[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
        
       I still feel like it was a better communication tool compared to
       the smartphone touchscreens of today. Really miss the good old
       days.
        
       Author : jaytaylor
       Score  : 17 points
       Date   : 2021-09-13 22:00 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
       | trangus_1985 wrote:
       | 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 the apps themselves from time to time. I think palm had
       | that, but it was too little, too late.
       | 
       | unihertz makes a blackberry clone btw, check it out
        
         | Wonnk13 wrote:
         | 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.
        
       | thedday wrote:
       | I do miss my Treo. I preferred it to my Blackberry. Both were
       | better and less distracting than my current ad-presenting spy
       | box.
        
         | flatiron wrote:
         | I loved my centro. My first "smart" phone
        
       | JohnFen wrote:
       | Never used a Blackberry, but I seriously miss physical keyboards.
        
       | 908B64B197 wrote:
       | I remember the BlackBerry Storm, the first touch screen phone by
       | RIM launching at the same time as the iPhone 3G. No Wifi, slow
       | janky scrolling, no apps (well, sure, if you don't mind
       | downloading some random .jar that had to be recompiled for the
       | custom fork they ran on that device). Felt like a rushed beta.
       | 
       | Meanwhile the iPhone just worked. Smooth scrolling, fast browser
       | especially on Wifi. You could get apps from the AppStore that
       | launched at the same time as the phone, no friction.
       | 
       | By the time the 3GS was released, if your firm still issued BBs
       | you knew it was time to look around!
        
       | cuddlybacon wrote:
       | 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.
        
         | httpsterio wrote:
         | 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.
        
       | evo_9 wrote:
       | Maybe a poll would have been a better approach ? HN has a little
       | used poll feature.
        
       | morganf wrote:
       | Yeees. Make a phone with a keyboard as easy to type on as that
       | one and I'm customer number one!
        
       | jcun4128 wrote:
       | I really enjoyed my 8330, I really used it "like a computer', I
       | was writing blogs out of it. Only thing is the rolling ball mouse
       | don't miss that (dirt).
        
       | voz_ wrote:
       | Not at all. Worse in every way I can think of.
        
       | Dracophoenix wrote:
       | I wished I had a Blackberry when I was a much younger, but
       | personally I miss Windows Phones a lot more.
        
         | thegagne wrote:
         | 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.
        
           | IggleSniggle wrote:
           | 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?
        
             | shortsightedsid wrote:
             | If I remember correctly, the image quality on the
             | Nokia/Windows phones were pretty good as well.
        
           | bastardoperator wrote:
           | 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.
        
       | cehrlich wrote:
       | 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).
        
         | pavlov wrote:
         | _> "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.
        
       | tablespoon wrote:
       | > I still feel like it was a better communication tool compared
       | to the smartphone touchscreens of today.
       | 
       | Your daily reminder that newer is often not better, and the
       | market frequently rewards regression.
        
       | Daishiman wrote:
       | I definitely miss the keyboard and the fact that it was a device
       | optimized for writing.
       | 
       | The audio out was damn good for its time too.
        
       | loudtieblahblah wrote:
       | 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.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2021-09-13 23:01 UTC)