I held on to my Z30 for a long time. Even bought one off eBay when mine died rather than get an iPhone. Caved once it was clear that the company was dead though, as I couldn't use any apps.
Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
61–70 of 268 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#62No one has yet mentioned the Blackberry Priv, an Android phone with a quality keyboard sold as recently as 2016. I loved it so much, but it recently stopped holding charge among other issues, so I had to get a new Samsung. I type an order of magnitude slower now, and I write constantly. But there is no alternative. I don't know if you guys are aware, but https://www.onwardmobility.com/ is supposed to release a new An…
I currently use a Blackberry KEYone, which I chose solely because of the physical keyboard. I haven't had any Blackberry before so I don't know how it compares, but there's a good chance if they keep releasing ones with a keyboard, I'll keep going for them.
One feature that I'd definitely miss without it is, on the home screen, every letter on the keyboard doubles as two configurable shortcuts (short and long press). Also the "convenience key", which I've yet to see on other phones - also configurable to anything, I set mine up so Tasker does different things depending on time/day/location.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#63I do miss it. It served one and only one purpose. Emails on the go. It was super fast to type and had an incredible battery life. I could type on the device without looking at the keyboard or the screen. In fact, that’s one of the reasons I didn’t adopt an iPhone early on. It’s hard to break out of muscle habits.
People who never used them might not grok the incredible battery life of the older Blackberry. The models with the DataTAC radio and the 386 CPU could go well over a month between charges. The little one that was shaped like a pager ran on a AA cell.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#64I could type 55 wpm on the keyboard. Every time I use a screen keyboard I feel like I lose 10 IQ points. I can use a physical keyboard without looking, but the screen keyboard takes twice as long and consumes my full attention if I want any speed.
The blackberry felt like an extension of my brain on the internet. Touchscreen devices feel like an extension of the internet in my brain + eyes, not as nice.
I used my blackberry bold for years, then for months more after the battery swelled, until the charging port finally stopped working
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#65I loved my BB Bold. It’s still snappy for most part. Of course don’t bother where internet speed is concerned (802.11b probably was the best it could do). Loved the keyboard and the optical trackpad. It’s more than just nostalgia. BBs were great at encouraging multi-tasking in the real world (typing an email while looking at someone and having a conversation). Our large display touchscreens of today are better at bet…
The Bold had an 802.11 a/b/g radio and it could seamlessly hand off a call from VoIP over Wi-Fi to the cellular network with UMA. Truly ahead of its time.
The Bold also had a weird feature that nobody cared about: its SDHC card reader was legitimately fast. They actually implemented their own SD card interface hardware, proving that they had engineers to spare and absolutely no idea what to do with them all.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#66Battery life (4-5 days) and being able to have an extra battery or being able to share is what I miss most. I also miss the customizations for alerting. I would set personal colour coded alerts on the led - that was perfect. Customization of alerts is very limited on anything else I’ve used since. The iPhone keyboard seems to be getting worse with its auto correct. If it gets any worse (or maybe it’s me) I will get t…
I just turn autocorrect off. I also find that if you turn off slide to type the keyboard works better, could just be my imagination though.
There is a bit of a break-in period when I first turn off autocorrect, as I find I adapt to leaning on it pretty heavily when its on. Pretty quickly I get more accurate, and its a lot less annoying fixing my mistakes than autocorrects. YMMV.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#67Yeah. Had a Passport.
Miss the keyboard with touchpad gestures, keyboard shortcuts, the Blackberry Hub and how pleasant reading text on the screen was.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really am surprised that with of all models of Android phones in the world, no one is making one with a keyboard. Even if it was a niche product, you'd think there would be an audience...
It is actually quite hard to make a GOOD physical keyboard, BlackBerry has this tech down. Any BlackBerry clone (I had a couple before ending on BlackBerry, Nokia and Samsung). Titan pocket exists though, gets mixed reviews I believe but overall being 'not too bad', which is different than the love BlackBerry phones tend to get.
I had some old samsung phone with a sliding keyboard and it was really nice. Much faster than typing on an iPhone that's for sure not to mention you could do it with your hands in a hoodie pocket thanks to the tactile feedback. Seems like that would be pretty great again today, you get the full face as a screen then you just slide the phone in half when you need to type.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#69I 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.
It's just frustrating and I avoid doing much typing on it as much as possible. So much faster and easier with physical keys. I'm always inserting periods or something on an iphone.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#70My Blackberry was BY FAR the best phone I've ever owned for texting and email. It was so superior that it barely compares. I could type without looking, which is a HUGE feature when walking or texting discretely in a meeting (or a conversation).
There are a few must-have apps on modern smart phones, but I would ALMOST be willing to give them up for the convenience of the keyboard.