Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Blackberry OS 6 official release for Bold 9700 - my review

Okay okay okay so I've been really excited this past coupla days as I've just installed the official release of OS 6 for Bold 9700. The release was offered and made available automatically on the Blackberry Desktop Software (the OTA version, not the supplied CD version). And so it was two days ago when I nonchalantly hooked up my Onyx into my laptop when the message popped up along the line of "an update to your device software is available. Would you like to upgrade?" And then I read the version: Blackberry OS 6.0.0.461. HELL YEAH??!! I've been waiting for OS 6 upgrade for the Onyx for ages, since it first came out on the Torch!! Some impatient suckers even went as far as buying OS 6 THEME (theme, not actual software) for $6.99 from the App World. Some downloaded the hacked version of OS 6 from sites like Crackberry and found out that maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to do, as the hacked version crashed their phones. Duh. Onyx 1 only has 256 MB, while OS 6 is designed for a 512 MB memory.

As for me, a major reason I extremely look forward to getting my paws on OS 6 was for none other than its touted bump in the Blackberry website browser capabilities. I think everyone on the planet agrees that the BB browser is one of the most vile, retarded things anyone has ever invented in modern time. I always felt like an idiot whenever I was trying to open a website or something as simple as google.com and finding myself staring at an improperly rendered website. It's inhumane, and in 2011 no one deserves that.

OS 6 is supposed to fix that, in addition to boasting a couple of other eye candies. And so with glee, I downloaded the software, albeit with a few scares here and there due to the spotty internet connection here in this lovely city.

Now that I've spent a good, intense couple of days playing around with the system, here's my take of this newest Blackberry upgrade for Bold 9700:

1. Home screen "panned view panes" - Similar to "tabbed" browsing in modern web browser, this feature allows you to slide to 5 different panes which are "All", "Favorites", "Media", "Download" and "Frequent" in Home screen. "All" tab is basically the traditional Home screen where everything is grouped together, while "Favorites" is a new feature that allows you to mark any application, contact, website, or anything, as favorites and it will be promptly placed in this "tab", making this basically a shortcut for all your favorite application. "Media" groups all the media application, "Download" groups all the OTA downloads and "Frequent" groups your most frequently used applications.

My take: while the visual is nice and sleek, the very concept of this is cluttered, unnecessary and it is simply trying too hard to become something it's not.
SCORE: C

2. The "Quick Access Area", however, is an entirely different story. This is ingenious and brilliant. There are two "Quick Access Area": one is situated at the very topmost, where if you click it, it'll open several useful frequently-used settings, like connections, alarm and device options; and the second one is situated just below it, where if you click it, it'll open a drop-down menu listing the newest activities: emails, SMS, missed call, calendar or BBM. No longer do I have to open each item separately when I get out from a meeting and seeing multiple notifications.
SCORE: A

3. The best part of OS 6 is its "Universal Search" feature built right into the Home Screen. I can't love it enough. Love it, love it, love it. This feature basically lets you type in anything you want to search in your phone; contact, lost email, a keyword in an email, or even things you want to look up on the internet - right on the home screen as opposed to individually go into each application and conduct your search there. I am telling you - this thing is a dream. Not only will this search feature returns your query, like a contact business card, but it will also include EVERYTHING about the query - even including those on the internet. This is one of the finest examples of seamless device-software integration.
SCORE: A+

4. Visual: AWESOME. Sleek, fluid, elegant and butter-smooth, to me the new OS is a major eye candy upgrade from the previous 5.
SCORE: A

5. Speed: faster, but also noticing several lag that may just be anomalies. Thus far, I have not encountered any major problem like the phone freezing, but I've only been using it for a couple of days. We all know that in the case of a Blackberry, a battery pull a week keeps the doctor away.
SCORE: A (so far)

6. Memory: BOO. All those nice eye candies and universal search and fluid graphics need to come from somewhere, and in this case, it cannibalizes the memory. Consider this: My Bold 9700 has an internal memory of 256MB, of which 188 MB is generally available after subtracting it for the OS. After I installed OS 6, the remaining memory available went down to just 40 MB!!! Holy cow! Say goodbye to downloading more apps.
SCORE: C

7. Browser. Saving the best for last, I can now breathe a sigh of relief with this new, long overdue web browser and webkit engine. OS 6 browser opens pages a little faster, is nice to look at, has tabbed browsing capability, and, most importantly, renders web pages CORRECTLY. No longer do I have to stare at messed-up Google web screen. I now feel that I'm a part of the 2011 netizen community. I hope RIM keeps working to improve this web browsing engine in the coming years.
SCORE: B


8. Overall system. Much has improved to a very heart-warming level, but on the same token, there are definitely rooms for improvement. I like the fluid, tighter system; how it includes some new, surprising features like the ability to monitor your memory and CPU usage real-time, but on the other hand, some basic "illogicals" remain a thorn in the system, like how I can't add an additional phone number into my existing contact. When someone calls me, and I already have him/her in my phonebook, and he/she is calling me from a new number (like office), I can't simply choose "Add to contact". I will have to copy paste his contact and manually edit his business card. Things like these seem simply illogical for a device designed for business users.
SCORE: B

VERDICT: Download it now, especially it's official and FREE! Despite several weaknesses and old-time irritants, OS 6 is major upgrade and will breathe a new life into your aging Bold 9700.