1. Great noise isolation from the mic (it was amazing on Sanyo phones)

2. Dial the last 4 digits of a number and it pulls up a contact

3. A browser that isn’t embarrassing (please include flash)

4. Cleanable trackball

5. EV-DO Rev. A firmware update

6. Slap Sprint into allowing us MMS support

7. HTML emails

8. Better media experience (m.youtube.com videos at 176 x 220 or close – seriously?)

9. LCD readout from top of the device so you can see who’s calling from the holster

10. GSM/CDMA matching release dates

11. Have firefox work with http://www.blackberry.com

12. Be able to open all BlackBerry attachments with a BlackBerry (ie BB voicenotes and video when sent via email)

13. Work closer with 3rd party developers to allow them to use keyboard shortcuts in their apps through out (can’t use spacebar, t, b in every part of Viigo)

14. Add more on-board flash memory,it is cheap!

15. The ability to re-sort how a contact’s phone numbers appear when they have numerous numbers attached.

Ok, I’m done…for now.

1. No HTML email support.
2. Memory leaks, I have to shut it down and take out the battery at least 3 times a week.
3. 64 Mb of RAM is way to small for today’s requirements

I have a Blackberry Pearl. And I think it is ridiculous with how cheap memory is that it comes with so little built in memory. I am not talking about place to store my music or pics, which I store on my memory card. I am talking about applications. Why must I delete some to store others. It is not like I have that many installed to begin with.

You have to keep like 20MB free just to have it run at an acceptable speed. And that is just acceptable not fast. That little hour glass or wait symbol is ridiculous. And yes I remove the battery once every few days to recover from the memory leak. But if it just had a little more memory in there to begin with……

I personally think this is a great limitation. I am sure the little bit of memory causes alot of other problems, etc.

If the Storm does not have at least 3-4 times more memory, I might just have to pass on it.

Thanks for the chance to vent.

The first is the Trackball – and no, I’m not going to flame it the way Krakow did. I’ve just never been as comfortable with it as I was the scroll wheel. I find it too inaccurate – too easy to scroll up or down when I’m trying scroll left or right, and that can become very frustrating when you’re trying to get to a word in the middle of the screen!

Ergonomically, I do prefer the Trackball to the Scrollwheel – it’s right where you want the navigation control to be. But if it were just engineered differently to somehow be easier to move accurately.

The second thing is something that I can’t live without, but I am SO TIRED of hearing people complain and whine about it, that I’d LOVE to see fixed. That is, have a separate icon for BES email!

Personally, I don’t have ANY email icons on my home screen, and I actually like having everything in Messages. All of my email icons are tucked away in a folder called Hidden along with almost all of the native apps (Address Book, Calendar, etc.). Instead, I use Home Screen Shortcut Keys instead! See how here:
http://blackberryforums.pinstack.com/blog.php?b=680

We should be able to synch Outlook personal folders into the device through (and I’d be fine if it was only available through desktop manager — not OTA).

Anyone who has utilized this on a Windows Mobile device (and relies on PST folders for managing their work) will understand the value.

(My other quibble about it is that it uses Java, but I don’t think that’s easily changed

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

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

Vibrate is weak.
If I am in a noisy area, there is little chance I will feel the vibration in my pocket if I don’t hear it ringing.

But I am posting because I want to know if that picture at the top of the BlackBerry stress thingy is fake.

Do they exist? Where can I get one?

I’ve posted many rants in recent weeks after staying silent for well over a year, and most are more than valid despite some pent-up frustration that may have spilled over form me in my comments.

By far, however, my biggest disappointment has been my loss in confidence in RIM’s leadership. Yes, it’s still tops in smartphone marketshare right now. But I’m talking strategy and execution — the results of which we’ll see much more clearly in the next two years.

First, there was RIM’s initial denial of the iPhone as a game-changer in the consumer smartphone market. The iPhone was certainly no direct competition to the BlackBerry when it came out last year. But it did change the game in the mind of consumers — the very market RIM sees as vital to its growth right now.

Second, there are these too-little, too-late devices: the Bold, Storm, Javelin Curve and Pearl Flip.

I can skip the “too late” argument — we’re all dying on the vine waiting for the new BlackBerries, which always seem to be just a few weeks away — and get to the “too little” argument.

BOLD —- By far the best device RIM has ever made and my favorite of the new batch. Best of all, it’s aimed at RIM’s core enterprise market and truly bolsters the brand with its superior physical keyboard and brilliant eponymous screen. So why is it “too little”? It’s easy to point a finger at AT&T throwing it under the bus for the iPhone in terms of bandwidtch, marketing, etc. Or the current financial meltdown that makes mass migration to the Bold from current far less likely in the weeks ahead. But the reality is that while it’s the best BlackBerry ever, it’s really not enough of game-changer to expect non-BlackBerry masses to adopt. Certainly not the touchscreen crowd in the consumer market, which is where RIM’s growth is.

STORM —— How ironic that some BB fanboys call the iPhone a “toy” and in the next sentence appear ready to drop their current physical keyboards to pick up the Storm. It’s a transitional device at best, an experiment that RIM has to try out on consumers, I suppose, while Verizon has the incentive to hold onto their own by offering an iPhone alternative. Again, don’t expect users on other carriers to switch to the Verizon Storm over the ATT iPhone. And watch what happens two years from now when Verizon, like ATT, throws the Storm under the bus for the Verizon iPhone, which we can only assume will be superior in feature and form factor two years from now than the iPhone offered on AT&T. Why do think iPhone has only “one” form factor, folks? They’re saving the killer line-up of new devices so every carrier can share the goodies.

JAVELIN CURVE —— Great camera upgrade and smaller form factor than the Bold. But it falls short in 3G, which is admittedly not a big deal for true Curve fans, and comes off as more of a hardware response to the new OS. Which brings up the major advantage of the iPhone to the BlackBerry line-up: new OS, firmware and software are but a wireless sync away. RIM is trying to remedy this, but the reality is you need a new device to upgrade your BlackBerry experience, and with the new device comes a new contract. What a pain. As a result, the Javelin Curve will not be a “must have” upgrade for many of the Curve’s value-conscious base.

PEARL FLIP —— Please. Like the Storm, BlackBerry traded away one of its core branding designs — the candy bar — to chase yesterday’s form factor. Only 14 percent of Americans are interested in clamshells these days, and they are a pain to keep in one piece. Look for a lot of returns and problems by the second year of these contracts. Worst of all, these things are bigger than the original Star Trek communicators Kirk used to flip out. How is that going to help with the female demographic that makes up the majority of the Pearl line’s base?

That sums up my beef: Too little, too late, and spread out over several devices wheen RIM should have come up with “the ultimate BlackBerry experience” in a singular, killer prosumer device that screamed not “Life on BlackBerry” but “The Business of Life. What other device but BlackBerry would you trust?”

It’s not too late for RIM, but it is too late for me. I have completely switched over to my iPhone for business. Not because I’m an iPhone fanatic. Not because I’m a BlackBerry hater. It’s simply that in the year I’ve been waiting for these too-little, too-late phone, my iPhone now actually has 3G, WiFi, GPS, task and notes management (but no cut-and-paste!) and all the features I used to rely on my BlackBerry for (MMS and video recording were not among them).

Am I ecstatic about being an iPhone user now? No. Otherwise, I would not have spent my time saying my piece here. I care about BlackBerry and believe its tightly integrated basic functions are still the best. But now they are being matched in way that is enough for me with my iPhone, which also offers things RIM cannot or will not.

But like I did when I dumped my RIM stock at $148 when I knew something was wrong and posted warnings on some board (thought I had no idea the Wall Street meltdown would amplify the fall and hit Apple, too), I don’t comment without putting my money where my mouth is.

So today, before posting this, I cancelled my account with my BlackBerry’s wireless carrier. I am a BlackBerry user no more. As a result, I can no longer post comments about RIM or BlackBerry with integrity. So this is my last comment.

BlackBerry. R.I.P.

(2) No HTML Email.

(3) Poor web experience. Bad browser and slow, even over EVDO.