As a new convert to the world of BlackBerry, I felt quite lucky when asked to put a few of my thoughts together about the journey that led me here, but hopefully my views will resonate with a few people and may even help some people discover the joy that comes from owning a BlackBerry.
About 4 months ago, I was coming to the end of my 18 month contract with the HTC Hero, and starting to contemplate life after it. When I started out with my Hero I was enchanted – the touch screen, the widgets, the app store… It seemed there were options everywhere and it was an endless sea of customisation..
Fast forward about 3 months and the novelty wore off. I had my core of apps which admittedly added to my productivity, and really didnt add to this core much over the next 9 months or so – I didnt really need to. Id go into the market every now and then but it seemed any basic search would lead to about 200 different apps for doing the same basic thing. Additionally Id be overwhelmed with app update requests. Finally, I had just about had it with the lack of a physical keyboard. The unpredictability of the virtual keyboard was driving me nuts and so I fell into a routine of checking for mail on my phone, and, if I had any that needed responses, Id leg it to a nearby computer to get the job done.
So, with 3 months or so left on my contract, I started evaluating my options. Android as a platform offers a lot of initial choices, but I couldnt help noticing when I looked at the new handsets on offer, basically, I was looking at the same sorts of things as I had been 18 months ago. There were no drastic changes. A bit of a speed bump here and there, maybe a front facing camera, but by and large the actual interface has hardly changed. I always find it interesting, when they show screenshots of the latest and greatest build of Android, or indeed iOS, they need to provide the shot of the device settings screen actually showing you the firmware version being run, because without that you probably wouldnt be able to tell the difference. If new versions were significantly different surely the differences would be self evident? I read an article on another site the other day criticising BlackBerry OS7 for basically being the same as OS6 which was basically the same as those that came before it. That comes across as quite hypocritical to me, as, if you put an iPhone 3, for example, next to an an iPhone 4, the actual interface itself doesnt look too different, does it?
My wife has an Iphone 3GS. She was insistent on getting it. She was thrilled with the apps being offered initially, and downloaded a whole bunch of apps she proceeded to almost never use. She watched tv shows or movies on the teeny screen. It was decent for media. Utter crap as a phone. Lost signal wherever my Hero would pick up a trace, and my work issued Nokia actually wiped the floor with both of them signal wise. End result – I could never get in touch with her. Im not anti Apple, I have had a Macbook in the past until I outgrew it, and I currently own an iPad, but the iPhone, to me, is more of an iPod with a clumsily thrown together phone function than a full functioned communication tool.
If you look beyond these two choice, the search for a smartphone becomes more difficult. There were the webOS phones, which actually have a beautiful interface. There was Windows Phone 7. And then there was BlackBerry.
Id never even considered the BlackBerry, and all the news I came across on the usual gadget sites painted the platform as a definite sinking ship. ‘Losing customers’, ‘Horrible Management’, ‘Lack of apps’, it seemed the media would pin the Gulf War on RIM if it could. Still, no smoke without fire eh? I popped round one of the biggest BlackBerry fan forums, and it had a sticky at the top asking which phones people were switching to from BlackBerries. No sticky for people switching to a BlackBerry. I watched a painful interview with Mike Lazaridis where he sat down with the BBC, threw a strop because the reporter asked him a question he didnt like, and thought to myself, ‘Everyone associated with this brand is convinced its up the creek without a paddle – do I really want to be a part of that?’
So I dropped the BlackBerry out of my search criteria, and looked towards HP and Windows Phone. The Pre is actually a nice phone, but I wasnt quite happy with the keyboard. I had a feeling the tiny keys would be a problem in the long term. I have a close friend who has just joined the Windows Phone bandwagon, and his advice was pretty categorical – Stay clear.
There is not one proper multiplatform IM app that comes free with the system apart from Windows Live Messenger, and overall it seems theres an awful lot of hope pinned on the Mango update, with the aim being to add things that really ought to have been present already. Still, with Nokia jumping aboard, I could look forward to solid hardware I already knew and trusted, and hopefully a forward thinking OS? It seemed like the most interesting choice for me.
While considering these choices, and still fairly unconvinced, I went by a local phone shop. The salesperson showed me the usual suspects, the latest Android phones, the iPhone, and then he let me wander around and play with some of the display devices. There was a single solitary BlackBerry 9780 on display, operational. No one was hyping it, no one was even guiding people towards it or talking about what it had to offer. I walked by and picked it up, purely by luck. Clearly I wont like it, I thought, I mean come on, it doesnt even have a touchscreen! What sort of phone could possibly exist without a touchscreen?
And then I used the touchpad for the first time. I was actually quite shocked, it was smooth, responsive, I could see myself using this to make fine selections that just arent possible when using your finger on a touchscreen. It absolutely blew the touchpad on the Nokia E72, my previous touchpad benchmark, out of the water. I didnt spend much time with the 9780 on the day but it stuck in my head, something about it just felt right.
So I came home and googled BlackBerry again, trying to see what it could offer me. I came across the word ‘Security’ plenty of times, but that wasnt high on my list of desired features at the time. I saw lots and lots of negative comments, but the more I looked the more I noticed the negatives were mainly confined to one area- apps. It seems nowadays people judge a platform by the apps it offers. To me, thats an absolutely brilliant piece of marketing. Never mind the fact that we wont offer you a choice of whether you can have a physical keyboard or not, never mind the actual stats on the products, never mind any other feature the phone may be lacking in, all that matters is apps. Someone pushed that line, hard. And people bought it. People somehow accepted that they couldnt dictate what they wanted from a phone, in terms of hardware options, in terms of variety, in terms of security. A glass slab loaded with 200 different apps making various bodily noises was the benchmark against which all else would be judged, its like the worlds greatest jedi mind trick. I did some thinking on how many of all those hundreds of thousands of apps from the Android Market I downloaded, and how many of those I actually used. It struck me that, if I could use a physical keyboard in a decent browser, it would probably negate the need for a lot of the ‘apps’ available, which simply provide shortcuts to things you could access through a browser. A lot of the most downloaded ‘apps’ in iOS and Android stores are accessed through a simple browser on desktops and laptops. If you take the apps out of the equation the playing field levels out considerably. Youre then left comparing the remaining contenders based on things like battery life, like call quality, build quality, things that are pretty essential in a device thats, at its core, meant to be used as a communication tool. When you make those features primary, some interesting names rise to the top. In my eyes, that left me with Nokia or BlackBerry. It does help, I suppose, that I have my iPad as a portable media device, which means I can go through documents on the large enough screen, I can watch movies if need be, and I can get games if I want them, which means I can focus on getting a phone as a communication tool, and I think thats really the target audience for a BlackBerry.
So I decided to take a punt. With all the negative sentiment around, I managed to snag myself a 9780 free on a contract paying less than I was for my Hero, and with more minutes on the plan. It was done mostly on a hunch as I had no experience with BlackBerries whatsoever. And then it arrived. The phone itself felt absolutely amazing to me. It came with a holster, a holster containing, as most BlackBerry aficionados would tell you, a magnet. Put the phone in, it goes to sleep. Take it out, it wakes up. I’m no genius, but Im almost certain that sounds fairly similar to a certain ‘Smart Cover’ thats a major feature on a competitors new tablet. My father asked me to buy him an iPad 2, for reasons even he couldnt explain, and the guy at the Apple store seemed to derive great pleasure in showing us the absolute height of innovation, the smart cover, and then helping empty my wallet of another 59 pounds for this technological marvel. And yet here was a case using basically the same idea, tossed in for free with my phone. Had I missed something? If I didnt know better I would say thats an example of an RIM innovation thats been copied by a company supposedly famous for its innovation. I loaded things up and was offered Blackberry Protect right off the bat, providing a very similar functionality as a certain competitors application, which again was pushed heavily to us as ‘groundbreaking’ when we passed by the Apple Store.
Coming from Android, or indeed any other phone, where the LED indicators usually blink every so often to let you know theres a signal, and perhaps change to a different color to indicate something has happened, the BlackBerry LED was an amazing surprise as well. Initially it was set up at its most basic level, it would blink when something happens, but you have no idea what has happened, is it a text? An email? A missed call?
And then I went online and was amazed to find that theres an app called BeBuzz that expands this functionality, adding in control thats inexplicably not provided out of the box so that you can actually change the color of the indicator depending on the type of alert, ie one color for a text, another for an email, etc. Additionally, you can set it to show different colors depending on the email address that has received an email, so, for example, one color when you receive a personal email, which doesnt require urgent attention, but another color entirely when you receive a work email. You can even set it to show different colors for events associated with different contacts. In effect, this is the first phone thats actually communicating with you, in a fairly detailed manner, even while its in its holster and you cant see the screen. And, astonishingly, this is something RIM have decided not to heavily push as a feature. Its been an absolute life changer for me, and I cant imagine how many others would go for this device on that feature alone. The holster itself is cleverly designed to provide protection for the phone while leaving the LED visible so you can see whats happening in your world.
The touchpad, as already mentioned, is an absolute joy, and the keyboard is miles ahead of anything else Ive ever used, including the Nokia E series, which is apparently the closest competitor in terms of physical keyboards. Its contoured to fit fingers quite well, and designed to make typing a real pleasure. No more runs to the desktop to respond to emails. For anyone whos used to using keyboard shortcuts as well, theres no substitute for a qwerty keyboard. Theres a certain thrill in getting things done through a keyboard and skipping superfluous gestures and motions necessitated by an all touch setup. Its the same reason desktops and laptops still make a keyboard a focal point. Its the reason even the touch equipped desktops come with keyboards – its cute and makes an impression when you use an all touch setup but when it comes down to business a keyboard just blows the current touch setups away. Dont tell me keyboards are done and all touch is the future, that would be like the guy with an iPad running that piano/organ app walking up to a music store and telling them their pianos are all worthless now cos the iPad has an piano app. Its cute, but its no substitute for the real thing, just like a virtual keyboard is no substitute for a proper keyboard, and I cant see that changing in the near future. The only situation I can see an all touch setup being any good in is where youre simply reading things off the screen, but show me a person who tells me he or she can input text as smoothly and comfortably on any virtual keyboard on the market at the moment as they would on a physical keyboard, and I’ll show you a person who has not spent some time with a BlackBerry.
The battery life is also just incredible. I couldnt make it past a day with regular use on my Hero, and my wifes iPhone needs regular charges each night. Ive been putting in some moderate usage on my Bold and as yet, Ive not gone to bed with the battery less than 60%. Ive gone out on a weekend without a charger and got back with charge to spare. For me, thats what a communication device should be about, dependable and efficient, supporting your lifestyle and not dictating the terms of your life.
Another huge feature is UMA, and, again, youd have to look pretty hard to notice it and even harder to know what it offers you. I had to terminate my old contract when I moved home because the network couldnt provide me with signal in our new home. Thats never going to be an issue for me anymore, because, simply put, UMA means that my BlackBerry will never be out of signal as long as it has a wifi connection and Im on a network that supports UMA, like Orange in the UK. That means I could be out in the middle of nowhere with no signal whatsoever and still be making calls if I have a working net connection. That is just awesome to me, its highly innovative, and BlackBerries are, to my knowledge, the only phones that allow you to use this tech. Again, it kills me that they dont push this as the huge feature that it is. Of course, that means that you have to turn on the Wifi scanner when you get home, and turn it off when you leave home doesnt it? Not quite. A forum user clued me in to Wifi Manager, a free app in the App store that will triangulate your position based on cell mast positioning, and automatically turn your Wifi scanner on and off as you get close to home and leave home, respectively. Thats pretty awesome.
Ive not even gone into things like BlackBerry Messenger, or the security features in depth. A simple google search will bring up the scores of people who vouch for Blackberry security. Without any of my friend circle on a BlackBerry, the Messenger is pretty much useless to me at the moment, until I manage to convert those near and dear to me. If and when I do, I can look forward to instant messaging and picture sharing with no text charges, no matter where in the world the other person is, which is especially important for me as my family lives abroad. Ive not even gone into the fact that BlackBerry data is compressed, meaning 500MB of BlackBerry data would be the equivalent of a lot more data on another phone, which makes a huge deal for customers when choosing and paying for a data plan, and, actually, means that BlackBerry is a great option for carriers as well as it wont bog down their network.
So is it perfect? No. Not at all. Theres no Skype functionality, which is a huge drawback for me as its what I use to communicate with my family abroad. Theres no VOIP option to talk to people for free if theyre on a PC at all. This is the one app I feel I miss, and its very strange to me how there isnt any option on the Blackberry platform. Having said that, I sometimes wonder about how the numbers game works when talking about app developers for a system like RIMs BlackBerry line. While obviously you can reach a lot more people through a store that has massive download rates and app numbers, surely the chances of creating a unique stand out must have app would be higher on an app store with fewer numbers, making it more attractive to innovative developers looking to make their mark? A VOIP client on the BlackBerry at the moment, for example, would take a fair bite out of the Skype market if its allowed inter system compatibility and would be a cash cow, one would have thought.
The screen on the Bold is on the small side, which makes perfect sense in terms of the overall aesthetics of the phone, so it fits nicely in your hand and in your pocket. Its not something youre gonna want to watch a movie on though, but, as mentioned above, thats not really the target demographic RIM is aiming for with this phone, thats the demographic theyre hoping to cover with the Torch, a phone I cant offer opinions on as I dont own one.
OS7 is a pretty confusing issue for me, because theres 2 class phones at least coming out with this operating system, but RIM have already declared the future to be QNX, and since OS7 phones wont be getting the new OS, that means theyre not going to have the same long term support one would hope for, unless Im missing something. I doubt one of RIMs competitors would have thrown a spanner into the release of their new flagship devices by making it clear pre release that they will be outdated in a year, so it seems like another marketing fail for me.
And thats where I think the biggest problem with RIM is, their utterly clueless marketing and advertising. Apple have managed to take a single form factor, the glass brick, and push it as the height of innovation. They then pushed it as more innovation despite offering the same basic form factor year after year after year. Theyve added in some RIM tricks and made it seem like the best new tech in the world, for example the Smart Cover, and someone like me wouldnt even know that tech was available for the BlackBerry until he springs for one. You walk into an Apple store and theres a hundred people who will tell you their products are the greatest thing on the planet, you walk into a store selling RIM products and they seem to want to sell you anything but a BlackBerry, despite the fact that, as mentioned above, its probably better for their network if you walk out with a BlackBerry. A testament to Apples marketing prowess, and their clear style over functionality ethos, is the lack of a delete key on a Macbook. There is absolutely no reason for this to be the case, except Apple wants to sell you a very expensive piece of kit and dictate how you use it, it expects you to change and adapt to its hardware, and not the other way around.
If you come up with fantastic ideas and innovations, its still no good if no one even knows what your product does. My 9780 fits my needs perfectly but I only found that through sheer luck, which has to count as a massive failure for marketing at RIM, because there must be plenty of other people who simply dont know what BlackBerries have to offer them. Having said that, the pessimistic data thats being pushed broadly around RIM has much to do with its performance in the States. Theyve dropped away massively in market share, apparently. But theyve done quite well in other areas, picking up a million new Blackberry subscribers in the Middle East, Europe and Africa in the last 3 weeks alone. Perhaps the Jedi mind trick doesnt work in areas where the marketing campaigns arent quite as intensive?
Android is always going to be a challenge, they have spread across various form factors and can offer you a choice to fit your lifestyle. Surely thats the point of technology, to adapt to your needs, not dictate them. But there are issues on Android with fragmentation, with security, with the quality of some of the hardware (Android phones have among the highest return rates, by operating system). They have gone into all areas, from high end to low down on the list, and the end result, for me, is the platform itself comes across as pretty good at all levels, but not really outstanding on any.
Im convinced that, at some point, people are going to snap out of Steve Jobs Mind Trick, and realise that apps are not the be all and end all. That they deserve to be able to choose a form factor that suits their needs and their requirements, not be told what they need and be told whats best for them. I hope one day people will say, no we dont want to HAVE to start using our iPhone/iPad by activating it through the POS that is iTunes. One day I hope people will be able to see beyond the idea that everything needs to be judged against a glass brick. Its a nice form factor. Its not the only one. Apple is losing market share outside the States to Android as well. Funny how people dont seem to mention that too much.
Ive said it a few times already, apps ought not to be the main criteria by which a communication device is judged. So many other facets are, to me, so much more important, including call handling, reliability, build quality, form factors, intuitiveness, battery life… But even if you were to say apps were of supreme importance, surely the news that QNX, the future of BlackBerry, will allow apps to be easily ported over from Android, with its absolutely massive app store, brings the decision down to hardware again. If you have the stellar build and choice of form factors of a BlackBerry, and you can throw in the app choices from Android, surely that would be a runaway winner? Not if youd believe some of the press. Porting Android apps is seen as a sign that the platform has failed or is dying, or is sinking, or something. Somehow that huge positive is seen as a negative, when it again ought to be seen as adding more choice to the end user, which it is.
A similar theme is seen with the release of new devices. Its seen as a huge failure for RIM to not be pumping out handsets regularly, despite the fact that its older devices still maintain functionality and features not seen on the very latest devices from competitors. Somehow making good devices that last so you dont need another one every 6 months to a year is seen as a negative.
But then some sections of the media, and some sites, play a funny game with RIM. A fairly large (traffic wise) site put up a few ‘letters from disgruntled employees’ a few weeks ago. No names, of course, but they have ‘suitably vetted and verified’ the sources. The letters basically chastise RIM for not being Apple. From a marketing point of view thats a sound argument, but if anyone is suggesting that RIM ought to copy the iPhone form factor and basically give up its qwerty infused strengths to take on Apple on its own turf and by Apples rules, well, it would be nice if those employees would just leave and join Apple honestly. Who in their right mind in a high ranking position would write into a site like that anyway? A quick google search of the site in question brings up the bottom line, with the first 3 suggested google searches associated with the site being Apple related. When even Google knows your game plan surely you cant pass your site off as impartial anymore.
In the end, in any technology driven area, be it televisions, consoles, laptops, mobiles, whatever, innovation is key. Bringing in things that suit peoples needs, and offering them choices and therefore accepting that people are not all clones, they are different, and they may have different definitions of good, bad, stylish or ugly.
In 2011, Apple wants to tell you how you need to use a phone. Android will offer you the largest choice in form factors. But RIM will offer you a large touchscreen device with a qwerty keyboard if you want it, several established keyboard and trackpad combination models, and additionally RIM is the only company that will offer you a device with the widest range of inputs, with the 9900 incorporating a class leading trackpad, a touchscreen AND a qwerty keyboard. Id call that innovation.
The smartphone battle looks to be shaping up very much like Star Wars to me:
Android are the Empire, with a massive range of mid range and lower end devices making up the bulk of the army, the Stormtroopers, overpowering enemies through sheer numbers. Higher end devices rival the best others can offer in terms of power, we could call them the Sith.
RIM are the Jedi, long known as the standards by which all others ought to be judged, a cornerstone of security and reliability, although recently their stock seems to have fallen and they appear outnumbered. In terms of staying power and effectiveness though they have no rival and when it comes down to capability, abilities and pure function, theres still no other option that can touch or surpass them at the moment.
Apple would play the Ewoks. Cute, limited, and with the fixed delusion that being smaller ( or thinner, or lighter) is the key to success. Theyre fun to play with and plentiful, but when the chips are down, they are severely limited in terms of options, effectiveness and variety, coming in a one size fits all category, and if that doesnt suit you, clearly you are the problem, not the design team. As I said earlier, the epitomy of style over function (although the Ewoks werent too stylish, to be fair…)
Which one would you rather have on your side? Ive made my choice, I hope this article helps some people make an informed choice as well. It may well be that a BlackBerry doesnt fit their needs. They may want a portable media player more than an out and out communications tool, or they may not like the form factors available. Thats absolutely fine. But equally Im sure it will fit a lot of people who didnt even realise what they could have in a communication device. The most important thing to remember is that you do have a choice. Heres hoping you make the right decision for YOU, and dont let anyone take your choices away.