back to article Finally! How to make Android USABLE: Install BlackBerry OS 10.2

The biggest update to BlackBerry OS 10 so far – version 10.2 – includes more than 300 changes, from new features to fixes for many niggles. In contrast to the the spasmodic and lengthy rollout phase of earlier releases, BlackBerry seems to have got its act together here, removing roadblocks between its servers and users: 10.2 …

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  1. TheVogon

    Just bubbles from the sinking ship....

  2. bazza Silver badge

    Installed it...

    ...and I like it :-)

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Presumably allowing Android Applications makes the already completely compromised BB10 OS even less secure.....

    1. Keyboard warrior

      Not sure you know what you are talking about here...you cannot sideload Android conversions into the Work area, they will only be installed on the personal side and as such sensitive work information such as emails. calendar, contracts, intranet etc, cannot be accessed. This is also the case for Android ports that are downloaded from BB World.

      BB10 has been certified by numerous agencies around the world as secure - however if you have any proof to the contrary please publish it.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "BB10 has been certified by numerous agencies around the world as secure - however if you have any proof to the contrary please publish it."

        BB10 was already completely compromised by a Flash exploit. They fixed that, but it demonstrates that the architecture is not sandboxed, and that once compromised the device is owned. Unlike say a WIndows Phone, where even if you get root access you cant change any binaries and still load them...

      2. Martin Chandler

        "Not sure you know what you are talking about here" - Give the guy a break, he did say "presumably" thus indicating an openness to be clarified.

      3. Jerry G.

        I have been using a Z10 since it came out. There have been a number of update of the OS. So-far I have had excellent results with the phone and like it a lot!

        I am running a number of Android apps in the Z10. They have to be what they call, "side loaded". They work very well.

        I am considering the Z30 to have a slightly larger screen. My question would be is if it is worth the extra cost for this.

      4. Jerry G.

        You are right. I am using both the Z10 and the Z30 for my work.

        The Blackberry phone is extremely secure. Android apps run in what we can call their own sand-box if you understand my description. All apps allowed to run on the Blackberry device must be approved and authorised by Blackberry.

        I will not abandon using Blackberry phones. The enterprise I work for is using Blackberry phones for any type of business where security is important.

  4. ThomH

    Now where's my money?

    "Thank you so much Black berry team. I was waiting this app. It is really great user friendly and smooth."

  5. rcorrect

    "a better DOS than DOS and a better Windows than Windows"

    So developers no longer have to develop applications for BlackBerry OS to have them run on BlackBerry phones. I wonder if history will repeat itself? Then again RIM doesn't have many options at the moment. Still...

    1. TheCraigE

      Re: "a better DOS than DOS and a better Windows than Windows"

      This has literally been the case since the PlayBook landed.

  6. James 51

    A positive BB story!?! First one I cannot remember here for a while. Looking forward to those reviews.

  7. poopypants

    That's nice

    They should put it in a technology museum so that it isn't entirely forgotten.

  8. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

    BB's saviour?

    Release a build that can be installed on say, Samsung Android phones and still let the user have full access to Android apps.

    Ok, I know this is heresy but put yourself in BB's shoes. What can you do to make people love your system without them having to shell out for the phone.

    Desperate times and all that?

    1. bazza Silver badge

      Re: BB's saviour?

      @ Steve Davies 3,

      "Release a build that can be installed on say, Samsung Android phones and still let the user have full access to Android apps."

      Er, you do know this is an article about the BlackBerry operating system, not about the recent BBM port to Android and iOS?

      From what I understand of BB's architecture there's hardware features in BB's phones that support the operating system's security model. Without those hardware features the phone wouldn't be as secure. Porting BB10 to a Samsung might not be possible without ruining the security model.

      BB have offered manufacturers BB10 under license, but so far there's been no takers. Understandable - Android is effectively 'free' and clearly good enough to attract a healthy market. BB10 wouldn't be free.

      On the topic of money, I think it's astonishing how much money Google aren't making out of Android. They do all the work, but it seems that Samsung are the guys making all the money. Google clearly do make some money, but they're effectively missing out one many gigadollars that are being banked by Samsung.

      1. Test Man

        Re: BB's saviour?

        "On the topic of money, I think it's astonishing how much money Google aren't making out of Android. They do all the work, but it seems that Samsung are the guys making all the money. Google clearly do make some money, but they're effectively missing out one many gigadollars that are being banked by Samsung."

        You forget that they don't need direct money from Android - they make money from all the location and advertising data they get from all copies of Android out there. That's the point and a good strategy - make the OS free to get manufacturers to use it and use the data you obtain to sell packaged data to others.

        So no, they are not missing out on money.

        1. bazza Silver badge

          Re: BB's saviour?

          No, Google don't need to make direct money from Android, not so long as their shareholders haven't figured out where it's all going.

          Google made $10billion in 2012, not bad for an ad broker. However Samsung are making more like $30billion. A very big chunk of that $30billion is courtesy of Android, yet it isn't in Google's shareholders' pockets. Samsung galaxy wouldn't be doing anything like that much business without Android. How long before Google's shareholders start wanting a slice of that pie?

      2. Mad Chaz

        Re: BB's saviour?

        Well, do consider this. One of the big saling point of android phones is that a lot of the apps are free with add support. Those adds are google adds for pretty much all apps I have used so far. YMMV, but I can see google making cash there.

      3. Jerry G.

        Re: BB's saviour?

        From the many articles that I have been reading over the last year, it seems Google is making their tons of money by selling user demographic information. When using their operating system, their web pages, and their mail services they are collecting user information. This information is based on what they have viewed on their computer screen, the searches they made, and the purchases they made. They gather all of this through the usage of cookies, and when using their services.

        The information they gather is demographic only. At the most they can know is the computer itself as a hardware device, but not more than that. They are not interesting in our names and the exact address where we live. When considering the billions of searches and views from the many hundreds of millions of users, it would not be practical by any means to know exactly every person individually.

        If users were to absolutely object to allowing demographic information to be collected, we would end up having to pay for every decent web page we visit. The web page operators have to have the income from their web sites to be able to earn a living and pay their expenses. Otherwise there would be no good quality services on the net.

  9. Gerard Krupa

    Smooth

    Blackberry... smooth. Are you one of those bots that's been commenting on the BBM app?

  10. MacNews

    Wow! A FREE upgrade!

    Lock-screen notifications, toast notifications and Priority Hub. "Carnac, what three things do you like best about 10.2 update?"

  11. Oh Homer
    Paris Hilton

    Sorry, but I don't get it.

    BBM is just an instant messaging app. They're ten a penny, in fact they're about ten thousand a penny. You type a message and hit send. That's it. So what's the big deal about BBM?

    Or have I missed something really obvious?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sorry, but I don't get it.

      I'm afraid you have.

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    After the latest revelations concerning Angela Merkel, I imagine BlackBerry may start to do better.

    She's now toting a customized BlackBerry 10 phone. Perhaps security has something to do with her decision.

    1. fandom

      Even India boast about having BB encryption keys, you think the NSA don't?

  13. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Meh

    RIM is not American. So not subject to THE PATRIOT Act

    That may be important to some, not so important to others.

    It depends how much you care about your privacy.

    1. ElNumbre
      Go

      Re: RIM is not American. So not subject to THE PATRIOT Act

      If the revelations are true (and I suspect they are), it almost seems a moot point.

      I suspect those with enough resources can find a way.

  14. AMB-York Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Just drop the price of the Q10

    And I'll buy one.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Laws against spying?

    If the US can ignore its own laws and spy on its own people, as well as everyone in France, then I have little confidence that Canada will be an NSA-free zone, especially considering they're part of the 'five eyes' arrangement.

  16. Glostermeteor

    And why would I want to run Blackberry on a perfectly smooth and slick Android Jelly Bean??

    1. Big_Ted
      Facepalm

      for the same reason

      as those who put CM Roms on to the Nexus 4, because you can and its nice to be different.....

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Because Android is far from 'slick and smooth', it's laggy as hell.

      There is no substitute for experience - try a dual core Android phone then try the dual core Z10. The web browsing is silky smooth (even the new Nexus 7 stutters when zooming in on a webpage - the Z10 doesn't!), try it for yourself.

      The Z10 and Q10 are simply priced too high - thats the main problem.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        > Because Android is far from 'slick and smooth', it's laggy as hell.

        What phone? I've got a Nexus 4 and it's not laggy in the slightest, quite the opposite actually. Battery runtime is a bit sh1t3 though.

  17. knarf

    Playbook

    You can still get 64Gb playbooks for about £110~, fantastic bit of kit for such a cheap price. If you lose or break it more of a "oh well" than a disaster with an alternative tablet. The latest update is good and installing Andriod apps is fairly easy.

  18. Big_Ted

    Tempting....

    Expansys has the Z10 for £255 delivered, makes it a tempting alternative to an android phone except that the Nexus 5 at around the same price will stop me buying one. Sorry BB but you were just too slow getting this OS out the door, if it had come out 18 months ago you would most likely still be a strong number 3 and pushing at number 2 if you could get into developing markets.

    Now however............

  19. JamesTQuirk

    Why?

    I have my Sony Xperia s running linux, much better to run ORIGINAL OS, than a copy of a OS in a higher language, I think ....

    Cant wait for ubuntu for phones, mines a hack and still a bit rough to use ...

    1. Big_Ted

      Re: Why?

      What ?

      What OS is a copy of what other OS ?

      Linux is a unix clone not origional that has had open source developement and comes on many different forms.

      QNX the basis of BB10 is an original OS developed for real time applications.

      So your wron at the start, as for Ubuntu for phones what a waste, hardly any apps now or ever and all the restrictions of linux already ie no Netflix etc due to DRM.......

      1. JamesTQuirk

        Re: Why?

        yeah bad that, no netflicks, pity I never been there ... but having open office on my phone, with Bluetooth Keyboard&mouse, and a HDMI port on the sony, makes it a laptop in hiding as far as I can see ....

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Why?

        "...hardly any apps now or ever and all the restrictions of linux already ie no Netflix etc due to DRM......"

        That is a restriction of GNU/Linux? Hmm, must be similar to your restriction to learn anything about GNU/Linux. BTW, how do you find the time to post here without a start button? Wait, you upgraded.

      3. Richard Plinston

        Re: Why?

        > Linux is a unix clone not origional ...

        > QNX the basis of BB10 is an original OS developed for real time applications.

        QNX was originally, and still is, a Unix clone.

        It is Posix compliant and, on desktops and servers, ran X-windows and much BSD and Unix software.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Why?

          "It is Posix compliant and, on desktops and servers, ran X-windows and much BSD and Unix software."

          So? None of that necessarily makes QNX a UNIX clone. E.g. the same compatibility list also applies to VMS (or did when VMS Posix was available), and VMS certainly isn't a UNIX clone.

          1. Richard Plinston

            Re: Why?

            > So? None of that necessarily makes QNX a UNIX clone.

            The same can be said of Linux. It can't directly run Unix binaries either.

            QNX runs on a Unix like filesystem which is inode based, which VMS does not. VMS's Posix is a conversion layer on top of the OS. In QNX it is native, because QNX is a Unix clone.

  20. Vince

    3 also...

    Not just Vodafone and EE, BB 10.2 out for phones on 3 5 too...

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mine's a galaxy ace. still runs fines for pretty much everything I do with it.

    Just have to remember to reboot it every now and again.

    Now if only the vulture app would load properly and not say I don't have network when I clearly do, that would be a real upgrade.

  22. Sporkinum

    BB

    My employer only does Jesus-phones and Blackberries, depending on network availability. Where I live, the carrier doesn't have Jesus-phones or the 10 Blackberries, so I carry a Curve. There aren't a whole lot of people here still carrying them, so not worth the effort to update the BES. That being said,the 2 year old Torch I carried got lost last week, so I was issued a new Curve. It works fine for me, and I like the fact of how small it is. Smaller than a Jesus-phone, and smaller than the old Torch. 7.1 OS seems ok to me, but all I do is phone, mail, and endomondo.

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