[mmcpher]

There is a reason this place is called Crackberry. Part of it is long, accustomed usage. We become comfortable and ultimately identify with our devices, particularly so when they carry so much of what is personal to us -- our photos, songs, important saved emails and our lifeline contacts to our loved ones.

I was on board in RIM's second wave. I got there by first wondering what everyone was talking about? I had a Motorola pager, so what was the big deal? Then I got my first trackwheel and have been a partisan ever since.

But there's some larger theme lurking in the OP -- the idea of loyalty in this age of corporate, amoral markets. Our parents grew up in a world where loyalty to your employer made sense, because it was somewhat requited. Today that kind of thinking seems fit only for saps. For me, at least, loyalty remains a core value, even though it is an increasingly archaic concept and often feels misplaced. There's a character, Cullen, run-down and played-out, played by Slim Pickens in Peckinpah's "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" who might have written the golden rule for this age: "I got to the point where I don't do nothing for nobody unless there's a piece of gold attached to it."

Part of what made loyalty to RIM feel natural for me was the constancy and continuity of the two, now-departed Mikes at the top. It has been painful to watch them go. I know the way business works. I know there is no room, nor should there be at this point, for sentiment or softness with respect to RIM's impending decisions and actions. They must deliver or suffer and be likely gone. I also know that the corporate form insulates us from more than liability. It allows us to go where the market leads us, to allow much of what we once held valuable to fall by the wayside because that's what the market dictates. We get to places, in this fashion, where we wouldn't otherwise be comfortable. It's never us, its always the market. I don't have to like it. And some of us get so we get our blood-lust up, pining for the immolation of one company or another because that is a testament to the awesome force of the market. This is the business they've chosen. Companies either live or die in it.

But I've used other products and don't like them in comparison to Blackberry. If I had to chose an alternative I'd go with Winphone, but hope I never have to. It's a fairytale to think that the market always produces better.

[sjefferson21]

My blood is BlackBerry now. It's not longer a matter of a smartphone, it's more of a cult. I smile/chat with people that carry BlackBerry (definitely those having the 9900) because they get it, they know what they want from a smartphone.

BOOM! Love it!

[sjefferson21]

And I am so sick of having to DEFEND why I use a blackberry. Like "dude... get out my face"! Haha ok maybe not that aggressive... but still...

[shemaree09]

And I am so sick of having to DEFEND why I use a blackberry. Like "dude... get out my face"! Haha ok maybe not that aggressive... but still...

Yes! Its sooo annoying. For me it makes joining Team iPhone or Android more and more unappealing when that happens lol

[sjefferson21]

Yes! Its sooo annoying. For me it makes joining Team iPhone or Android more and more unappealing when that happens lol

exactly! they look @ you crazy when they have to defend using an iphone or android.




Sent from my sexy 9900 using Tapatalk

[texazzpete]

I can only guess that Palm at that time found itself where RIM was a couple of years ago -- its aging proprietary OS could not be pushed any further, so it banked on WinMo to take it to the next level. Once they realized what garbage WinMo was, they tried a complete makeover with WebOS. But by that time Palm was even deeper down the toilet than RIM is now and was forced to do exactly what we're hoping RIM won't have to.

To be fair, WinMo was seen as a perfectly good smartphone OS until the iPhone showed up. Ditto for Symbian Series 60

[cckgz4]

I've tried them all. This is my rundown (no order, but saving my preferred OS for last):

iOS: Made me appreciate stability and fluidness (came from a low end Android device). It was neat, especially when jailbroken. Having a lot of apps were great at first, but I didn't play them for long. After awhile, I just got tired of *looking* at iOS, especially their ugly menu set ups in the core apps. Love the iPhone 4 though and all of the neat cases that are available for it

WebOS: It was very fun to use and was my first time having a phone that linked up contacts with their social profiles. Only problem: battery life. The lack of apps I were willing to deal with, but could NOT deal with my phone dying in my pocket. Not a good look

PalmOS: My very first intro to smartphones. It was neat at first to be exposed to this and discovering new things about my phone (I had a Centro), but my smartphone needs were soon growing

Windows Mobile: I only had one device and that was the HTC Snap. Really enjoyed this phone. Tight keyboard, good camera, browser was halfway decent compared to the Centro, and had more optionst the time (in my experience, before even using the current OS' available). This was my go to phone but had to leave it because I left Sprint and I wanted more out of my phone

Android: Really big love/hate relationship with this. My first introduction was pretty bad because of the lackluster devices I used. Fast forward to present, I think its A LOT more "cohesive" now. I have a Asus tablet that's snappy and keeps me with the "in the know" of apps and social content. Personally, I think Android is more suited for tablets than phones. That's my opinion, not something I'm passing off as a fact.

Blackberry: Wanted to see why it was so "addictive". Yes I've only owned an 8530 and not anything current, but I know my needs aren't met with Blackberry. I don't shake my head at people that prefer it though because I can see why people liked it. Creating shortcuts on keyboards, the led notifications (which android can do as well), just the ease of use. But the app loading on top of how "rough" it was to have a good social media experience (a lot of the social apps look really awful IMO) made it hard for me. Also at the time, Rhapsody didn't offer the download/cache option it had for iPhone/android but it's no longer available anyhow so......TBH I like seeing people with BB's. They stick to what works for them, not going to what's popular

Windows Phone: This is my preference for me. It's the whole social experience without being sloppy. Live tiles are VERY neat and easy to glance and look at without having to take a lot of time to open apps to look at updates. Plus Facebook and Twitter are integrated into the OS so thats less time of me scrolling tothose said apps to see what's going on with my friends/family. And group contacts makes it easier to see those that I really want to be updated on. The integration of Zune is a plus since that's my major music service. Everything just flows for me and that's what matters. Few hiccups and less times of me having my eyes in my phone, but more time spent enjoying my day. I don't have to tinker and I don't have to open up other apps to see what's new with my loved ones

[cckgz4]

And no, I don't have a loyalty. If BB10 or iOS6 have new features I like more, I'll go to them

[belfastdispatcher]

WinMo was not garbage, in a similar way to BB, it was left up to the user to manage memory etc so most ended up bogged down, especially if the user never deleted browser history.

My last WinMo had 3G, front and rear camera, GPS, wifi and it could run a fully functional Tom Tom navigation app with offline maps.

WinMo's biggest problem was memory management.

[chaddeus]

I was given an iPod touch recently from a friend of mine. He got himself an iPhone 4 and didn't need. Since my family is abroad, naturally, an iPod would be ideal to use apps that are not currently found on BB (namely Skype!).

Having to experience both the BlackBerry and the touch, made me realize how much I HATE touch screen keyboards and love that of my BlackBerry...

Forced to use the touch, I will admit I got attached to it, to the extend of even thinking of getting an iPhone. But I couldn't...

My blood is BlackBerry now. It's not longer a matter of a smartphone, it's more of a cult. I smile/chat with people that carry BlackBerry (definitely those having the 9900) because they get it, they know what they want from a smartphone.

This is the first time admitting that I wanted to go to an iPhone and I felt guilty so I wanted to share it with you guys.

I can tell (and I hope) that BB10 lives up to the expectations. Almost everyone in my circle of friends has an iPhone and they look at my BlackBerry as if it is something of the past. I wish that would change and make BlackBerry "the" device.

Can't wait for BlackBerry 10.

BlackBerry for life!

I understand how you feel... When the iPod is an awesome product but you hate it when the current Blackberry isn't as good, but the only thing you seems to stick with Blackberry is the keyboard. On the other hand, a lot of your friends are moving to Apple

My answer to everyone is to wait for BB10 and then finally decide but seriously, I am wondering how good can it be? A phone is just a hardware if no developers are supporting it. The only time things will change is when developers prioritize Blackberry over other platform but I dont really see this coming.

iPhone will still be iphone unless they really screw it up with their iPhone 5 (screwing up means delivering a phone that doesn't work at all) which is unlikely. So personally, I dont think there would be much people going from iPhone 4S to the BB10 but there would be a lot of people from current BB to the new iPhone 5.

Its almost like a one way street...

- Charles

[texazzpete]

WinMo was not garbage, in a similar way to BB, it was left up to the user to manage memory etc so most ended up bogged down, especially if the user never deleted browser history.

My last WinMo had 3G, front and rear camera, GPS, wifi and it could run a fully functional Tom Tom navigation app with offline maps.

WinMo's biggest problem was memory management.

THIS.
It was worse at memory management than BBOS so it;d slow down sometimes. Lots of great apps for it though...Tomtom, GPS etc.
When the iPhone came out, Stylus phones became pretty unpopular, not enough pretty apps and games like the iPhone and the UI just wasn't as smooth. Plus hardware then tended towards the chunky side.

Not until the HTC HD2 did WinMo have a sleek and sexy device...by then it was too late.

but yeah, the OS wasn't 'garbage'


Anyone else use Symbian here?

[jivegirl14]

Bedside mode IS highly underrated!! I use my phone's dock mode all the time at night. The aesthetics, shortcut functions, and display information is highly customizable, but I miss alert customizations so much!! Here is my current setup:

Click to view quoted image


I just have to remember to put it to my prefered volume before I fall asleep .

I tried bedside mode and never really liked it. Even though dim it always managed to have a glow in the night... and I like the room to be completely dark. So, I just power down my phone (not full power off) stick it on my charger and it simply wakes me up when my alarm goes off. Apart from texts and what'sapps my phone is usually on vibrate - except for my alarm.
But each to their own.

[Laura Knotek]

Anyone else use Symbian here?

I did. Symbian was my introduction to smartphones. I went from Symbian to BlackBerry to Windows Phone (started with Nokia and am back to Nokia now, but with Windows Phone rather than Symbian).