Blackberry Priv Initial Thoughts

I haven't written a blog entry for quite awhile and thought that I would try to restart my blog entries with the newest smartphone that I tried which is the Blackberry Priv. This will be one blog entry among many regarding my thoughts/feelings about the Blackberry Priv as I continue to use it.

In terms of the specifications for the phone, I will summarize it briefly (all of this taken from Blackberry's website *HERE*) but it has a 5.4" diagonal screen size at a 16:9 aspect ration. The resolution is 2560 x 1440 with 24-bit color depth at 540PPI. It has an 18MP autofocus rear camera capable of 4K recordings at 30fps or HD 1080p recordings at 60fps and a 2 MP front camera capable of 720p HD video recording. The version that I have/tested PRIV-1 (US model) comes with wireless charging (the Canadian model PRIV-3) does not come with wireless charging. For the processor specs, the Blackberry Priv comes with a Qualcomm 8992 Snapdragon 808 Hexa-Core, 64 bit Adreno 418, 600MHz GPU. For the memory, it comes 3GB of RAM and 32GB of Flash memory. It also supports expandable memory via the microSD slot (up to 2 TB). For the SIM card size, it uses the nanoSIM card format.

In terms of what makes this phone unique, it is that it is a Blackberry running Android OS and not the proprietary OS that Blackberry makes which is Blackberry 10. Out of the box, the version of Android is 5.1.1. For Android lovers, what makes this phone unique is that it has a built-in sliding keyboard and that has some PRIVacy features built into the phone.

I am one of the unique people who will generally carry around both a Blackberry phone and an Android phone at the same time. Prior to getting my hands on the Blackberry Priv, the phones that I would have with me were my Blackberry Passport and my OnePlus One (or my LG Nexus-4). In terms of Blackberry devices, I've had/used a Blackberry Bold 9700, a Blackberry Q10, and a Blackberry Passport. In terms of Android devices, I've had/used a Sony Ericsson X10 Mini, a Samsung Nexus-S, an LG Nexus-4, and a OnePlus One. I would generally swap between Android devices but keep my Blackberry phone with me since I generally type out very long e-mails and I've just never gotten comfortable using the onscreen keyboards from the various different phones.

In terms of the "flavour" of Android on the Blackberry Priv, it looks/feels like Google stock Android except for a few applications like Yahoo Finance, Blackberry Hub, BBM, and DTEK. The Blackberry Priv also uses Blackberry's own version of Calendar and Contacts.

You can see Blackberry's video introducing the Blackberry Priv on the YouTube video below:


You can also see Blackberry's very nice & artistic promotional video on their Blackberry Priv below.

When I first opened the box and configured the Blackberry Priv, I tested using the transfer of information from my LG Nexus-4 to my Blackberry Priv using NFC but because I had a lot of Android apps on my LG Nexus-4, I stopped it midway while it was downloading my Android apps onto the phone. However, prior to doing this, I noticed that the phone was somewhat hot. Up until that point, my phone was downloading a lot of Android apps from the Google Play store via WiFi after I used the NFC connection/configuration option for the initial configuration.

I decided to do a factory reset of the Blackberry Priv and this time instead of using the NFC connection, I selected my OnePlus One as the phone to base my Blackberry Priv's installation and then I manually selected the applications from the list of applications which were installed on my OnePlus One. After doing this, I later decided that it would probably be better for me to do a factory reset again and this time configure the device as a brand new device and then manually go into the Google Play store in order to download the apps that I wanted. This was my final set-up for the Blackberry Priv and was the starting point that I decided to keep.

After installing a few of the Google apps that I was sure that I wanted on the device (ex: Netflix, Bell TV, NFB, Kodi, TMN Go, Crave TV, and the Amazon Apps Store), I powered off my Blackberry Priv and decided to let it charge to 100%.

When the battery was at 100%, I powered my Blackberry Priv back on and tested out Netflix and it worked very well. I watched an entire 30 minute television episode and the earlier issue that I had with my Blackberry Priv getting unusually hot when I was initially installing applications on it was not as noticeable but I still noticed the phone being warmer than it was initially prior to me streaming the video. I then tested out YouTube and this also worked very well.

In terms of the keyboard on the Blackberry Priv, after having used my Blackberry Passport keyboard for ~1 year, I found the keys on the Blackberry Priv to be somewhat small but I didn't have any problems typing with the Blackberry Priv's keyboard. I liked being able to access the numbers via the physical keyboard as I had done with my Blackberry Bold 9700 or my Blackberry Q10. I also liked that just like on the Blackberry Passport, the Blackberry Priv's keyboard is touch sensitive and can be used like a trackpad. You can use it to scroll through webpages or scroll through documents or even the Android's home screen. In terms of using the keyboard, I did find that because of the sliding nature of the keyboard with the shape/size of the phone, it was a bit "top heavy" but it wasn't uncomfortable for me to type a relatively long e-mail to a colleague.

The screen is slightly curved (it has curved sides) and although this looks very nice, as someone who likes to put a "tempered glass screen protector" on most devices, I think it will be difficult to find a tempered glass screen protector that either covers the entire screen (including the curved edges) or the tempered glass will be more expensive than typical tempered glass smartphone screen protectors that have a completely flat screen.

I've only been using the Blackberry Priv for under 1 week while I wait for my orders of a microSD card, a nanoSIM card (to replace the microSIM card that I was using in my OnePlus One or my LG Nexus-4), a tempered glass screen protector, and a case to arrive (before I fully switch over). So far, during the week that I've had the Blackberry Priv, I've been enjoying it. The Android apps that I enjoy using work seamlessly on the Blackberry Priv. I like having a physical keyboard that I can use to type out long emails. If I don't want to use the physical keyboard, I can also use the onscreen virtual keyboard when it is more convenient.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

Blackberry 10 Software Update Available for 10.3.1.1565

There was a somewhat major software update on Blackberry 10 devices last week. The update brought Blackberry 10 devices all to v10.3.1.1565. I was using a Blackberry Passport so the update for my Blackberry was not as large as for other Blackberry 10 devices such as the Z10, Q10, & Z30. The update was "only" 470MB on my Blackberry Passport which was previously running 10.3.0.908. Most of the other Blackberry 10 devices (if they were running official releases of the OS) were running a variant of 10.2.1.

The update for v10.3.1.1565 was very straightforward. Since my Blackberry Passport was already running v10.3.0, I was already used to to some of the features that comes with the v10.3.1.1565 update such as the Amazon Appstore, Blackberry Blend, and Blackberry Assistant.

The update recommends keeping the device plugged into a power source during the update but because I didn't have my AC adapter with me and my Blackberry Passport was fully charged (it was above 95%), I started the update process without plugging in my device to a power source. This didn't present any issues. The downloading/installation took ~1.5 hours.

The update process was straightforward and after accepting the update, I was presented with the screenshot below asking me to restart the device.

After my device restarted, my Blackberry Passport continued to apply the update without any issues. The restarting of my Blackberry Passport took ~20 minutes.

After my Blackberry Passport restarted, I verified the Settings and it was updated to 10.3.1.1565.

In terms of the update, I've been using it for approximately one week now and I don't notice anything significant since I was already using 10.3.0 prior to the update to 10.3.1. What I did notice was that the unlock screen font is larger and I also noticed that the Systems Settings changed somewhat.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

Resetting Blackberry Q10 to Factory Defaults

I decided to sell one of my Blackberry Q10 phones that I had since getting my Blackberry Passport and having a spare Blackberry Q10 as a backup "keyboard" phone. I had used my Blackberry Q10 phone for approximately 1.5 years before opting to sell it and the internal memory on the device was almost completely used (~14.5GB of 16GB). I also had a 2GB microSD memory card in the device.

I generally encrypt my devices and with my Blackberry Q10 (and the 2GB microSD memory card inside it), I encrypted both as well. Before selling my device, I needed to reinitialize it back to factory defaults.

The first step to doing this since I wanted to keep the information on the microSD memory card was to unencrypt the microSD card. Forgetting this step would mean that the information on the microSD card would be permanently encrypted. To unencrypt the microSD memory card, I went into the Settings menu, Encryption, and then turned off the Media Card encryption. My microSD memory card was not completely filled (and it was only a 2GB microSD memory card on top of that and not a 32GB memory card) so the amount of time that it took me to unencrypt the memory card was not too long. After the memory card was unencrypted so that I wouldn't forget it in the phone when I sold it, I ejected it from my Blackberry Q10.

The next thing that I did was to issue the command to reinitialize my Blackberry Q10. As mentioned, I used my Blackberry Q10 for approximately 1.5 years and the amount of free memory on the device was a little over 1GB (and my Blackberry Q10 was encrypted). I wasn't sure how long it would take so I kept my Blackberry Q10 plugged into the electrical outlet and initiated the reinitialization process.

It took roughly 7 hours for my Blackberry Q10 to reinitialize itself. During that time, the Blackberry Q10 was completely unusable and I was somewhat worried since for a large portion of that time, it appeared as if wasn't doing anything. About 2 hours into the reinitialization process, since I wasn't sure how long it would take, I decided that I would go to bed and hopefully it would be done by the time I woke up. However, it wasn't finished by the time I woke up. I then decided to unplug the Blackberry Q10 from the AC outlet and bring it with me to work. When I arrived at work, I looked at the Blackberry Q10 screen and it had finished reinitializing itself. The total amount of time between when I started the reinitialization process of my Blackberry Q10 and when I looked at my Blackberry Q10 was ~7 hours so I was lucky that I had decided not to reinitialize it in front of the seller or start the reinitialization process at work since I was meeting the buyer during my lunch.

One of the reasons it might have taken ~7 hours to reinitialize my Blackberrry Q10 to factory defaults is because my Blackberry Q10 was encrypted and only ~1GB of free memory (out of ~16GB) existed on the device.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment which contains a URL link (whether it is embedded or not) will automatically be labelled as spam and will not be posted.

Blackberry Passport Review

I received my Blackberry Passport ~1 month ago and I've been using it since that time so I thought that now was the perfect time for me to write my thoughts on the Blackberry Passport.

As shown in my other blog entries, I use a wide variety of phones (Android, iPhone, Blackberry, etc.). In terms of Blackberry phones, I've used a Blackberry Bold 9700, a Blackberry Q10, and now a Blackberry Passport.

I won't go into the Blackberry 10 OS but the Blackberry Passport ships with Blackberry OS 10.3.x and includes the Amazon AppStore. This review blog will mainly be my thoughts on the Blackberry Passport when I compare it with my old Blackberry Q10.

With lots of phone manufacturers making phablets, the size and shape of the Blackberry Passport takes some time to get used to. It is about the same size as a Canadian Passport (although obviously thicker).

I find that the Blackberry Passport is speedier and more responsive than my older Blackberry Q10. What I like about the Blackberry Passport is the larger screen size and the additional memory that the phone ships with. I also like the fact that the Blackberry 10 browser renders webpages very well.

In terms of what I'm not crazy about when it comes to the Blackberry Passport, one of the things that I'm still trying to get used to is that there aren't any physical keys for the numbers and you must use the onscreen numeric keyboard when you want to type numbers. This is not really a big deal except that I've discovered an app that doesn't show the onscreen numeric keyboard (it is possible that there are other apps as well) so it isn't possible to type a number when using this app.

The physical keys also don't feel like the keys on my old Blackberry Bold 9700 nor do they feel like the keys on my Blackberry Q10. Personally, I find that the Blackberry Passport keys feel a bit "cheaper" compared to the other 2 models that I mentioned but others might have a different opinion. However, the Blackberry Passport's keyboard has "trackpad" functionality. It is difficult for me to explain this but by moving your finger over the keyboard, you can control the cursor and depending on the finger gesture on the keyboard, you can also delete words that you've typed very easily.

Currently a lot of the apps (both from Blackberry App Store as well as Android applications) don't appear perfectly on the Blackberry Passport. Even programs that show up correctly on the Blackberry Q10 sometimes don't appear perfectly on the Blackberry Passport. At the time of this writing there are also quite a few apps that I installed on my Blackberry Q10 which are listed as incompatible on the Blackberry Passport.

The Blackberry Passport uses the newer nanoSIM (my Blackberry Bold 9700 used a standard miniSIM & my Blackberry Q10 used a microSIM). I know that phone manufacturers like to use smaller footprints whenever possible and using a smaller SIM card is part of this philosophy but personally I would prefer that they stick with the microSIM sized SIM.

As mentioned, the Blackberry Passport ships with Blackberry 10.3.x and one of the benefits of Blackberry 10.3.x is Blackberry Blend which allows people to access their Blackberry Hub from their computers or certain tablets using the Blackberry Blend program. This is great if you forget your Blackberry at home and want to access BBM to send/receive messages. Another benefit with Blackberry Blend is that I can keep my Blackberry Passport in my vest pocket and send/reply to BBM messages as well as access my Blackberry's e-mails without constantly having to remove my Blackberry Passport from my pocket.

For the Blackberry Passport User Guide, you can get it from Blackberry's site or you can get it *HERE*. If you're interested in the Discover Blackberry Passport The Guide to Working Wide, you can download it *HERE*.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment which contains a URL link (whether it is embedded or not) will automatically be labelled as spam and will not be posted.

Downloading and Installing Android applications onto Blackberry 10 Devices using Amazon AppStore

There are a few ways to install Android applications onto a Blackberry 10 device. I detailed one of those methods previously *HERE* and thought that I would mention another way which some people may find slightly easier to install Android applications onto their Blackberry 10 device and that is to use the Amazon App Store.

The Amazon App Store contains most of the applications that you can find in the Google App Store and getting the Amazon Appstore onto a Blackberry device is a relatively simple process.

The first thing that it involves is to change the settings to allow for the installation of applications from sources other than Blackberry World. To do this, you will need to go into Settings -> App Manager -> Installing Apps and then turn on the option to "Allow Apps from Other Sources to be Installed."

After doing this, you can then download the Amazon Appstore from Amazon's official site *HERE*. After downloading it, you will then need to select the AmazonApps-release.apk file from your Downloads and then click on the "Open" button

The program will then install onto your Blackberry 10 device.

After it finishes installing, you will need to configure the Amazon Appstore to your Amazon account (or create an Amazon account). For me, I already had an Amazon account since I purchased books in the past from Amazon so I used those credentials to sign into the Amazon Appstore. After doing this, I received a message about needing to configure my address on my Amazon account so I logged into my Amazon account on my computer and I had to manually configure my address to accept Amazon Appstore (I believe that this setting is in the section "Manage Addressbook").

After doing this, I was able to download my first free application. As a test, I did a search for the popular Netflix app and I managed to find it and download it onto my Blackberry Q10. Even though I already had Netflix on my Blackberry Q10, I didn't get any error messages when trying to download and install Netflix from the Amazon Appstore.

After installing it, I received an automated e-mail indicating that I purchased Netflix from the Amazon Appstore and when checking my Orders on my Amazon account on the Amazon website, it shows that I purchased Netflix

As I mentioned in my previous blog entry on how to manually install APK files onto a Blackberry 10 device (for that blog entry you can refer *HERE*), there is another method of installing APK files using a program called "Snap." Installing Snap onto a Blackberry 10 device is a bit more complicated which is why I decided to write this blog entry about using Amazon Appstore to get the desired Android APK app file onto a Blackberry 10 device. The program "Snap" gets it's application listings/downloads from the Google Play Store. I will try to detail how to get "Snap" onto a Blackberry 10 device but since I did it a few months ago, any instructions that I may post on a blog entry might not be 100% accurate (but should point you in the correct direction).

Getting an APK file from a reliable source like from Amazon Appstore is better then searching on Google to try to find the APK file and then manually installing it onto your Blackberry 10 device (or your Android device) since you don't know whether these APK files were modified and aren't the same as the files available from either the Amazon Appstore or the Google Play Store.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

Blackberry 10 Software Update Available for 10.2.1.2977

There was a minor software update on my Blackberry Q10 a few weeks ago. As you can see, the file size was only 17MB in size.

According to the screenshot, the software update is to version 10.2.1.2977.

The update process was straightforward and after accepting the update, I was presented with the screenshot below asking me to restart the device.

After my device restarted, my device was updated without any issues. While my device restarted, even though my Blackberry Q10 still had over 80% power remaining, I plugged it into the electrical outlet in order to be on the safe side.

In terms of the update, I've been using it for a few weeks now and I don't notice anything significant. The two major issues that I have with my Blackberry Q10 still exists. It still gets unusually hot after using an internet enabled application for a few minutes and the battery doesn't seem to last as long as it used to back when it was running a version of Blackberry 10.1.x

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

Blackberry 10 System Update Available for 10.2.1.2941

I received a prompt on my Blackberry Q10 about 2 weeks ago regarding a minor update that was available for my device to 10.2.1.2941.

My Blackberry Q10 was at 10.2.1.2102 prior to me receiving the prompt to update to 10.2.1.2941.

This was a minor update and was only 99MB in size. The update happened in the background with my Blackberry Q10. After my Blackberry automatically downloaded and automatically installed this minor update, I was informed that the update finished installing and I was prompted to reboot my phone.

I did not reboot immediately since I was in the process of typing a few e-mail messages when I received the message to reboot my phone. The reboot process seemed to take longer than a normal reboot (or it might have just been my imagination) and after my Blackberry Q10 rebooted, I checked the version that I had on my Blackberry Q10 and I was updated to 10.2.1.2941.

During the time that I've used 10.2.1.2941 for ~2 weeks, I haven't really noticed anything dramatic.

One of the two issues that I noticed (which I'm still experiencing despite updating to 10.2.1.2941) is an issue where my phone will get extremely hot when I'm either browsing the web or performing certain other tasks (like browsing Facebook, reading the Twitter Tweets, etc.). The other issue that I experienced since I upgraded to 10.2.1.537 is that my Blackberry Q10's battery would drain faster than previously. As mentioned, both these issues are still present with 10.2.1.2941.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

Blackberry 10 System Update Available for 10.2.1.2102

I received a prompt on my Blackberry Q10 about 2 days ago regarding a minor update that was available for my device to 10.2.1.2102.

My Blackberry Q10 was at 10.2.1.537 prior to me receiving the prompt to update to 10.2.1.2102.

This was a minor update and was only 39MB in size. The update happened in the background with my Blackberry Q10. After my Blackberry automatically downloaded and automatically installed this minor update, I was informed that the update finished installing and I was prompted to reboot my phone.

I did not reboot immediately since I was in the process of typing a few e-mail messages when I received the message to reboot my phone. The reboot process seemed to take longer than a normal reboot (or it might have just been my imagination) and after my Blackberry Q10 rebooted, I checked the version that I had on my Blackberry Q10 and I was updated to 10.2.1.2102.

I tested the upgrade for a few days hoping that it would solve 2 issues that I noticed after I updated my Blackberry Q10 to 10.2.1.537. Unfortunately both of the issues that I experienced don't seem to be corrected with 10.2.1.2102.

One of the two issues that I noticed (which I'm still experiencing despite updating to 10.2.1.2102) is an issue where my phone will get extremely hot when I'm either browsing the web or performing certain other tasks (like browsing Facebook, reading the Twitter Tweets, etc.). The other issue that I experienced since I upgraded to 10.2.1.537 is that my Blackberry Q10's battery would drain faster than previously. As mentioned, both these issues are still present with 10.2.1.2102.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

Manually Installing Android Applications on a Blackberry 10 Device running v10.2.1.537

After upgrading my Blackberry Q10 to v10.2.1.537 (see my previous blog entry), I decided to install some of my favourite Android applications onto it now that I no longer had to convert these Android APK files into BAR files in order to sideload it onto my Blackberry 10 device.

Since I have a few Android devices, it was a somewhat simple process for me to get the APK files that I wanted onto my Blackberry Q10. For me, I used Dropbox in order to get the APK file to my Blackberry since my Blackberry Q10 has Dropbox capability built-in but you can also download the APK files directly from a website or e-mail them to yourself once you have them.

For organization sake, I placed all my Android APK applications on my Blackberry in their own group/folder and called it Android APK applications but when the Android application is installed on a Blackberry 10 device, they appear as a normal Blackberry 10 application except that you get a bottom bar on the bottom of the application which you can remove by swiping from the top of the screen to the bottom and then selecting the "Hide Bar". I find that most applications are better without the bottom bar showing but some applications actually work better with the bottom bar showing.

There are other ways of getting APK files other than the method I used. My friend who didn't have any Android devices found the APK files that he wanted by doing Google searches however I find this somewhat risky as you can never know whether the APK file has been modified from the original file which is in the Google Play Store.

I have quite a few Android applications which were on my Android devices (LG Nexus-4, Samsung Nexus-S, Acer Iconia A100 tablet, and the Android installation of my HP Touchpad) which I wanted to transfer/copy to my Blackberry Q10 but I decided to begin by installing the following programs: Ebay, PayPal, Netflix, a local public transit application, YouTube, Google Translate, Lync 2013, Glympse, Microsoft RD Client, miCoach, and SpeedTest.

There is already an Ebay on Blackberry World which can be downloaded for the Blackberry Q10 but that version of Ebay is a port of an older version of Ebay for Android which was put into Blackberry World so everytime I started it, it would give me a message in my Blackberry Hub indicating that there was a more recent version of Ebay for Android available. With Netflix, SpeedTest, and Glympse, I already installed the converted BAR files of all of these applications and placed these onto my Blackberry Q10 but they were earlier versions of the Android APK file which were converted to BAR format so I decided that I wanted the current version of these applications (which was available from the Google Play Store) to be installed on my Blackberry Q10.

To get the APK files from your Android device, you can use a wide variety of apps. I used AirDroid and for my rooted devices I used Titanium Backup Pro (since the APK files were already backed up). Since AirDroid doesn't require a rooted device to get the APK files, this was the easier method. To use AirDroid for this purpose, you install it onto your Android device and then you launch it. After it starts up, you will be presented with a URL webpage/address to use on your computer's browser. You then enter this URL webpage/address on the browser of your computer and you will be presented with a message on your Android device prompting you whether to accept the connection or reject it. After accepting the connection on your Android device, you will go to your computer and notice an icon that entitled "Apps". You will then click on this and you will be presented with all the applications installed/accessible on your Android device. From that point, it is a simple matter of hovering your mouse over the item and then selecting the download button that will appear on the right.

After downloading the APK files that I wanted from my Android devices onto my computer, I just uploaded these APK files onto my Dropbox account. I then went to my Blackberry Q10 and clicked on the "Connect to Dropbox" (which was already configured to use my Dropbox account prior to me doing any of this) and I clicked on the APK file that I wanted to install.

After clicking on it, the file would download from Dropbox and I was presented with the install option for the program. You will need to enable apps installation from other sources if you haven't already done so. To do this, you will go into System Settings -> App Manager -> Installing Apps and turn on "Allow Apps from Other Sources to be Installed."
.

I then clicked on the Install button and within a few seconds the Android application was installed on my Blackberry Q10. At that point, it was just a matter of testing the Android app to make sure that it would work on my Blackberry Q10.

In the case of my example Android app (SpeedTest), the screen resolution of my Blackberry Q10 was not sufficient to display the app properly but it did work "properly."

In my case, the final step was just moving the Android app into the appropriate group/folder on my Blackberry Q10.

Please note that not all Android applications will work properly. For example, I installed Google Translate and it did work but I'm not sure about whether it is because I'm using a device with a physical keyboard but when trying to type in the word that I wanted translated, for every character that I typed, the cursor and screen would constantly jump from the top of the screen (where I was typing in the word) to the bottom of the screen as it was searching based on every single character that I typed. This made the application more problemsome that it was worth so I deleted it.

For the time being, it isn't possible to use any Android application that uses the Google account login without some hacking to the system. Personally I did not try to do this but I've read where others have tried it and were successful. Some of these Android apps will install and will work such as YouTube but you will not be able to link it with your Google account so you won't get a "personalized" YouTube experience. Most of these "incompatible" applications that require Google account login are created by Google. However, non-Google apps also sometimes use the the Google account or Google Play services information partially such as PayPal. After installing PayPal, when launching it, I would get a warning message below but the app appeared to run without any problems.

Some Android apps will exhibit strange behaviour that it doesn't exhibit on an Android device. For example, Glympse will show the last/family name of some of my contacts twice on my Blackberry Q10 and it doesn't do this on my LG Nexus-4 or my Samsung Nexus-S.

Some Android apps will also randomly crash. I've experienced these random crashes with Glympse and some other apps.

There is no way of knowing what Android apps will work on your Blackberry 10 device and which Android app won't work. The only way of knowing it is to either find this information on the internet or to try installing the Android app onto your Blackberry 10 device and testing it.

There is another way to install Android apps to your Blackberry 10 device directly using a Google Play application listing program called "Snap." I will outline this method in a subsequent blog entry.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

Blackberry 10 Installation Process to 10.2.1.537

Blackberry released v10.2.1.537 for their Blackberry 10 phones recently and I decided to update my Blackberry Q10 last week.

The size of the update was ~310MB. I didn't time the update but I did check it at the 1 hour mark and again at the 1 hour & 30 minute mark and my Blackberry Q10 was finished applying the update after 1 hour & 30 minutes and I received a message to reboot my phone.

The update process was completely seamless and trouble-free. I was a bit worried during the reboot process as the reboot process seemed to take longer than expected.

As mentioned in my previous blog entry, the two things about this update that I liked was the ability to install APK files directly onto my Blackberry Q10 without first having to convert the APK file to a BAR file was was problematic and the ability to listen to FM radio broadcasts during on the phone without using a data connection of any kind.

During the installing/updating my Blackberry Q10 to v10.2.1.537, I kept my Blackberry Q10 connected to a power source (which I believe is a requirement for the upgrade to work). I didn't try it but if the installation/updating works without it being plugged into a power source, I wouldn't recommend it since if the Blackberry were to run out of power mid-install/upgrade, your Blackberry might no longer boot up.

The version of the OS that I had previously was Software Release 10.2.0.424 (OS Version 10.2.0.179).

The update process was a 2-step non-user prompted process (if you exclude the reboot step). The first step as shown by the snapshot below was the downloading process. The download connection speed that I was using during the upgrade process was ~2 Mbits/second.

After the update finished downloading, it automatically installed it without any user intervention.

As mentioned, I didn't exactly time the  process but checked my phone twice during the upgrade process and after 1 hour & 30 minutes, I received a message prompting me to reboot my phone. I rebooted my phone and it seemed to take longer to boot up than normally (although I didn't time it, I would say that it took maybe about 5 minutes).

After my Blackberry Q10 rebooted, I was able to access the phone again and I obtained the screenshot below.

I then verified the version of Blackberry OS I had after the upgrade and I obtained the screenshot below:

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

Blackberry 10 System Update Available for 10.2.1.537

Blackberry has recently made Blackberry v10.2.1.537 available this week.

I received the notification of the update on my Blackberry Q10 yesterday and I installed it. I will be writing about the update process in my next blog entry.

I've been using my Blackberry Q10 running v10.2.1.537 for about 1 day and I really like it. The thing that I like most about it is the ability to install Android APK files without having to convert them into BAR files first. I managed to install a lot of Android APK files on my Blackberry Q10 today and these Android applications work flawlessly on my Blackberry Q10. I also tried the FM radio function on v10.2.1.537 and I liked it a lot even though it required the headphones to be plugged in (the headphones are used as an antenna for the FM radio).

You can get information about the 10.2.1 update and the changes/enhancements that it brings from Blackberry's official blog *HERE* (for some reason they omit mentioning that v10.2.1 brings the ability to easily install Android APK files onto a Blackberry 10 device).

My next blog entry will detail my experience updating my Blackberry Q10 to v10.2.1.537.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

Unlocked my Blackberry Q10

With an impending trip to the US in a few weeks, even though I have my trusty factory unlocked LG Nexus 4 (as well as my old factory unlocked Samsung Nexus-S) and a lot of other unlocked phones, I decided that it was time to unlock my Blackberry Q10. Since I've used the company MobileinCanada to unlock my cellphones in the past and I found them to be a trustworthy company and they were also fast in providing unlock codes for me in the past, I decided to use them again. There are cheaper online companies that can unlock cellphones but because I've used MobileinCanada in the past, it was my primary reason for using them again.

With the other phones that I've unlocked, MobileinCanada provided me with the unlock code in a few hours. However, with my Blackberry Q10, it took them close to 24 hours to get the code. Because of the longer than normal wait time for me to get the unlock code this time, if you are in a rush to get an unlock code, MobileinCanada might not be a good option for you.

The unlock code is a specific code based on the unique IMEI number of your phone. More information on what an unlocked phone is can be found *HERE* in my blog entry devoted to the topic. Although that blog entry is over a few years old, the information there is still relevant. 

Once I received the code, it was a simple matter of entering the unlock code by going into the Settings, Security & Privacy, SIM Card and then scrolling down to the Phone Network Unlock and then clicking on the Unlock Network button. I then had to enter the unique unlock code.

Randomly picking a code or entering the wrong code a few times will permanently lock the phone so I was very careful to enter the correct unlock code in the screen above.

Once my Blackberry Q10 showed up as being unlocked, I tested it by inserting a microSIM from another carrier into it and the Blackberry Q10 was able to acquire the network without any problems. This means that once I go to the US in a few weeks, I will be able to swap my US microSIM card between my LG Nexus-4 and now my Blackberry Q10.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

Review of Blackberry Messenger (BBM) for Android and iOS

I've been using Blackberry Messenger (BBM) for Android for approximately 2 weeks along with using it on my Blackberry Q10 and I've decided to write my thoughts about the version that is currently available for Android (v1.0.0.72) as well as for iOS (v1.0.3.120)

You can download BBM for Android on the Google Play Store *HERE* and you can download BBM for your iPhone/iPad from iTunes *HERE*.

I've tried BBM for Android on my LG Nexus-4 as well as my Samsung Nexus-S. When I first downloaded the program when it was first released, because Blackberry wanted to control the number of users and make sure that nothing went wrong with too many users, there was a sign-up period which for me lasted a few days. However, as of the date of this blog entry, there is no waiting period in order to register/activate the program and get a Blackberry PIN.

The thing with BBM is that it uses a unique code/ID called a Blackberry PIN in order to add people into your Blackberry Messenger (BBM) contact list. You generally must know the person's Blackberry PIN in order to add/invite the person into your BBM contact list. The benefit of this method is that it requires approval from the person you are trying to add before you can chat with the person. Someone can't simply add you into their BBM contact list by knowing your phone number or your e-mail address. The drawback to this method (when compared with WhatsApp) is that there isn't a simple way of finding your friends who are using BBM when you are using the Android version of BBM.

With WhatsApp, the program will match the phone numbers in your phone's contact/addressbook and it will display all the people in your phone's addressbook who installed WhatsApp. The negative part of WhatsApp is that it goes through your phone's contact list for people who've installed WhatsApp and you might have someone in your phone's address book but you don't necessarily want to have them show up in your chatting program nor do you want your name to appear in their chatting program just because they have your phone number in their phone's addressbook.

On my Blackberry Q10, finding people who are using BBM is a bit easier but still requires the approval process. When I go into the BBM Menu on my Blackberry Q10, and then click on "Invites", there is a tab where I can see "Suggested" invites. I'm not sure how Blackberry does this but I believe that on Blackberries, it compares the people currently in your Blackberry Contact list and it will use this based on the e-mail address that someone used to activate BBM on their device. If BBM on Blackberry 10 detects a match, it will list the contact in the "Suggested" tab. Even if you add someone using BBM for Blackberry 10, the person must approve you before you are able to chat with him/her. On the current Android version of BBM, the "Suggested" tab is not there nor is the "Suggested" tab on the current iOS version of BBM.

During my tests with BBM on Android as well as on iOS (I tested it more on Android than on iOS), I found that sometimes the message would be delivered to my non-Blackberry phone while other times it wouldn't be delivered (the sender would see the check mark corresponding with the message having been sent but not delivered to the recipient's phone yet). I sent the message from my Blackberry Q10 to my Android phone as well as my iPhone 3GS and noticed that sometimes for some strange reason, there was no notification that a BBM message was sent to my non-Blackberry phone. When using my Blackberry Q10 to communicate/BBM with another Blackberry device, the messages were consistently received without any issues.

The Android and iOS version still requires a bit of work in order to make sure that messages are sent/received properly and instantaneously on non-Blackberry devices and I would like to see additional features such as the ability to talk or videochat between different platforms. The Blackberry version of BBM has more features than the current Android and iOS versions of BBM but hopefully Blackberry will include the features that Blackberry users are used to on the other platforms as well as improve the reliability of sending/receiving notifications of BBM messages waiting.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

Blackberry 10 System Update Available for 10.2

Blackberry released v10.2 for their Blackberry 10 phones recently and I decided to update my Blackberry Q10 a few days ago with their v10.2.0.424.

The size of the update was ~465MB. I didn't time the update but I did check it at the 1 hour mark and again at the 1 hour & 30 minute mark and my Blackberry Q10 was finished applying the update after 1 hour & 30 minutes and I received a message to reboot my phone.

During the installing/updating my Blackberry Q10 to v10.2, I kept my Blackberry Q10 connected to a power source (which I believe is a requirement for the upgrade to work). I didn't try it but if the installation/updating works without it being plugged into a power source, I wouldn't recommend it since if the Blackberry were to run out of power mid-install/upgrade, your Blackberry might no longer boot up.

The version of the OS that I had previously was Software Release 10.1.0.4181 (OS Version 10.1.0.4633).

The update process was a 2-step non-user prompted process (if you exclude the reboot step). The first step as shown by the snapshot below was the downloading process. The download connection speed that I was using during the upgrade process was ~2 Mbits/second.

After the update finished downloading, it automatically installed it without any user intervention.

As mentioned, I didn't exactly time the  process but checked my phone twice during the upgrade process and after 1 hour & 30 minutes, I received a message prompting me to reboot my phone. I rebooted my phone and it seemed to take longer to boot up than normally (although I didn't time it, I would say that it took maybe about 5 minutes). After the reboot process, there was a message on the phone that said "Preparing Blackberry Hub"

After ~1 minute of "Preparing Blackberry Hub", I was able to access the phone again and I obtained the screenshot below.

I then verified the version of Blackberry OS I had after the upgrade and I obtained the screenshot below:

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

BBM (Blackberry Messenger) finally officially available on Android and iOS

Well, after a mishap, Blackberry finally released BBM on both the iOS platform (iPhone, iPad, & iPad mini) as well as Android.

You can download the iOS version from iTunes *HERE*. You can download the Android version from the Google Playstore *HERE*.

I downloaded it and I'm looking forward to trying it on both platforms. I had managed to sign up for it on BBM.com so I don't have to wait to use it.

The information from Blackberry's official blog regarding the release is *HERE*. I have copied the blog entry into my blog just in case it gets deleted or is modified from their blog.

This is the news you’ve been waiting for! I am thrilled to tell you that we are about to officially resume our rollout of BBM for Android and iPhone customers around the globe!* In the next few hours, people will start seeing BBM in Google Play, the App Store and in select Samsung App Stores – where it will be free to download.
The demand for BBM on Android and BBM on iPhone continues to be amazing. About six million people signed up for information about BBM at BBM.com. As you know, in just seven hours, about one million Android users were using the unreleased version of BBM for Android. What you don’t know is that more than one million people have found creative ways to “side load” BBM on their iPhone. This is incredible.
To help manage this unprecedented pent up demand for BBM, we are implementing a simple line-up system to ensure a smooth roll out. Here’s how it is going to work…
BBM Roll Out Details:
Download BBM – the easiest way is to visit BBM.com from your Android or iPhone browser*
Once you install the app, open it, and enter your email address to hold your spot in line
We will email you as soon as you reach the front of the line and can start using BBM
If you are among the millions that took the time to sign up at BBM.com, you can start using BBM immediately without waiting in line.* If you didn’t sign up in advance, don’t worry – we are focused on moving millions of customers through the line as fast as possible.
Our team of developers and engineers has been working around the clock to bring you BBM – and make some upgrades while we’re at it – and some incredible work has been done. I look forward to sharing more of this with you here, on Inside BlackBerry, soon.
For updates on how quickly the line is moving you can follow @BBM on Twitter. I will be back tomorrow with another post to provide you with an update on the line-up and to share more detail about the work the team has done over the last several weeks.
Lastly, thank you for your patience. We know you’re excited (we are too!) and we look forward to having you join us on BBM.
*Samsung customers in Sub-Sahara Africa can download BBM today from the Samsung Apps store. iPhone and other Android users in Africa will be able to download the app in three days’ time.

The website for both products can be found *HERE*.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

Blackberry Playbook Update (2.1.1753)

I don't use my Blackberry Playbook on a daily or even on a weekly basis since with all the electronic gadgets that I have which are capable of browsing the internet and reading e-mail messages, I will only generally use my Playbook only when the battery is low on my other tablets. When I turned on my Blackberry Playbook a few days ago, I received a notification that there was an update to perform.

The update was 2.1.1753 and was listed as being 397 MB in size. Previously, my Blackberry Playbook was running 2.1.0.1526.

I didn't monitor the download entirely since it was a 2 or 3 step process depending on your viewpoint (downloading and then installing and of course a reboot). During the updating process, the message on the Playbook mentions that it should be plugged in. Even though the battery power on my Playbook was full, I didn't try to see whether it will work unplugged.

Since the first part of the process requires downloading the 397 MB update. For me the entire update process was close to 1 hour. As mentioned, I did not monitor the entire process but at the 1 hour mark, I checked the Playbook screen and it displayed a message indicating that a reboot/restart was necessary.

I clicked on the reboot/restart and after the standard boot-up time, I went back into my Playbook and tried out a few of the applications to see if I could notice any differences.

I didn't notice any differences. I checked Facebook and just like previously, the profile pictures for the news feeds don't appear.

At the same time, I looked at my Acer tablet and there was also an update listed for it as well. I will apply this update at a later date but will definitely apply it since I believe in keeping all software and tablet/phone OSes updated whenever possible.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

Delay in Blackberry Messenger (BBM) for iOS and Android

In this week's blog entry, I was going to write about BBM being available for the iPhone and Android. The date that was stated on Blackberry's blog posting indicated that the Android version of BBM would be available at the Google Play Store on Saturday September 21 whereas the iOS/Apple version of BBM would be available on the Apps Store on Sunday September 22. You can find this mentioned on Blackberry's official blog *HERE*.

Looking at Blackberry's blog entry for today (September 23, 2013), it looks as if it will probably be awhile for BBM to be widely available for Android and iPhone.

Hi Android and iPhone users,
This is Andrew Bocking, head of BBM at BlackBerry. As a follow up to our first blog post on Saturday, I want to take a moment to provide you with an update on the rollout of BBM on Android and iPhone.Last week, an unreleased, older version of the BBM for Android app was posted on numerous file sharing sites. We were aware of an issue with this unreleased version of the BBM for Android app. This older version resulted in volumes of data traffic orders of magnitude higher than normal for each active user and impacted the system in abnormal ways. The version we were planning to release on Saturday addressed these issues, however we could not block users of the unreleased version if we went ahead with the launch.
We attempted to address the problems caused by the unreleased version throughout the day on Saturday, but as active users of the unreleased app neared a million – and accelerated – it became clear that the only way to address the issue was to pause the rollout for both Android and iPhone.
The team is now focused on adjusting the system to completely block this unreleased version of the Android app when we go live with the official BBM for Android app. We are also making sure that the system is reinforced to handle this kind of scenario in the future. While this may sound like a simple task – it’s not. This will take some time and I do not anticipate launching this week.
Thank you for your patience while we take the time needed to deliver the experience you expect from BBM. We will continue to provide you with updates here on InsideBlackBerry.com and through @BBM on Twitter. We will notify everyone who has pre-registered on BBM.com when BBM is available on Android and iPhone.
Andrew Bocking
EVP, BBM

The above was taken from http://blogs.blackberry.com/2013/09/bbm-android-iphone-update/

With all the bad news coming from Blackberry these days, I'm hoping that they actually release BBM for Android and for the iPhone and they don't break their promise similar to what they did when they promised to release BB 10 for the Playbook but then later mentioned that because BB 10 wouldn't run optimally on the Playbook, the decided not to move forward with this project.

For me, even though I have a Blackberry Q10 that has BBM on it, I'm eagerly awaiting (and hoping) that they release BBM for the iPhone and Android platform but based on their past performance, I'm not sure if it will happen anytime soon (if ever).

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.