Any Blackberry heads out there? 8o

[stick]

I tried searching to see if we had a Blackberry thread but the last post was from 2014 so I figured I'd start this one... I'm working with the iPhone 5 and the battery life has become so bad that the phone is almost unusable. It's also sluggish as hell and I experience occasional crashes. It's to be expected since the phone is so old, but still . Anyway, rather than cop the iPhone 6 or 6+ only for them to reveal the 6s or 7 or whatever a few months later down the line, I thought I'd try out the Blackberry Classic in the interim. I'm on T-Mobile so I'd have to get an unlocked one, but they can still be had for relatively cheap (~$300).

Anybody have any opinions on it? Obviously it's not gonna be able to do what an iPhone can, but I used to love my Bolds (9700 ) back in the day. I primarily go on Twitter/Instagram/Fantasy Sports/NT - all things that can be done on the BB. Not sure if they have Instagram for BBs but I can live without it.

I kinda think I'm already set on buying one, but I just figured I'd see if I could get some real-life opinions first. Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[Fozz]

I'm not sure how the latest renditions of the BB Classics are, but I know they're running off of some Android software...So maybe it's improved? I had the Bold 9900 for ATT and I loved the keyboard functionality of the phone. But, the firm ware caused the battery to drain consistently and had to sideload alot of the Google apps onto the phone. Again, this was a couple of years back...I'm sure things should be a lot more stable now, than when BB introduced apps to their OS for the first time.

If BB had the same functionality as all current Androids and iPhones with the keyboard, I wouldn't have ever left. That keyboard is great.

Hopefully, you decide what's best for you.

 

[$tatus $ymbol]

Glad you made this thread OP I'm in the exact same situation. Hoping sprint gets the classic eventually, can't take tmobile much longer

 

[stick]

I'm not sure how the latest renditions of the BB Classics are, but I know they're running off of some Android software...So maybe it's improved? I had the Bold 9900 for ATT and I loved the keyboard functionality of the phone. But, the firm ware caused the battery to drain consistently and had to sideload alot of the Google apps onto the phone. Again, this was a couple of years back...I'm sure things should be a lot more stable now, than when BB introduced apps to their OS for the first time.


If BB had the same functionality as all current Androids and iPhones with the keyboard, I wouldn't have ever left. That keyboard is great.

Hopefully, you decide what's best for you.

Yeah I was just reading that there's a way you can install Android apps on it so I'll look in to that. And I completely agree, the keyboard on BBs is amazing. One of the main reasons why I used to love them so much. The simplicity of the OS paired with the keyboard, combined with the battery life made them awesome. Thanks for the input .

Glad you made this thread OP I'm in the exact same situation. Hoping sprint gets the classic eventually, can't take tmobile much longer

Be careful what you wish for . The people I know who have Sprint HATE it. Constantly losing service, dropping calls, etc. And I'm in Philly so you'd figure that the cell towers would be plentiful but apparently that's not true. T-Mobile was below average a few years back, but they've really stepped it up since then. I always have great service and the LTE speeds are great as well.

 

[andretti]

Bb just recently dropped a new phone you should check out there website

The last bb I had was dope , could search all apps from the home screen

 

[luckyluchiano]

get the ZTE Maxx for Tmobile if you want a throw away phone.

 

[wayniac211]

I hear ya op....I charge my iphone5 at least 2-3X a day after being full.
My last bb never froze up or cracked when dropped. **** still worked after dropping it in cement while pouring concrete. RIP to the batphone

 

[shaboozy]

Hey OP, loyal Blackberry follower here. I've been BB since 08 and have been since.
I've used both the Z10 and Q10 (currently using Q10). Battery life for those could've been better but I did have a hard time keeping up with apps and some social networking capabilites (instagram, snapchat, etc.) You can bypass that stuff by downloading Android software, but it's pretty time consuming. There is a major glitch of BB's restarting out of nowhere. This has happened with both models I've owned and I had to swap it out for another at my phone provider. I did read the Classic remedied this problem though.

If you got the green to swoop up the Classic, then by all means. I've heard nothing but good reviews about it online. I gotta tell ya though, whenever I flash my Q10 out, I get a lotta love from passer bys. I don't see too many people with BBs in public, but whenever you do come across one, you always hit each other widda 

 

[OBAMA]

that blackberry pearl back in the day

 first phone i ever bought

 

[andretti]

850 9350

 

[stick]

Hey OP, loyal Blackberry follower here. I've been BB since 08 and have been since.

I've used both the Z10 and Q10 (currently using Q10). Battery life for those could've been better but I did have a hard time keeping up with apps and some social networking capabilites (instagram, snapchat, etc.) You can bypass that stuff by downloading Android software, but it's pretty time consuming. There is a major glitch of BB's restarting out of nowhere. This has happened with both models I've owned and I had to swap it out for another at my phone provider. I did read the Classic remedied this problem though.


If you got the green to swoop up the Classic, then by all means. I've heard nothing but good reviews about it online. I gotta tell ya though, whenever I flash my Q10 out, I get a lotta love from passer bys. I don't see too many people with BBs in public, but whenever you do come across one, you always hit each other widda 

Thanks alot for the input. I have a question that hopefully you could answer.. I've read that Flash isn't supported in the BB10 OS, so is there any way to watch YouTube videos? It's not a dealbreaker, but I'd like to be able to watch the occasional video.

Also, group texting. I've read that it's kinda hit or miss. Some phones/carriers will do Android/iOS style group chats, and some will do the older style which just sends an individual text to multiple people. But most of the stuff I read describing this problem was like a year old so I'm not sure if they've fixed it. Can you comment on this? That'd be a dealbreaker for me since I group text ALOT.

get the ZTE Maxx for Tmobile if you want a throw away phone.

I can't do Androids :\. I've had a few of them in the past and I just don't like the OS.

 

[shaboozy]

Thanks alot for the input. I have a question that hopefully you could answer.. I've read that Flash isn't supported in the BB10 OS, so is there any way to watch YouTube videos? It's not a dealbreaker, but I'd like to be able to watch the occasional video.

Also, group texting. I've read that it's kinda hit or miss. Some phones/carriers will do Android/iOS style group chats, and some will do the older style which just sends an individual text to multiple people. But most of the stuff I read describing this problem was like a year old so I'm not sure if they've fixed it. Can you comment on this? That'd be a dealbreaker for me since I group text ALOT.
I can't do Androids

. I've had a few of them in the past and I just don't like the OS.

Yeah, the most recent upgrade supports flash just fine, so you should be in good shape. Unfortunately man, I can't really say because I hardly ever do group chats,but to be honest from what I've experienced so far, it hasn't  been at all that impressive. Much like you had mentioned, you can send a text in a group but it's not nearly as clean as the iOS models. Didn't think it was a prioirity for BB to update this. But what might not work for me, might work for you. It's definitely recommended you mess around with it in person. Good luck bud

 

[illphillip]

Still on it. Keyboard is a must. A lot of the people in my field use them as well for the same reason.

I do own an iPhone as well but rarely use it.

I have an old *** 9900 and just cash in my insurance when I need a new one. Haven't heard good things about the Q10 and some of the newer models. Not including the Classic, which I may look into.

 

[CJMcfly26]

hated my Blackberry 9700, Battery lasted as long as Lil Mama rap career

 

[dmbrhs]

Got the Classic. Awesome phone. QWERTY keyboards 4 lyfe.

 

[stick]

Posting from my Classic right now. This joint is . Theres a bunch of features/settings that work really well that I wasnt expecting (especially how easy it is to switch between apps). The touch screen paired with the optical trackpad works really well. Theres a nice bit of apps, and for the things I use that dont have apps, the browser is great with destop mode on . The keyboard is as amazing as always. The second i picked up the phone I was back to typing like I've been using it for years .

I've only been using it for about 30 hours (Amazon same day delivery ftw) so im sure i'll find some things that annoy me, but my first impresson is that the phone is great.

 

[rocky437]

Got the Classic. Awesome phone. QWERTY keyboards 4 lyfe.

Hey I've got a question for anyone who owns the Classic, I just picked mine up this afternoon.

Is there any way to change the colours of my text messaging conversation bubbles? Like both mine and the person I'm texting with bubble's are white background, was wondering if I can change the recipients to like a blue or something? I figured out how to change the base background but not the bubbles in texting. I have the same question for BBM on the classic as well. Thanks. 

 

[myselfonline]

Posting from my Classic right now. This joint is . Theres a bunch of features/settings that work really well that I wasnt expecting (especially how easy it is to switch between apps). The touch screen paired with the optical trackpad works really well. Theres a nice bit of apps, and for the things I use that dont have apps, the browser is great with destop mode on . The keyboard is as amazing as always. The second i picked up the phone I was back to typing like I've been using it for years .

I've only been using it for about 30 hours (Amazon same day delivery ftw) so im sure i'll find some things that annoy me, but my first impresson is that the phone is great.

Did you look at the Passport? If you did, what made you pick the Classic over the Passport?

I like the form factor and the keyboard layout on the Classic, but would like the screen size of the Passport. I've also heard good things about the capacitive keyboard on the Passport too.

 

[wildout4]

ive been wanting to go back to a blackberry. my iphone gets so distracting

 

[adrian1221]

I've had the Z10 for 2 years now. I was gonna wait for it to die out to switch to iphone 6 but this damn phone isn't going away 

No need to get rid of it its working perfectly fine and ive dropped it sooooooo many times and no cracks. just scars on the edges. I would have gone through 5 phones by now if it was anything else

 

[stick]

Got the Classic. Awesome phone. QWERTY keyboards 4 lyfe.

Hey I've got a question for anyone who owns the Classic, I just picked mine up this afternoon.

Is there any way to change the colours of my text messaging conversation bubbles? Like both mine and the person I'm texting with bubble's are white background, was wondering if I can change the recipients to like a blue or something? I figured out how to change the base background but not the bubbles in texting. I have the same question for BBM on the classic as well. Thanks. 

I was trying to find out if you could do this too but I haven't found any info on how to do it. Seems like it's not possible in the stock OS settings and there aren't any apps available that will enable it either.

One thing that bothered me is that there's no "dark background" option for the Hub. Looks way better than the stock white theme imo. They have it for BBM and the Text Message apps but not the Hub, which is where most people are gonna see their messages anyway.

One other thing that ticked me off was that you can no longer set the vibration length. I like 1 short vibration for my emails, 3 short vibrations for my texts and 1 long vibration for BBMs. That way I know what type of message I received without even hearing the phone/taking it out of my pocket. You could do that in '09 but not in 2015 . I ended up buying "BeBuzz" from App World for $5 which adds that functionality.

Other than that I'm loving the phone so far.

Posting from my Classic right now. This joint is . Theres a bunch of features/settings that work really well that I wasnt expecting (especially how easy it is to switch between apps). The touch screen paired with the optical trackpad works really well. Theres a nice bit of apps, and for the things I use that dont have apps, the browser is great with destop mode on . The keyboard is as amazing as always. The second i picked up the phone I was back to typing like I've been using it for years .

I've only been using it for about 30 hours (Amazon same day delivery ftw) so im sure i'll find some things that annoy me, but my first impresson is that the phone is great.

Did you look at the Passport? If you did, what made you pick the Classic over the Passport?

I like the form factor and the keyboard layout on the Classic, but would like the screen size of the Passport. I've also heard good things about the capacitive keyboard on the Passport too.

I didn't even look at any other models. Saw the Classic and it reminded me of my Bolds from back in the day so I jumped on it . There's not too many bad things I have to say about it so far. Obviously social networks, videos, stuff like that would work better on a larger screen, but they're still fine on the smaller screen of the Classic.

 

[rocky437]

Agreed, I'm a few days in since picking up my Classic and it is a fantastic device - awesome call quality, fast browser, truly a Blackberry Classic. One minor irk for me at the moment is I noticed when I'm watching Youtube videos and I tilt the phone horizontally, the video doesn't adjust into landscape mode. Other than that the phone is great.  

Also, the Blackberry Passport doesn't have numbers on the keyboard, and the keyboard isn't as comfortable as the Classic's. You are getting a bigger screen of course though. 

 

[Fozz]

How is the OS? A lot smoother?

 

[stick]

How is the OS? A lot smoother?

OS is very smooth. Load times and switching between screens/apps is almost instantaneous. If I'm in an app and receive a text, I can leave the app, answer the text and then get back into the app within like 5 seconds. Or just quick reply right from the app I was originally in . My friend actually went and looked at the Classic and Passport in the AT&T store after seeing how well my Classic works.

 

[ncvikingx97]

Any of you guys on a q10? How do you guys like it? Considering getting one for low.