Shahriyar Ali
Unlike previous BlackBerry smartphones, the BlackBerry Z10 & other upcoming handsets will feature wireless software updates OTA (Over The Air). You just need to connect WiFi or 3G to get these updates which are sent down by your carriers. Though this is the simplest software update process to date, there might be some carrier delays before rolling out to customers. AND WE DON’T LIKE IT!
Carrier support in India (and in many countries) aren’t really great in comparison to the West. BlackBerry pushed out a hefty update for the BlackBerry Z10 last week which features:
- 3rd Party App Performance: We’ve improved performance for 3rd party applications, so developers can build apps that run fast and smooth for you. With this update, you might want to keep an eye out for some fresh new app launches in March, like WhatsApp.
- Phone, Calendar, and Contacts: Among the top improvements and features are fixes for Gmail calendars on BlackBerry 10. You’ll also find improvements in the BlackBerry Hub for logging calls log and how conversations are handled. We’ve also made general improvements to importing contacts from online sources.
- Camera: We’ve optimized the camera for better photos in low-light situations. You’ll love the difference this makes for photos where you don’t use a flash – like the Time Shift Camera feature.
- Browser and Media: With more and more of you using the gorgeous screen on the BlackBerry Z10 to consume online videos and media, we’ve made a number of improvements to the software in the way the browser handles video playback to provide a fantastic experience.
- Battery Life: The software team has included a number of battery life optimizations with over 60 battery saving improvements since launch to keep you moving. These combined improvements are designed so that you see improvements in battery life and heavy users especially should see a longer average usage per charge cycle.
Unfortunately this update hasn’t yet showed up for us Indians. Thanks to CrackBerry & BBE, we finally managed to snatch this update by using a non-Indian SIM card, here we used a Thai Dtac (Telenor) network SIM, who seems to push the update OTA already. You JUST need to get a different network SIM card & if that carrier qualifies the update, you’ll get notified on your Z10. Just download & install, switch back to your SIM and enjoy the new OS.
Its not compulsory to chase for a Thai SIM card. Just try all global networks until you find the update.
* Note: Backup your device before attempting any updates. BBIN is not responsible for any bricking or malfunction of device.
Relying on the carriers to push out updates is the single most terrible idea ever. Blackberry should own this process and updates over their devices. Not the carriers.
Apple can push out updates for ALL carriers, all over the world and on all different iOS devices at the same day. People LIKE that. People HATE waiting for features and improvements.
Blackberry learn from this please. Frustrates people much more than you think.
It has a very good reason behind that. I would dislike if they push the same OS to all devices around the world. For ex: T-mobile uses different cellular band with UMA, that particular carrier does need a “tailor-made” OS to handle the network and data. Alike every carrier needs different optimization.
That’s rubbish. The iPhone has plenty of different LTE band versions a Verizon coma version and all of the old versions too. It’s easily possible to have one version for all variants.
You don’t have to be rude and with your Rubbish word, rub your comment.
Pull your iPhone out, switch it to 3G network and compare the battery life with BlackBerry and iPhone. Make sure you have proper OS on your BlackBerry, latest from the carrier. You should test before speaking out
Kims,
You are right. It was rude and I shouldn’t have said that. My honest apologies.
And I am speaking from experience. I tested before speaking out. I am using various iPhones and Blackberrys for 6 years side by side (work and private) and mobile phones since 1992 when GSM was introduced in Germany. My first mobile was an Ericsson GH172, google that, it’s a real clunker, it weight nearly 0.5kg. It had 8 hours of battery life 😉 I also rotate sometimes with a Galaxy Nexus for the pure Android experience, and a Lumia 710 to play with WP. This is to keep an eye on the different approaches, understand and master them, so I know what I am talking about. Living with a different device for a few weeks does change your views qute a lot. I am using the Z10 for 3 weeks now and have used every version of the iPhone and plenty of Blackberry devices. And yes, I have updated the Z10 to the latest OS (when it was finally released 2 days ago) and the battery life did improve A LOT but is still not great. From my experience still lacks behind the iPhone. While historically my old Blackberrys had tremendous battery life. But I wasn’t complaining about the battery life. I think it’s now competitive.
I am complaining though about the way Blackberry releases updates and improvements.
The fact remains that if you rely on carriers to push out updates, you have a massive fragmentation with many devices being several releases behind the rest. Apps won’t work correctly, people will continue to experience weird issues all over the place that won’t be reproducible for everyone, BlackBerry will be slower to issue proper bug fixes. Overall this is quite a terrible idea. Hence the Apple Model is better for the consumer (Windows Phone wants to go there too). What if you carrier doesn’t even have Blackberry in their line up, they might never release the update but you are using your Blackberry on their network? Currently that would mean you will never receive the update. During an update the device identifies itself and which radio bands it supports and gets the appropriate update. That’s not rocket science.
If Apple can do it, Windows Phone can do it, why not Blackberry?
I really love Blackberry, that’s the reason it makes me so angry. If you see a company making obvious bad choices and wrong decisions. I already purchased my Z10 the day it came out in Dubai and spend over the years probably a few thousand dollars for Blackberry services and devices. I have done my bit financing and supporting Blackberry, they should put their customers first and right now these are not corporate customers but consumers.
I am very frustrated. I tried all methods to force the update. Even if the update is already available by my carrier, it still doesn’t update! It worked one time to force the update with Blackberry link but now I cannot get 10.1. I simply don’t understand. When I had an iPod touch, I could easily update it using iTunes or even force it by downloading the firmware myself. What is this nonsense waiting for the carriers to push the update? Why take something great and replace it with something that has obviously a fundamental disadvantage?
You’ve got a awesome web-site! Will you add more content regularly.
I have shared it in fb! I really hope you keep writing too.
Hi, I want to update my BB. I have 8520 v5.0.0.1096…Pl suggest me. I can’t use Whatup and skype even