[anon(9353145)]

Indeed. There needs to be competition. Whether or not they succeed is anyone's guess.

Competition is a good thing. Hope it works out for them as well, despite my personal love / hate relationship with Microsoft.

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[anon(9353145)]

Well... Maybe. I think partly WP/W10M is faring poorly because everybody propagates the rumor that the app gap is really big, so people should stay away. A lot of people, like myself, can do fine with the apps that exist. I would not recommend it to a kid that must have Snapchat (in fact, I recently got my son a Priv, precisely because of that need).

Some light reading on the subject:
The untold "app gap" story, Part I: Human behavior, the overlooked variable
The untold "app gap" story Part II: App gap? What app gap?
The untold "app gap" story Part III: The mobile web is the path to bots, apps 2.0

Looks interesting, thanks for posting.

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[ayngling]

I would like to go for a Lumia but I would have to give up a lot in terms of the bank apps, Pebble smartwatch, and some BlackBerry 10 native apps.

I also had the Pebble. I went with a Garmin Fenix 3 smartwatch instead. It also has many days of battery life (weeks if you don't use GPS a lot), the display is always on, and has a Windows Phone app.

I am looking for a removable back battery phone

Though not quite what you said you were after, the Lumia 950 (and the XL) has a replaceable battery. I always carry spares for both the Q10 and the 950. No way I'd get through the day without them, for either phone.

[ayngling]

MS seems to be playing the long game when it comes to WP/W10M, hoping that devs jump on board as they make app development easier. Thanks to their other businesses, they can afford to keep their mobile efforts going on longer.

This is why I think they might succeed. They have staying power and a plausible strategy.

Developers, especially startups and smaller companies, have too much work at the moment, needing to support not just web, iOS and Android (plus the Amazon Appstore, BB10, Windows 10 Mobile), but Apple Watch and Android Wear (some even Pebble and Garmin ConnectIQ), Xbox, Playstation, AppleTV, AndroidTV, maybe a desktop OS or two, Cortana, Amazon Echo, Google Home, etc. With Microsoft's strategy, making Xamarin free, developers can share 70-90% of their code between the apps, greatly reducing not just development time, but also testing and debugging.

I love BB10, no other OS I have tried have made me half as productive. To this day I still cling on to my Q10 (I bought a Passport, a Classic and even a Priv, but none of them could beat the Q10). In my mind I am dreaming that Blackberry adds Xamarin support to BB10, so they can piggyback on Microsoft's efforts to promote it to developers, and allow us to choose BB10 instead of Android on their new phones (only on their online store). Hell, if Oracle had to buy them in order to make this happen, I'd be all for it. (Oracle seems to be the only company without a mobile OS and a corporate/gov focus, and with their struggles with Google, I could see them wanting it, though chances are they'd mismanage it.)

Unless that happens, though, Windows 10 Mobile is the closest thing I have found to BB10. (I am not saying it is close, but closer than iOS/Android. Continuum is pretty awesome, though.) I really hope Microsoft can dig up some old Nokia physical keyboard technology and make a new Q10-ish phone... (saying that, I have a new Q10 in a drawer for when my current one dies).

[Bbnivende]

Windows phones barely exist in Canada.

[RishiRamkissoon]

I guess I would go with ios, I never liked android much...

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[DR Vonstone]

I would keep using my Z10 or any other BB10 phone - hope to get a Passport soon - until they stop working.

After that I will have to see what would be available at that time.

I really don't care about a boat load of apps. Right now I have too many. All from BlackBerry World, and the majority are made for the BB10 OS. Most of them I don't even use, because they do the same thing.

If push comes to shove, I may consider an iPhone ("cringe").

I have also researched the silent Circle "Black Phone" as an alternative, because of their security claims. Unfortunately it is only marketed to businesses at the moment.

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[anon(9353145)]

Windows phones barely exist in Canada.

Very true. I've seen one in Toronto. Surface tablet is more popular though.

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[TgeekB]

Windows phones barely exist in Canada.

It barely exists most everywhere except in a few countries like the U.S., India, and Brazil. If their strategy works, it will become more widely distributed.

[anon(9188202)]

If? Gotta love that those few diehards left here still have a sense of humour!

[bitek]

Windows phones barely exist in Canada.

What is your point ?

[TgeekB]

What is your point ?

Don't move to Canada if you have a Windows phone?

[bitek]

Don't move to Canada if you have a Windows phone?

Does not make sense

[TgeekB]

Does not make sense

It's the best I could come up with. Just starting my first coffee.

[kjpeigan]

Played around with my daughters Motorola... not to big, not to small, good one handed use... so, if I had to... I'd go Motorola...

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[cmvrgr cmvrgr]

I already moved to Lenovo Phab Plus 6.8" because I am a heavy typer and because visual keyboards are not so heavy usage friendly I need all the estate of a big screen. I am typing vertically and is almost the same width with passport.

I havent yet bought a passport and now that BBos is dying its pretty difficult to move. I thougth that BB will give pure adroid upgrade option but I think they will not do it because they will sabotage their new android lines.

[elhot69]

A cheap Android device like doogee, homtom or BLU, no more than 150$

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[Prem WatsApp]

Played around with my daughters Motorola... not to big, not to small, good one handed use... so, if I had to... I'd go Motorola...

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Motos are good, I hope they stay a little independent from Lenovo for a while and don't get "infected"... :-)


�   There's a Crack in the Berry right now...   �

[anon(9721108)]

I'm more than happy with my iPhone but my 9900 will likely still be running all the apps it is now like FB and Whatsapp by the time ios10 is out

[Chuck Finley69]

BlackBerry Argon

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[leglace1]

I am looking at the Asus Zenphone 3. Sticking with my passport till WhatsApp stops working. Will never buy a non OS10 BlackBerry. I love BlackBerry, but at the same time I hate them for assuring OS 10 hit the wall.

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[cmvrgr cmvrgr]

I am looking at the Asus Zenphone 3. Sticking with my passport till WhatsApp stops working. Will never buy a non OS10 BlackBerry. I love BlackBerry, but at the same time I hate them for assuring OS 10 hit the wall.

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Asus if fine. I also have the zenfone2 and it rocks !

[kumarsanjeev82]

I�ve been a Passport user since launch day, and before that a Q10. Last week, just to prepare myself for life post-BB10, I got myself an iPhone SE, and it made me appreciate Passport and the BB10 OS so much more. While it�s a gorgeous looking phone, due to iOS's cumbersome nature I can�t seem to warm to the device. My biggest fear was that I would be a typo-mess on it but that hasn�t been the case at all; in fact, I am as accurate and as fast on the iPhone as I�m on the Passport.

But it�s the other things that let this device down. File management is such a drag � I got the 64GB version but I can�t be arsed to save any photo or music on it. I use a Mac and saving files on the Passport was a cakewalk � just plug in the phone and then drag and drop. But on the iPhone, I have to open the iTunes, then import the photos to iPhoto, select the folder where the photos are, then press sync. For the photos to still be on my phone the next time I plug it in to the Mac, I�ve to make sure that the original files stay in the iPhoto; otherwise, the photo will be gone from the phone. Hey, that�s a waste of space on my Mac � I already have the photos in my �Pictures� folder, why should I have the same copy on my iPhoto too?

Then sharing data between apps is just awful. It�s just not a fluid OS like the BB10, which Android is to a certain extent. For instance, I do photo editing all the time with VSCO and Snapseed; I start with Snapseed and then move to VSCO. Say, while browsing through my Camera Roll, I feel the need to edit a photo. I cannot just press on the share button, like on Passport/BB10, for the photo to appear on Snapseed. I have to open Snapseed first and then import the photo. For someone who takes a bunch of photos of the same thing, getting the correct photo on to Snapseed is a guessing game. Once I�m done with this round of editing on Snapseed, on BB10 I could just click on the share button and the photo would appear on VSCO along with the app itself. Here, I can click on the �Open In�� VSCO option but the photo would not open up on VSCO as you would expect. What it does is it transfers the photo to VSCO. I still need to press the dumb home button and VSCO amongst the thousands of apps, then open it to continue with my editing. It is such a drag!

Then sending an e-mail attachment� it made me pull out my hair! Say, I�m typing an e-mail and feel the need to attach a photo, I could click on the �paper clip� icon on the Passport and then select the photo. There is no such option on the iPhone! You have to start with the photo first; click on share on �Mail� to attach the photo and then type your e-mail. That�s just cumbersome and time-wasting. I wonder how �busy� businessmen put up with such inefficiency.

And then the call quality! It�s just so poor. It seems like Apple has forgotten that they are making a phone in the first place, so it should be able to do the basic function of a phone call perfectly.

I have lots more gripes. But the bottom line is, I�ve gone back to my Passport and have gotten myself a brand new Classic on the cheap. The iPhone is picked up only when I want to kill time on Instagram. It�s such a shame that people never gave BB10 a proper chance � it�s such a superior OS and makes your life easier, as smartphones are supposed to. I for one will be using it as long as it�s on.

+1000

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[CecilTsunami]

I bought an Xperia X Performance on Saturday. After two days I can already tell it's going to be an excellent companion to my Passport.

Not sure what I will do when my Passport becomes impractical to use. I'm having a really bad time with carpal tunnel/tendonitis in my right hand at the moment. It doesn't hurt to type on the Passport, the touchscreen feels really stressful to my hand. I expected it to be opposite.

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[anon(9353145)]

I bought an Xperia X Performance on Saturday. After two days I can already tell it's going to be an excellent companion to my Passport.

Not sure what I will do when my Passport becomes impractical to use. I'm having a really bad time with carpal tunnel/tendonitis in my right hand at the moment. It doesn't hurt to type on the Passport, the touchscreen feels really stressful to my hand. I expected it to be opposite.

Posted via CB10

More reaching with all touch across the board, especially if you utilize pkb shortcuts. On the browser I can scroll throw pages with spacebar, go forward, back, etc. It's really well thought out and that's why I hope a pkb enabled BlackBerry browser is on the android roadmap.

For the Xperia, I recommend Habit Browser, and also Yandex browser, both have the location bar at bottom. Also Habit allows long presses for top and bottom of page.

AND: the BlackBerry Keyboard allows swipe up on predictions, maybe easier on your hand?

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