Phone dilemma

bilky asko
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I have only heard negative comments about BlackBerry phones in the past few months - phones breaking for no reason, the tendency for them to slow down to a crawl, and general lagging behind the competition.

A comment from a friend summed it up for me - "I miss Android". This was coming from a person who upgraded from a Samsung Galaxy Europa to a Blackberry Torch 9810 - a much more highly specified phone. He missed the range of apps, the better layout, the more extensive customisation options, and the reliability of the OS (rather than the hardware). From my limited experience of his phone, not only is the hardware poorer than expected (the camera is shite, and the screen backlight has an awful flicker) but the OS is a pile of steaming horse manure.

Speaking of a crap OS, I am in two minds as to whether I should wipe my HTC HD2 and eradicate the awful Windows Mobile 6.5, and replace it with Android or Windows Phone 7. It should make it run much better, but I have got used to the quirks of the OS. My contract is nearly up anyway, and the charging wire has started to split as well; the screen is scratched to buggery, and the back falls off every time a mouse farts. I don't know.
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Ebeneezer Scrooge
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Looks.as.though they've changed their mind again... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/01 ... er_market/
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Critique
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Thanks for all your replies, once again.

BBC LDN, in terms of WP, I had a sort of love thing for the UI design last year, and had all the best intentions of getting one when my contract was up. However, have lost the love thing, and whilst I still love the UI, I didn't have them on my list at the current time, and will heed your warning about not buying a WP7 device, or Android, for now.

One of the big pulls of the iPhone 4S is Siri, and I can, for once, see this type of thing as being useful. However, the 4 is much cheaper, and practically the same, so I may go for that.

And, to add to the BlackBerry discussion - oh dear. The fact they don't seem able to decide where they stand, as they get backlash whatever the decision, is laughable, along with their lack of effort in meeting deadlines. I saw a Playbook review last year, and was very shocked to see no native email client, when that is supposed to be BB's thing!
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Gavin Scott
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As a side note, I've dictated a few email via Siri, and it's been 100% accurate - punctuation and everything.

Very impressed.

I told it I loved it too, and it replied that our love was like two long shadows which overlap but can never touch. Or something.
Critique
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Indeed, that's why I'm keen on it - it seems to work. And, I'm not Scottish, so it won't discriminate against me if I have a strong accent. I can see me actually using the reminders app, if Siri works.
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Gavin Scott
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Critique wrote:Indeed, that's why I'm keen on it - it seems to work. And, I'm not Scottish, so it won't discriminate against me if I have a strong accent. I can see me actually using the reminders app, if Siri works.
I am Scottish. I speak clearly though. I saw the transcripted text of someone on Facebook who was moaning that it wouldn't respond to her, but she was gibbering like a fool to it. Quite honestly if she'd been wittering to me like she had to it I would have struck her.

Incidentally, she is also a trained actor with a very subtle Edinburgh accent, so she'd obviously been trying to confuse it for some made up Facebook outrage.

I think it might be very handy for the odd text, email and agenda entry.
bilky asko
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Ebeneezer Scrooge wrote:Looks.as.though they've changed their mind again... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/01 ... er_market/
God, and on April 1st as well...
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Critique
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Indeed, I share your sentiments in regard to apps. The selection on offer at pitifully poor. In fact, it seems that the big apps (Facebook and Twitter) were not even developed by the respective groups themselves, and were, in fact, made by RIM.

All of the apps available fail to have a Consistent UI across them, instead opting for various different UI's, and the general quality of the apps is also quite poor.
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Gavin Scott
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The only thing keeping me on BlackBerry is the full QWERTY keyboard and my general dislike of the Android OS. If Apple ever made a full QWERTY iPhone, I'd jump ship tomorrow and never look back.
Doesn't a full QWERTY keyboard seem redundant when, especially with apps like Swiftkey, no one has to type full words anyway?
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WillPS
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To whoever said they don't understand why BlackBerry push email is needed - it's just a whole lot less flakey than trying to do it directly (possible exception for Android devices with Gmail). That London thing is a joke though - "Game Changing"!? It's an iPhone/Galaxy form factor with what looks like a WebOS style 'cards' interface. Everybody I know who has a BlackBerry says its all about the ease of messaging/QWERTY keyboard - big mistake dropping it.

I'm still gutted that HP ballsed up WebOS as much as they did - it was pretty nice.
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BBC LDN
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bilky asko wrote:I have only heard negative comments about BlackBerry phones in the past few months - phones breaking for no reason, the tendency for them to slow down to a crawl, and general lagging behind the competition.

A comment from a friend summed it up for me - "I miss Android". This was coming from a person who upgraded from a Samsung Galaxy Europa to a Blackberry Torch 9810 - a much more highly specified phone. He missed the range of apps, the better layout, the more extensive customisation options, and the reliability of the OS (rather than the hardware). From my limited experience of his phone, not only is the hardware poorer than expected (the camera is shite, and the screen backlight has an awful flicker) but the OS is a pile of steaming horse manure.

Speaking of a crap OS, I am in two minds as to whether I should wipe my HTC HD2 and eradicate the awful Windows Mobile 6.5, and replace it with Android or Windows Phone 7. It should make it run much better, but I have got used to the quirks of the OS. My contract is nearly up anyway, and the charging wire has started to split as well; the screen is scratched to buggery, and the back falls off every time a mouse farts. I don't know.
Oh my, the Galaxy Europa. Absolutely dreadful phone - I have one for low-end app testing, and I hate every second that I use it. I think it says a lot that a high-end BlackBerry would leave someone pining for such a hateful device as the Europa, but symptomatic of the problems that RIM face in the consumer market.

There are a couple of things that BlackBerrys are great for - namely email, BBM and generally good hardware build quality - but the package as a whole is terribly lacking compared with devices that have been designed primarily with the consumer experience in mind, and which are now making in-roads into the business space (the iPhone being the obvious, though by no means the only, example).

I'd say that installing an alternative ROM on your HD2 is a great idea. From what I've seen the Windows Phone ports to the HD2 have been pretty decent, and now properly support services (such as Live) along with Marketplace access to acquire additional apps. I almost took the plunge myself, but ended up selling my HD2 for £250 on eBay instead. That was a few months back - not sure what they're going for these days, but if you're not going to get much for it, installing a Windows Phone or Android is much better than just chucking it in a drawer.
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