Thinking Blackberry thoughts... Jill "xtingu" Knapp 9/23 '14

Dear Lazyweb: Has anyone here moved from an Android-based phone to Blackberry recently (or used them concurrently even)? 
Until someone makes a new Android phone with a physical QWERTY keyboard, my only alternative once my Droid4 workhorse dies is lookin' like a Blackberry.
I would give a kidney to get Motorola to make a Droid5, but that doesn't seem like it's ever gonna happen, despite leaked images in August 2013, it's been shelved permanently if the Android and Motorola forums are to believed. So... Blackberry is looking to be my only choice for a physical keyboard.
I use my phone mostly for emailing/texting/tweeting (don't care about a zillion apps, really); and accuracy is absolutely critical for my work emails. 
I'm not interested in how great on-screen keyboards, Swype, or speech-to-text are; also not interested in snap-on Bluetooth keyboards... no need to try to sell me on them. Not gonna work. 
Thanks! 
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9/23 '14 21 Comments
You could always make your own... a pile of dosh and all the days later...

http://faircompanies.com/blogs/view/making-your-own-open-source-android-smartphone/
Thomas Boutell
Wouldn't it be cool if companies would rent gear for a week so you can actually try it for longer than two minutes in a store with a commissioned sales person breathing down your neck?
Lindsay Harris Friel
T-Mo does that with iPhones. You get a week to play with one:

http://explore.t-mobile.com/test-drive-free-trial
Kevin Niemi
Yeah. I would be very happy if VZW would do that. Of course, that's only the second thing I would be happy with VZW about.)
Matt Lichtenwalner
As much as it pains me, I'll ask the locals and get back to you.
Sean M Puckett
One response so far: "I just bought a Q5 that I use just for work related matters. Its keyboard is not too bad. But I miss the trackpad of my Torch that recently died. Supposedly there is some blackberry "classic" coming out that is bringing back the trackpad. Its speedy enough and the screen is nice enough. For my music, app and casual photography needs I carry a Nexus 5 much of the time. I will probably upgrade to a new droid phone in the new year that has a better/faster sensor than the Nexus 5.
I would suggest waiting for the blackberry classic and see if that meets your friend's needs"
Sean M Puckett
The blackberry classic seems to still be on their proprietary OS. I'm not sure if this is a dealbreaker for Jill or not but I know she's pretty Androidian.
Thomas Boutell
Tom and Sean-- you've both provided super-helpful info. Thanks!

I had a BB back in 2005-ish and I recall liking it. BB does have a new phone (the "Passport" I think?) that has a really kooky-yet-cool form factor where the keypad also has some touch sensitivity where you can glide lightly over them and it'll interpret that as a swipe/mouse gesture. Kinda cool.

I taught a class at RIM back in 2007 or 2008 (which is when I had the delightful yet brief opportunity to meet Mr. Catbear) and the RIM folks were pretty cool. If their phone is decent, I'd be happy to kick 'em a few bucks.

I love me some Android (mostly because it's not an iPhone), but I will go wherever the hardware keyboard leads me.

Thanks, gents!

(ps: curious as to who will see this reply. Does only Tom see it since it's a reply to him, or does Sean see it because it's part of his thread?)
Jill "xtingu" Knapp
So far, everybody who has commented on the post will see it.
Thomas Boutell
Everyone sees this thread because it's in response to a public post. Or am I missing something?
Matt Lichtenwalner
Some ambiguity... everyone who can see the post can of course see all the comments. Also, currently, everyone who has commented will be *notified* of comments. The latter could be adjusted later to be a little less noisy.
Thomas Boutell
I got a bell notification for this. I suspect notifications are post-level, e.g. if I participate at all in this post, I get notified when anyone else contributes. But Tom will know for sure.
Sean M Puckett
Thanks again to both of you!
One last question (sorry to threadjack, but hey, it's my post) -- is there a way to have comments emailed to you, au LJ? If not, are there plans? Just curious.

Really digging the site. Kudos to both of you! The UI is so clean and friendly.
Jill "xtingu" Knapp
Right now you get a nightly email with a sentence or so from comments and posts that you haven't seen (if you've already clicked on the bellbox you don't get those in email).

Sending the entire comment is not a bad idea. Right now I confess I'm eager to get people On The Site, but I shouldn't take that too far.
Thomas Boutell
LG Enact on VZW: http://www.lg.com/us/cell-phones/lg-VS890-enact



Kevin Niemi
Meant to add it doesn't really answer your question, but there are still recent Android sliders out there.
Kevin Niemi
I should have added that in my original post-- the phone needs to have modern specs. I've seen the Enact, but sadly the specs on it are pretty shyte... almost parallel to what I have in my Droid 4 which I got in 2011 if memory serves. The marketing lingo behind the Enact even calls it a 'great entry-level phone.' Maybe that's all I need at the end of the day, but I worry that with ancient specs and Verizon's more current bloatware that's designed to run on speedier/beefier phones, it's gonna be a dog outta the box. (And no matter how many times you disable the bloatware, it's always showing some kind remnant in the Running Processes list. Grrr.)
Jill "xtingu" Knapp
Yes, the best thing about my Moto X (which does not address your problem) is that Google hand-optimized the stock Android distro for it. There is no bloatware and everything zooms like a product by that other company.
Thomas Boutell
It would take a bit of homework, but maybe some other distribution on that device would work. (Something like Cyanogen.) Of course, if you're going to go that route, it might be worth trying out on the MotoDroids.
Matt Lichtenwalner
Actually - I might be willing to wipe my MotoDroid and try Cyanogen while I'm home...
Matt Lichtenwalner
And this is me replying with Chrome via the Droid.
Matt Lichtenwalner