Iphone

Thank You

November 27, 2013 by koalateagirl

I think as a society we focus too much on the negative and not enough on the positive. This applies to BlackBerry too. We are all too eager to jump all over the company for a perceived misstep but rarely do we stand back and thank the company and their employees for all of their hard work and dedication to the principles that make BlackBerry the great company that it is.

Today BlackBerry rolled out Channels for BlackBerry Messenger. BlackBerry could have done what other companies have done and said “screw legacy users, if they want Channels, they should upgrade to a newer device”. The fact that they didn’t says a lot about the corporate culture at BlackBerry. Instead of releasing Channels for the new, flashy BB10 operating system and leaving legacy device users hanging, BlackBerry employees working on channels worked long days, nights, and even weekends in order to roll out Channels to everyone at the same time. To me that says that BlackBerry values all of its customers and wants to bring them all the best experience. Yes there was an error in the app world description of channels where it said that OS 10.2 (which at this time is still unavailable from US carriers) was required to load the Channels instead of requiring BBM 10.2. To their credit, within 20 minutes of learning of the problem, the problem was fixed. No company is perfect, mistakes will be made, but the speed with which the mistake was corrected shows that Blackberry cares about their customers. Would BlackBerry like everyone to upgrade to the newest devices? Of course they would. (If you’re reading this and are on the fence about upgrading to BlackBerry 10 – do it! It’s an amazing operating system with both touchscreen and keyboard models.) But BlackBerry also respects their customer base enough to realize that not everyone can afford to upgrade, and that even those who haven’t upgraded to a new device or operating system deserve the best possible mobile computing experience. For that I give a heartfelt thank you.

Thank you BlackBerry for caring about all of your customers and for providing user experience that shows that your customers are more than just faceless sources of revenue. The next time someone questions my loyalty to BlackBerry, I will direct them to this post.

P.S. If you’re an Android or iPhone user, you can still get the best messaging system on the planet by heading to bbm.com, Channels isn’t available for Android and iPhone yet but will be released in the coming months. In the meantime, enjoy the awesomeness that is BBM! (#BBM4All on Twitter).

She’s Connected and my BlackBerry

October 24, 2012 by koalateagirl

You know what I absolutely love hearing when showing off my Bold 9900? “Wow, I didn’t know a BlackBerry could do THAT“. I heard that a lot this weekend at the She’s Connected Conference in Toronto. Mostly it was the simple things like the fact that managing multiple accounts in the Native Twitter Application is so easy. Or that I could remote control my PlayBook from my Bold 9900 (to be honest, that was me showing off because I had the bluetooth keyboard for the PlayBook and was perfectly capable of typing on that but I like the wow factor of the remote control). I loved meeting so many fellow BlackBerry devotees and being able to help them use their devices more easily. It’s not rocket science but there are tips and tricks that will enhance your experience as a member of Team BlackBerry.

Bold 9900 - BlackBerry Bold - TARDIS berry — My BlackBerry Bold 9900

The one question everyone seemed to ask me was if I was excited about the upcoming release of the BlackBerry 10 devices and operating system. The answer to that was an unequivocal YES! I am very excited about BlackBerry 10 and can’t wait until it is released! I still don’t know how I’m going to get a BlackBerry 10 device into my hot little hands but rest assured, it will be done. I have friends who are developers for BlackBerry and their excitement at what the BB10 OS can do has rubbed off on me. I truly believe that there is a core market of BlackBerry users who may have switched to another platform who are waiting for an excuse to come back to the BlackBerry fold. I believe that the BlackBerry 10 Operating System will be the thing to bring them back. I spoke to quite a few people who either had been BlackBerry users in the past or who were simply curious about the new product launch. A number of them were at the end of their cell phone contracts and were eligible for a new device, either now or at the beginning of the year. After chatting with me, many of them are waiting to see what BlackBerry 10 has to offer before deciding what phone to get. I wasn’t out to strong arm people into becoming members of Team BlackBerry but I wanted people to give it a chance.

BlackBerry isn’t for everyone. If you want a smartphone to game on, then this isn’t the right solution for you. However, if you want your phone to work FOR you, and WITH you then you need to consider BlackBerry. I primarily use my BlackBerry for social media, emails, as a gps, as a camera, and *gasp* to make and receive phone calls Yes I have a number of very entertaining apps and games, but they’re not the reason I chose my BlackBerry. I have far more games on my 64 gb PlayBook.

BlackBerry PlayBook - Bluetooth Keyboard - PlayBook - BlackBerry — My PlayBook

Not once all conference did i wish I had a different phone. My Bold 9900 had no issues connecting to the wifi, releasing the cached wifi info page so I could log in again on the second day, or with maintaining a battery charge throughout the conference. I don’t want to have to carry around a charger for my phone because it won’t last 10 hours. I was having too much fun trying to meet up with twitter friends to be hunting for somewhere to plug in my phone.

Why my loyalty isn’t going anywhere

August 28, 2012 by koalateagirl

In case you couldn’t tell from the title of my blog, I’m a BlackBerry fan. I have tried iphones and Androids and while they were a lot of fun, my infatuation usually only lasted a month or two. I’ve had my Bold 9900 for a year now. A year of bad press for Research In Motion and of people constantly asking me why I would want to jump on board a sinking ship. The answer is simple: I don’t believe that the ship is sinking. I LOVE the functionality of my BlackBerry Bold 9900 and am very excited by what I’ve been hearing about BlackBerry 10. My Bold 9900 allows me to work from the dock, at a football game, or from my bedroom. Documents To Go allows me to edit word and excel documents from my BlackBerry without turning on my laptop or PlayBook. BlackBerry Messenger (which despite some comments I’ve heard on Twitter is not going anywhere) helps me keep in touch with friends and family.

I have a bunch of amazing apps on my BlackBerry Bold 9900 and on my PlayBook. To all those who say that BlackBerry doesn’t have a wide selection of apps, I ask: Have you been to App World lately? The app that I fell in love with most recently is BlackBerry Traffic. I drive into Toronto a few times a month, and there’s nothing I like less than being stuck in traffic because I don’t know the alternate routes. Now I have an app that not only gives me my ETA based on current traffic conditions but it also gives me an alternate route in case I can’t take the traffic jams anymore. How awesome is that? The app gives you turn by turn directions either through your bluetooth headset or through the speaker on the BlackBerry. You can even set it up to go through your car’s audio system (though I haven’t done this yet). I learned about this awesome app from my friend Nick who used it to get us to the Canadian National Exhibition on Sunday despite some fairly major construction on the 401. Yes we still ended up stuck in traffic but we knew how long we would be in that traffic and that (surprise!) there wasn’t any traffic turning into the underground parking at the Direct Energy Centre.
The app is updated in real time by other users who are also running it. So if I leave from the cottage 30 minutes ahead of Dad and we’re both running it, he gets updated if I slow down for an extended period of time.

If I’m going home to visit my parents, I have a plethora of routes I can choose from. BlackBerry Traffic makes it easy to pick the right one. I simply select my destination and choose the route that’s quickest.

In this case I’d pick the 2nd one because it doesn’t take me on the 407. The green sections indicate good traffic flow, the yellow indicates slower than normal flow, and the red sections mean traffic is very slow.

You can click on a route and it will show you road by road how the traffic is:

I’m going to test this app out more thoroughly over the Labour Day weekend when I’ll be doing a lot of driving, some of it to very unfamiliar places. So far it’s the best traffic app I’ve seen for ANY device.

A word of Introduction

June 12, 2012 by koalateagirl

TardisBerry — My Beloved Bold 9900 – as a TARDIS !

Welcome to my new blog. People keep asking me why I’m so devoted to my BlackBerry (both the Bold 9900 and my 64gb Playbook) so I’m starting this blog to try and explain. It’s not just that I live in the Kitchener-Waterloo area and have had more exposure to the BlackBerry brand. My dad has had a succession of BlackBerries, starting with the “Brick berry” going through the pearl (he was not a fan, nor was I) and after seeing my Bold 9900, he decided he needed the latest and greatest BlackBerry too. I didn’t make my choice of phone lightly. In the spirit of full disclosure I will say that I got my BlackBerry Bold 9900 free after winning a BlackBerry sponsored contest on Twitter. Even so, if it wasn’t the right phone for me, I would have sold it and found something else. I want a smart phone that is actually smart. I don’t play many games (except cribbage and word mole – they’re surprisingly addictive) on my phone. I use my phone to talk to people. Whether it’s by BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), Text messages, Twitter, Facebook, or e-mail, my BlackBerry never lets me down. I love the fact that it has a keyboard and a touchscreen – I can type much faster on the keyboard than I ever could on my IPhone, and I still get the fun of a touchscreen to flip between pictures quickly. It’s the best of both worlds. Oh, and the camera rocks. I also found a skin on Etsy that made my BlackBerrry into a TARDIS from Doctor Who. Yes, I geeked out my BlackBerry Bold. I’m a real person and I need a smartphone that allows me to communicate effectively. For me, that’s my Bold 9900.

Sponsorship Questions

August 28, 2011 by koalateagirl

I’ve been invited to attend the She’s Connected Conference in Toronto in September. I’m really excited to go because I want to learn how to make my blog and Twitter and Facebook accounts more relevant. In the last few days the excitement has started to be co-mingled with trepidation (yes it’s a $20 word but I love it so I’m using it). I’ve seen a lot of the other attendees actively seek wardrobe, travel, or shoe sponsors for the event. Lord knows I’d love to have someone pay for the hotel room for #SCCTO – Money isn’t a luxury I have a lot of right now, but I’m wary because I’m not sure I want to sell myself to do it. Right now, whenever I endorse something on Twitter, Facebook, or here, it’s because i use it and genuinely like it. I won a new Blackberry Bold 9900 on Twitter in July. I entered the #BB7FanNight Contest and won. I got to go to a really fancy launch party and play with all of the new devices that use the BB7 OS and choose one. I received it on Friday an tweeted that I love it. I really do love it. It has a touch screen and a keyboard and it’s really easy to use. There were no terms in the contract that said I had to tweet about how much I loved it – I gave Blackberry PR the right to use the tweets I entered the contest with in their advertising campaign, they liked one of the entries, I won a new Blackberry. If I hated the device I would say that, but I don’t.

Incidentally I also won a pair of Skullcandy ROCNATION headphones at the BB7FanNight event and I love them too. I’ve been looking for a new pair of headphones for awhile, and the ROCNATIONs in addition to looking really cool (they came with a cloth to make sure the outside stayed shiny!) are incredibly comfortable too. The only problem may be that they’re TOO good – when I tried to do some transcription off of a cassette tape they conveyed every hiss and crackle of the tape! I had heard of Skullcandy headphones before but figured they were too ‘hip’ for me – now I don’t care – I just love them.

I have an iphone that I got from my best friend. I like it a lot too – but there are some things about it that drives me nuts. I’m sure after I use the new Bold9900 for a year, there will be things that drive me nuts about them too. If I were to be offered a sponsorship by Blackberry, would I be free to voice any concerns I had about my device?

I’m afraid that if I enter into a relationship with a brand to get sponsorship for a conference, it will force me to not be honest about my opinions of products. I like to support local companies and failing that, Canadian companies. but I’m not willing to support a company that has crap products. I want my friends to know that when I recommend something (like I did with the Adult Essentials vitamins this week to a group of friends) that I actually use and enjoy the product. I’m still pretty new to the whole brands and blogs thing, but I’m not sure I’m willing to sell my soul for the price of a hotel room.