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Summer is over and the CrackBerry Podcast is Open for Business once again! Apologies go out to all our regular listeners who have been jonesing for some BlackBerry talk. Craig and I are back to our regular Sunday evening recording time so you can be counting (for the most part!!!) on a weekly show for the months ahead. This episode is a fun one. I recap my Bold experiences (browser rant included) and we discuss and dissect all of the device rumormill stuff of the past few weeks. Enjoy the show!!
Listen to CrackBerry.com Podcast: Episode 020
Show Details:
- Recorded: Sunday, September 7th, 2008 @ 5:15pm CST
- Show Length: 1h07m13s
- File Size: 38.6MB
Big Thanks To:
- Craig Johnston - for another job well done! You can listen to Craig's other podcast at MobileComputingAuthority.com.
Key Show Links:
- Tribute to Don LaFontaine
- NYC CrackBerry Meet-Up Thread
- Kevin's Bold Unboxing Video
- Kevin's Bold Pre-Loaded Media Video
- Kevin's 4700 Word Bold Browser Test
- Verizon Storm Box Details
- New Javelin Pics 1 | Pics 2
- BlackBerry 9220
- BlackBerry Pearl 8220 / KickStart Review Part I
If you like the Podcast, be sure to Subscribe to it in iTunes, and better yet, if like the show write us an iTunes review! Be sure to send your feedback to podcast@crackberry.com, or leave us a message or BlackBerry question on our Podcast Hotline! Call 1-866-904-5772 ext 222.
Reader comments
Podcast Episode 020: Open for Business!
Kevin - First off - thanks for the Podcast and all of the updates. Have you seen the 3G Bold browser tesing by BlackBerryNews last Friday? Really weird that their testing with JS enabled didn't reveal the same issues that you ran into. Something isn't making much sense to the idle blog reader. On the other hand, it is nice to see that the Bold beats the Curve across the board in 2G browser testing as well.
See below (response to Bla1ze) for more detail, but...
Re: BBCool tests. They experienced the same issues as me.
Re: BBnews tests. I think this could be the issue... comes down to the Browser Identification setting. There's three options: BlackBerry, Firefox, Internet Explorer. BlackBerry is the default option. When you have it set to BlackBerry and visit websites, if a mobile version of that site is available that'll be what gets served up to the device. So if you have JS support turned on and visit WSJ.com or NYTimes.com with browser ID set to BlackBerry, those sites will load without issue almost instantly. However, switch the Browser Identification to IE and visit the same to sites with JS on... will take much longer and you'll start to experience the issues people are talking about having with JS on.
Did you try FireFox instead of IE? All the web pages that target IE are going to be targetting IE6, which has a non standard Javascript support, so that shouldn't be expected to work with WebKit or any other browser without errors.
Yup. Actually Firefox was the first one I tried prior to IE. Ran into the same issues. It was Rogers/RIM tech support that both suggested using IE over Firefox for Browser Identification. So unfortunately... no dice.
Good to have the Podcast back. Now I have something to listen to going to/from work tomorrow.
My Sundays will be complete again. sooo missed the podcast in it's absence, glad to have you guys back..
The Bold...where to begin with it..Hmmmm, I love my Bold I really, really do..I can't go back to an older BB and I'm hanging onto the fact that RIM will come through for everyone and fix the flaws we are all seeing...my browser issues are NOT so bad..I mainly leave JS off and go that way anyhow and when I do enable it, granted it is slower..but not to the extremes we witnessed from your tests Kevin, but in the same respect I do know others having the same/if not worse issues then you..
My main gripes...3G calling and Battery issues..
Just last night was on the phone using 3G which I never usually do simply because of the battery...but had 3 dropped calls all on 3G...I'm not fully convinced this was a device issue yet as I'm gonna do some more testing but still...that's what I experienced so far with 3G voice.
Battery..I'm a heavy BB user, I admit that..so average use for me will be more then the norm...but I did some testing at home the other day...started off with 3G on...BT on..going through emails and BBM as per normal, pulling up some websites..just to simulate some normal usage for me in comparison to my curve...which would last 3 days doing the exact same thing... Bold...2 HRs and dead..repeated process using EDGE and BT...better, much better..lasted all day long in the tests only had to charge it at night before bed..it's no 2 days, but I'm fine with it..I continued the tests with wifi and BT..same deal...one full day out of it..
So I have concluded that even on the .134 OS 3G is still a battery sucker and RIM will hopefully try and improve that cause as it stands now, some people may not know about network switching and be getting 2 hrs out of their devices which just looks horrible..
And one last gripe for RIM, they HAD to have know about these issues previously even if the dev team was as small as the rumors would have it, they would have come across this, RIM just better hope that the majority of users out there have faith in RIM to finish their product ( I don't see this being the case, does the majority even update their OS's? Nope ), cause as much as RIM in the past has had good marks for quality, the Bold should never have come out of the gates yet, it's not fully baked..it was a rush job..what the rush was, well...you decide..too many leaks...compete with the iPhone..slap all the new WinMob devices in the face..maybe all of that?..
Now you make reference to the Bold being a "tank", I personally don't see it that way...sure it is large for most, but with BIG hands it fits right into what I need...my Curve was a great size but it felt..almost too small to me..
That's my thoughts on it..i'm a close this one out and Kevin...Craig..thanks for the awesome podcast guys, keep up the great work.
PS: I have only ever had the device reboot it's self once and all my "app error" messages came from .125 after loading .134...the issue has not happened again.
love the mini review Bla1ze! Will add a couple points...
- re: browser stuff. yeah, with JS off it's for sure decent/usable over 3G. Though I'm still running into issues with my WiFi (happening on two Bolds here) where I can't browse on the HotSpot browser. And it's just weird...some ppl seem affected by JS stuff, others. I think this stems from the following (this responds to the BBnews speed test too)... if you leave Browser Identification set to BlackBerry, when you visit lots of big sites (ie. NYTIMES.com) you're gonna get served up the Wap/mobile optimized website. If you get served up wap sites, they're OF COURSE still gonna load fast even with JS support on. It's whe you switch to IE as you browser identification and start getting served the full sites that the JS support craps out.
- you battery testing is crazy. gonna have to play with that myself more under all conditions.
- re: tank. it's really "not" a tank.. i was kinda being mean... it's actually deceptively lightweight and in the hand feels pretty decent. now, worn on the included holster it's definitely "tankish" compared to the curve. I just need to figure out the best way to carry it around and i'll be happy happy happy. LOVE the display/speed/4.6... definitely best BB by far!
- re: app error. YUP...only happeened on .125...which is what the Rogers unit is shipping with. .134 has fixed that for me too.
Nice podcast guys- this is the second one I've tuned in to listen to and it's funny and interesting haha :)
I wanted to make a comment about the pre-installed SIM card you mentioned for the Verizon world edition, as it seemed as if you had never heard of this before? Maybe I misinterpreted "confusion" but when I had the 8830 from Sprint [which is world capable] it had a pre-installed Sprint SIM card, so this being mentioned for Verizon in the podcast was not anything strange to me.
BTW... thanks for the many software shortcuts mentioned towards the end of the show, I knew how to switch to decibel display but not via a shortcut, so that was good to know! And the other two shortcuts were helpful too, as I had forgotten about how to access those debug screens.
Thanks for a good show! :)
Great to have you guys back ! :) Loads of interesting info as usual.
One of my favorite podcasts :)
Good to have you guys back. Even better to hear that its going weekly again. Keep up the great work Kevin and Craig!
Thnx Kev and Craig. Nice as usual. ;)
hey - i listened to the podcast. there seemed to be some confusion on how signal strength relates to speed. the "negative number" signal strength you see on your bb (or any phone) is not indicative of speed. it is indicative of how strong your radio signal is. ....how strong the radio signal
that is carrying your connection is....NOT how fast your connection is.
a simple analogy -
2 wireless routers - one hooked up to a fast direct internet connection. the other to a phone line modem.
the phone line modem wireless router is 10 feet from your computer and your computer shows full maximum wireless signal strength.
the direct internet connection wireless router is 100 feet
away and your computer shows only 2 bars wireless signal
strength.
which is faster? the direct internet connection wireless
with only 2 bars of signal strength because the connection speed it is carrying is so much faster.
yeah... that was the revelation i had on the show. i wasn't really confused before...just never gave it any thought and had my assumption wrong. craig turned on the light bulb there. good analogy/explanation above. will definitely turn this topic into a blog post one day..
Hey Kevin I love the show, I just kinda listen silently, but use the podcasts for my drive to work on Saturdays, when it's available.
You can manually toggle between 3g and EDGE on an iPhone. And also, I have no idea where you live or commute but I have been to some bigger cities (Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai) and I have never had problems with browsing while commuting.
Good podcast! I listen to all of the smarthpone experts podcasts.
Best Regards and keep rockin' the smartphone news!
Awesome job guys!! i thought it was mad funny when you mentioned your Nemesis, lol. can't wait for the next Podcast.