Saturday, November 16, 2013

Why I still rock a Blackberry 10 instead of a iPhone 5 or Galaxy S4

My smartphone signature gets me a ton of grief.

"Sent from my BlackBerry Q10 Smartphone." 

You'd think people have become numb to Smartphone e-mail signatures by now. Well not mine. They notice. My co-workers (and some of them unmercifully) constantly take jabs at me. "Well I know you still enjoy your BlackBerry but that just wouldn't work for me," is a very common take that I hear. 

Truth is that there is a DAMN good reason that I still rock a BlackBerry. Like many former BlackBerry users I waited ever so patiently for the arrival of the Blackberry 10 platform. It took, some would say, the patience of job as launch after launch was yet again delayed. Blackberry missed their window.  

Like most I had moved on. First I picked up an iPhone 4s and then I tried a Galaxy S3. I really enjoyed the S3 but the text lag began to kill me. My next move was to an iPhone 5. I was changing phones like my fiance buys dresses and shoes but truth was I was more of a lady in waiting than anything. I would watch Blackberry 10 "teaser" videos and read reviews of product prototypes. My BlackBerry Torch hadn't measured up to BlackBerry's of days gone by and my tablet use as a compliment to my mobile experience was non-existent; was going back to Blackberry even a realistic option at this point?  

I still wanted my BlackBerry back. I was even willing to compromise to a degree after learning that BlackBerry 10 would bring a slew of new apps to the BlackBerry platform but leave many popular apps on the table with no scheduled development for the Blackberry 10 Operating System.  

So why at first chance did I come running back to BlackBerry? Easy. It's still the best damn messaging smartphone on the planet. Our company is still far too e-mail based...Miss an e-mail and you are out of the loop big time. Inner-group reporting and communication is nearly 100% through e-mail. Communication with our factory reps is the same. Also my personal foray into Social Media consulting was growing and the different kinds of messages I receive on a daily basis were carrying nearly equal weight. On some days a Tweet, a LinkedIn message, voice call or FB message might be as important as the last e-mail. On most devices that means opening up each native application to receive that message. I literally can't stand that. It's inefficient and managing my personal communication from app to app through individual notifications was only going to give me obsessive compulsive disorder down the road. I hate that to live my life it meant having 11 applications open on my personal device full time.

BlackBerry has always put a premium on giving you all of your mobile communication in one easy to find message "bank." Now called the "BlackBerry Hub" under the new BB 10 OS it is still the same concept BlackBerry users have grown to love. Tweets, FB notifications, Linked-In invitations and messages, SMS texts and e-mails from multiples accounts are in the same real time "bank" as the records of voice calls and voicemails. Frankly when I am rocking my BlackBerry and I am truly dialed in ... I miss less and accomplish more. It's more about the truest functions of a phone. 

Whether it's employee communication or connecting with customers I have learned one thing during the "communication revolution." That is that people have different preferences for how they will communicate with you. I remember a year ago I had an old friend who had complained to his mom that I had not returned his messages. Of course this remark made it back to me through my mom and it frustrated me. Yeah I receive over 250 messages a day but had I really not received his message? Well I had but it was a LinkedIn message. At the time my LinkedIn app was getting about as much play as my old Nirvana LPs so the message had flown under my radar.

BlackBerry is the underdog, understood. But it's still my best bet at productivity. 

With my BlackBerry this simply doesn't happen to me anymore. In the now the message that is being carried to your device is still important but now there are 17 different funnels and ways for people to reach out and find you. If you are going to play in the new Era you simply can't afford to have preferences. Simply stated if someone can find your account on an application that might just be where they try to reach out to you. 

And what about all the compromises I have made by going to BlackBerry? All of the apps that I am missing out on? I have been able to overcome most of this by enjoying BlackBerry's incredible browsing experience but also by supplementing my digital life with a kick ass Nexus 7 Google tablet. 

In the past I would argue that where my Smartphone had become a beacon of distraction...a siren constantly singing me to shipwreck (can you say Word With Friends?)...that by switching back to BlackBerry I know am more capable of performing the very tasks that a "Smartphone" should be in theory able to perform. 

Ok I am done ranting and I know you are still most likely not convinced. But hopefully this gives you some insight into how people should or truly do consume a device ... not simply a spec vs spec review of Blackberry versus the latest and greatest mobile tech.

Shoot there is a chance that BlackBerry as we know it doesn't even survive the fiscal year. Well that's ok. I am dialed in again waiting to hear from you and that is all that matters. Oh and there are many ways to get in touch. 

"Sent from my BlackBerry Q10 Smartphone." LOL

Brett Morgan

1 comment:

  1. I agree... I waited so long for the Q10 to come that when "the troubles" didn't dissipate at RIM, I held onto my storm, thinking that I would wait again.. then I tried an iPhone which gave me 12 days of pure hell and latency, and power issues, etc. etc. I finally went to the Q10 and OMG - what a wonderful phone. Truly, the Q10 is the best of both worlds and while I probably don't know what apps I'm missing to share photos of my recent vacation I do know I'm on the best business device and he one that has the right to lay claim to the title "smart phone". I did a WebEx last week on my Q10 - and it couldn't have gone smoother, perfect integration of video and voice (plus using AT&T for simultaneous texting)... HEAVEN. An unlocked Q10 can be had for 50% off these days... run don't walk to get one.

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