[BoldtotheMax]

Its just like that new Best buy commercial showing as soon as you buy something it is out of date....just....like....that.

Same as when you buy a new shiny car off the dealership's lot...lose thousands of dollars!

I try my best to keep my self sane and say stick it out for 2 years and if there is a software update I can do, good...if not, come on here and feel the same boat mentality, haha!

Either or we will never catch up with tech....

[Pithex]

I try my best to keep my self sane and say stick it out for 2 years and if there is a software update I can do, good...if not, come on here and feel the same boat mentality, haha!

Or opt for the device that you know will have the guts to run the update for next years devices... Makes that second year a lot easier.

[sg8330]

newsflash: future-proofing doesn't exist in the world of technology

[southlander]

I'm glad I didn't get a 9780. Didn't those come out in December? So effectively it is dead after months... The same thing will happen to the 9900 once QNX hits (next year?).

It is probably wishful thinking to believe RIM will have the QNX phones out any sooner than summer 2012 or even late 2012. So the 9900 series (and the curve touch and the torch 2) will probably be all there is for a full year. Maybe not, but probably. And that is assuming things stay on track for RIM.

[CanuckBB]

I'm glad I didn't get a 9780. Didn't those come out in December? So effectively it is dead after months... The same thing will happen to the 9900 once QNX hits (next year?).

A phone not supporting the latest OS is not a dead phone. It's just a phone that does not support the latest OS.

Remember that the best time to buy techniology is always tommorrow.

[ekafara]

My 9700 does what I need it to do and it won't get the latest OS. Does it suck? Sure. Should I expect it to get it? No. We should hope that the old phone aren't getting the brand new OS. It means it's a big improvement and needs better hardware to run it. Well atleast that's how I see it. I'd like to think we will still be getting updates for the OS that our phone runs though.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Economist101]

Upgrades are fine, but backwards compatibility is often little more than a chain around the neck of these companies. It's nice if it's available, but it rarely makes sense to limit what future devices can do based on the desire to support prior devices. If RIM has changed their position on this issue then it's unfortunate, but that's life.

[southlander]

Upgrades are fine, but backwards compatibility is often little more than a chain around the neck of these companies. It's nice if it's available, but it rarely makes sense to limit what future devices can do based on the desire to support prior devices. If RIM has changed their position on this issue then it's unfortunate, but that's life.

Yes. Me, I'd rather that RIM puts resources into advancing the QNX phones and PlayBook than trying to shoehorn OS7 onto the v6 devices.

[belfastdispatcher]

OS7 would simply be wasted in an OS6 device, it just doesn't have the hardware for it.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[belfastdispatcher]

honnestly, now that i got a playbook, i don t feel the same urge to get a new bb with os7 over my 9780.

I'm kinda thinking along the same lines, upgrade to 9780 then sell the 9700 to help buy the playbook.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[The_Engine]

I just hope that RIM doesn't do this twice in a row and that BB8 won't run on BB7 devices just as BB7 won't run on BB6 devices. That wouid hurt them pretty bad I think.

[kbz1960]

BB8 would be QNX and no it won't run on BB7 devices unless RIM makes some dual core ones before the QNX phones come out.

[Skeevecr]

OS7 would simply be wasted in an OS6 device, it just doesn't have the hardware for it.

Indeed, from what we have seen so far of os7 the only thing you could say for sure would definitely work on os6 would be the views management stuff with pretty much everything else being related to higher performing processor and/or new hardware.

[greggebhardt]

You need to buy your phone for what it is and expect "maybe" some minor updates. Do not buy thinking that RIM will do a major update. All RIM should do is fix bugs in your existing OS. They do not promise to give you a upgrade in OS.

[The_Engine]

BB8 would be QNX and no it won't run on BB7 devices unless RIM makes some dual core ones before the QNX phones come out.

A lot of people are stuck on this. RIM Said only that QNX OS's run Best on multi Core systems, most likely because they are SMP down to their DNA. Multi Core is by no means required for QNX unless RIM does something like implement core apps via running another OS in an Emulator, like how they are doing PIM on the Playbook. By the time BB8 rolls out we should have PIM Native to the OS and not via Java apps running in an emulator. In and of itself QNX is very tolerant of different hardware platforms. You can do a search here for all the hardware QNX Supports:

Hardware Database

QNX could probably run on my daughter's Mickey Mouse digital watch.

Now I am not saying that BB8 won't require Dual Core, but I am saying that the requirement wouldn't come from QNX, and that RIM never said it was required, just preferred.

You need to buy your phone for what it is and expect "maybe" some minor updates. Do not buy thinking that RIM will do a major update. All RIM should do is fix bugs in your existing OS. They do not promise to give you a upgrade in OS.

The first problem with this logic is the manufacturers and carriers have taken to releasing incomplete devices and telling you to wait for Future updates. See RIM's Playbook (and just about everything else they have done), Motorola Xoom, Windows Phone 7, etc. The devices are marketed often for what is coming and not what is there on it today. Apple is probably one exception, and to me this is why they have the rep that they have. If people want to compete with Apple, than they need to stop delivering half baked goods, and make sure it is ready before it gets in anyone's hands. You only get one shot at a first impression.

The second problem is that most devices are sold under a 2 year contract. If I am going to sign a 2 year contract then I expect support for 2 years. Not a device that is EOL in the first year of life. I don't expect it to get major OS updates 20 months in, but I do expect that if launches today on BB6, and BB7 comes out in 12 months, than my device should support it, even if some features are missing or otherwise dumbed down a bit. I am not ******** that my S2 can't run BB7, but should it have been able to handle bb6? (which was in development when S2 launched and went live about 8 months after it was launched) Your damn skippy it should have.

Overall I think there is a happy medium here, and Google has drawn a standard with its new partnership for android, where they said new devices should get updates for at least 18 mos or something like that. Since RIM owns the Hardware and Software, than they should guarantee that new devices will support the next OS upgrade. (Or make it for software updates out to 18 months, or 20 months or something) Then they should plan their hardware and software accordingly. They have buy back programs, but I think if you crunch those #'s it would be more cost effective to just up the hardware a bit initially.

When I plan out a new systems and tell my SA's that we believe we need 12 or 24 gigs RAM on a server, they put in 32, and make sure the system can handle 64 if need be at a later date. Why? Not because they like to order 32 GB of RAM, but because they know that the hardware will be in service for 3 years or more, and it needs to support that function and any reasonable new requirements or capacity demands through that life cycle.

I say it all the time, but RIM (and a few other Manufacturers/carrier) are either Incompetent or greedy. Either they can't manage their development life cycles so that new hardware supports 18-24 months of the Software road-map, or they are planning obsolescence and want to force consumers into an annual upgrade cycle to drive more profits. Some of them are just more in your face with it than others.