By Ellen
Roseman
As a loyal
user who upgraded to the Q10 model last May, I’m worried about the proposed
BlackBerry sale to Fairfax Financial.
What will
happen to our warranties if the company goes out of business? Will the
operating system be updated regularly or stay the same?
I could say
I regretted my decision after the announcement late Monday. But to tell the
truth, I regretted my decision days after buying a new BlackBerry.
My Q10 has a
keyboard, which I wanted because email is my primary use. And while it has many
new features, it lacks a few I found essential in earlier models.
I adored my
first BlackBerry, purchased in July 2004, which allowed seamless syncing of
emails, contacts and calendar from a desktop computer (using the BlackBerry
Enterprise Server).
Now I could
keep up with all my work activities without visiting the office.
“BlackBerry
a lifesaver if you’re drowning in email,” said the headline on my 2004 column,
praising the device and warning of the risk of becoming a “crackberry” (a trap
I fell into later).
At the time,
the company had just surpassed two million active subscribers. It currently has
a stable base of 60 million monthly customers, according to Star business
reporter Michael Lewis.
My
BlackBerry Torch was a few months short of a three-year contract term when I
sprang for the much-hyped Q10 with an improved Internet browser.
Expecting to
get the same ease I had before, I paid my wireless carrier $650 for the
hardware and $130 for an early upgrade.
The new
smartphone was a marvel of integration with social media, but had a big
shortcoming: It didn’t sync well with my desktop computer any more.
The Q10
added Facebook, Twitter and Linked In contacts to my contact list, making it
cluttered and hard to navigate.
And when I
replied to emails when out of the office, I couldn’t see whether or not I had
responded when I used my desktop. I had to search through my Sent file to
double check.
That was
annoying — but paled in comparison to my device’s battery life.
An overnight
battery charge didn’t get me through a whole day. Sometimes, the phone would
get incredibly hot and conk out after a few hours.
I bought a
second battery, which also had to be recharged overnight, and tried every trick
in the book to cut down on power use.
Finally,
when my device went dead in less than three hours, I returned it to my carrier
and got a new one. I must have had a lemon the first time, since I can now get
through the day on one battery charge.
But my email
syncing problem lingers on. And when I asked BlackBerry about it, I found there
was no quick solution.
Giving an
update on the Replied To marker in Outlook, a staff member said: “I have
confirmed that this functionality is targeted for an upcoming release of our
hand-held software for the BlackBerry Q10.”
In other
words, keep taking the time to search your Sent file to see if you actually
replied to an email from your mobile device.
Mohammed
Halabi, owner of MyBillsAreHigh.com, a telecom expense management firm, has
found other BlackBerry users disappointed with the Q10 — but not with the Z10,
which has a big screen and no keyboard.
Forty per
cent of Q10 buyers have asked him to exchange the device for a BlackBerry 9900
(an earlier model) or one with an Apple IOS or Android operating system.
They’re paying their way out of long-term contracts.
“We push for
the carriers to do it at a lower cost,” he tells me. “We negotiate their
upgrade fee, saying the device wasn’t living up to their expectations.”
So, here’s
my advice. Go back to your carrier if you feel your new device doesn’t live up
to the standard you relied on in the past. Ask for a deal on a new phone, even
if it’s an older BlackBerry that may suit you better.
An early
exit in the first few months tends to be expensive. But in this case, the
timing may work in your favour.
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