The top 10 things we hate about the BlackBerry

By on Jan 20, 2009 at 7:17 PM
General January 20, 2009

We gave you our iPhone list, and while this probably has many more minor annoyances than actual feature omissions, we still thought it would be fun to put a list of our gripes together. Some of these might be device-specific, but you’ll get a general feel for the direction we’re going and why these things piss us off to no end.

1. The ridiculous limit on file sizes when downloading from the browser. Look, if I want to download a friggin’ video file, let me.

2. Attachments are pretty bad and it has to do with RIM’s ever-so-sneaky compression. We’ve heard that when data is sent over their network, it literally can take a 100kb file and compress it to around 7kb. (A carrier’s dream). Just let us get the entire file without having to constantly wait for it to render when we zoom it, etc.

3. Specifically speaking for the Bold, the “R” shortcut key no longer takes you to the Alarm. This pains me.

4. Actually, about shortcuts… for a product that excels on making your life easier and offering up a ton of user-customization, there is no reason we shouldn’t be able to program our own shortcut keys. If I want the letter “B” to take me to the Memo Pad, then let me do it damn it. I’m tired of being stuck at the mercy of RIM’s shortcut key assignment. They make no sense and they are hardly integrated in 3rd party applications.

5. When you get a pop-up menu, there are no boundaries to where you can scroll. Let’s use one of the Application Permissions screens. Why am I allowed to scroll above “Yes” and below “No”? There are only two options yet it seems as if you could scroll to China before selecting one of them.

6. Horrible APIs that developers can’t access. If RIM opened these up, we’d have a much better set of applications on there than we do now. I’m not sure anyone can say 3rd party apps are one of BlackBerry’s strengths.

6 and a 1/2. One of the reasons the OS is so bad at times is because of the nature of the device — security. We know this is why over 50,000 of them are deployed across the U.S. Government for instance, but look, RIM either needs to deploy a consumer brand or find a way to make this work. Security is great and all, but stick to what you know. You’re either the businessman’s savior or the tween’s IM machine. It’s incredibly difficult to be both. Don’t try and conquer the music industry or take on Apple’s App Store. It won’t work and you’re diverting precious resources away from other serious projects.

7. Build quality has been declining. That’s not to say there aren’t some BlackBerrys that will last forever, but from personal experience, every device since the Bold has suffered countless production issues and problems. (Anyone get the screen freak out on their Bolds? I bet you have.) I’d be interested in seeing the average lifespan of a BlackBerry now compared to two years ago. I think it would be shocking.

8. When sending an email with a local file attachment, show me the status! I want to watch it go from 1%-100%! It comforts me.

9. Desktop Manager shouldn’t take forever to update the operating system. I think it’s fair to say RIM has the longest OS update time in the biz.

10. Stop with the “More” crap. Let me get the entire email message when I want it. Also let HTML emails load external images automatically. Yes, yes, we know. It’s for security. But you know what, if I want to venture out on a limb and *gasp* download external .jpgs automatically, let me!

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  • TedP

    Seriously? that is the best you could come up with?
    Wow, pretty trivial compared to the REAL complaints about an iPhone.

    Anyhow, the fact that it’s a PITA to synch with a Mac are reasons 1-10 for me. How could you miss that??

  • Trumanhw

    Yeah – true JohnG -it would be nice to change the originating/sending email account

    Also, I’d like to be able to change the DEFAULT location when I select to attach an image to an SMS instead of having to dig through 5 folders to get to it.. or that it opens from the folder last used.. the default directory choices should be customizable.

  • Trumanhw

    How about SMS viewing? Its HORRID. You see all your messages and have to scroll for hours to get to old fragments of a conversation from a month ago. And selecting all your old conversations to delete them can take an eternity.

    How about SMS messages SELF-DELETING!? On the bold.. yeah, like “get smart” .. the messages self destruct.

  • jake

    I have a Bold. What is the screen freak out that, according to BG, all of us bold users are supposed to have seen by now?

    I’ve never seen it and don’t even know what the hell Boy Genius talking about.

  • ryan

    Those are all minor problems..let’s get to the big, annoying ones:

    I hate the little things that could make life a lot easier with a BB.

    1) No vibrate and ring at the same time
    2) No fast way to turn down/up the ring tone volume
    3) Speed dial should be based on several numbers, not just the amount of keys on the device
    4) Notification light doesn’t stay on for longer than 15 minutes
    5) No option for light or sound notifications

    These were some of the basic necessary things I noticed when I switched over from a Motorola phone.

  • http://allempires.net Elvis

    God I hate idiotic people. Your mother should be in court for not aborting you. Breeding should be a privilege not a right.

    BGR has complained about both. Stop the Rim fanboy crap, too. Especially your immature tone little boy. Seriously.

    Blackberry does E-Mail good, and that is it. Music is the domain of the MP3 players still when it comes to features.

    WM phones are better than RIM due to the fact that the individuals that use them like the XDA Developer fellows know what technology is and are able to utilize their knowledge to make something better. RIM security is good, but again not as good as to have Obama have one for business use, hence why he uses a Windows CE based phone for that purpose.

    Not a fanboy of either and actually considering getting the 8900 until a decent WM Standard device comes out.

  • Trumanhw

    1. SMS Inbox is ONLY Time/Date sorted, and never filtered except by a search. Threaded messages are not inclusive of all conversations with a person, but of an exact intermittent chronology of SMS, and involves scrolling a page per message. SMS Messages disappear! THREADED SMS, just like the one for BBIM (obviously, minus delivery reports).. but INCLUDING integrated MMS is the only solution. The Inbox should only be of the names of people you haven’t deleted the messages of, sorted by last communication.

    2. Multiple recipient SMS should be by CHECKMARK! (SMS to a group is MISERABLE.)

    3. Change the DEFAULT location when I select to attach an image to an SMS instead of having to dig through 5 folders to get to it.. or that it opens from the folder last used.. the default directory choices should be customizable. There are also too many folders.. Why over complicate it?

    4. Groups should be chosen by scrolling left or right (or ctrl left/right) from the address book field, and should be organized in accordance with Outlook. Um, hello PERSONAL, FAMILY, WORK.. AVOID, etc?! I’d also like to be able to set some groups of people to silent alert only, such as AVOID and FAMILY. lol

    5. Search address book by name or number permutation.. If Im in Orange County, I’d like to be able to dial 714 or 949 to only see those people who live in OC. Or choose a Group titled OC.. How about it?

    6. Adding a phone number for a contact SUCKS. I have to copy and paste it in, instead of updating..

    7. Manage your SMS from the Desktop app

    8. APIs for developers.. Shazam? ShopSavvy? WikiMobile? Visual Voicemail? Cab4me … the list goes on.

    9. Adding someone to messenger contact SUCKS, and requires I copy their PIN, add it in address book, but won’t allow me to initiate PIN-add in BBIM from SMS.. and if I copy the PIN and attempt to add the contact in BBIM, I can’t paste it in the add field, I have to memorize it – it will only accept a contacts name or their email address????

    10. Peronalized menus, where those features you’ve used are the ones presented to you, with -more- as an option for less frequently used features.

    11. Change the originating/sending email account, in case an email I’ve attempted to send fails so I can use my other email account. Although, it could have been limited in the cases I’ve ran in to this problem because I was forwarding the email.. but I still recall it to have been in more conditions that that alone.

    These are easy, and much more urgent than competing with iTunes for music.

  • Steve Lew

    Correct the OS memory leak issues. It’s crazy that people have to do a battery pull.
    I hope the Application Center solves this problem

  • CLost

    Does anyone’s Bold just shut off at random points in the day? Every now and then the screen will just turn black. The red light comes on and I have to wait for it to reboot.

  • Saturn5

    With the 4.5 update, the phone now will not survive the night with enough power to still be on.

    Are they going to fix that problem or do we all need to look to iphones or something that might work.

    I had high hopes when I first got my blackberry, but have been quite disappointed in a lot of areas. Now that it can’t survive without being on constant life support it has no value at all.

  • Rey

    interesting experiences and pieces of thoughts :)

    not being sarcastic or something, but so they say: you can’t have it all at once.

    I enjoy my pearl for all it’s worth, still looking forward to owning the 8900(when the finances make it possible)

    AVery good BlackBerry day to all

  • Joe Boo

    I hate all the crackberry addicts that blatently disrespect the time of their co-workers by checking their e-mails in meetings and other face to face interaction. Nothing says “I don’t care” like reading “Get Viagra!” e-mails when I’m trying to review a serious business issue with you.

  • http://brijux.com Brijesh

    You are right. Please view why I hate my blackberry here

    http://brijux.com/2009/09/14/why-i-hate-blackberry/

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