Last weekend, the trackpad of my BlackBerry Curve 3G began to malfunction and inevitably I ended up sending it down to Lagos to be replaced. Coincidentally that same day, BlackBerry services in Europe, Africa and Asia were interrupted due to a core switch failure within RIM’s infrastructure. This interruption made it impossible to receive email, BB messages and browse the web.
Though the Blackberry internet service is gradually being restored, I can’t help but be somewhat amused at what my state of mind would have been if my BlackBerry hadn’t developed a fault during this period.
Massive Frustration!
I’ve gradually gotten so addicted to the damn phone that I simply can’t imagine carrying it about without connection to the world for 2 days.
It suddenly dawned on me that without BIS, BlackBerry devices are no different from generic cell phones that can only make and receive calls as well as send text messages.
In my honest opinion, I think it’s about time that the folks at RIM worked hard on an OS update that would enable BB devices function even when their servers go down. Right now only a select number of BlackBerry apps can function without BES/BIS. The important functions like Browsing, Email, BlackBerry and Social Network Messaging are tied down to BIS/BES.
My mind is now set on getting a backup smartphone with a sexy sturdy email client but all the available ones aren’t Dual SIM enabled and I don’t like the idea of carrying around 3 phones.
To my fellow BlackBerry users, how did you all make it through the 2 days of BB darkness?
This post was written by
Guest writer, Chukwudi Udegbunam is a Medical Doctor who in his pastime writes about small online business tips and mobile technology tips at his blogs StrictlyOnlineBiz and PatchworkOfTips.
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October 15th, 2011 at 12:57 am Browsing with
Sorry Chux, but that’s your choice. Lol. On a serious note, a platform that gives you everything you desire in a Smartphone but develop problem that takes one week to resolve once in two or three years time is no real problem for me. You need a taste of the Android world to know what real problem is.
How can you cope with a platform that has at least ten excellent apps for each category of task. For instance, for file management you have ten excellent apps to choose from, same for media players, text editing apps, web browsers, email apps, dictionary apps, bible apps, social networking apps… and the list continues.
Every platform has its unique problems and advantages. As you can see here Android case is an ongoing thing while Blackberry’s problem occurs once in a very long while. The important thing is when it is not having problem, it is working satisfactorily.
Another good thing for you is that you didn’t even experience the problem and maybe when next the problem will occur, you will misplace your phone temporarily within the period the problem will last. At least you can manage so long as you are not having the phone with you while there is problem with connection. Cheers.
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October 15th, 2011 at 3:44 am Browsing with
(
It suddenly dawned on me that without BIS,BlackBerry devices are no different from generic cell phones that can only make and receive calls as well as send text messages.
)
I thought without BIS/BES on, you can still use the phone as a normal SMART phones? If I subscribe to a generic data service, are you saying those blackberry apps would NOT work?
If this is not the case, desperate blackberrians could have subscribed to a temporary daily data connection, right?
Kindly clarify, Mr PatchWork..
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October 15th, 2011 at 5:08 am Browsing with
@eye.bee.kay most of the bb functions are actually tied to the BIS module. for browsing you can use the wap browser which will work directly with any data plan you subscribed to outside BIS
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October 15th, 2011 at 5:44 am Browsing with
@fortespy:, so if I have WhatsApp for BB, or Nimbuzz for BB, installed, and i have a data plan outside the BIS/BES, I can still communicate.
My non native browser would work.
It would then appear that the two_day downtime is being over-publicized?
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October 15th, 2011 at 6:47 am Browsing with
@Harry: with the android being the talk of the town, i wasn,t aware it had quite some issues of its own. I guess i could live with no service once in three years.
@EBK: Configuring the native browser to work with a separate data plan isn‘t that easy especially when the service provider doesn‘t provide a service book for it. Also only apps that have an internet setting option page will work with regular data plan, like ubersocial, podtrapper and uc browser. Unfortunately uc browser doesn‘t like the OS5 platform at all
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October 15th, 2011 at 6:52 am Browsing with
@chukwudi… Pls i’ll like to know the issues with android
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October 15th, 2011 at 6:54 am Browsing with
Personally the idea of having another data plan on my blackberry is somewhat of a waste of financial resources as monthly i have to recharge my glo and etisalat lines for usb modem browsing and etisalat line for regular mobile phone browsing. And when them all are misbehaving, i have to jump on EMPTY-N too
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October 15th, 2011 at 6:59 am Browsing with
@Fortespy: i don‘t know oh. I haven‘t used one before and @harry who kinda insinuated it should be in a better position to answer that question but then again haven‘t you noticed any problem on the android platform or is it all smooth sailing?
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October 15th, 2011 at 7:21 am Browsing with
@chukwudi.. sorry dat was meant for ha angrry.i use an android and i enjoy it… excellent graphics,email client,social hub,connectivity etc…. no issues….
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October 15th, 2011 at 7:56 am Browsing with
guys, is the nokia 603 an awesome phone?
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October 15th, 2011 at 8:23 am Browsing with
@destoto…. ur choice of smarphone is a function of what features you’re looking out for in a phone… what do u need?
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October 15th, 2011 at 8:58 am Browsing with
@chuks: u still did not tell us if ur bb track pad was fixd for u in lag. 2ndly, u said wen u tot of a replacment for ur bb, no smrt fone carries 2sims cnc u dont lik d idea of carrying 3fones. Was ur BB carrying 2sims? Then u said UC browser is difficult on BBOS5, but u tot dose who hav it on how to upgrade to BBOS6 .
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October 15th, 2011 at 11:23 am Browsing with
I paid N1,000 to have the trackpad changed but my sister will be testing for the nest few days to make sure it’s working flawlessly before sending it back to me again.
I wasn’t talking about getting a replacement for my BB. Just a second phone to carry my other SIMs
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October 15th, 2011 at 1:05 pm Browsing with
Alternatively, (When RIM acts up again) get you carrier APN settings, input same under options (TCP/IP) column-depending on the OS running- and get a proxy browser a la opera. With this you should be able to browse, however native BB application won’t work…this should help.
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October 16th, 2011 at 12:00 pm Browsing with
I would have been in a nightmare if I was a BB user. However, I don’t think it is really pleasant tying my data needs just to one Internet service (BIS & BES). And maybe, that’s one reason that I may never embrace the Blacberry ecosystem. I use SYmbian and iOS. iOS has its own push notification system for all it’s apps and services. Symbian apps are nifty and gets email pushing in real time done. I could use any data plan or services, or even WIFI to power my needs with these platform!
But these locks on BB, I just can’t cope with. Sorry, I pass.
My suggestion, is that Bkackberry should allow it’s users some option! They should try to differentiate their smartphone business from their software business. Marrying the two together will bring few converts into the BB fold. People who love the platform may remain, quite alright, but new users may feel the system is too locked down!
Someone ought to be able to buy a BB phone and opt not to use the BIS functionality and still get all the features of the phone and not just a crippled dumb phone without BIS. JUST my thoughts. No dissing intended!
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October 16th, 2011 at 11:56 pm Browsing with
3 days of bb outage compared to 51 years of phcn outage. Someone please cry for us.
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October 18th, 2011 at 12:57 pm Browsing with
Actually you’re wrong there.Nimbuzz whatsapp etc. can only work with BIS. The only way you can use a data plan other than BIS is the wap browser. everything else including bbm and email are useless
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October 18th, 2011 at 1:33 pm Browsing with
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AfewGoodMen…They should try to differentiate their smartphone business from their software business
)
My thoughts exactly..
@Tee OR @Veritas1506
who do we believe. I want ti flow with Veritas1506
@Tee:If a wap browser would work with the network APN settings, why would, say NIMBUZZ, whatsapp not work.?
If you have, or anybody else has- that technical knowledge, kindly share..
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October 18th, 2011 at 1:56 pm Browsing with
@ebk,nimbuzz and whatsapp are third party applications which are totally dependent on d bis.the wap browser will only do web browsing..
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October 18th, 2011 at 2:35 pm Browsing with
@fortespy:, thank you.
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