urShadow's Blog: Legacy BlackBerry Users: You Don’t Have To Wait

Q10_9930_BBRYFLOW

About 2 months ago, I decided I was going to “downgrade” from a BlackBerry Z30 to a BlackBerry Bold 9930. Now before you tar and feather me, I think my reasoning was pretty sound. I had been trying to find “one device to rule them all” – a smartphone that did absolutely everything I could possibly want. And I finally realized that such a device doesn’t exist (yet).

So I decided that I would instead take a multi-device approach. My smartphone would be the ultimate communication device – something that would be the best device for phone calls, emails, SMS, and IMs. For me, that device was the BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930. The combination of physical keyboard, track pad, and touch screen made it the most versatile interface I had ever used on a smartphone. I knew it was first released 3 years ago, so there would definitely be limitations and shortcomings. Therefore, I would supplement it with other devices – an iPod Touch, a BlackBerry Playbook, etc.

The arrangement was going quite well for me. Then my circumstances changed. I started writing for BerryFlow, and I soon realized that if I was going to be writing about the future of BlackBerry, as well as what is going on in the present, I would need to be familiar with and using one of their latest devices running their latest mobile OS.

I also had an eye-opening experience at the beginning of this month while traveling with my Bold 9930, which really drew my attention to its age and limitations. As much as I loved that interface, the unfortunate reality for me was that the Bold just couldn’t keep up with me and what I wanted to do with a smartphone, and no amount of supplementing with other devices could really make up for that.

I was already planning on upgrading to the forthcoming BlackBerry Classic, but my circumstances prompted me to hop back over to BB10 sooner than later. So I bought another BlackBerry Q10. I say “another”, because I actually owned and used a Q10 for a couple weeks earlier this year, but eventually sold it because, at the time, I preferred my Z30.

On a side-note, you can probably tell that I’m pretty fickle when it comes to the technology I use, so please bear with me. I have a natural curiosity for tech and gadgets and love to try new and different things. It’s given me a great perspective on what’s out there and what I like, but it can be very confusing trying to keep up with me and my reasons for switching all the time. I appreciate your understanding and patience!

Anyway, I’ve been using my new Q10 for the past couple of days and now that I’ve had some experience switching back and forth between the Bold 9930 and the Q10 I’ve come to the conclusion that, as much as I love many of the features of the 9930, the Q10 brings with it many advancements and great features of its own. In fact, unless the lack of those unique 9900/9930 features is an absolute and irrevocable deal-breaker for you, the Q10 is an excellent and welcome upgrade.

Here are some of the Q10′s fantastic features that have really jumped out at me compared to my Bold:

Speed and responsiveness. The difference is significant. It’s stunning, really. The efficiency with which BB10 handles multitasking and switching between different apps and tasks is very impressive. I had become accustomed to waiting a while when trying to do certain things on my Bold. The little ticking clock icon would be an all to familiar sight. Not so on my Q10. I have yet to throw something at it that has caused it to freeze or hang. Some Android apps may take a bit to load, but once loaded, they run fine. Overall, it’s a refreshing and welcome improvement.
Larger screen. The screen on the Bold isn’t horrendous at 2.8″ and 640 x 480 resolution, but the Q10′s 3.1″, 720 x 720 screen is definitely an improvement. The Q10′s display has a pixel density of 330 ppi (higher than the iPhone 6), while the Bold’s is 286 ppi (impressive considering it’s a 3-year-old phone). The Q10 has a larger screen with higher resolution and greater detail. And it really shows.
Modern UI and design language. BB10 looks sleek and elegant, yet simple. Native apps have a more consistent design language and style and are easy to navigate. There are some good apps on BB OS 7, but there is really no consistency between them in terms of navigation elements or layout, and they didn’t really tie in with the OS design elements.
Apps. There is a greater selection of apps on BB10 and the overall quality is much better. Good native BB10 apps look amazing and run brilliantly. And Android apps have never been easier to install with OS 10.2.1. You can install Android APK files with a couple of taps. And in 10.3, the Amazon Appstore will come already integrated with the OS. App development for BB OS 7 is, for all intents and purposes, dead. It is what it is and it will never change or improve from what you see today. The app situation on BB10 just keeps getting better and better.
Calendar. You can access and manage all of your calendars from all of your email/cloud accounts easily in BB10. One of my biggest peeves with the Bold was that you cannot wirelessly sync multiple calendars from a single account. For example, if you have a Google calendar that you share with someone, you cannot have access to it via the native calendar app. You can only wirelessly sync your primary calendars on each account. This is one of the limitation of BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service). At one time, Google and others supported multi-calendar sync via BIS, but have long since ended that support. You can get around this by using paid third party apps, or by syncing your calendars via Outlook on a Windows desktop/laptop, then connecting your phone to your computer via USB and syncing your calendars with it using BlackBerry Desktop, but this is a method from a bygone era when people had to sync their Palm Pilots and PDAs with their computers every day.
GPS and maps. GPS on the Q10 is so much more accurate and responsive than in BB OS 7. The BlackBerry Maps app is much also more robust and user-friendly on BB10. On my Bold, I had to download the Google Maps app because I could never use the BlackBerry Maps app to do search queries like “restaurants” or “movie theaters”. On BB10, you can enter such a search term in BlackBerry Maps and it works beautifully. Also, GPS navigation is built into BlackBerry Maps on BB10, whereas you have to use a separate app called “Traffic” on BB OS 7.
Browser. If there is one thing that is a huge improvement in BB10 vs BB OS 7, it’s the browser. The BB10 browser is the most amazing browser I’ve ever used on any mobile device. It’s insanely fast, renders websites in beautiful detail and proper formatting, and because it supports Adobe Flash, you can watch videos and use websites that other platforms just can’t. No more checker-boarding!
The Hub, with social media integration. I’m not sure how I ever got along without the BB10 Hub. It’s a unified inbox on steroids. No other mobile platform comes close to this functionality, even with third party apps. All your emails, texts, IMs, social media, calls, voicemails, and more are in a single area and can be viewed in a single, unified feed. Or, if you prefer, you can view each type of message in its own feed. There’s even a “Priority Hub” where you can see the most important messages so you can be sure you’ll never miss a thing. It’s never been easier to manage all your communications on a smartphone. The Hub is clearly one of BB10′s strongest features.
Cloud storage integration with file manager. Cloud storage is extremely useful. It allows people to store files in the cloud that they can access from any internet-connected device. It also allows people to easily share files with each other and collaborate. The Bold was released at a time when cloud storage was not nearly as popular as it is today, and it shows. There are some apps that give you some access to cloud storage services, but functionality is limited and performance is sluggish. BB10 allows you to integrate the most popular cloud storage services with the built-in file manager. On my Q10, I have seamless and instant access to my Box, Dropbox, and OneDrive accounts whenever I need them. I can automatically back up my photos to any of them. I can attach files to emails and photos to social media posts from any of them without having to toggle back and forth between apps or websites. It’s absolutely brilliant.
Active frames. No other mobile OS can handle true multi-tasking like BB10 can. Active Frames allow you to toggle back and forth between up to 8 apps at a time. When an app has been minimized to an active frame, many of them display relevant information pertaining to that app. For example, a weather app might display the current temperature where you are, the Twitter app will show the latest tweets from your feed, etc. Active Frames give you the flexibility to interact with multiple apps in a virtually seamless way without losing your work or waiting for apps to resume or start up again.
Battery life. The battery life on my Bold was actually quite respectable…when I made sure to turn off all non-essential services and close all unused apps. I had to install an app that would automatically turn off WiFi so that it wouldn’t drain the battery constantly looking for available connections. On my Q10, I don’t really have to worry as much. It makes efficient use of the battery regardless of how many apps I may have in Active Frames or whether or not WiFi is enabled. I can get through an average day with power to spare.
Dedicated micro HDMI output. I can connect my Q10 to an HDTV with a micro HDMI to HDMI cable and watch videos in full 1080p, play a game, or give a presentation. No expensive dongles or adapters needed. I can even have my phone hooked up to a charger at the same time because the video out port is not the same port that is used to charge it!
The ability to quickly compose a tweet or fb post from the home screen by typing “tw” or “fb”. This little feature comes in so handy, and it’s one of those features you can only use on a BB10 phone with a physical keyboard. You just type “tw” or “fb” followed by a space, and then the text of your post. It’s so simple and so useful!
Holding left shift to activate “trackpad anywhere” functionality when editing text. This is a little hidden gem that many people don’t know about. When you are typing and editing text on a Q10 (or Q5) running OS 10.2.1, you can hold down the left shift key and use the entire screen as a trackpad to move the cursor and select any amount of text you want. Why do you need a trackpad when your entire screen can be one?

The Q10 really is a great device, but there are still some features of the Bold 9900 series that I do miss:

The tool belt. The trackpad on legacy BlackBerry phones (and on the forthcoming Classic) makes it easy to navigate around the OS and easily select and edit text with minimal movement. As great as touch screens are, it’s difficult to place a cursor in exactly the place you want on the first attempt. BlackBerry has made it as easy as possible to use a touch screen to select and edit text, but the trackpad is still the gold standard for this. Physical call, menu, and back buttons are also extremely useful and convenient.
Dat keyboard. The Q10′s keyboard is great, but for me, the Bold’s still edges it out. The tactile feedback on the Bold is better for me. That, in combination with the texture and size of the keys and the curve of the rows made it extremely easy and comfortable to type.
Charging pod. When I wanted to charge my Bold, I never had to fiddle with cables. I had a charging pod on my night stand next to my bed and another on my desk at work. This is an extremely practical and convenient feature that I wish BlackBerry would bring back to all of its handsets. At the very least, it would be great to see wireless charging as a standard feature.
Notification, LED, and sound customization. Legacy BlackBerry phones offer unparalleled notification, LED, and sound customization features baked right into the OS. Some of this functionality can be had on BB10 with third party apps, but BlackBerry mysteriously left this out of the OS. Perhaps they thought it wasn’t necessary or needed anymore? Or perhaps they wanted to focus their limited resources and money on more important features. Regardless, this is one of the reasons many legacy users are hesitant to upgrade. It’s not a deal breaker for me, but it is something I miss.
Bedside mode schedule. BB10 does have bedside mode, which allows you to silence all notifications but still allow phone calls through. It does not, however, have the BB OS 7 feature that allows you to define a schedule for bedside mode to automatically activate during certain hours when your phone is charging. I knew that when set me Bold in its charging pod between the hours of 10 pm and 8 am, it would automatically enter bedside mode. This is a subtle but extremely convenient feature that I miss in BB10.

No two smartphones are exactly alike. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. And we all have to decide which weaknesses we are willing to live with when researching a device we might want to purchase and use on a daily basis. Having gone back and forth between a legacy BlackBerry device and a BB10 device over the past 6 months, I can honestly say that in my most recent switch to the Q10, I have gained more than enough features and functionality to offset any I may have had to give up.

You can already find great deals on Q10s and Q5s if you know where to look. And when the Passport and Classic are released, you can expect Q10 and Q5 prices to come down even further.

And let’s not forget the Z10, Z30, and Z3 – all excellent BB10 devices which can also be found at very reasonable prices if you’d like to go all-touch.

The Passport and Classic look to be fantastic devices, and if you have your heart set on either of them, you have excellent taste! But don’t forget, there are already plenty of BB10 devices to choose from, and you can snap one up for a great price today. This very moment. So why wait? There has never been a better time to give BB10 a try.