air miles, then what Google does, it's about taking your preferences then selling them for data mining and warehousing and feeding you annoying ads via so many apps and what do you get for yourself being FREE?!

Air miles at least has several connections where you can get a LOT of value but that looks to take some serious time to value add up.

Google?! They pay you NOTHING! Absolutely NOTHING! That IS being FREE? Lame excuse you're still paying serious dollars for real hardware to perform all tasks for the majority of apps. Yes there IS an App Gap even on android: if your hardware is not up to snuff nor tested against by the vendor apps will not work- try the health apps you'll see. Point being is Google is making billions their stock is over $450 adding value to the most deepest pocket investors....

So where exactly is YOUR CUT? At least a street hooked gets paid for something that is hers and hers only and she can always choose whom with - regardless of how desperate, the choice is ultimately hers. That profession is dangerous and not likely pimps make it any safer, but there is some sort of security that blocks things.

Why is this analogy relevant?
Hooker potentially us in Android ecosystem
The "goods" they offer, your personal identity habits friends for the same and the DATA you provide whether knowingly or not!!
Pimps, permissions for that data and some protection against rogue Johns,
Choice: the prostatitis chooses ultimate what goods wil be available or in our case the data that will be provider. At least the protest itself gets paid, heck a price was even set.

I see a LOT of android users as completely clueless and naive, setting no price on how much and which data has value or more value than others?!?!

If it Don't Make Dollars, hehe you know the rest!

BlackBerry, accept no substitute nor compromise!

Everyone ...

To add injury to insult on my views here ....

It seems that Apple's CEO is haralded for making public privacy statements for Apple's recent focus on privacy for end users ... YET this is something BlackBerry has ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT! Again I don't hate Apple nor their iOS products, I understand what their capable of as Corporation and how they've really upped the smartphone industry vs the entire competition in the short time although I'll argue Nokia did more for smartphones inception and growth than ANY company alone ... Android just recently eclipse their market some 4yrs ago; Nokia had some 78 million for over 6yrs.

But getting great applause and accolades for something a competitor has already stood for before YOU changed is just basically taking credit before earning it.

Apple CEO Tim Cook Speaks on Importance of Privacy, Encryption at Champions of Freedom Event - Mac Rumors

Like many of you, we at Apple reject the idea that our customers should have to make tradeoffs between privacy and security," Cook opened. "We can, and we must provide both in equal measure. We believe that people have a fundamental right to privacy. The American people demands it, the constitution demands it, morality demands it."

however Cook DOES have a point here.

We believe the customer should be in control of their own information. You might like these so-called free services, but we don't think they're worth having your email, your search history and now even your family photos data mined and sold off for god knows what advertising purpose. And we think some day, customers will see this for what it is.

[Kurdis Blough]

Yes, I

P.A.Y.

for my email. Three accounts, business, play & shopping, and private

3x $49 per year

For E-MAIL, for crying out loud! Something you get for "free" just about everywhere, Google, Outlook, iCloud, Yahoo etc...

No ads, and IMAP is simply beautiful. :-D


�   Wife currently leaping around for joy with her new toy....   �

I don't pay for email, and am not suggesting that no one would. Definitely legitimate reasons to do so.

What's so wrong with targeted advertising? Is it wrong because Google does it better than other corporations? Offer more services, seamless integration, better services in some cases. Is it wrong for Google to do it because they have developed a way to monetize the same data that all the major players collect?

Only thing I was drawing attention to is the fact that advertising and free services supported by advertising are not inherently evil.

Ive been using Android for years and have suffered no breaches of my privacy as a result. Google does track/mine anonymized metadata. They do not sell personal data. They sell their software's ability to target advertising.

In the case of this very website, would crackberry forums continue to exist if not for advertising dollars.

The big brother/ Google is skynet theme running in the background on these forums is really overblown/ misinformed .

It often derails any attempt to have intelligent discourse.

Not taking any offense to your post obviously.

!

[Captain_Hilts]

I don't pay for email, and am not suggesting that no one would. Definitely legitimate reasons to do so.

What's so wrong with targeted advertising? Is it wrong because Google does it better than other corporations? Offer more services, seamless integration, better services in some cases. Is it wrong for Google to do it because they have developed a way to monetize the same data that all the major players collect?

Only thing I was drawing attention to is the fact that advertising and free services supported by advertising are not inherently evil.

Ive been using Android for years and have suffered no breaches of my privacy as a result. Google does track/mine anonymized metadata. They do not sell personal data. They sell their software's ability to target advertising.

In the case of this very website, would crackberry forums continue to exist if not for advertising dollars.

The big brother/ Google is skynet theme running in the background on these forums is really overblown/ misinformed .

It often derails any attempt to have intelligent discourse.

Not taking any offense to your post obviously.

!

Nobody is suggesting that Google is Skynet, because that would imply that there are no people running things behind the scenes, when in fact it's people making the decisions to collect and sell data. Nor is anyone suggesting Google is Big Brother, because that would imply a strong element of authoritarian, militaristic thought and behavioral control, whereas Google and other similar companies are (for the moment) in the realm of data collection for personal profit. Honestly, have you ever seen The Terminator or read 1984?

There is intelligent discussion going on. My opinions are based in academic research, for example. Perhaps it's just that you don't agree with some people's opinions and thus brand them as unintelligent.

Posted via CB10

[ALToronto]

I don't pay for email, and am not suggesting that no one would. Definitely legitimate reasons to do so.

What's so wrong with targeted advertising? Is it wrong because Google does it better than other corporations? Offer more services, seamless integration, better services in some cases. Is it wrong for Google to do it because they have developed a way to monetize the same data that all the major players collect?

Only thing I was drawing attention to is the fact that advertising and free services supported by advertising are not inherently evil.

Ive been using Android for years and have suffered no breaches of my privacy as a result. Google does track/mine anonymized metadata. They do not sell personal data. They sell their software's ability to target advertising.

In the case of this very website, would crackberry forums continue to exist if not for advertising dollars.

The big brother/ Google is skynet theme running in the background on these forums is really overblown/ misinformed .

It often derails any attempt to have intelligent discourse.

Not taking any offense to your post obviously.

!

I might have a bit more respect for Google's ability to mine my data if I didn't keep getting ads that 'Thousands of Asian beauties are dying to talk to you', as well as ads for Russian and Ukrainian mail order brides (or trafficked prostitutes, whichever way you want to look at it). I am a 51 year old woman, happily married (to a man) for many years.

So why does Google profile me as a man who is incapable of forming relationships with women? Because I visit a tech forum site? Because I also visit an Orchid growing forum, which has lots of Asian members? I am baffled by its algorithms, and its supposed excellence in targeting ads to users. I shudder to think what I would get pushed to me if I switched to Android.

And if anyone has a suggestion on how to stop receiving these ads, or override my profile, I would be grateful.

Posted via CB10 from my awesome Passport

[grover5]

not even close to the same degree as android... Especially iphones, take some serious OS beating to start to slow down... Androids seems to slow down by just looking at it

That isn't really true anymore. I think it was true once but not so much now. My Nexus 6 doesn't bog down. I'm 6 months in.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[Joao Oliveira]

That isn't really true anymore. I think it was true once but not so much now. My Nexus 6 doesn't bog down. I'm 6 months in.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

How not true anymore? Google launched lolipop (5.0) and one of the main criticisms os the OS classic slowdowns and clunkyness, and that's the reason google launched lolipop in a "silent" way to try to get rid of those issues... You also have to take in account that not everybody has a 600$ phone with killer specs like you do, pick a android with a Snapdragon S4 like most blackberrys still have and see how it stutters

[Kurdis Blough]

I might have a bit more respect for Google's ability to mine my data if I didn't keep getting ads that 'Thousands of Asian beauties are dying to talk to you', as well as ads for Russian and Ukrainian mail order brides (or trafficked prostitutes, whichever way you want to look at it). I am a 51 year old woman, happily married (to a man) for many years.

So why does Google profile me as a man who is incapable of forming relationships with women? Because I visit a tech forum site? Because I also visit an Orchid growing forum, which has lots of Asian members? I am baffled by its algorithms, and its supposed excellence in targeting ads to users. I shudder to think what I would get pushed to me if I switched to Android.

And if anyone has a suggestion on how to stop receiving these ads, or override my profile, I would be grateful.

Posted via CB10 from my awesome Passport

Interesting question.

I really dont know. I use adaway and xposed modules and rarely see ads.

I am under the assumption that Google does not control every ad on the internet.

I know the sponsored results at the top of search results and within their domain are targeted but other ads on specific sites I dont know.

Would also be interested in an answer.

!

[grover5]

How not true anymore? Google launched lolipop (5.0) and one of the main criticisms os the OS classic slowdowns and clunkyness, and that's the reason google launched lolipop in a "silent" way to try to get rid of those issues... You also have to take in account that not everybody has a 600$ phone with killer specs like you do, pick a android with a Snapdragon S4 like most blackberrys still have and see how it stutters

I'm not sure that Google did a silent launch of lollipop. I wouldn't really know if dual core phones with slower GPUs run lollipop slow or not. I don't use one. I was just responding to the suggestion that all androids are laggy over time because mine isn't.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[Originalloverman]

Yeah as a consumer there really isn't any reason to stick with BlackBerry, especially those of us that they converted to VKB with the Z line and want nothing to do with a PKB anymore. A non-BES BlackBerry is no more secure, the apps aren't there and require side loading to get access to decent app sources, and BlackBerry has stated that they are not going to be putting effort into any consumer focused initiatives. I mean I have stayed with this company through the PlayBook debacle and now BB10, and appear to have been just and alpha and beta tester for them. Maybe they'll announce something before the next iPhone release that might change my mind as I really like the BB10 UI, but it is going to have to be mind blowing stuff to not bail.

Posted via Z30

Yet again thanks for your insightful piece, that's so hog wash it's ridiculous, it's a fact even a none bes bb is still very secure and more secure than the average phone iOS, android, windows it's been proven time in and out, the apps most definitely rolling my eyes now, on my iphone I have 9 apps 8 of them I can get on my bb so I don't see what you are harping about as usual.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[arkenoi]

No, BlackBerry is not 'more secure' in any practical way. Not while we are forced to use 'patched' android apps and while we do not have proper end t end encryption for email, messaging and voice. Not to mention full disk encryption and fingerprint reader which we do not have either.

Posted via CB10

[LazyEvul]

Yet again thanks for your insightful piece, that's so hog wash it's ridiculous, it's a fact even a none bes bb is still very secure and more secure than the average phone iOS, android, windows it's been proven time in and out, the apps most definitely rolling my eyes now, on my iphone I have 9 apps 8 of them I can get on my bb so I don't see what you are harping about as usual.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

I'm genuinely curious - what evidence has convinced you that BlackBerry 10 is unquestionably the most secure mobile platform available today, without a BES?

Posted via CB10

[Originalloverman]

No, BlackBerry is not 'more secure' in any practical way. Not while we are forced to use 'patched' android apps and while we do not have proper end t end encryption for email, messaging and voice. Not to mention full disk encryption and fingerprint reader which we do not have either.

Posted via CB10

Blackberry was build on on security and wasn't a function added as a after thought, and the plain and simply the way bb operates you are in a bb forum a quit perusing should find your answer easily. Ohh and in case you didn't know the guy that was held at the airport for not allowing customs to go trough his phone was not on bes and where thy able to crack his phone ? , when u so a security wipe on a bb it rewrites all the data wit 1s and zero after deleting it there is ton of security features that make bb a blackberry bes is just extra layer of higher security to name a few. And the fact they don't sell your information for a quick buck like other does. At the end of the day a bb is a blackberry.

[Originalloverman]

And we are not forced to do nothing you obviously are not well informed and this is a bb forum the information is all over go look it up.

[Originalloverman]

No, BlackBerry is not 'more secure' in any practical way. Not while we are forced to use 'patched' android apps and while we do not have proper end t end encryption for email, messaging and voice. Not to mention full disk encryption and fingerprint reader which we do not have either.

Posted via CB10

We don't need full disk encryption do u know what a bb is ? And finger print scanner lol that gimmick you cannot be serious, 1 it's a bb 2 we back pic password, you do know bb passes up that option long before iOS incorporated it right ? And let's not forget how even a child figured it out, with my pic password I could do it right in front our face and still u can't figure out my password.