when is the next gen of bb hardware coming?

Disco Boy · 2 Jan 2012 at 12:18

So I am interested in getting a blackberry, but I am not interested in any of the current range for a few reasons:

9780 the gf has so that's out

9900 appeals for the higher res display. but I almost bought on o2 when it was cheap, so I won't pay more for it a few months later...
9360 appeals because of the thin-ness. but the lack of expandable storage and only 512mb inbuilt is a deal breaker.

Also a couple of questions:
can blackberrys tether via bluetooth to share internet connection with ipads? On the website it gives instructions only for windows machines.

is it just a data plan that is needed to connect to things like bbm? So a giffgaff sim is suitable if I decide to go payg?

Robbo · 2 Jan 2012 at 12:35

End of this year apparently.

There is no easy way to tether a BB to an iPad as far as I know.

You need a BB bolt-on for BBM and the email system I think as well, I don't know if Giffgaff support it.

chrismscotland · 2 Jan 2012 at 13:01

Theres a wireless hotspot feature coming in OS 7.1 for the current Blackberry Phones shortly, which will operate just like the Hotspot feature on Android.
Its down to the networks to release it but its possible to get it running right now.

opethdisciple · 2 Jan 2012 at 13:57

Blackberry are in decline Im affraid to say.

Not only have they posponed their next gen handsets and next gen O.S, , they lost a lot of market share and market credability when they had the world wide service outage a few months ago.

On top of that big comapny such as Google have openly said they are trying to take Blackberry out of business. Google no longer supports blackberry devices with apps etc.... one of Googles big CEO recently said in a public speech that the Blackberry is a legacy device.

It will hang on, but its old hat now. It cant compete in its current form with Google and Apple. If it gets bought out and retransformed then it might stand a chance. But as much chance as Windows mobile stands. Yea exactly. Not much.

chrismscotland · 2 Jan 2012 at 14:19

opethdisciple said:
Blackberry are in decline Im affraid to say.

Not only have they posponed their next gen handsets and next gen O.S, , they lost a lot of market share and market credability when they had the world wide service outage a few months ago.

On top of that big comapny such as Google have openly said they are trying to take Blackberry out of business. Google no longer supports blackberry devices with apps etc.... one of Googles big CEO recently said in a public speech that the Blackberry is a legacy device.

It will hang on, but its old hat now. It cant compete in its current form with Google and Apple. If it gets bought out and retransformed then it might stand a chance. But as much chance as Windows mobile stands. Yea exactly. Not much.

I'm currently using the next gen BBOS on the Playbook and I'm quite impressed, if RIM can get off their ass and release some good phones with this OS then I can see them making a comeback, they're never going to overtake Google or Apple in the same way that Microsoft aren't, I suspect they might refocus their efforts back toward enterprise and business rather than consumers, its probably the last place they still have a really good market share.

Ksanti · 2 Jan 2012 at 15:19

chrismscotland said:
I suspect they might refocus their efforts back toward enterprise and business rather than consumers, its probably the last place they still have a really good market share.

lolwut?

More and more businesses shift towards android, iphone and windows phone as push email and security become less and less of a selling point for blackberry devices, while the young adult/teenage market, particularly girls love them. In that market segment they compete very well with the iphone and, again particularly with girls, android phones are barely anywhere to be seen.

IMO what they need is to corner that market and then in the professional range split their products between the 'cool' slim, stupidly small battery phones and then bring back the days when blackberry devices were king for battery life; I couldn't really care less about the thickness of my phone and the Nokia Lumia 800 proves that thick =/= ugly.

Ksanti · 2 Jan 2012 at 15:36

Disco Boy said:
9360 appeals because of the thin-ness. but the lack of expandable storage and only 512mb inbuilt is a deal breaker.

The 9360 has expandable storage

starfighter · 2 Jan 2012 at 15:55

opethdisciple said:
Blackberry are in decline Im affraid to say.

Not only have they posponed their next gen handsets and next gen O.S, , they lost a lot of market share and market credability when they had the world wide service outage a few months ago.

On top of that big comapny such as Google have openly said they are trying to take Blackberry out of business. Google no longer supports blackberry devices with apps etc.... one of Googles big CEO recently said in a public speech that the Blackberry is a legacy device.

It will hang on, but its old hat now. It cant compete in its current form with Google and Apple. If it gets bought out and retransformed then it might stand a chance. But as much chance as Windows mobile stands. Yea exactly. Not much.

Blackberry is dying but Windows Mobile is only just being born. Wait till Windows 8 comes out son.

Ksanti · 2 Jan 2012 at 16:14

starfighter said:
Blackberry is dying but Windows Mobile is only just being born. Wait till Windows 8 comes out son.

Blackberry phones are still a veritable rite of passage for most teenagers.
Windows phones are still pretty much unheard of by the vast majority of people.

It's fantastic software and I love it, but that's how it stands and without higher res screens and expandable memory it won't be able to attract the more tech-minded part of the market it needs to to go mainstream. It's not going to go mainstream just through marketing targeting the cool crowd; the Zune's failure shows that - great tech, wonderful UI, heavy marketing, absolute failure.

starfighter · 2 Jan 2012 at 16:58

Blackberry has Push messaging as its main selling point which no one uses as these phones cost so much most people have infinate text messages.

Apple is Apple which will always have its fans and iTunes, it also has its apps which Android also has but Android has more features and is spread out over a range of hardware. however I think with the way things are going the OS will contain more and more of the software and this is where Windows will dominate.

Anyway lets not argue, wrong thread.

Disco Boy · 2 Jan 2012 at 17:00

chrismscotland said:
Theres a wireless hotspot feature coming in OS 7.1 for the current Blackberry Phones shortly, which will operate just like the Hotspot feature on Android.
Its down to the networks to release it but its possible to get it running right now.

Sweet, good to know.

Ksanti said:
The 9360 has expandable storage
http://i.imgur.com/ncIb3.jpg[/QUOTE]

Ooh thanks, it was the compare feature on the bb website that had it as not available so that threw me.

[quote="Robbo, post: 20930500"]
You need a BB bolt-on for BBM and the email system I think as well, I don't know if Giffgaff support it.[/QUOTE]

Why is this? It's just data isn't it?

[quote="opethdisciple, post: 20931063"]Blackberry are in decline Im affraid to say.
[/QUOTE]

So can anyone suggest a good phone with a full qwerty?

Hxc · 2 Jan 2012 at 17:05

Ksanti said:
lolwut?

More and more businesses shift towards android, iphone and windows phone as push email and security become less and less of a selling point for blackberry devices, while the young adult/teenage market, particularly girls love them. In that market segment they compete very well with the iphone and, again particularly with girls, android phones are barely anywhere to be seen.

This. Blackberry indeed still has an increasing marketshare here and in other parts of the world; mainly powered by the younger generation.

I know I have the world's most specific phone requirements ever, but the Bold 9900 is honestly perfect for me; I use a phone as a phone with internet and GPS. I honestly believe it's by far the best 'phone' of all the smartphones out there, as it is built primarily as a device to communicate on, and not an app platform. Android I find particularly bad in this respect where it feels like that the calling, texting, etc are all seperate applications. On a blackberry it does not feel like that at all

If you want a blackberry, you will love the 9900. If you want a QWERTY 'phone' you will love the 9900. If you want something to customize and play with apps, it's crap. The OS, while much better than OS6, is behind a long, long way in that respect.

will13 · 2 Jan 2012 at 17:10

Disco Boy said:
Sweet, good to know.

Ooh thanks, it was the compare feature on the bb website that had it as not available so that threw me.

Why is this? It's just data isn't it?

So can anyone suggest a good phone with a full qwerty?

GiffGaff said this month for BBM support, extra £3 a month (you need it for email, BBM and pretty sure for the web browser and most apps too)

Also everybody in my thread pretty much said the Bold 9900

opethdisciple · 2 Jan 2012 at 22:42

The deal is, if you want a BB get one. Just becuase the forum (me) say its in decline, doesnt mean its going to dissapear tomorrow.

BB still has a solid user base, and you never know, sometimes a company needs a kick up the back side to get competitive again. In the conpany I work we have been over the last two years been tring to get our execs to switch to iphone from BB. They either flat out refuse, or try the iphone and then a few months later want the BB. For us in IT the BB cause more problems than it solves. The iphone makes our job easy, and has full access to our imap servers, caldav and vpn. The Blackberry has this in extrmely limited capacity, and then our Execs complain to us. (We gave you the freaking iphone, what more can we do!!)

Get a BB if it meets for requirements.

But as for qwerty phones I think there is an android phone which basically looks like a BB, although I do not know its name of the top of my head.

bluDawg · 2 Jan 2012 at 23:54

soon i think

Yas786 · 3 Jan 2012 at 12:33

Disco Boy said:
Why is this? It's just data isn't it?

So can anyone suggest a good phone with a full qwerty?

Well in the grand scheme of things it is data but the data goes through RIMs servers, they are the makers of Blackberries. So because of that you will need the extra BB bolt on.

A good phone with QWERTY?? if its blackberry then you wont go wrong with the 9900...ive had mine since sept of last yr and its brilliant with the touchscreen tech and hardware keyboard...it works and works very well. Ive managed to convert 4 of my Android loving friends to the 9900...of course apps wise its nowhere near Android or Iphone but it works and works well.

Myshra · 3 Jan 2012 at 14:20

Q3 maybe and even then, that would be fast for RIM. Q4 feels more likely at this stage based on their current issues (new OS, requirement to do "something" new, new products don't launch on time).