BB os6 on 9650

[rkevwill]

Last night, after a long long upgrade process, I upgraded my sprint 9650 to os6. Since the BB and sprint sites, only offered the update in .exe format, Me, being on a mac, had to do an OTA update. Unfortunately, before it would let me download os6, I had to upgrade 2 levels of sprint updates first. Anyway.....

It most certainly is a different experience than OS5. There is a learning curve. Things seem to move a touch slower, but part of that is due to "effects" when closing and opening apps. Some of the apps seem to have nicer overall backgrounds, like the sms app. Much cleaner and better looking.

The main reason I wanted to upgrade, is of course, the webkit browser. Yes, the browser is MUCH better looking. No, its not fast. Interesting, since the 9650 does have the 512k instead of the 256 of the old curve, tour etc. I wouldn't even say its faster than the old browser. However, when it does render, it certainly is much nicer. Frankly, if I have the choice to pick the full or mobile version of a site, I would probably still pick the mobile. We'll see how that works in the future.

I have seen some folks with a traditional small screen, physical keyboard BB say they are downgrading. I'm gonna stick with 6 for now. I like some of the improvements, and am just going to work with this for the time being, and see if I can adapt, and or relish it.

[LandSurveyor]

Having used an 8800 myself, I think the screen size is very limiting no matter how good the browser might be. But the keyboard and Blackberry's implementation of text entry was great. Can't say much about the browser speed as the 8800 was EDGE only so I expected it to be slow.

I expect that new slider might be nice. I wouldnt mind BB coming out with something similar to the Droid Pro or even something similar in shape to the Dell Venue Pro. In pictures, at least, it still seems like the Dell has more screen than the Torch.

I assume that if you wanted to get a Playbook in the future OS6 would be necessary, no?

[rkevwill]

The torch looks interesting, but its not on Sprint yet, so I haven't spent much time looking at it. I already have an iPhone on ATT. Everyone has their own preferences on phones. I have boiled mine down to this. For me, the BB is a better communicator. Phone, text, IM, and email. (and creating or editing documents). my iPhone is a better internet device, period. I usually carry my BB on my person, and carry my iPhone in my briefcase or backpack, to use in Starbucks

[Varjak]

I had a little time to play around on my dad's Torch. I was fairly impressed (other than the screen size). I like the way it handles sites I visit a lot like the Times, Wikipedia, IMDb, The Daily Telegraph, BBC, etc. It really is the perfect phone for him, it seems.

[rkevwill]

My 9650 obviously does not take advantage of OS 6 like the torch would. If I wanted to compare it, it would be like comparing my Macbook Air trackpad, with an iPhone. The trackpad does basically the same thing the screen on the iPhone does, however, its obviously not the same. On the 9650, the little trackpad works similarly to how the screen on the torch would work, other then its way easy to "over flip" (thats my term). I am getting used to it, and am really getting used to the webkit browser. As I said, I dont see it being any faster myself, least on my phone, but its WAY nicer to use Takes some getting used to, and ya need to figure out the zooms and scrolls, which is way important on such a small screen as the 9650.

[wesware]

Just got my Bold 9650 on Verizon. I upgraded from a Storm 9550 because I didn't care much for the touch screen typing. I do miss the bigger display for Web browsing though. Upgraded to OS 6 immediately and I like it so far. Many users complain about the "tray" but I think it is kinda handy. I don't really notice much in the way of response time; think it is about the same as OS 5. WebKit is definitely much better as rendering Web pages as well. Still got my Storm on standby though!

[r0k]

The things I hated most about my BB 8830 were the tiny memory footprint, the tiny screen, the gummed up trackball, and the impossible to use in the dark blue-backlit keyboard. One thing I do miss was the way it handled email and the way the keyboard worked (when I could see it).

Right now I'm walking around with an iPhone 4 and a work-issued Samsung Renown. If I ever got a work-issued BB, it would be locked down by IT and the only time I'd ever see OS 6 is about 10 years after people on Pitcairn Island got OS 6 and 4G. So mainly out of curiosity, I'd like to know a little more about OS 6...

@rkevwill: It's interesting to hear you say you still use the iPhone for internet at Starbucks when you have the Webkit browser on OS 6. Is it the tiny screen? Is the reason you only use it at Starbucks that your iPhone is not on a data plan? Why do you still have the iPhone along? Is the OS 6 browser still somewhat lacking or are there iOS apps you need?

[rkevwill]

The tiny screen, period. I am on the highest data plan on my iphone, but what I meant by inference, is when I have the actual time to surf the net, whether at starbucks, a park, or whatever, I use the iPhone. I also use it for TomTom navigation, and on trips. However, frankly, I prefer my garmin Nuvi. And btw, the 9650 and all the newer BB's don't use a trackball anymore, and haven't for some time. Its all their little touchpad thingy. Plus, the memory is doubled, and more to come I am sure. I have not personally played with a touchscreen BB, but I suspect the web browsing is much better on those, than on my little 9650. (but for myself, I still think the 9650 is a better "communicator" than my iPhone)

Regarding why I still have it along, I don't. I carry it in my briefcase or backpack, and only bring it out when I have the spare time to surf etc, or need to use the web extensively for something. I pretty much only carry my BB on my person, 24/7.

[LandSurveyor]

Another Blackberry isn't the first thing I would consider when I get another smartphone but I wouldn't mind the slider (a feature I normally avoid) since it does have both a full screen and a keyboard. The main reason I might consider a BB again is because of the Playbook, which I hope can be paired with a BB device without incurring a separate data charge.

[rkevwill]

Another Blackberry isn't the first thing I would consider when I get another smartphone but I wouldn't mind the slider (a feature I normally avoid) since it does have both a full screen and a keyboard. The main reason I might consider a BB again is because of the Playbook, which I hope can be paired with a BB device without incurring a separate data charge.

Oh I'm sure the carriers will figure out some way to charge us. For now, I just pair my BB with my Macbook air with Tether BlackBerry, Tether Android | Tether.com