[Crucial_Xtreme]

To add to the list of things that RIM unarguably does much better than the competition...

1) E-mail This is the biggest myth in the entire smartphone industry. The iPhone 4 does email just as well as the BlackBerry and in some cases better. This would be due to the lack of data compression/lack of truncation. But the push on my i4 is as quick as my BlackBerry.

2) Battery life The iPhone 4 gets better battery life than the BB 9650 or 9800. This is yet another myth.

3) Data compression/reservation/Efficiency due to the pioneering of data packet technology I have unlimited data so it doesn't much matter to me. But yes RIM is the industry leader in data compression

4) Security (becoming increasingly more important each day) I'm using BES on iOS and it has very good security. Let's keep in mind, BlackBerry protect was initiated after "findmyiphone" and iOS has the same remote wipe abilities.

5) Communications at large due to great keyboard This is purely opinion and not a fact by any means..

6) Maximization of performance from hardware This is the funniest one of them all, all due respect. Comparing maximization of performance between the current line of BlackBerry's versus the competition and the statement above holds absolutely no water. In no way shape or form do BB's out perform the competition in a hardware test/speed/ability sense of said comparison

7) Things taken for granted such as call quality, speakerphone Depends on which BlackBerry you're speaking of. The 9000 has absolutely the best speakerphone I've ever seen(the 9900/30 continues this trend) but other than that one model, the competiton is neck and neck



After the conversation on that BGR article today, I've had a bunch of people contact me over twitter and personally via e-mail - and all of them say the same thing stated here:

That BlackBerry is out of the game because they haven't released any new products in a while. That's true - now they have a fantastic new line of phones coming out. However people fail to release that RIM is not going anywhere as a business, as they are #1 in many, many countries around the world - the only thing people can criticise RIM about is in the HIGH END, AMERICAN smartphone market. Their new products are top notch and extremely competitive - and extremely innovative when you look at the way they are evolving communications with things like the Wikitude augmented reality browser.


So I will post the same challenge that I gave those who e-mailed me.

If you can name me THREE things, which are not brand specific or hardware dependent (e.g video chat, we're talking about software here), that iOS and Android clearly can do that RIM cannot with BBOS, advantages that they have as a communications device (we're talking about smartphones here), that are IRREFUTABLE, then I will publicly admit it here on CrackBerry, on BGR, on my twitter account (@murkjenkins). I'll keep an eye on this thread for the next little while.

Cheers.

The last part is typical. It's not so much about what BlackBerry's can't do, it's about the fact the others do it all better. I see you rushed to take video chat out of the equation. Why is it good enough for the Playbook but not for HandHeld's? I guarantee you the QNX HH's that are released next year will have front facing cameras. But since they didn't include it, let's not talk about it.

iOS can get through an entire day, week, better yet an entire month without requiring a battery pull.

Android has full flash support. The same kind the PlayBook has, yet BB handheld's don't.

Widget's. Both of the other platforms have proved they can utilize these and they're quite useful.

Email: RIM's supposed bread and butter. Yet if the email is too big, it's truncated. On the other platforms you get the entire email. So the supposed leader in email can't give you a true email experience that the others can.

On both my BlackBerry & iPhone I have Sirius installed. I cannot stream Sirius on my phone and BT to my cars radio on my BlackBerry. I can however do it on my iPhone 4 which is huge for me as a user.


But of course as I said above, it's not so much about what they can't do that one can. It's about which one does it all better. There is a reason RIM is in the situation they're in. Because they're behind both in hardware & software. This will eventually change and even out for the most part when QNX releases, but until then, RIM is behind the competition.

I'm a loyal BlackBerry user, always has been, always will be. But I am not blind, nor am I a BB fanboy and I respect the competition and I realize when the competition is doing better than the company I prefer.

Everyone who knows me knows I'm a HUGE F1 fan. Bigger yet I'm TIFOSI(Ferrari) fan. Ferrari is the absolute best in the history of F1 yet this year they've been behind the competition. Yet Ferrari wasn't blind or under any illusion. They didn't act like they were the best, or criticize the others. They knew & still know the competition is ahead of them. They know they need to improve and are doing so.

The point is BlackBerry is behind. And will be until QNX devices are released. It's the truth, deal with it and accept it. I will stipulate that the other platforms aren't for everybody & BlackBerry may be perfect for you and your needs. That doesn't mean however, in the grand scheme of things, that BlackBerry isn't still behind....

[_StephenBB81]

@ Crucial_Xtreme

Now I don't actually disagree with most of your post except for the fact that BlackBerry is behind and will remain behind till QNX

BlackBerry Remains the ONLY quality portrait Keyboard device, yes this is a preference for users, but in that respect of preference they are far ahead of the competition, you want to stream over BT with your BB, and you have Unlimited data, 2 things that are not relevant to me, that doesn't make them less important, to you.

Would I like RIM to have the same feature for feature as iPhones and Androids whilst keeping their form factor? sure would! BUT the form factor keeps the BlackBerry very relevant and very much in a class in it's own!

I do like your Ferrari analogy since RIM has been just relying on their form factor to carry them through! they should have been upgrading the engine all these years

[Crucial_Xtreme]

@ Crucial_Xtreme

Now I don't actually disagree with most of your post except for the fact that BlackBerry is behind and will remain behind till QNX

BlackBerry Remains the ONLY quality portrait Keyboard device, yes this is a preference for users, but in that respect of preference they are far ahead of the competition, you want to stream over BT with your BB, and you have Unlimited data, 2 things that are not relevant to me, that doesn't make them less important, to you.

Would I like RIM to have the same feature for feature as iPhones and Androids whilst keeping their form factor? sure would! BUT the form factor keeps the BlackBerry very relevant and very much in a class in it's own!

I do like your Ferrari analogy since RIM has been just relying on their form factor to carry them through! they should have been upgrading the engine all these years

I agree with your post and totally believe RIM has the best qwerty devices ever made. It's not that.
I think it's everything thing else these supposed blogs & reviewers say about the platform. I'm not going to go down the list, but until we get away from from the same damn kernel & J2ME we've had for years, we're never going to be considered a contender.
The PB has the ability to be the best tab ever made. Once the platform matures. That's why it went first. If it was a fail, it could be dealt with. If a QNX HH was fail, it was all over. But QNX offers a different path for an ecosystem better than what we currently have. QNX as firmware is better(IMHO) than iOS & Android combined. We just have to harness it, and exploit it's full potential. Until then, until we can match the others pound for pound, we're going to be considered as behind the competition.
Now remember I've maintained that we don't have to be number one to be successful. That's completely true. For now.

Once QNX is released, RIM won't quit making qwerty KB's. But QNX is needed to match the competition feature for feature. We've been on this old JVM for years & years now and it's past time for something new.

[_StephenBB81]

I agree with your post and totally believe RIM has the best qwerty devices ever made. It's not that.
I think it's everything thing else these supposed blogs & reviewers say about the platform. I'm not going to go down the list, but until we get away from from the same damn kernel & J2ME we've had for years, we're never going to be considered a contender.
The PB has the ability to be the best tab ever made. Once the platform matures. That's why it went first. If it was a fail, it could be dealt with. If a QNX HH was fail, it was all over. But QNX offers a different path for an ecosystem better than what we currently have. QNX as firmware is better(IMHO) than iOS & Android combined. We just have to harness it, and exploit it's full potential. Until then, until we can match the others pound for pound, we're going to be considered as behind the competition.
Now remember I've maintained that we don't have to be number one to be successful. That's completely true. For now.

Once QNX is released, RIM won't quit making qwerty KB's. But QNX is needed to match the competition feature for feature. We've been on this old JVM for years & years now and it's past time for something new.

I might be sleepy here! since I actually agree with this entire post! the strategy behind launching the PlayBook with QNX is exactly how I feel.

and I too can't wait to see the JVM go, I've never liked anything about Java, and it pained me so that I like my BlackBerry knowing that it employed Java developers

[mxx]

thank you very much