For the longest time, I have wanted a Blackberry. The only thing stopping me was that my plan was not compatible with Blackberries, and would require a very expensive add-on. This changed recently, and I had my first chance to buy a Blackberry. I settled on the 9630 Tour. A very solid phone, hardware wise. The following reasons are why I will not purchase another Blackberry/RIM product as long as current issues persist. 1) BIS Data is just too slow I do not know who's idea it was to run all of the Blackberry data through the BIS servers, but this is probably the main reason I am leaving Blackberry. Everyone who has a Blackberry has seen this before: The near endless "Requesting..." and "Loading..." screens in the browser. During peak times, the browser becomes nearly unusable. It sometimes takes several minutes to load even small web pages. Using a third party browser like Opera is a way around this, but that does not always work. When the browser does finally load, pages are often rendered incorrectly. I know that RIM is working on a WebKIT browser, but too little too late for me. 2) Google maps is also too slow to use Ever try to open google maps real quick and pan around on the map? Then you know this screen: Again, because some idiot decided that all of the google maps data should go through BIS, new map frames take forever to load. This often makes it a chore to do simple things, and I do not even bother doing them. On top of that, for some reason, every time I open google maps I get a 30 second lock up where nothing responds. Every. Time. Not good. 3) Installing/Uninstalling Apps This is especially annoying to me, and must change. Almost every time you install or uninstall an app, the entire phone must be rebooted. What is that about? This brings me to my next point. 4) Reboot Time 15 minutes. I really don't have to say any more on this one. Shorten it, somehow, anyhow. As often as you have to reboot a BB, this takes far too long. 5) App selection and Pricing I still have no figured this one out. Why is it ta some cross platform apps, such as Whatsapp or Weatherbug Elite cost more on the Blackberry over the iPhone. Example: Weatherbug Elite costs $4.99 for the Blackberry. On the iPhone? Just 99 cents. a $4 difference!? For one app!? There are examples of this all over the place. Not cool. This same app is also on Android for $1.99. 6) OS Fragmentation This issue is not unique to Blackberry. Android suffers from this as well. A majority of berries are still running OS 4, some are still waiting for OS 5, and OS 6 is around the corner. Blackberry, like Google, must get its carriers to push these updates faster. At least with Android, the handset makers have an excuse with getting Sense (HTC) and Blur (Moto) to work with the updates. Blackberries have no device specific tweaks to make, so why does it take so long? All in all, so many of my issues with Blackberry came down to the stupid BIS restriction. Everything runs so slowly, for no purpose. When an app actually allows me to override BIS and use TCP, it is FAST. But, why even have EVDO Rev. A when everything must go through BIS? But for all my _____ing, BB does a lot of things well. E-mail works great, if it gets along with your IMAP host. Battery life is also stelar, and BBM is fun. Maybe when OS 6 comes out, and BIS is either done away with or is given increased capacity, i'll be back. Until then, so long Blackberry, hello Android.
A very well written post Yankees, however I do not have most of the problems you described. My boot time is usually between 2.5 - 4.0 mins max and I haven't had any slow down on browser or Google Maps. I do agree with you that the Apps are over priced and that the BIS adds another realm of complexity. Good luck on the EVO, hope it turns out to be everything you want.
Yes Yankees well written, and while I like my BB. You also touched on everything I do not like about BB, I know for my next smartphone I may be looking elsewhere.
You just reminded me of the good things about my ERIS. The list of things I miss about my BB gets shorter all the time...
Hey yanks, yea, I agree with you on most points, but I have yet to find the 'perfect' phone and come to realize all phones have strong and weak points. The battery life, solid hardware and intuitive OS are RIMs strong points. The downside for me is also all the restrictions, mainly the BB browser. I use my BB on a GSM net with no BIS/BES so I can only use Opera, which is ok except for downloads you need the BB browser. I generally like RIM, but I ll prefer keypad sliders ala Droid/Milestone, and RIM doesn't have this so far...
I would normally agree about the solid hardware, but this is the only phone I have ever had that needed to be replaced due to a hardware issue. The trackball on the Tour was just awful, and I exchanged it within the first week. The current tour, after 5 months, is also starting to show signs of trouble.
The trackballs have been a continuous soure of problems ever since RIM switched from the scroll wheels. I am glad it is now changed to the trackpad, I love mine and there aren't any mechanical moving parts to catch dirt or wear out. BlackBerry9700/5.0.0.680 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102
I got my Tour slightly used on ebay about 6 months ago and it's still doing fine. I hate the trackball too, on both my G1 and Tour. The trackpad RIM is replacing them with is much better. Evolution I guess. At least RIM still makes their phones in Canada tho, right?
Yes and No. I believe it is Canada and Mexico for the NA supply. I heard some rumblings about Hungary for others. Mine is made in Mexico. BlackBerry9700/5.0.0.680 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102
Yeah, I forgot to add that they switched away from the trackball. What a piece of junk that thing is.
For the past several weeks I have been traveling in Taiwan and using a Blackberry Tour on different GSM Networks here in Taiwan. I primarily use Chunghwa Telecom and Taiwan Mobile. Both of these carriers provide excellent service. I also had used the Blackberry Tour in the USA (California) for several weeks before leaving for California. I tried using OperaMini, but found that it was very unstable and crashy on the Tour so I just decided to live with the Blackberry Browser that is provided with the Tour. I have not had any performance issues with the Blackberry Browser either here in Taiwan or in California when using the Sprint Network. The performance has been exceptional and I really don't miss OperaMini. I previously had a Blackberry 8830 and used both the native Blackberry Browser and OperaMini and found then to be very equivalent in performance. I am really a Blalckberry fan because I need access to email immediately and good integration with email. Blackberry is still the best in this area. I use my phone constantly for business and it is my lifeline to my organization. I cannot afford to have a device that is crashy or otherwise buggy. My advice is that if you need your phone/PDA for business phone calls and email access, you should really think long and hard before giving up your blackberry. Best of luck, -jim
I love my blackberry. It has the best and most accurate QWERTY keyboard I have ever seen on a phone, the email integration is very solid, and the OS is very stable. I've also noticed the the build quality and durability just seems to be more solid in a blackberry. The data service is fine on it, well when I use WiFi it is. When I'm on EDGE yeah its a little slow but that's just the nature of a 2.5 G data connection. Reboots for software updates are a minor annoyance but no big deal as it only takes a few minutes for a full reboot.
I was issued a BlackBerry 5810 in February 2002 and have carried a BlackBerry ever since. I have always considered the BlackBerry to be a device for the business user. Although RIM markets the BlackBerry to the masses I still believe that it is not a device for the general consumer population. I agree with you that it is not a great device for web browsing and other applications. However, if your primary need is to send and receive E-mail anywhere in the world it is the best device you can own.
