[blackhawksfan75]

If a friend or relative came up to you (BB users) and is looking into getting a smartphone at this point in time would you recommend a Blackberry to them?

Ultimately the choice is theirs, but if that person had an older phone and was looking to upgrade what type of advice would you offer them? Would you be so one-sided and gloat about the phone? Or would you be completely honest and say "here are the key features of this particular phone that I like, however here are the downfalls."

Even if you weren't a BB user, would you even mention the Blackberry line?

I am an Iphone 4 user, but I respect all competition.

[Chrisy]

Yes, depending on their needs.

[BillW69]

In fact, I did today.

[Clinto]

Only if they were looking for the most beautiful 1/2 screen phone on the market that has a built in tactile qwerty keyboard, and wanted it to perfectly balance their work and personal life with blazing fast speed, best in class messaging capabilities and did it all while looking so darn sexy. Only then.. would i recommend it.. Otherwise if they wanted a really ugly phone that needed a case to cover its ugliness... and they wanted to just follow the rest of the herd.. then buy a Droid phone.

[rdkempt]

Depending on their needs, sure.

[Arcturos]

Nope, BB is falling further behind and with no news/leaks of new phones coming soon I would recommend people buy an Iphone or even a WP 7.5 over a OS7 BB. I don't care for Android myself, but wouldnt talk anyone out of buying one over a BB

I'm still holding on to my Storm2 for now but we'll see how long that lasts. Since I have strong VZW LTE where i live i'm pretty much waiting for the first WP, iPhone, or QNX BB to come out with LTE support (or maybe even a Nokia WP with just 3G)

My loyalty is fading, so whichever comes first will get my money and my reccomendations

[go1ndr]

Regardless of the recent outage, Blackberry is light years ahead in business applications--ie: text/email/all business applications! And, especially if the people are tired of typing on a "virtual" keyboard and would like the feel of a real keyboard. I just upgraded to the new 9810 from my 9800 and couldn't be happier. Since I've owned many other phones in the past, I can say honestly that BB is the best on the market if you are not just interested in games and pictures/videos.

[guerllamo7]

To be honest I never used to recommend BB phones to people, even after I came back to BB from an HTC hiatus. However, now that the new OS7 phones are out I've recommended then to several people and six of them have gone out and purchased BB phones. I've added them to my BBM list and send them a tip every now and then.

However, if the person wants to enjoy movies and video games (which I think is completely legitimate) on their phone, I must say that I would recommend the droid phones. I like our Torch full screen but at 3.7" it is hard to compete with the 4.3" of the EVO. The Torch has the advantage on security and e-mail but I still think the EVO's larger screen trumps it on that issue.

I'm a huge believer in swapping out batteries. As they say "two is one and one is none" will eventually catch up with you so I would go either way. I don't know anything about windows phones or Nokia phones and unfortunately the awesome Palm WebOS did not have RIM sized pockets to make it.

Bottom line. I believe RIM has great all around phones that are flexible and give you choices as well as security (which matters if you do online banking or have any personal information on your device) so yes I would and do but if the priority is a great gaming experience I think the droids are worth a look.

[PKPDBERRYADDICT]

I am a proud evangelist of Blackberry and how to take advantage of this nice OS.
I have an IPAD, a playbook and a good grasp of android. Sorry no windows phone experience yet.

* get things done efficiently and with a single hand even type without looking then blackberry is the way to go

I made two of my friends to buy blackberries and also convinced them to pair with a playbook they were really happy.

[NickA]

I voted yes because I would and have, but if I felt they would be better suited for another phone then no.

[psufan32]

Their needs for the phone and how it fits into their overall tech lives would have to be very limited and narrow to recommend it.

[laurah2215]

It would really depend on the user and what they wanted the phone for. I can't blindly recommend BB to just anyone. I would recommend a BB to someone who would find it useful.

[avt123]

Yes, because it depends on their needs. If they want a great physical keyboard, I would recommend a BB. If they want a great touchscreen with powerful media capabilities and tons of apps, I would recommend everything but a BB. But it definitely goes deeper than that, especially if they are considering top security or need BES. Otherwise if they want a great consumer touchscreen, a BB recommendation will never be on my list. BBX will hopefully change that.

[inicophone]

It depends on the user. I normally recommend Android over the iPhone if the user doesn't do email, or much typing. However for those who like texting or writing emails, I reccommend the BlackBerry hands down!

If you are looking for apps and games, iPhone or Android. Games, I lean to the iPhone. And apps for everything I lean to Android.
If you want something for communicating, email, texting, instant messaging, I say nothing other than a BlackBerry.

However most people I know, a BlackBerry Bold 9900 or Torch 9810 can do it all - other than gaming.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[murnende]

I don't think the current state of things is unrecoverable, but given the frustrations I have with my 9780 on a daily basis, and the current state of the PlayBook's software, I wouldn't be doing my friends and relatives any favours by recommending BlackBerry.

That said, I wouldn't recommend Apple or Android either, so I guess I wouldn't be much help. For myself, I'm considering giving Windows Phone a shot, once Nokia gets their phones out the door. Now once the Colt and OS 2.0 are out, I'm open to re-evaluating, but as things stand, I wouldn't wish BlackBerry on anyone.

[TheScionicMan]

I'd rather give good advice than try to shill for a particular company.

My first question when asked for any tech advice is: How do you plan on using it, what are your needs in a phone?

[Clinto]

Nope, BB is falling further behind and with no news/leaks of new phones coming soon I would recommend people buy an Iphone or even a WP 7.5 over a OS7 BB. I don't care for Android myself, but wouldnt talk anyone out of buying one over a BB

I'm still holding on to my Storm2 for now but we'll see how long that lasts. Since I have strong VZW LTE where i live i'm pretty much waiting for the first WP, iPhone, or QNX BB to come out with LTE support (or maybe even a Nokia WP with just 3G)

My loyalty is fading, so whichever comes first will get my money and my reccomendations

Hey Arcturos, i agree with you mostly. But did you know that Windows Phones currently don't have any encryption capabilities at all? My company will only allow BB, Android and Apple because only they have encryption. And the iphone isn't bad, but I think it looks seriously dated, like a dinosaur..
But furthermore, i think that if you switched from from your Storm 2 to the Bold 9930 you'd have a different answer. I too suffered with the Storm 2. BGR even called it "unforgivable" to RIM for making it, because it is that bad... So chin up! Try out that new Bold! You'll like it!! And you'll see it is 10,000 light years ahead of the Storm.. And you'll find that RIM is definitely on the right path!!

[moiselles]

Yes, depending on their needs.

This. It really depends on what the person wants out of a phone.

[blackjack93117]

Why wouldn't I? What's changed?
I'd still recommend a used Bold....
.

[Thud Hardsmack]

I'd rather give good advice than try to shill for a particular company.

My first question when asked for any tech advice is: How do you plan on using it, what are your needs in a phone?

Copy that. No one's doing anyone a favor by shoving one's own preferences at another with whom it's not compatible with.

[blackjack93117]

Copy that. No one's doing anyone a favor by shoving one's own preferences at another with whom it's not compatible with.

Who's talking about shoving? I'm assuming the request would be something like - do you like your BB phone, what do you like about it, and I would recommend it for those reasons. .

I mean why would I recommend something I did not choose myself? Am I trying to be too logical here?

They can ask someone else how they like theirs and assume they have the capacity and freedom to make their own choice. I would recommend, not shove.

I need to find another topic this is dumb lol...

[mcagayat]

I would definitely recommend a blackberry for a communication device!!! However, I would be sure to warn them of certain issues us crackberry fans deal with on a daily basis.

If not, I'd be happy to recommend an iPhone, which is a very solid product!

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[industrial revolution]

I would recommend the 9930 to just about anyone... Unless they were a huge gaming nut... Great, great phone.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Phil DeLong]

I'd recommend whatever phone I felt fit their needs best, regardless of my personal bias because it won't be my phone.

[rdkempt]

Blackberry is light years ahead in business applications

Ridiculous statement.

Which vertical are we talking about? As an IT professional that uses a PSA (ConnectWise) and RMM tool (LabTech) there are only 2 platforms that offer apps that my workplace requires. Android or iPhone. I used BB for years, don't really like Android so I've been using an iPhone but to say anything about business apps on a BB is insane unless you have a very specific vertical that I haven't done IT for. (I've done medical, construction, education, automotive, insurance, financial, real estate, telecommunications, etc...), each of these verticals have lots of options on apps that integrate with their line of business applications and unfortunately, I don't see hardly any for anything other than an iPhone or Android.

EDIT: Actually, the LabTech mobile client also makes a Windows Mobile app, and no BB app: http://www.labtechsoftware.com/solut...ch-mobile.html