Am I wasting my time?

[Narathan]

I'm on a iPhone SE from work and to be honest I'm a little surprised how well it works. Everything is very fluid. Even my Vector Watch and Urbanears don't disconnect or lag unlike they did on both my x3 and 950. And the battery life is insane for such a tiny battery (1600mah)!

Thats where my love for iOS ends though. It looks incredibly aged and limited compared to both Android and W10M. Tried Android a bit but even on my Sony Xperia XZ with the latest updates my battery life has been nothing but miserable. Bad connectivity, unexplainable batterydrains and reboots.

I miss my Windows Phone but I need to be sure that at least WhatsApp will be supported in the future since SilverLight is going to be removed. Come on Microsoft/Facebook, please let me go back to my favourite OS!

 

[Sedp23]

I'm going to still watch and read up I'm a fan of the os.....

 

[Elky64]

I'm going to still watch and read up I'm a fan of the os.....

I'm doing the same although much less frequently than before... Another factor of late is that WC has started insisting some of my posts need approval, not sure what's up with that but the whole affair is becoming quite annoying.

But yeah, we've kinda lost interest in WP/WM. Firing one of mine up really highlights the facts how far behind and antiquated things have become.



Sent from L830

 

[nate0]

I can recommend W10M but from a subjective point of view. However if someone is willing to try it that's enough to say by a cheaper W10M running phone (550 or 650) and test it out. If one finds it works for them, then decide to fork over the cash for a higher end model.

 

[fatclue_98]

Even if it was true, bb10 users don't get features, via app changes on desktop, the ol 'trickle down'. And they have a smaller store that is shrinking not growing, unlike the windows store.

There are bb10 users who are clinging on for dear life, but the situation there is actually pretty dire - they have released what is their last update (fixes only), and their is basically one company trying to fill the gaps of major apps with paid software (nemory), like WhatsApp and facebook. Their desktop software doesn't support windows 10, and they have basically signalled 'we don't care if you have issues anymore, shutup'. Its a mess.

As far as windows, If one is happy with ones current phone, regardless of what MFST does really, one is going to be either the same or better pretty much AFAIK.

But there certainly is a lack of new phones. Hope HP pulls its rabbit out of its hat soon, so sky is falling win10m users can chill out a bit XD

I'm sorry to have to tell you your assessment of BB OS10 is quite a bit off the mark. 10.3.3 is NOT the last update, 10.3.4 is scheduled for next year. There are still a ton of OS10 devices out there sitting on contracts that BlackBerry has to keep updated.

Ever since 10.3.1 users have had access to the Amazon App Store natively. These Android apps have no dependency on Google services so they run as natively as an app from Blackberry World. Snap! brings an even higher app count to the table so to say that Windows offers more apps than BlackBerry is inaccurate. Throw in Cobalt's patched Google Play services and you have virtually unfettered access to apps. Nemory's apps are popular only because of Hub integration but using Whatsapp or Facebook from Amazon or Snap! gives you the full Android experience.

One note about the desktop software. Link has not been affected, it's Blend that was broken by the Anniversary Update and not Windows 10 in general. There were many reports that it was a quirk with iTunes that broke Blend and many users claimed it was working fine since they didn't have iTunes installed on their computers. I can't confirm or deny so I'll give those people the benefit of the doubt.

One thing is for certain, BB OS10 (with all its warts) still supports more smartwatches than Windows. And that's without any hackery or Android app intervention.

 

[Drael646464]

I can recommend W10M but from a subjective point of view. However if someone is willing to try it that's enough to say by a cheaper W10M running phone (550 or 650) and test it out. If one finds it works for them, then decide to fork over the cash for a higher end model.

Thing is, there is not a great difference in price anymore. I got my refurbished 950 from aliexpress for approx. 205 USD unlocked. I've seen 650's in tech stores for similar. I've heard of people buying new for around the same price from ebay. Windows phones are largely pretty cheap outside of the x3.

Still the 650 isn't a bad little model, by all accounts, but the 550 is too low in storage to handle updates sometimes.

 

[nate0]

Thing is, there is not a great difference in price anymore. I got my refurbished 950 from aliexpress for approx. 205 USD unlocked. I've seen 650's in tech stores for similar. I've heard of people buying new for around the same price from ebay. Windows phones are largely pretty cheap outside of the x3.

Still the 650 isn't a bad little model, by all accounts, but the 550 is too low in storage to handle updates sometimes.

The Lumia 650 can be had for around $50 locally for me. That is a big difference from my stand point.

 

[Drael646464]

The Lumia 650 can be had for around $50 locally for me. That is a big difference from my stand point.

Oh, didn't see it that cheap. Maybe that's carrier locked by one of your local carriers?

 

[Doug_M]

Ever since 10.3.1 users have had access to the Amazon App Store natively. These Android apps have no dependency on Google services so they run as natively as an app from Blackberry World. Snap! brings an even higher app count to the table so to say that Windows offers more apps than BlackBerry is inaccurate. Throw in Cobalt's patched Google Play services and you have virtually unfettered access to apps. Nemory's apps are popular only because of Hub integration but using Whatsapp or Facebook from Amazon or Snap! gives you the full Android experience.

Well you're leaving out a couple of important points. Cobalt's patched Google Play services works great, but is not easy to install for a great many Joe/Jane Average types. And the Android runtime is perma-stuck at what, 4.3?

So the selection of Android titles are indeed diminishing as many drop support for the older version. I had a Z10, Classic, Z30 and Passport SE (still use a Bold 9900 just for fun). I'm a BB ******. But you paint a much brighter picture than reality.

 

[Doug_M]

I got my refurbished 950 from aliexpress for approx. 205 USD unlocked.

Picked up my 950 new in the box from an eBay seller in the US for $200USD. It was locked to ATT but they unlocked it for free (and online, didn't have to call).

It's funny though because to me that was a bargain yet I find myself hesitating over spending $40-50 for a Mozo back cover that I think I want.

 

[anon(50597)]

Well you're leaving out a couple of important points. Cobalt's patched Google Play services works great, but is not easy to install for a great many Joe/Jane Average types. And the Android runtime is perma-stuck at what, 4.3?

So the selection of Android titles are indeed diminishing as many drop support for the older version. I had a Z10, Classic, Z30 and Passport SE (still use a Bold 9900 just for fun). I'm a BB ******. But you paint a much brighter picture than reality.

I agree. For the average person its just not doable. Thus BB10's failure.

Sent from mTalk on my SP4

 

[anon(50597)]

Picked up my 950 new in the box from an eBay seller in the US for $200USD. It was locked to ATT but they unlocked it for free (and online, didn't have to call).

It's funny though because to me that was a bargain yet I find myself hesitating over spending $40-50 for a Mozo back cover that I think I want.

Excellent deal! The Mozo back cover is a nice addition to the 950. I had one and it really dressed it up.
Enjoy!

Sent from mTalk on my SP4

 

[Drael646464]

Well you're leaving out a couple of important points. Cobalt's patched Google Play services works great, but is not easy to install for a great many Joe/Jane Average types. And the Android runtime is perma-stuck at what, 4.3?

So the selection of Android titles are indeed diminishing as many drop support for the older version. I had a Z10, Classic, Z30 and Passport SE (still use a Bold 9900 just for fun). I'm a BB ******. But you paint a much brighter picture than reality.

Well that and the amazon app store is not only smaller than the windows store, but of a significantly lower quality. Even if amazon store + BBW was about the same size as the windows store, which I think it would still be short on, bbw is terrible and amazon app store is fairly low grade. Most android app writers use google play services. All the good stuff on android apps is higher than 4.3 and uses play services.

And cobalts apps don't "work great", I mean they are a great enabling software, well written, but its an involved process converting the apps AND many of them don't work.

When I did this, I found about half of the apps didn't convert. And those that did convert, ran slowly, didn't function as well as they do on android (for example could not access SMS messaging) and scaled poorly to the screen ratios of keyboard phones.

I eventually got my mi band paired for example, but it has less functionality on bb10, than in windows 10m. The fellow that's writing the apps for 10m, is working on putting the body of the notifications on the band next - something android has, but bb10 could never have.

WhatsApp - can't run it, without paying money for one of nemory's aweful apps. Facebook - you have to use a particular old version, with the patcher, or use one of nemorys aweful apps. To get the half or so apps I did, with the patcher, I mostly had to look for old versions, that still supported 4.3.

It was planning for gold and mostly getting mud.

I enjoyed bb10 but the apps situation was pretty terrible. I like you, just came from bb10 to win10m.

Mind you, I'm kinda glad I did. I love the HUB, and the keyboards, but the gesture system on win10m is pretty comparable, and the UI is beautiful, even more intuitive in a way. I really only miss the keyboard, the software was definitely a mess.

The OS will always have a place in my heart. The maps app was golden. The hub was a pleasure to use. Swipe gestures simple. They were the first to do flip to mute etc. But tacking on android was never going to work.

For one, google doesn't really want other people capitalizing on their products, open source or not. Hence why they have worked so hard on minimising that stuff, whether its MIUI, amazon, or whatever.

Two, android runtime meant that there was little point in writing for bb itself. You can't build an ecosystem if you provide a competitors alternative app system.


You can't blame BB. They tried everything they could. They even had some okay computer interopability (before some of it broke with the new updates). They didn't have anything to leverage unlike MSFT, for the ecosystem.

And of course, they could never really afford to add much as time went on, as heavily in debt as they were. Security updates is about as much as they could do. But they adapted well, leased out their name to TCL, write software for android, and for enterprise. Down but not out, the keyone seems to have been received pretty well, and its probably a good phone if android is your kinda thing...

I still have my q5 lying around. I thought I would use it for emails occasionally, but without wireless charging, it's not going to happen. If bb10 does ever get a feature update, I might boot it up just to fiddle for a little.

 

[Drael646464]

Picked up my 950 new in the box from an eBay seller in the US for $200USD. It was locked to ATT but they unlocked it for free (and online, didn't have to call).

It's funny though because to me that was a bargain yet I find myself hesitating over spending $40-50 for a Mozo back cover that I think I want.

I got a Chinese cover called IMAK. I think its boss. But the mozo's get a lot of love, so I don't think you can go wrong there

 

[Scienceguy Labs]

I can vouch for IMAK covers. As soon as I buy a new phone, I always look to see if IMAK makes a cover for it.

 

[fatclue_98]

Well you're leaving out a couple of important points. Cobalt's patched Google Play services works great, but is not easy to install for a great many Joe/Jane Average types. And the Android runtime is perma-stuck at what, 4.3?

So the selection of Android titles are indeed diminishing as many drop support for the older version. I had a Z10, Classic, Z30 and Passport SE (still use a Bold 9900 just for fun). I'm a BB ******. But you paint a much brighter picture than reality.

Your points are mostly on the money but you forget we're not average users, we're enthusiasts and most of us have the capability to go beyond the norm. That's why I left the Cobalt option as more of an afterthought in my post. I should've mentioned that you can download pre-API 18 apps and sideload them. They're older, uglier versions but they work nonetheless. Most, if not all, the Microsoft apps require Lollipop or later but I had Cortana, Remote Desktop and the Office trio on my Passport and all worked. It takes a little digging but if you're a diehard webOS, BB or Windows fan, workarounds are almost a requirement so it's not a big deal.

The reality is there, but you gotta really work for it. It's a one and done situation so once you set your phone up, there's no maintenance involved. There are no updates to worry about. What you get is what you get so you're either happy with the results or you move on. What I do know is that there are quite a few apps a BlackBerry user can have access to that you simply cannot on Windows and there's no way to spin that.

 

[Drael646464]

Your points are mostly on the money but you forget we're not average users, we're enthusiasts and most of us have the capability to go beyond the norm. That's why I left the Cobalt option as more of an afterthought in my post. I should've mentioned that you can download pre-API 18 apps and sideload them. They're older, uglier versions but they work nonetheless. Most, if not all, the Microsoft apps require Lollipop or later but I had Cortana, Remote Desktop and the Office trio on my Passport and all worked. It takes a little digging but if you're a diehard webOS, BB or Windows fan, workarounds are almost a requirement so it's not a big deal.

The reality is there, but you gotta really work for it. It's a one and done situation so once you set your phone up, there's no maintenance involved. There are no updates to worry about. What you get is what you get so you're either happy with the results or you move on. What I do know is that there are quite a few apps a BlackBerry user can have access to that you simply cannot on Windows and there's no way to spin that.

I have one workaround on my windows phone. Lastpass instead of my banking app.

Versus on bb10, where everything was a workaround almost. I found messing with cobalt really was a big deal, most of the things I wanted to work didn't, or took a great deal of effort to find a working version. In some cases that's not even an option, such as with WhatsApp. In some cases, like Instagram, there are good choices, native choices - which IMO is preferable (android runtime apps just don't work quite as well as native apps).

I spent many days trying to get the right apps set up on my bb10 phone.

I'm very relieved to simply go to the windows store, and get what I want. Like a weight off.

The time I spent on that, was just downloading this massive list of apps and games I wanted. I think the only thing that took any time, was finding an arsenal of quality bus stop games, most of which I'll probably never play. Mostly actually because I detest freemium and have demanding expectations. It would have been slightly easier on iOS or Android.

I think the passport is a beautiful device btw. I can see why one would be motivated to set up such a device. I think it might be the best blackberry of all time. It would be great to have such a device set up mostly native, which I think is doable. Nemory is a bit of a pain in the backside, but if you fork over the cash, it covers some of the basics. Its nice to have that proper OS integration.

Ultimately the apps one needs is a personal thing. If someone gets everything they want, without hassle on bb10, I'm happy for that. I'd rather there was more diversity in the mobile OS market. The two player situation is kind of dull and lacklustre. Lack of competition is bad for treatment of consumers too.

If people don't get enough on bb10 or windows 10m, I can respect that too. Android and iOS both do have their merits, at the software level. But I'd like, ideally, for people to be as demanding of the respect they get as consumers, as people, from their companies, as they are of their features and apps. To not feel tied to a system, desktop, or mobile, but to use it, out of freewheeling choice.

I still miss the PKB of my bb device. Even on the lower priced phones, the call quality was always stellar. Speaker quality too.

 

[Elky64]

The Lumia 650 can be had for around $50 locally for me. That is a big difference from my stand point.

Not so sure I'd recommend a 650 at this point, beautiful phone to hold IMO yet performance is definitely lacking. Actually, now finding my 830 has a slight edge over it performance wise, that's a little unexpected.
In the end, suppose if you can grab a 650 for $50 then you're not investing a whole lot either so it may be worth a go.

 

[mattiasnyc]

Picked up my 950 new in the box from an eBay seller in the US for $200USD. It was locked to ATT but they unlocked it for free (and online, didn't have to call).

It's funny though because to me that was a bargain yet I find myself hesitating over spending $40-50 for a Mozo back cover that I think I want.

Well, it's 25% of the cost going to a back cover.... I'd hesitate as well.

Personally I find the 950 looks fine the way it is. I see pretty much every single person rocking (for example) an iPhone with pretty ugly cases. My phone without a case is 900% better looking than theirs with one.

 

[fatclue_98]

Ultimately the apps one needs is a personal thing. If someone gets everything they want, without hassle on bb10, I'm happy for that.

You should've just said that from the get go. Your needs are obviously much different than mine because I've never, let me repeat that - never, had any issues getting patched apps to work. I've gotten spoiled with smartwatches and unfortunately neither Pebble, Fitbit or Vector are my cup of tea and they're the ones that work reliably on OS10 without any hacking.

I'm sorry you've had a bad experience with Android apps on your BlackBerry. Did you know there was an update to the Android Runtime in BBW that was never announced? It's a sea change in functionality that few got to know about unless you follow the platform closely.