1. jayronicle's Avatar
    Hi all,

    I just want to share my story. I don't want to start an argument but here goes.

    I owned an early model Blackberry (can't remember the model) for years and eventually switched to an iPhone 4. I liked the iPhone but came back to Blackberry when the 9900 came out. I came back because I missed the physical keyboard, I loved the 9900 look and I felt a good deal of nostalgia as well for Blackberry. I have had the 9900 for about a year and my experience has been mixed. While I love the keyboard, I was shocked to find the phone so buggy and glitchy compared to the iPhone. Downloading apps would cause massive problems with a plethora of issues. Eg: a flashlight app caused the phone to lose all sounds. I adjusted and only downloaded a few apps that did what I needed and moved on. The phone also completely locked up one day causing me to have to reinstall everything from blackberry desktop and start from scratch. I find the web browser (google search bar for example) to be unresponsive at times and I notice other little bugs with the phone here and there. I feel problems like these show how behind Blackberry is from the rest of the industry and I don't understand why they haven't raised the bar. Why do you need to restart the phone after upgrading an app? Why does the battery need to be fully re-charged everyday although I watch no videos, play no games and rarely use the phone some days? Problems like these were irritating but I stuck with the phone.

    Yesterday I saw a new icon on my screen. It was an upgrade to 7.1. Long story-Short... my phone froze and locked up. I searched for solutions on the forums and tried to wait it out. Battery pulls and restarts were obviously useless. I called AT&T, got put through to Blackberry support and spent the next 4 hours of a working day trying to get Blackberry Desktop upgraded, working and whatnot so we could troubleshoot the phone. It did fix the phone (set it back to factory which meant I had to take the time to get it back to my settings) but I must ask why? Why are there all these bugs, problems and bricks? There really is no excuse IMO. I'm switching to Samsung just to try something new but I can say for a certainty that I won't ever use Blackberry again. They even tried to pass the buck and blame AT&T for sending the update to me and then blamed me for not using Desktop to install it. Wow... their phone fails on several levels and it's pass the buck time. I'm done.

    Thanks for allowing me a place to rant and I appreciate this forum and its members a lot. You all have gotten me out of many jams. But I have to ask... why the jams in the first place?
    11-16-12 11:05 AM
  2. calicocat2010's Avatar
    Hi all,

    I just want to share my story. I don't want to start an argument but here goes.

    I owned an early model Blackberry (can't remember the model) for years and eventually switched to an iPhone 4. I liked the iPhone but came back to Blackberry when the 9900 came out. I came back because I missed the physical keyboard, I loved the 9900 look and I felt a good deal of nostalgia as well for Blackberry. I have had the 9900 for about a year and my experience has been mixed. While I love the keyboard, I was shocked to find the phone so buggy and glitchy compared to the iPhone. Downloading apps would cause massive problems with a plethora of issues. Eg: a flashlight app caused the phone to lose all sounds. I adjusted and only downloaded a few apps that did what I needed and moved on. The phone also completely locked up one day causing me to have to reinstall everything from blackberry desktop and start from scratch. I find the web browser (google search bar for example) to be unresponsive at times and I notice other little bugs with the phone here and there. I feel problems like these show how behind Blackberry is from the rest of the industry and I don't understand why they haven't raised the bar. Why do you need to restart the phone after upgrading an app? Why does the battery need to be fully re-charged everyday although I watch no videos, play no games and rarely use the phone some days? Problems like these were irritating but I stuck with the phone.

    Yesterday I saw a new icon on my screen. It was an upgrade to 7.1. Long story-Short... my phone froze and locked up. I searched for solutions on the forums and tried to wait it out. Battery pulls and restarts were obviously useless. I called AT&T, got put through to Blackberry support and spent the next 4 hours of a working day trying to get Blackberry Desktop upgraded, working and whatnot so we could troubleshoot the phone. It did fix the phone (set it back to factory which meant I had to take the time to get it back to my settings) but I must ask why? Why are there all these bugs, problems and bricks? There really is no excuse IMO. I'm switching to Samsung just to try something new but I can say for a certainty that I won't ever use Blackberry again. They even tried to pass the buck and blame AT&T for sending the update to me and then blamed me for not using Desktop to install it. Wow... their phone fails on several levels and it's pass the buck time. I'm done.

    Thanks for allowing me a place to rant and I appreciate this forum and its members a lot. You all have gotten me out of many jams. But I have to ask... why the jams in the first place?
    BB10 won't have to be restarted after installing apps. But you'll be back. They always come back. Bye.
    11-16-12 11:07 AM
  3. Jonathank's Avatar
    GOOOOOOOD BYE....I'm here to stay
    11-16-12 11:36 AM
  4. jayronicle's Avatar
    GOOOOOOOD BYE....I'm here to stay
    I think this is generally RIM's attitude as well. Instead of responding to my issues/questions they say this... I wonder why they're struggling so much.
    Syrous44 likes this.
    11-16-12 01:20 PM
  5. ubizmo's Avatar
    I think this is generally RIM's attitude as well. Instead of responding to my issues/questions they say this... I wonder why they're struggling so much.
    The reason why the problems you mention exist is that the OS is old and can't keep up with contemporary expectations, in terms of performance, apps, etc. It was fine when it was first created, and RIM has done what it could do to keep it going, but it's past its expiration date. One of the drawbacks of being a pioneer, as RIM was in the smartphone field, is that you get locked into a way of doing things, making incremental improvements to an existing product, because it's cost-effective to do things this way. So the answer to the question of why BB is behind industry standards is that in order to catch up, its existing OS must be scrapped and replaced by something new from the ground up. This is what RIM is currently doing with BB10. They were arguably late seeing the writing on the wall, and this cost them dearly.

    Your 9900 will run better with OS 7.1 on it, there's no question about that, but the need to reboot after installing apps, and the need to reboot to correct memory leaks, will never go away. It is what it is. Plenty of us find the 9900 (and other BBs) perfectly usable despite these shortcomings, but you may not be one of them. But at this point in time, all eyes are on BB10, which is only a few months away now.

    As for battery life, there are a number of threads on that. OS 7.1 helps, but much depends on factors such as signal strength and usage patterns. If you don't "use" your 9900 that much but have apps such as FaceBook, or a weather app, updating frequently, that affects battery life. At any rate, if you want help getting a new OS installed or diagnosing battery troubles, try posting in the 9900 forum and you'll get plenty of help. It's unfortunately true that carrier reps are often less helpful than the people here on CB.
    11-16-12 01:44 PM
  6. jayronicle's Avatar
    The reason why the problems you mention exist is that the OS is old and can't keep up with contemporary expectations, in terms of performance, apps, etc. It was fine when it was first created, and RIM has done what it could do to keep it going, but it's past its expiration date. One of the drawbacks of being a pioneer, as RIM was in the smartphone field, is that you get locked into a way of doing things, making incremental improvements to an existing product, because it's cost-effective to do things this way. So the answer to the question of why BB is behind industry standards is that in order to catch up, its existing OS must be scrapped and replaced by something new from the ground up. This is what RIM is currently doing with BB10. They were arguably late seeing the writing on the wall, and this cost them dearly.

    Your 9900 will run better with OS 7.1 on it, there's no question about that, but the need to reboot after installing apps, and the need to reboot to correct memory leaks, will never go away. It is what it is. Plenty of us find the 9900 (and other BBs) perfectly usable despite these shortcomings, but you may not be one of them. But at this point in time, all eyes are on BB10, which is only a few months away now.

    As for battery life, there are a number of threads on that. OS 7.1 helps, but much depends on factors such as signal strength and usage patterns. If you don't "use" your 9900 that much but have apps such as FaceBook, or a weather app, updating frequently, that affects battery life. At any rate, if you want help getting a new OS installed or diagnosing battery troubles, try posting in the 9900 forum and you'll get plenty of help. It's unfortunately true that carrier reps are often less helpful than the people here on CB.
    Good tips. I do run BeWeather, Facebook and twitter. I'm sure that's part of the battery problem. However, when I had an iPhone, I ran those programs too and didn't have this issue. When I read reviews of the Samsung phones, people say they watch movies and all the other stuff and don't need to charge it all day. Also, sometimes (for no reason I can figure) the 9900 gets hot and drains the battery so quickly it's crazy. It's fixed after a restart but why the problem in the first place? If not holding or using it, I don't notice it get hot or drain. It just seems buggy and lame to be honest.
    11-16-12 01:53 PM
  7. ubizmo's Avatar
    Good tips. I do run BeWeather, Facebook and twitter. I'm sure that's part of the battery problem. However, when I had an iPhone, I ran those programs too and didn't have this issue. When I read reviews of the Samsung phones, people say they watch movies and all the other stuff and don't need to charge it all day. Also, sometimes (for no reason I can figure) the 9900 gets hot and drains the battery so quickly it's crazy. It's fixed after a restart but why the problem in the first place? If not holding or using it, I don't notice it get hot or drain. It just seems buggy and lame to be honest.
    I've experienced the hot battery phenom a few times, but not often enough to consider it a nuisance. I don't know what causes it.

    Concerning the battery, I think just about everybody agrees that the 9900 is underpowered. My 9780 had a 1550 mAh battery (I think), and I typically had 40% or more left at the end of a day. The 9900 has higher specs, but only a 1230 or so mAh battery. In addition, the touch screen has more pixels to light up and the scrolling involves animations, which require more processing power and therefore more battery. The iPhone doesn't multitask the way the BB does, so it saves battery that way.

    With all that said, if you're going to keep the 9900 and want better battery life, you might consider a Mugen 1500 mAh battery. It's a bit bigger, not a lot, but every bit counts. Consider how often you need your social feeds to update, and set accordingly. Set screen brightness down to 10; it's still plenty bright enough. Use wifi when you can, but shut it off when you're not using it.

    In my opinion, you should expect to charge any smartphone, even a BB, every night. I think a full waking day of use is acceptable. You don't use it while you're sleeping, so why not charge it? I easily get a full day on a single charge with my 9900, with power to spare--but not enough to spare to try for a second day. I turn off geotagging in my camera, and I don't have BeWeather tracking my position for updates. I'm mostly in and around Philly; I don't need to find a GPS signal every hour to get the weather. If I'm traveling, maybe I change that, but not when I'm sticking around Philly.

    I have a Samsung Galaxy Blaze 4G. The OEM battery is 1730 mAh, but I have a Mugen 2000 in it. I get pretty good battery life--about the same as my 9900 with the 1500 battery, in fact. But there's no way I could watch movies on it and not run that battery down pretty fast. Just keeping the screen lit up, on any phone, is one of the fastest ways to suck the life out of the battery. Add to that the processing involved in displaying constant animation in a movie and you're going to use a lot of juice; don't let anyone tell you otherwise. And you know what? Sometimes the Blaze gets hot for no apparent reason too and drains the battery.

    I don't find my 9900 to be buggy and lame. It is limited in some ways and the OS is definitely showing its age, but I still consider it a very reliable phone. But the Samsung's good too. I'm just treading water until BB10 hits.
    11-16-12 02:32 PM
  8. jezreel's Avatar
    It's time to move on. Everytging in life changes and so it goes for blackberry!
    11-16-12 03:26 PM
  9. RUFFSTUFF1's Avatar
    UPDATE: I don't miss my BlackBerry.
    END of UPDATE

    P.S. I type faster with Swype Beta than I ever did with a BB keyboard.
    jezreel likes this.
    11-20-12 07:41 PM
  10. BitPusher2600's Avatar
    Howdy all.
    I wanted to swing by just to give a shout to all of the CB nation who have been so awesome during my time here. I have been carrying (and defending) BlackBerry for a good while and have loved it like it was my best friend. I have been loyal to BBOS and would readily declare that the user experience always fit me like a hand in a glove, not to mention fantastic keyboards and world-class security. I have never been the type who has to have the latest and greatest anything, nor do I care about specs and the like. The most favorite device of mine i've ever had over the years is the Bold 9650 and carried it the longest. As I said, literally treated it like my best friend. Anyway, I have been closely following every piece of information out and about I could find during the beginning talks of BBX, which is what I still call BB10. The type of experience RIM is going for with this is not in their DNA, so I feel. Having watched every video to pass by CB, I just have to say overall I think that "the new RIM" is not for me. The user experience is theoretically "modernized" and etc, but all I can say is none of it is for me. There was a certain elegant minimalism that I feel is lost on BB10 from BBOS. I am so glad RIM is doing anything BUT giving up, but the direction they are going to with BB10, as I said, just doesn't reach me.

    Most recently, after alot of debate, I decided with a bit of sorrow to move to something else. I still have my Bold around, using it as a clock and still do some word processing on there. As for my phone, I have a new Lumia 920. Windows Phone has won me over and so far has not let me down. It is fast, smooth and insanely efficient. Microsoft's implementation of the virtual keyboard is the best I have ever typed on. The iOS keyboard is the second, and I've not had my hands on one Android I could say anything good about. Most importantly, my favorite descriptor applies to all of this: elegant minimalism. It is a joy to use and does not seem as excessive as what BB10 looks to me to be. I'm not much of a gamer, but as far as the stuff I need (like calendars, managing my bank account, paying my bills, email photo libraries, etc) the Lumia is incredible.

    Anyway, once again, just wanted to say bye to the forum, i've had an awesome time here. I would like to make it clear that I wish nothing but utmost success for RIM and i'm so proud of them for standing their ground and not basing their entire company on the American mass consumer market. Their business is booming in many other countries and hopefully BB10 will move them back into a greater position here in the US as well. I'm definitely not a dissatisfied customer for one second. I still feel a streak of depression every time I glance at my Bold. At any rate, I am very pleased with this Windows Phone and it is serving me well.
    Perhaps i'll see ya's around eh? Later
    11-22-12 12:59 PM
  11. RUFFSTUFF1's Avatar
    Well said.
    11-22-12 01:10 PM
  12. jezreel's Avatar
    Enjoy your phone!
    11-22-12 01:35 PM
  13. Greenghost's Avatar
    Its HUNDREDS of keyboards on Android

    Sent from my EPIC WHITE SGS2 Rockin CM10 4.1.2 using Tapatalk 2
    jezreel likes this.
    11-22-12 04:19 PM
  14. nadjas9's Avatar
    Moving out to android zone lol. Still missing my blackberry tho' maybe I will get one again later on (a very cheap one hahaha) what can I said, I need more ability when I'm mobile, while I'm aboard. Something that my blackberry can't offer.

    Sent From my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 using Tapatalk 2
    11-24-12 10:50 PM
  15. Greg B's Avatar
    Had a 9860 for about 15 months. Did most of what I wanted but I could never get my head around how everything worked. Then over the last while I began having issues with the hard keys not responding. My company had me on a plan that allowed a changeover so I just got an iPhone 5 yesterday. I hope RIM can pull out of its issues and be a major player again. But for now, I am happy with the iPhone.
    Coachbulldog likes this.
    11-27-12 07:38 PM
  16. nvestn's Avatar
    For the first time in a long time I actually considered jumping ship yesterday. I bought my wife an iPhone 5 for Christmas and played around with it before wrapping it up... I use my Bold 9900 with my small financial practice and use BIS with my corporate exchange email.

    In 10 seconds I added my exchange account to the iphone and within 2 minutes my complete exchange mail/calendar/contacts were on the phone. I was blown away to be honest... I've always defended BB as being great for messaging but this ALMOST proved me wrong. No matter what I still prefer the QWERTY keyboard, but man the renderings of the emails and ease of syncing that stuff without having to pay for BES on the iPhone was awesome. Right now with BIS and I have to use Google Calendar Sync to sync my Outlook contact and it's somewhat buggy (duplicates, etc.) and when I send an email from my phone it does not get put into my "Sent items" on the Exchange server... All of those things happen easily on the iPhone. I was really rocked by it.

    I know if I had BES it wouldn't be an issue, but the reality is that I don't and I probably won't for a while, so the iPhone 5 just got more attractive (i.e. the factors that were holding me back have shrunk). Still not switching over but I can see why some are making the jump. I do hear that BB10 will have Activesync though, so this shouldn't be an issue... right?
    11-30-12 10:09 AM
  17. jezreel's Avatar
    With time you might come to a decision about switching but yes iphone/android are powerful platforms.
    11-30-12 11:11 PM
  18. Syrous44's Avatar
    With time you might come to a decision about switching but yes iphone/android are powerful platforms.
    Very powerful platforms, using my gnex now for about 6 months running jelly bean, love every minute of it and not thinking of even considering another bb till Rim blows my socks off. The funny thing is a small part of me wants them to. But so far everything they have been showing with bb10 is catch up not leaping the competition.

    Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
    TGoblin, bruteforce037 and jezreel like this.
    12-01-12 12:24 AM
  19. Hawkeberry's Avatar
    Shifted to android. Sony xperia s. So far very impressed with it. Does everything I need and want. But I do love my playbook and the BB10 flow seems very impressive. I hope it becomes a big success.

    I always buy a phone 6-7 months after they release as it would be cheaper and most negatives(if any) would have been out by then. So this time next year would be perfect to consider a blackberry.

    Those who are worried about android's touch screen typing, swype is awesome. Once you spend some time playing with it and setting up the dictionary, it is actually faster.

    Battery backup is awful though. Also the multi-tasking.

    Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2
    12-02-12 12:45 PM
  20. blackcaneaddict's Avatar
    UPDATE: I don't miss my BlackBerry.
    END of UPDATE

    P.S. I type faster with Swype Beta than I ever did with a BB keyboard.
    To each his own.

    Still miss you 8530 Curve! Bb bridge, bb keyboard, instant emails too!
    Nowhere near as powerful or advance as the Android I have now, but still was a great phone that did some of the things asked well.
    12-02-12 01:49 PM
  21. Coachbulldog's Avatar
    To each his own.

    Still miss you 8530 Curve! Bb bridge, bb keyboard, instant emails too!
    Nowhere near as powerful or advance as the Android I have now, but still was a great phone that did some of the things asked well.
    I've not used BB for almost a year now, but in many ways I miss my Storm 2. I know even among BlackBerry users the Storm and Storm 2 weren't well received, but there was not one thing about the phone hardware I didn't like including the SurePress screen. The lack of available apps is the reason I finally said goodbye to the Storm 2 and I've never been disappointed in my iPhone 4s but in terms of the phone itself, the Storm 2 is still the best mobile device I've owned.
    12-03-12 09:45 AM
  22. chrismage's Avatar
    I got impatient wating for the new blacberry 10 and switched to Android Galaxy 3 phone , switched carriers to Rogers to Wind Mobile.
    Kinda regret it , still getting used to a non blackberry phone. Push email does not work for my yahoo account. And the alarm wont go off in the morning unless the phone is turned on.

    I miss my blackberry , I had the torch 9800 but it was kinda beat up from being dropped many times, but i still miss it. Sold it on ebay for 100.00 lol.

    My galaxy wont tether withmy playbook. Added it to bluetooth but when i tether it says it cant find the device.
    Last edited by chrismage; 12-03-12 at 12:22 PM. Reason: add more
    12-03-12 12:19 PM
  23. Lehomer's Avatar
    Man, too bad you never got a chance to use your Storm 2 as a remote control for the playbook. Wicked !
    12-03-12 12:33 PM
  24. E92Vancouver's Avatar
    To each his own.

    Still miss you 8530 Curve! Bb bridge, bb keyboard, instant emails too!
    Nowhere near as powerful or advance as the Android I have now, but still was a great phone that did some of the things asked well.
    If you are on gmail, yahoo or hotmail, emails to an Android or iPhone are instant. Are you using POP mail or something? If so, POP on a Blackberry is every 15 minutes.
    12-04-12 05:23 AM
  25. E92Vancouver's Avatar
    I got impatient wating for the new blacberry 10 and switched to Android Galaxy 3 phone , switched carriers to Rogers to Wind Mobile.
    Kinda regret it , still getting used to a non blackberry phone. Push email does not work for my yahoo account. And the alarm wont go off in the morning unless the phone is turned on.

    I miss my blackberry , I had the torch 9800 but it was kinda beat up from being dropped many times, but i still miss it. Sold it on ebay for 100.00 lol.

    My galaxy wont tether withmy playbook. Added it to bluetooth but when i tether it says it cant find the device.
    You need the Yahoo Mail app from the Google Play store.

    You can only tether a Playbook to a Blackberry. If you want to use the Playbook with an Android you need to turn on "mobile hotspot".
    12-04-12 05:28 AM
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