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With BlackBerry Balance being out for about 2 months has anyone had experience using it? Wondering how smooth it is to operate the two environments. Has anyone that was carrying two phones now only carry one with this extra functionality? Care to describe what it is like?
I'm interested in the answer to those questions. I've been trying to get my dad to get it since he's using a bes berry
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
Excellent question. I think it needs to be installed on the BES server before it can be installed on a user's phone, which is probably why it's taking awhile to trickle down to the users. But I'd also be very interested to see any hands-on feedback, particularly in conjunction with PlayBook usage.
I've been using balance on my Q10 for a few days now, and while I've never carried two phones, I'm not finding it to be amazing at this point. The reason being is that I was expecting it to hide my work e-mails when I'm in personal mode (which would in fact be the only reason I see me using it), however it doesn't do that at all :-(
I have balance installed on both a Z10 and PlayBook. The experiences are different between the two.
On the Z10, it pretty seamless. You simply have an additional email account that shows up. If you set your device password to be the same as your work partition password, they both unlock when you unlock the phone. As one of the above posters pointed out, it really doesn't separate the two spaces, but it keeps data separate and enforces BES policies on the work side. What I mean by this is that applications and mail accounts opened on one side will show up on the other. So if you opened a work application, email or browser, you can switch to the personal side and the work application will still be there as an active tile, or in the case of emails, it will show up in the hub. However, as some have pointed out, copying from the work to the personal side is not possible, which can be annoying. You can copy from the personal to the work side.
The only time you need to open the work side is to access work applications, if you have them, and to open the work browser if you have that enabled.
Embedded links within work emails and calendar events automatically default to the work browser.
Overall, your experience will depend on how your IT staff enables Balance. If they leave the personal side alone, and keep the work side setting reasonable, its a good experience. If they try to lock down both sides, through unnecessary IT security policies, then you will be miserable.
The Playbook treats Balance a bit differently. You will get your work emails and calendars as a separate accounts, but your personal and work contacts will be merged into a single list. This is particularly annoying if you are importing contacts from a legacy BBOS device onto the playbook as they all get lumped into the work category and can screw up your enterprise contact sync and the subsequent sync to any other device. You also get a folder containing your work applications which may be different to your BB10 applications on your phone. Its a bit like the bridge used to do with BES enabled phones. It all works, but its a bit more clunky than the phone is.
Overall I do like the Balance concept. However, the usefulness of Balance depends on the competency of your IT staff.
Old Ag
Also I forgot to mention: when you're on the BES and you try to make a screen capture, it sends it to your work side, and you can only share that via e-mail, bluetooth, or NFC. So if you want to share it with someone on BBM, it's a "no go," unless you e-mail it to yourself first. I understand that as a security feature, but it isn't ideal for me. Strongly considering removing my device from the BES due to this, and the fact that my work e-mail isn't actually hidden in "personal mode."
This was killing me! Haha, I couldn't find my screen caps. I don't like this setup at all. I frequently take screen shots and text them to people. What's crazy is, I can't find them through a file manager search because they block them when you're on the personal side!
Posted via CB10
Update: If your work space is locked, the screen caps save to your personal profile. Problem solved...
Posted via CB10
Now the question is: how do you manually lock the work space? :-)
I've been on balance for a few months now, essentially since the z10 came out in Canada. I also have it activated on my playbook.
Both are essentially seamless integration, a separate email in my hub for my work.
I really appreciate the second desktop you can swipe down and access on the z10. This allows access to the work silo including corporate provisioned apps such as Enterprise Messenger (which also integrates into the hub well once logged in running headless)
On both the playbook and z10 you also get the work browser. This allows essentially a free vpn connection to your companies network. Intranet and other internal addresses come up perfectly.
I am a part of one of the biggest pilots programs of bes 10 / Balance, with over 500 participants, most with two devices. Let me know if you have further questions.
Posted via CB10
So then how do you lock work space manually? ;-)
I just swipe down from the top and click the balance button to lock my work space.
Attachment 165531
Posted via CB10
Ah, didn't think of trying that. I just updated my OS to a leak today, and since it's Sunday, there's no one to set me up with a BES activation, so hopefully I'll be back on BES tomorrow and will be able to give it a go then. I sure do miss working in IT helpdesk.
Im currently using Balance with my job. I went from a company provided Bold to a BYOD Z10 that I purchased for myself. I have Balance set up and i find it to be quite smooth. I love that my company has the ability to make apps available in a corporate Blackberry World (im probably not saying that correctly) that is separate from my personal BlackBerry World.
Also, my company is supporting iOS and DROID platforms in addition to BlackBerry for their BYOD. The advantage with my Z10 is my BlackBerry Balance came set up with apps that they do not ( or currently cannot) set up with the other platforms. Apps for thongs like out enterprise messenger, Team Beam, QuickBase, are just a few of them.
Toggling back and forth is easy and I feel using it is easier than carrying two phones.
I hope this helps to answer your question!
Posted via CB10
Of course you can. Swipe down and lock your workspace. All you see in the hub after locking is private stuff.....
Posted via CB10 / Q10
That only locks it, but the red asterisk still pops up whenever a new work e-mail comes in :-(
Since my Q10 activated I get the annoying help tooltip telling me to swipe down to access my spaces. No matter what I do the damn thing won't go away!
Posted via CB10
Has anyone been able to install what's app on balance?
Posted via CB10
Do all the swiping gestures, and the tooltips are gone
Posted via CB10 / Q10
@dworld whatsapp can be installed on your device and operate in tandem with your work silo all in the hub.
Your it department would have to allow and provision it if you want it literally in your work side / desktop.
Posted via CB10
Anyone know of a way to stop work reminders from popping up? Seems that now with BB 10, it's up to your company to decide whether or not to have your work calendar displayed on your BB, so that option is now locked down for me (meaning it's forced to "on") :-(
Posted via CB10
