I have spent about five days on a BlackBerry device now, and this is a short update to let people know that I have not yet decided to end my existence. As expected, there are some parts of the BlackBerry experience that I enjoy, and some that I would rather not have to face again. Overall, it’s been a reasonably positive few days.
Initially, there was a short period of readjusting to the new user interface, and it was like learning to use a computer all over again. Nothing was where I am used to having it, and not everything even existed. Heck, it took me three days to figure out that there was a back button; and even then I still forget where it is.
As a platform, the shortcomings of BB10 are less intrusive than expected. The fact that there is a lack of apps in BlackBerry World is unavoidable, although the ability to sideload Android apps does somewhat compensate. A lot of things still don’t work on the smaller square display of the Classic, and those that do occasionally look a little strange. I will definitely have more to say about this by the end of the experience.
One little annoyance was the fact that it uses a nano-SIM card. Something only found in very select devices. There really is no reason for this to be the case, especially if BlackBerry wants to expand its reach beyond a handful of loyal customers.
That being said, the physical keyboard is something completely out of this world. Sure, it takes up a huge amount of space, but the tactile feel of typing on actual keys is something that has been missing from my mobile devices. This will definitely require more exploring in my final write up, and I would rather like to reserve my waxing lyrical for the very end.
The week is coming to an end, and I would really like to let it end on a good note. BlackBerry is not as bad as people say it is, and at this point I would genuinely recommend it. I cannot say that the Classic manages to recover the experience of the older BlackBerry smartphones, but I can say that it gets the job done for the newer generation.
