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How many of you came from BlackBerry?

Didn’t have a Blackberry but here’s my phone history:
  • Some Samsung flip phone I can’t remember the name of
  • LG Shine
  • LG Xenon
  • Motorola Backflip
  • HTC Inspire
  • iPhone 4S
  • Galaxy Note 3
  • iPhone 6+
  • iPhone 7
I always end up coming back to iOS and I always end up keeping my iPhones longer than any other devices I use. As tempting as some Android phones are when it comes to hardware (Galaxy S8+), I know I’d regret the purchase because iOS is just best for me. I don’t even consider any other mobile OS’s that aren’t iOS or Android. I know Blackberry is on Android now, but I’d have no reason to choose the Blackberry over Samsung, Google Pixel, or OnePlus.
 
rugmankc said:
First cell phone a Motorola Bag phone in 1993.

Then progressed thru Nokias, Blackberries, Androids, and finally iphones 4 years ago.
Click to expand...

This pretty much mirrors my experience though my first wasn't a bag phone, it was a small brick shaped Motorola, probably circa 1995ish. A few more Motorola phones, Nokia, Blackberry, 1 Android and then jumped on the iPhone when 4s was released on Verizon's network. Haven't thought about anything else since.
 
Was a BlackBerry user in the past. Used to really like their phones and the security behind it. Ultimately transitioned to the iPhone.
 
To be honest, it's a shame what's happened to Blackberry.

I'm not a gamer (48 years old), I don't watch videos on my phone (I'm boring, just ask my wife and kids), but I own a number of insurance brokerages. I keep in touch with my managers primarily via email.

It's hard to remember which was my first BB, but I remember it had a scrolling wheel on the side and I bought it in the late 90's/early 00s.

The last one I had was the BB Passport. It was kind of an odd square shape, but I really didn't care since it was more of a tool than anything else.

My daughter "Accidentally" threw it in the pool the day before I was going on a 6 week business trip to Europe. At this point BB had become such a niche product that they were only available online. I raced over to the Verizon store and the sales rep was an Apple fanboy and pushed me to an iPhone.

It took me about 10 seconds to realize that the iPhone was the future. The OS and overall functionality blew my mind after dealing with far too many workarounds on my BB.

At this point we've transitioned to Apple in every conceivable way. Our home computers are all MBPs, our tablets are all iPads and our phones are all...well, you get the point.

I still have PCs for my businesses due to the fact that by and large business is run on Microsoft, but I have really come to enjoy what Apple has to offer.

That being said, I REALLY miss the physical keyboard. I know it will never happen, but if there was ever a phone with iOS and a BB keyboard I would jump on it faster than a cat on a puddle of water.

GBA
 
rwestiv said:
To be honest, it's a shame what's happened to Blackberry.
...
That being said, I REALLY miss the physical keyboard. I know it will never happen, but if there was ever a phone with iOS and a BB keyboard I would jump on it faster than a cat on a puddle of water.

GBA
Click to expand...
Did it look like the one on the left? (those are the BB's I still have kicking around the house) :) No, I didn't steal them - the 4 on the left were beta devices (we got to keep beta devices as a perk for giving time to the beta) - the 9900 on the right I bought when I got packaged.

The one on the very left is the 7270 - wifi only device that we had Cisco and some business partners resell for us. It's where we cut our teeth on doing SIP (VOIP) on the phone. That research helped us produce the first BB that supported wifi calling (UMA/GAN) - the 8220 - second from the right.

The 72xx family was code-named "Photon" internally.

The "Cadillac" of the 72xx family was the 7290 - had support for several GSM frequencies as well as a colour display. It was heavy as hell, but solid as a tank. :)

I always figured I'd connect up the 7270 to an asterisk server and use it as a home phone. :) Think I'll see if the battery in it will still hold a charge. :)
DfTw0ha1QyeA7YeeIUp1mw_thumb_61e.jpg

I always hoped we would produce a retro-berry...bring back the 72xx, with a beautiful touch screen and a capacitive touch sensor on the side to simulate the scroll wheel (just for nostalgic purposes) :) Obviously, much thinner and a great feel in your hand.

If only...
 
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Kim: Faithful to BlackBerry. Unfaithful to black men. How ironic.

I did like that BlackBerry Bold 9900 design. It looked like the iPhone 4/4s of BlackBerry. I can understand Kim's loyalty to physical QWERTY because from 2003-2009, BlackBerry was what many people were into.

Some people need that tactile feedback and you can blind type just like some only want 4" iPhones or a Note with a stylus. Back in the day, I wanted a Sidekick 3: Dwyane Wade Edition and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1!

People forget smartphones from 2011 was a stellar class -

Samsung Galaxy Note
Samsung Galaxy Nexus
Apple iPhone 4s
HP Pre 3
Sony Ericsson Xperia Play
RIM BlackBerry 9900
Nokia N9
Nokia Lumia 800
Motorola Atrix
HTC ThunderBolt

So many stuff happened that year in tech. Within a span of less than two months HP killed off Palm, Google announced it was buying Motorola, Nokia joined Microsoft, and Steve Jobs passed away.

I remember it all like it was yesterday. 2011 was the year I decided to step away from iOS and try different OSes like Android and Windows Phone. Ice Cream Sandwich shed Android's ugly duckling label thanks to Matias Duarte.

Only BlackBerry that interested me was their tablet. I thought QNX had way more polish than webOS. BB10 on the Z30 just wasn't the same like QNX. I like that in QNX, it had Flash and the video could still play during the carousel app menu.

The iPhone X is going to copy these elements of swiping up to leave the app but any tech fan remembers webOS did it first by 2009, then QNX by 2011 before Nokia N9 was released that same year. QNX still had more polish than webOS on the HP Touchpad.

PlayBook (or should I say QNX), like my beloved LG G5 which brought wide-angle lens first, are underrated and were too ahead for their time.

 
fischersd said:
Did it look like the one on the left? (those are the BB's I still have kicking around the house) :) No, I didn't steal them - the 4 on the left were beta devices (we got to keep beta devices as a perk for giving time to the beta) - the 9900 on the right I bought when I got packaged.

The one on the very left is the 7270 - wifi only device that we had Cisco and some business partners resell for us. It's where we cut our teeth on doing SIP (VOIP) on the phone. That research helped us produce the first BB that supported wifi calling (UMA/GAN) - the 8220 - second from the right.

The 72xx family was code-named "Photon" internally.

The "Cadillac" of the 72xx family was the 7290 - had support for several GSM frequencies as well as a colour display. It was heavy as hell, but solid as a tank. :)

I always figured I'd connect up the 7270 to an asterisk server and use it as a home phone. :) Think I'll see if the battery in it will still hold a charge. :)
View attachment 726505

I always hoped we would produce a retro-berry...bring back the 72xx, with a beautiful touch screen and a capacitive touch sensor on the side to simulate the scroll wheel (just for nostalgic purposes) :) Obviously, much thinner and a great feel in your hand.

If only...
Click to expand...


A true fan!!! Impressed with that collection.

My bold 9900 still remains one of my favorite smartphones ever.

Z30 for BB10 god I loved that phone.

Had a q10 until 2015 when it gave up the ghost.

Got the DTEK 50 to try out blackberry android but it felt cheap and back it went.

My current main personal phone is the 7+ with an X on the way.

I’d say the majority of my communication is done through the KEYone. Meets my needs and the hub just makes my professional life emails and social media feeds way more manageable. Still a bit too big. That bold 9900 was small but with the keyboard and OS it didn’t feel like a toy for comms. I’d buy a rebooted 9900 in an instant cost isn’t even a consideration.

BB10 was a fantastic OS but it was time to move on.
 
The QNX acquisition should have happened sooner, but the real cause of BB's demise was the lack of apps. The developer relations guys did everything that they could to try to get the resources to get a REAL SDK out there....the C-Level just didn't get it.

Yep, still have a PlayBook too. Should throw that up on kijiji - might get a few $ for it. :)

Edit: The battery still works in the 7270. :) A pic for nostalgic purposes. :)

UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_61f.jpg
 
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