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Poll: What Would It Take For You To Switch To Blackberry?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Poll: What Would It Take For You To Switch To Blackberry?

#51

Post by trotsky »

oz wrote: post #44
trotsky wrote: post #20

BB could get my business if they doubled down on security, privacy and encryption. I'd love to see them end up with a product that was sort of like what Whisper Systems was trying to do with Android. In particular I'd love enterprise messaging that didn't need any 3rd parties to hold keys, and an ability to use some kind of removable smart card with a cryptographic processor that when removed rendered the phone data…

I don't have any citations handy, but BlackBerry far surpasses other vendors with regard to security. This is why they're so entrenched in the enterprise and government sectors. I'm quite sure I read recently that some models support smart card authenticators. Edit: Google-fu found this: http://us.blackberry.com/ataglance/security/products/smartca... http://us.blackberry.com/ataglance/security/government.jsp http://u…

You're right that the BB has a smartcard reader, though the reliance on bluetooth makes it... problematic for use in the field. What I was trying to describe was something similar to what we currently use in laptops. Remove the card (express card in most cases, though they can be built onto the ssd themselves) and the computer is no longer able to read or write to the drive, as it never actually holds the FDE keys.

Re: Poll: What Would It Take For You To Switch To Blackberry?

#52

Post by ricardobeat »

Where is the option If it used an amazing fast version of QNX, had lots of quality apps, great maps, a perfect browser with good canvas and WebGL performance, BL LE/RFID, a great screen, 72h battery life and decent design (and maybe an absurdly thin slide-out keyboard)?

Re: Poll: What Would It Take For You To Switch To Blackberry?

#53

Post by rogerbinns »

Havoc wrote: post #41

I just switched from an android device to a BB9900 and it does exactly what I need. Hasn't crashed a single time yet (vs the weekly crashes on my Android phone), the keyboard is wonderful, battery life is fine (~ 3 days) and the core features work flawlessly (messaging, email, calendar etc). I don't see RIM competing successfully in an environment where Angry Birds & Plants vs Zombies is a crucial part of the experie…

> .. where Angry Birds & Plants vs Zombies is a crucial part of the experience ..

Also any person who has a paid library of apps with Apple or Google/Amazon would effectively be discarding that library if they switched to BlackBerry, and only be able to replace a small subset of it (at far greater cost). This means that BB has to offer not only an equivalent experience, but a far better one to get existing iOS/Android users to switch.

Getting the dwindling number of non-smartphone users to switch means fighting perceptions (many articles where the debate is how doomed they are), devices (Android variety, Apple "quality"), data service costs and convincing those users to "rebel".

Re: Poll: What Would It Take For You To Switch To Blackberry?

#54

Post by rogerbinns »

wtvanhest wrote: post #24
wanderr wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The keyboard on BB devices is really better than anything else running Android, barring maybe a couple of Android devices with extremely under powered hardware.

The thing I miss most from my BlackBerry after switching to andriod is the track ball/pad. That made one handed navigation extremely easy.

My BB had a trackball which worked spectacularly well. The replacement Android has a trackpad that is virtually useless for any fidelity and I gave up even trying to use it. Then again multi-touch is a usable alternative most of the time.

Re: Poll: What Would It Take For You To Switch To Blackberry?

#55

Post by rogerbinns »

SkyMarshal wrote: post #12

Another option: If it were a better Android. Aka, the performance, UI responsiveness, and battery life of iOS/iPhone, but with a FOSS OS, not necessarily Android (Embedded Linux, Minix, etc.). And as a developer, a better development language than Java. C, Go, or just leverage Apple's Objective-C developer network with Clang's implementation. All these things are pain points on my Nexus S. If someone could do better,…

> ... a better development language than Java. C, Go, or just leverage Apple's Objective-C developer network ...

Where does this myth come from that you can only write Android programs in Java? There is a Native Dev Kit (Google [Android NDK]) that provides a gcc cross compiler so you can write your app in any language gcc can compile. It is quite possible to write an app without a single line of Java.

Heck there is even a company that lets you take your existing Objective C iOS app and compile it on Android (they have also implemented a lot of the iOS APIs). See http://www.apportable.com

It is true that Android does have a lot of Java libraries, and especially for regular user interface type stuff you really would want to use that (eg ActionBar, the resources system, fragments). But if you want a framebuffer and OpenGL then ignore that.

Re: Poll: What Would It Take For You To Switch To Blackberry?

#56

Post by jrockway »

rogerbinns wrote: post #54
wtvanhest wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing I miss most from my BlackBerry after switching to andriod is the track ball/pad. That made one handed navigation extremely easy.

My BB had a trackball which worked spectacularly well. The replacement Android has a trackpad that is virtually useless for any fidelity and I gave up even trying to use it. Then again multi-touch is a usable alternative most of the time.

I also miss the Android ball. It made Android feel geekier and less like trying to rip off Apple. But alas, the world decided that Phones Must Be Buttonless and now we are awash in a sea of shiny minitablets.

Re: Poll: What Would It Take For You To Switch To Blackberry?

#57

Post by jinushaun »

Basically, it has to be better than iOS and Android. What does that mean for me?

  - Beautiful responsive thoughtful intuitive UI design that is better than iOS
  - Touch first UI. Not this Frankenstein BB OS + touch POS included in the Storm/Torch. 
  - The same flexibility as Android.  
  - Apps, apps, apps
  - Kickass hardware design that is equal to or better than iPhone 4S
  - Hardware specs that beat Galaxy Nexus
If I were RIM, I'd just fork Android like Amazon did.
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