Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 268 posts

Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?

#11

Post by bastardoperator »

thegagne wrote: post #4
Dracophoenix wrote: post #2

I wished I had a Blackberry when I was a much younger, but personally I miss Windows Phones a lot more.

Windows Phones were awful in general but provided something that no full featured smart phone can: simplicity. Notifications? Hardly. Browser? Barely works. Apps? Pshh. Instant messaging? I hope you like SMS! Games? There’s a couple good ones you never heard of that won’t be maintained. But heck, if you want peace and quiet and while still offering the basics in good form, the Windows Phone couldn’t be beat.

I loved it when my UT Starcom windows phone would crash mid phone call. I was able to convince Verizon to give me a free upgrade to blackberry because it was so bad.

Do I miss my blackberry? Not really, but I do miss how excited I was to have a device that was actually useful. I feel like we're just iterating over the same base design these days, which is fine, but the excitement isn't there for me like it used to be.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?

#13

Post by cehrlich »

Obviously there's no going back - does anyone remember how much of a pain Google Maps was on the BlackBerry? - but I have to admit I miss some aspects.

The way BlackBerry integrated all communication channels into one place so it didn't matter which platform you were messaging someone on. The way you could just start typing on the home screen and would get suggested contacts etc. The fact that there were no awful "social networking" apps full of dark patterns to promote addictive behaviour (of course this came at the expense of just generally not having many apps).

Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?

#15

Post by loudtieblahblah »

initially - i just didn't think the first rollouts of on screen keyboards were that good.

I got android devices that always had a keyboard. It wasn't until Swype (discontinued - RIP) and SwiftKey that I really felt onscreen keyboards offered a lot that allowed them to surpass physical keyboards.

The eventual inclusion of touch-vibrate feedback on button push was a good add on too.

now there's really no point to blackberry.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?

#16

Post by shortsightedsid »

IggleSniggle wrote: post #8
thegagne wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows Phones were awful in general but provided something that no full featured smart phone can: simplicity. Notifications? Hardly. Browser? Barely works. Apps? Pshh. Instant messaging? I hope you like SMS! Games? There’s a couple good ones you never heard of that won’t be maintained. But heck, if you want peace and quiet and while still offering the basics in good form, the Windows Phone couldn’t be beat.

The audio design of the Windows Phone was exquisite . The physical design of the Nokias was also excellent. It always felt to me like it was the phone that was most thoughtfully designed, and it just arrived too late to be able to compete realistically...who wanted to write apps for Windows phone when you could write for ecosystems that already had wide adoption?

If I remember correctly, the image quality on the Nokia/Windows phones were pretty good as well.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?

#17

Post by pavlov »

cehrlich wrote: post #13

Obviously there's no going back - does anyone remember how much of a pain Google Maps was on the BlackBerry? - but I have to admit I miss some aspects. The way BlackBerry integrated all communication channels into one place so it didn't matter which platform you were messaging someone on. The way you could just start typing on the home screen and would get suggested contacts etc. The fact that there were no awful "so…

> "BlackBerry integrated all communication channels into one place so it didn't matter which platform you were messaging someone on"

Windows Phone 7 did a great job at this. It put people at the center of the mobile UI rather than apps.

Sadly it was anathema to companies like Facebook who absolutely want you to enter their app and absolutely don't want to be API providers for a centralized user experience controlled by an OS vendor.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?

#18

Post by httpsterio »

cuddlybacon wrote: post #7

I miss my Pearl, but not the other BlackBerry devices I had. I like how you could type on it without looking. It's been a decade and I still have typo issues with touchscreen phones. A post this long would likely have 4 noticeable typos if done on my phone.

man I really hate typing on a phone. I know im pretty fast but it still feels clumsy and I have to go back and fix at least a typo or two per sentence. Thats with autocorrect enabled.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?

#19

Post by Wonnk13 »

trangus_1985 wrote: post #5

I vastly prefer on screen keyboards. I'm faster with them, it requires a lighter touch, and the auto correct is good enough. What I miss about blackberries is that they were messaging devices, with OS level integrations around messaging that went beyond the notification system of today. For 90% of messages i send, i could simply use a generic sms style interface through a system-wide messaging app, only jumping into…

I think you're spot on about the keyboard being rubbish, but overall bbm was great.

Everytime I upgrade my iPhone I find myself removing more and more apps. At this point all I really want/need is google maps, iMessages and... yaknow a phone. idgaf about anything else.

Post reply on HN