Category Archives: BlackBerry

OS 10.3 on 90% of BlackBerry phones

November 5, 2015 Eric at Ebscer

One year after launch, OS 10.3 is on 90% of BlackBerry phones. The roll out of what has been confirmed as BlackBerry’s final OS took some time to get going, but over the past few months, have finally captured the vast majority of BlackBerry 10 users. Additionally the vast majority of users are on 10.3.2, which is currently the newest version of the operating system.

This data was collected by BlackBerry World for downloads of the free strategy game Pixelated and the free checklist app Stuff I Need. Data shown on the chart is from the beginning of October 2014 through the end of October 2015.

BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Statistics

Weather Beautiful updated

October 23, 2015 Eric at Ebscer

The Weather Beautiful app has been updated to version 2.2 for both Android and BlackBerry users. This update makes the app launch quicker. Additionally the app’s install size is 37% smaller on BlackBerry, and 23% smaller on Android.

About Weather Beautiful

This is a simple weather app that displays stunning photography of your surrounding area. In addition to the current temperature and weather conditions, the app also allows you to scroll for a full weekly forecast.

Links & Information

Android, BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Weather Beautiful

Additional levels for Starbeams

October 14, 2015 Eric at Ebscer

Starbeams has been updated to version 2.1 in order to add 10 new levels to the game. This gives the game a total of 210 levels.

About Starbeams

The object of the game is to assign colors to each star in order to ensure that none of the stars are connected to another star of the same color. The game starts off easy, but quickly gets more complex, adding more colors and seven pointed stars that can not be changed.

Starbeams can be downloaded for free for Windows Phone, Windows 8, Windows 10, and BlackBerry 10 devices. A one time in-app purchase is required in order to play past level 25.

Links & Information

BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Starbeams, Windows

Use of 10.3.2 increases while use of 10.3.X remains the same

October 8, 2015 Eric at Ebscer

The month of September saw large increases in the use of OS 10.3.2, the newest BlackBerry 10 operating system. However almost all of this increase came from users who were already using a prior version of OS 10.3 as the percentage of users running OS 10.2 and 10.1 remained steady from previous months.

BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Statistics

Z10 still the most used BlackBerry 10 phone

October 5, 2015 Eric at Ebscer

Two and a half years ago when BlackBerry 10 was first released the Z10 and the Q10 were the first two phones released. Today they are still the two most used BlackBerry 10 phones, combining for 56.5% of users.

Just under half (47.6%) of BlackBerry 10 users have a physical keyboard on their phones.

All of these statistics are based off of the data collected by BlackBerry World in the month of February for downloads of the free check-list app Stuff I Need (which is also available for Windows Phone and Android users).

BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Statistics

Hockey Scores app updated for a new season

September 29, 2015 Eric at Ebscer

The Hockey Scores BlackBerry app has been updated for the upcoming hockey season for users of both BlackBerry 10 and the traditional BBOS (version 5.0 and higher). In addition to getting scores for the current season, this update also includes some changes to improve the performance of the app on the BlackBerry Passport phone.

About Hockey Scores

This application provides the day’s hockey scores is an intuitive and easy to use format. It also includes additional game statistics such as start times, goal scorers, shots on net, hits, faceoff percentage, team Corsi numbers, and lists out the goal scorers.

Links & Information

BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Hockey Scores

More Levels for Xploding Boxes

September 28, 2015 Eric at Ebscer

Xploding Boxes has been updated to version 5.5 in BlackBerry World, Google Play, the Amazon app store, the Nook app store, the Windows 8 app store, and the Windows Phone app store. This update adds 10 new levels to the game, giving Xploding Boxes 510 levels overall.

About Xploding Boxes

Xploding Boxes is a strategy game where the goal is to start a chain reaction that will explode all of the boxes on the screen. Each level presents a different look and number of touches, requiring a different strategy to solve.

The game itself, and the first 25 levels are available for free, while a one time in-app purchase can be used to access the rest of the levels for just $2.99 while still maintaining your progress from the free levels.

Links & Information

Android, BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Nook, Windows, Xploding Boxes

The Sound of the Fat Lady Singing

September 25, 2015 Eric at Ebscer

This morning’s news has been expected for some time now, but does officially mark the end. I know that John Chen has stated that BlackBerry 10 users “can continue to depend on us”, but they have said that many times before and it has never been true.

BlackBerry 10 is an operating system that has not received a major upgrade in over a year, with no future improvements expected. With no new hardware expected for the platform either, it is safe to say that platform is officially dead.

The decision to announce this change on the day that Apple launched a new phone of their own was probably an attempt to bury this news. In practice it reminds current BlackBerry users of the obvious way forwards.

BlackBerry, BlackBerry10

Monkeys and Whales added to Animal Sounds App

September 16, 2015 Eric at Ebscer

The Animal Sounds app has been updated to version 2.0 adding support for two new animals, and now supports users of both BlackBerry 10 and Android.

This is a simple app that plays back the sound made by various animals. From horses to dogs to cows, this app includes a variety of animals that will make a sound when you tap on their picture. Version 2.0 of the app adds both a monkey and a whale to the list of recordings that the app can play back.

Links & Information

Android, Animal Sounds, BlackBerry, BlackBerry10

Why BlackBerry users hold onto their phones longer

September 15, 2015 Eric at Ebscer

This is a response to an article on the official BlackBerry blog titled “So Happy Together: Users Hold Onto BlackBerry Devices Longer Than Every Other Brand”.

Yesterday BlackBerry congratulated itself for having the users that held onto their phones for the longest, with BlackBerry users averaging 32 months (2 years and 8 months). This was against an industry average of only 22 months.

I happen to be this “average” user given that my BlackBerry Z10 is a phone that was released in January of 2013, exactly 2 years and 8 months ago. Yet BlackBerry really seems to be missing the mark on why I haven’t upgraded my phone.

It is not that I enjoy carrying around a phone with specs that are almost three years out of date. It is that the specs have not improved on any of the newer BlackBerry phones (except for the one with a giant square for a screen).

Since the release of the Z10 the normal shaped BlackBerry phones have not had anything to offer. First the Z30 (itself now 24 months old) offered a larger battery and a slightly quicker processor in exchange for an identical camera, and a slightly lower resolution screen. The Z3 is noticeably worse than every other BlackBerry 10 phone sold by every specification. Finally the BlackBerry Leap has the Z30’s lower screen resolution, but without an improved processor.

Likewise the keyboard based phones running BlackBerry 10 have also done little to improve. The Q5 was a step backwards, the Classic had the same internals with a few extra hardware buttons, leaving the the Passport to be the only BlackBerry 10 phone to improve upon the launch devices. Even that phone is now a year old with no newer version in sight (and no, having three different ways to round off the corners on the case do not count).

So instead I sit here with my ageing phone with no path forwards. Any iOS user with a year old phone can upgrade their device tomorrow. Samsung releases 200 new phones a year. Even struggling HTC manages to upgrade their flagship on a yearly schedule. Yet for BlackBerry users, the only way to get new hardware is to become a non-BlackBerry user.

BlackBerry

BlackBerry 10 OS statistics

September 11, 2015 Eric at Ebscer

August saw the use of OS 10.3.x (specifically 10.3.2) continue to increase. There was actually a bit of a split in the data for this month as users of Pixelated were much quicker to upgrade than users of Stuff I Need. For Pixelated 91% of users were running OS 10.3 while the number was only 84.6% for Stuff I Need users.

BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Statistics

Niagara Border Crossing app released

August 19, 2015 Eric at Ebscer

The Niagara Border Crossing app has been released for BlackBerry 10. This app shows wait times for border crossings over the Niagara River between the United States and Canada.

Wait times are shown for all four of the bridges between Western New York and Southern Ontario. These include the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, the Rainbow Bridge, and the Peace Bridge. Separate times are shown for cars, trucks, and also for those using the Nexus lanes.

Links & Information

BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Niagara Border Crossing

Pixelated updated for BlackBerry 10

August 14, 2015 Eric at Ebscer

Pixelated and Pixelated Plus have been updated to version 3.6.5 for BlackBerry 10 users. This update speeds up the application’s launch speed, and also fixes a font related bug.

About Pixelated

Pixelated is an addictive puzzle based strategy game that requires a mixture of skill and luck in order to accomplish. The object of the game is to change the colour of the squares until the entire screen is a single solid colour. Starting with the square in the upper left corner you can change the colour of the blocks in order to match that of the surrounding squares. This is done repeatedly until the entire screen is a single colour. The object of the game is to clear the screen in as few moves as possible. Under the default settings you must do so in under 22 moves in order to win. The game is controlled by the large colored blocks at the bottom of the screen.

Links & Information

BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Pixelated

Slow start for 10.3.2 rollout

August 4, 2015 Eric at Ebscer

The month of July saw the use of BlackBerry 10.3 continue to slowly climb. Verizon and a few other wireless carrier who had been dragging their heels finally released an OS update, but one out of five users are still on older operating systems. 10.3.2 is not really any different from 10.3.1 and has only been officially released by a few carriers and as a result appears to be getting very little interest from users so far.

Overall 78.5% of Pixelated users and 80.9% of Stuff I Need users were running some variant of OS 10.3 in July.

BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Statistics

How to disable hub notifications from BlackBerry Blend

July 10, 2015 Eric at Ebscer

Starting with the release of version 1.2 of BlackBerry Blend it is now possible to disable the frequent connection notices that would previously appear in the Hub.

To do this you need to update Blend on both your phone and on your desktop, than on the phone you need to unselect the “Connection Notification” option.

This simple change removes the main annoyance that had previously plagued Blend.

BlackBerry, BlackBerry10