[blackberry] Blackberry kills support for handsets

[Dos_Box]

As of the 4th Jan, Blackberry will be pulling the plug on support for it's handsets - https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/12/end-of-the-line-finally-coming-for-blackberry-devices/

Is anyone out there even using them anymore?!

I may also have the great honour of posting the very final thread about Blackberry!

[hardtailstar]

I loved my Blackberries. The phone designs in the beginning are far greater than anything now!

 

Just a shame the Android versions are carp.

[Duranis]

I feel a little sad about this.

 

I started working in mobile development around the same time as BlackBerry first came about. We developed apps and hardware, particularly folding Bluetooth keyboards and later GPS before it was built into phones. Back then there was no HID Bluetooth profiles so getting a keyboard to work with a smartphone involved using the serial port profile and writing driver software to connect the keyboard and emulate key presses on the phone. We had been doing this previously with Symbian, UIQ and the early versions of Windows Mobile but it was BlackBerry with their push emails and big corporate uptake that really saw our business take off.

 

RIM is in my opinion the BEST mobile tech company I have ever worked with. They were completely open about their hardware and software and were brilliant working with 3rd party developers like us. I had many a conversation with some of the top level people at RIM and they always treated us like we were part of their team. I have many fond memories of getting to go to the first couple of BB development conferences in Cali. and San Francisco and chatting to other developers and RIM engineers/techs and generally just having a good time. The only company that came close was HTC as they also were incredibly open and supportive of third party developers.

 

Compared to when iOS come along and they wouldn't talk to you at all and you couldn't even think about doing anything without the right licensing and fee's.

 

BlackBerry also had such a passionate and dedicated following as well. I spent many hours chatting on the old Crackberry forum and it was such a friendly community that it is kind of weird that is was built around a phone brand. I had a BB right from the 7100 right up to the Storm and Z10, cracking bits of kit for their time. Shame they couldn't move with the times when iOS and Android appeared on the scene.

[Dos_Box]

I feel a little sad about this.

 

I started working in mobile development around the same time as BlackBerry first came about. We developed apps and hardware, particularly folding Bluetooth keyboards and later GPS before it was built into phones. Back then there was no HID Bluetooth profiles so getting a keyboard to work with a smartphone involved using the serial port profile and writing driver software to connect the keyboard and emulate key presses on the phone. We had been doing this previously with Symbian, UIQ and the early versions of Windows Mobile but it was BlackBerry with their push emails and big corporate uptake that really saw our business take off.

 

RIM is in my opinion the BEST mobile tech company I have ever worked with. They were completely open about their hardware and software and were brilliant working with 3rd party developers like us. I had many a conversation with some of the top level people at RIM and they always treated us like we were part of their team. I have many fond memories of getting to go to the first couple of BB development conferences in Cali. and San Francisco and chatting to other developers and RIM engineers/techs and generally just having a good time. The only company that came close was HTC as they also were incredibly open and supportive of third party developers.

 

Compared to when iOS come along and they wouldn't talk to you at all and you couldn't even think about doing anything without the right licensing and fee's.

 

BlackBerry also had such a passionate and dedicated following as well. I spent many hours chatting on the old Crackberry forum and it was such a friendly community that it is kind of weird that is was built around a phone brand. I had a BB right from the 7100 right up to the Storm and Z10, cracking bits of kit for their time. Shame they couldn't move with the times when iOS and Android appeared on the scene.

 

I always remember Steve Ballmer looking at the first iPhone and declaring 'Who'd buy this, it doesn't even have a keyboard!'. Many tech companies got caught out by the change in how technologies work and were far too slow to adapt.

[Norphy]

https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-ipod

 

No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

 

People have a habit of missing the point. What Apple have historically done well is not bring something new to the market, but refine what's already there to the point that the average idiot in the street wants it and can use it. There's a lot of marketing behind this, admittedly, but it's hard to deny that while the iPod and iPhone were far from the first hard drive based digital music player and smartphone on the market, they were the first that were both targeted hard at the mainstream market and were done well.

[LeMarchand]

I still occasionally use my Playbook as an eReader. Must turn it on tonight and see if it will even let me do that! Shame that BB never let it be opened up to loading Android properly.

[ITGuyNW]

I worked for Carphone Warehouse in repairs at the time Blackberry were at their peak.

 

They then brought out cheaper handsets like the 8520 and it was game over really. The amount of them that I had to process was ridiculous. Blackberry wouldn't accredit us to repair them so they had to be sent back to Blackberry themselves who would swap the device. Could take 2-4 weeks. The problem with swapping was massive... the persons Blackberry pin would then be different and because they were getting refurbished replacements, they would be getting messages from strangers to their new pins.

 

It was a nightmare and they were awful to deal with. Glad to see the back of them.

[simpsonj]

My wife is devastated, she only likes phones with physical keyboards, so has been Blackberry for a long time.

 

If anyone knows of a decent phone with a physical keyboard, give me a shout!

[DalekSec]

https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-ipod

 

 

 

People have a habit of missing the point. What Apple have historically done well is not bring something new to the market, but refine what's already there to the point that the average idiot in the street wants it and can use it. There's a lot of marketing behind this, admittedly, but it's hard to deny that while the iPod and iPhone were far from the first hard drive based digital music player and smartphone on the market, they were the first that were both targeted hard at the mainstream market and were done well.

 

 

Ok that thread is gold!

 

I don't see many sales in the future of iPod.

[LeMarchand]

My wife is devastated, she only likes phones with physical keyboards, so has been Blackberry for a long time.

 

If anyone knows of a decent phone with a physical keyboard, give me a shout!

 

The newer (Android) Blackberries should still work, AFAICT - but they're all on older versions of the OS. Not used one and reviews vary from "great" to "too heavy and not as good as my BB" but Unihertz do an Android 11 phone and a larger Android 9 one, both with keyboards. Might be a bit "macho" for your wife, though.

[simpsonj]

The newer (Android) Blackberries should still work, AFAICT - but they're all on older versions of the OS. Not used one and reviews vary from "great" to "too heavy and not as good as my BB" but Unihertz do an Android 11 phone and a larger Android 9 one, both with keyboards. Might be a bit "macho" for your wife, though.

 

She's got the Key2, but it has some fairly major battery issues, so was hoping for a new Blackberry to be released this year.

 

Thanks for the info on Unihertz, but some fairly major sacrifices to the quality of the phone need to made to have a physical keyboard!

[LeMarchand]

Adds a lot of bulk (and needs landscape mode + remembering to keep the board charged), but there are generic phone/keyboard cases. Some phones appear to have custom keyboard/cases, but they seem hard to find.

 

Just turned my Playbook on: It's still working!

[LeMarchand]

Still working, though I suspect that once it wants a login it will be game over. As a consequence I'm trying to remember to turn on every few days. I wonder if they're tracking such things still and seeing an uptick in usage?

[LeMarchand]

Turned on today and it's started asking for a password, which it won't authenticate. Still woks, but keeps asking to sign in .

[LeMarchand]

Now not usable as the authentication keeps popping up. If only Rim had removed this necessity they would have saved a fair bit of ewaste.

[JJonas]

My wife is devastated, she only likes phones with physical keyboards, so has been Blackberry for a long time.

 

If anyone knows of a decent phone with a physical keyboard, give me a shout!

 

One option might be a portable Bluetooth keyboard and an Android phone

 

Something like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015LSEQ28/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_VHBK2DFBK9PNDKCVG1CZ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Edited February 22, 2022 by JJonas

[LeMarchand]

One option might be a portable Bluetooth keyboard and an Android phone

 

Something like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015LSEQ28/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_VHBK2DFBK9PNDKCVG1CZ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

I used to use something similar with with my Windows tablet* when I was going to be away from home and likely to need more typing than convenient to do on screen, but not enough to take a laptop - surprisingly decent. Not exactly as convenient, portable or integrated as a "built into phone" keyboard, though.

 

*"Used to" as tablet was/is a 32 bit Linx 7 with 2GB RAM and 32GB storage and is incredibly slow on Windows. Was a bargain at £40 an got a lot of use out of it, though. Might get around to trying Android or a Linux flavour on it soon so that it could be used to replace the Playbook.