blackberry 10
Jan 4, 2022 – #BlackBerry – the end of an era
Jan 4 will always be a special and important day for me as it is my son’s birthday. However, this jan 4th 2022 will forever be embedded in my mind for a different reason…the end of an era..a sad day for #BlackBerry. The OG and classic OS is being decommissioned and will no longer be supported. For us loyal blackberrians it is truly a sad day.
My first phone was a motorola razr but once I set my eyes on a BlackBerry that was it. No other phone could match it for many reasons but for me it was that physical keyboard. Wow.
I have a shrine to all the phones I have had over the years.. All with the physical keyboard.
I absolutely love BB10. It was incredibly frustrating to me that it was never given a chance. I recall when it first hit the streets how it was mocked for being gesture based.. And now years later both iOS and Android are gesture based. *cough*Hypocrites *cough*
It was ahead of its time.
The only silver lining…as I write this on my BlackBerry KEY2, is that BlackBerry lives on with android, all be it an inferior OS to BB10.
I hope that in the new year onwardmobility gets their act together and puts out the BlackBerry phone we were promised in 2021.
More proof @BlackBerry BB10 Is Going Away…
Back in January i wrote a post where i mentioned that a BlackBerry fan site out of Italy wrote that rumors were BlackBerry would officially declare end of life for BB10 on May 31st 2017. At the time they stressed it was rumor. I did find the date particularly interesting because of WhatsApp. WhatsApp originally was supposed to stop support for BB10 in December 2016. In a twist of sorts, they seemingly had a change of heart and pushed it to June 1st 2017. Coincidence? Things that make you go hmm.. behind closed door conversations perhaps?
Anyway – in a recent post i wrote that i think BlackBerry has #Blackdroid where it wants it or close to it in terms of security.. Well, while listening to the latest UTB blogcast there was mention that in Barcelona, at the unveiling of the KEYone, BlackBerry confirmed that they have Blackdroid basically at the BB10 10.3.3 level of security. How about them bananas??!! There you have it folks… the bells toll…#RIPBB10 i will definitely miss you.
Mark your calendar.. May 31st.. let’s see if that pans out!
The Many Faces of #FaceBook in @BlackBerry World
For those of us not living in a bubble, we know that @BlackBerry 10 is going away. The writing has been on the wall for some time now. There are some that still refuse to accept it but the reality is that at some point the hardware that is housing BB10 will need replacing and well… there won’t be any for us to choose from come that time. Anyway, i digress. Even with this impending end of life for BB10 (rumor has it that @BlackBerry will announce this May 30), I still periodically check BlackBerry World for “new arrivals” in the “social apps” category.. and quite frankly i am surprised that apps continue to show up. One popular one is #FaceBook. Get a load of this:
The only native app out of all the ones listed is #Face10 from NemoryStudios. In the early days of BB10 when there was a native BlackBerry FB app i of course used it exclusively. When #Face10 made an appearance i purchased it to support the dev. When support for the native FaceBook ended, i actually started to use FB off the browser and found the user experience better than #Face10. #Face10 as is the case with most of Nemory’s apps is bloated. He tends to throw everything but the kitchen sink into his apps and that’s not always a good thing. Sometimes, less is more and i think he should have taken this approach. I got tired of a few things with #Face10 like pictures not loading, hanging that from time to time locks up the phone so i started to look at other options and recently downloaded 2 FaceBook apps that are free;FaceSlim and Feisbook.
FaceSlim
Have been using it for a little over a month and i am pretty pleased with it. It gives me everything i need. Obviously, at times it isn’t smooth since it isn’t native but it’s the exception to the rule.
Feisbook
I’ve had this app for a few days now and i think i got lucky as when i downloaded it, it was free. Now it’s not. Anyway, same impressions as FaceSlim. I do like the skin better and it offers more options (settings). It has some little quirks but it’s so new that i assume with time these quirks will be ironed out.
Right now, if we count the browser, i have 4 apps for FaceBook. i will give it about another month then will bring it down to two. The browser and one other. Most likely, Feisbook. Yes, i will opt for a non-native version and not Face10. For one, and as mentioned, i get annoyed by the issues Face10 has and as well, although i appreciate his effort, Oliver, aka NemoryStudios could do some growing up/maturing. He has a habit of doing this quite a bit.. and trust me this is not the first time:
It’s too bad that apps like twitter and instagram don’t get the same attention FB gets.
Anyway, reluctantly I have made the decision that I will move on from BlackBerry 10 and will buy the BlackBerry Mercury. In past posts I wrote that I would wait until May/June but I don’t think I will wait after all. I will buy it within a month or so after it gets officially announced Feb 25th.
The Future of BlackBerry Devices | Inside BlackBerry
It’s all very promising and of course right after i wrote my post on 10.3.3 this article (https://www.wired.com/2016/10/blackberrys-not-going-disappear/) from wired has Pini talking about potential licensing of BB10 to others.. go figure.
This Supercharged Stylist Says Her Passport Helps Her Stay Fashionably on Time | Inside BlackBerry
Karin Elgai started a career in fashion styling, she thought she w
via This Supercharged Stylist Says Her Passport Helps Her Stay Fashionably on Time | Inside BlackBerry
Karin is one intelligent person! Just yesterday i had a guy comment on my @BlackBerry #PassportSE … his first reaction on seeing it was “What’s thatttt??” .. Told him it was a BlackBerry.. Showed him what it can do.. of course, the touch sensitive keyboard impressed. Showed him all the android apps i run..The frustration comes with the “what’s that?” comment. It just seems to never end.
Blackberry CEO says tech firms should comply with lawful access requests
via Blackberry CEO says tech firms should comply with lawful access requests
John Chen is a beast.. it’s too bad that he didn’t take over @BlackBerry reigns sooner.. Thor was not the right answer to push BB10.. and I think that had John been at the helm during the early days of BB10 we would be sitting pretty right now with BB10.
Amazing How BlackBerry Continues to Polarize
*UPDATED* boy I feel silly… the Dave in my screen grab isn’t Dave from UTB after all because UTB Dave is Dave Mathews.
I don’t really follow other story lines like I do BlackBerry. It’s amazing what this company is able to create in terms of reaction and emotion. We basically have the die hard,loyal,purists that can always find the positive in any news that comes out regarding BlackBerry. You have of course the trolls that just live on bad news.. and finally you have those that support BlackBerry but worry and don’t know who to believe. Right now I am in that last group.
It’s been an interesting week for BlackBerry to say the least. We had some project manager quoted as saying that the future for BlackBerry is Android… and bam… the storm it caused was unreal. Hand it to BlackBerry to quickly put out a post on ‘Inside BlackBerry ‘ to once again reiterate their commitment to BlackBerry 10. Here’s though what I thought could have been done differently. They reiterated their commitment in a post that was dedicated to the release of the Priv in India.. so the article was 99% about the Priv with a few words about their commitment to BlackBerry 10. The better option should have been to separate the two even if it meant that the article about BlackBerry 10 was a repeat of what they wrote a few months back. The other concern I have is that at no time has BlackBerry mentioned that their commitment to BlackBerry 10 will go beyond 2016. I tried to voice this on a channel and I got this from a Dave…. which I assume is Dave from UTBBlogs..
Now don’t get me wrong.. I admire the positive spin these guys put on everything BlackBerry. I listen to their blogcast religiously every Saturday morning. However, I personally could have done without the ‘pssst’.. what are u ‘Pssst’ing me about? I don’t know that I wrote anything that is far fetched and incorrect. Of course I absolutely want to be wrong. Let’s face it if come 2017 BlackBerry pulls the plug on BlackBerry 10 noone can accuse them of lying because they have not shown any roadmap for BlackBerry 10 beyond 2016. Chen can easily fall back on the fact that their commitment was only for 2016. Anyway only time will tell.
Yesterday news came out about layoffs and that Gary Mr BBM himself was leaving BlackBerry as well. One need not imagine what stir that caused. And every time news like yesterday happens u have guys like @JT_Teran putting out his ‘if people can’t realize that BlackBerry 10 is dead I don’t know what else to say’ tweet. Tweet it enough times and I guess JT at some point you will be right… and then you can tell everyone I told you so. Oh brother.
I recently saw a tweet that predicted BlackBerry 10 disappearing in about three years which is the time he thinks will take to get Android enterprise ready. We’ll see… the fact is that we can twist and turn information the way we want to.. spin it.. deny.. whatever… in the end only Mr Chen knows what he has planned. *le sigh*
Not getting a Priv. Not Getting a Priv. Got a Priv.
Nope. Not me. I am still on my trusted and excellent #Classic. As an avid BlackBerry user and supporter I make it a point of frequenting BlackBerry related blogs. Since the rumor of an android running BlackBerry started to surface one fellow, let’s refer to him as ‘B’.. on his weekly podcast was adamant that although he would support the #Priv and wish @BlackBerry success with it, he would not get one because he is so anti android. I actually lost count the times he said that. Well, he got a @BlackBerry #Priv. Anyway, we are all entitled to change our mind on things. Still. Makes you wonder. In fairness to him though… atleast for the moment his main daily driver remains his #Passport but he will continue to use the #Priv and put out his thoughts on it along the way. It was good to see on their last podcast that he got some razzing for going back on his word. I mean where is your conviction !!! Lol.. ah, so be it. Admittedly the phone is gorgeous. I, however, stand by my word that I will remain a BlackBerry 10 user to the end!!! I am loyal as fuck!! Hard to find this nowadays.
wow wow wow!!!
If this is a legit photo and not photoshop 😉 then I am really looking forward to the new BB10 superphones. It’s inevitable that the comparisons to androids and iphone has started but hell they all copy each other so, so what? Also, I am looking fwd to seeing what they come up with for the phone that will have the qwerty keyboard. I need me some keyboard… And I guess I will have to accept that these phones will be bigger. I kinda like the way the BBs are compact now; small sometimes is better ;)!
My Random Thoughts 