 |
 |
Back in April we ran a poll asking the community if it mattered whether or not BlackBerry 10 phones had removable batteries. You can see the results of the poll above. Over 60% of you said YES. I sort of the expected the results to go that way on CrackBerry. Tools, not toys, right?
Historically, it has always been the norm for BlackBerry Smartphones to have a removable battery. But given that the BlackBerry PlayBook and Dev Alpha -- the first two BlackBerry devices running on the next generation QNX platform that powers BlackBerry 10 -- have not had removable batteries, we weren't sure what would happen for BB10 phones going forward.
With Research In Motion showing off BlackBerry 10 phones to partners and the media these past two weeks, it's become clear that BB10 phones hitting the market next year will definitely have removable batteries. And based on the poll results, I'd have to say that's GREAT NEWS for a lot of us. We actually did make mention of this in a previous blog post back on August 14th, but knowing this is something so many of you have been wondering about (and somebody asked me about still today), I figured a dedicated post on the subject was in order. So rejoice! You WILL have the option to swap out your battery if you need to on your BlackBerry 10 phone.
#BlackBerryByChoice
Reader comments
Rejoice! BlackBerry 10 Phones will have removable batteries
What about a removable Micro SD... That's what I'm looking for. The battery that comes out is my least concern
What would really be innovative is to somehow make the phone capable of surviving a battery pull WITHOUT the need to reboot. Like having a small built in reserve battery that would maintain the ram for about 30 seconds while you switched batteries. This would eliminate the need for a lengthy reboot in the middle of your day or at the most inconvenient time when you don't have 3 minutes for a reboot. 3 minutes is a long time when you are standing in an airport security line looking for your boarding pass on your phone!
Removable battaries sound great. But my question is since the Dev Alpha has been out for a while why hasn't anyone did a full review on that phone I know their have been some great reviews on what its potential is and how it is a flagship for the new BB10 phones but how is it holding up? If it is to be an example of what is to come, shouldn't we get a feel of what developers (and I'm sure some of you crackberry staff have it on hand) have been going through with the phone. what are the pros and cons? How does the battery life hold up? How does it feel to type on the phone after a long day of emails coding etc....... This will surely give us some hints as to what to expect from BB10 in the long run.
Great News! Love the empowering feeling a removable battery gives me. I like to know that if the battery dies I can swap it out myself without having to bring my phone in to be repaired. Fast. BlackBerry people don't have all day to hang out in a store waiting around for a "genius"
Also cool that CrackBerry is the only site so far to release any specific detail about the devices where as others have had to keep all the specifics to themselves.
Almost makes up for the fact that you guys are slow lately with posts. Just now a post about touching BB 10 devices? Just now a post about the reaction to the Apple Vs. Samsung Ruling? Every other site gets these stories out days and sometimes weeks before CrackBerry. I love you guys but come on, BlackBerry People do, so lets see some faster turn around times for breaking news stories please.
Another item on the Plus side for RIM. Removable battery is a very good thing. Long battery life will be the next plus.
For those who complain about boot time.a long bootup is still better than attaching a charging brick to your phone and waiting for it to rechage an internal battery.
I always laugh when I see iphone users with charging bricks hanging off the iphone. Or those huge battery booster cases.
Blackberry by choice, removable battery as a choice!
Removable battery is just an excuse to put a useless battery in the device to start with eg 9900. Also has everyone forgotten the 9900 issue with snapping the memory card when executing a battery pull . happened to me and it was a real pain. I don't want to have to recharge 1 or 2 spares and cart them around. Priority should be that BB10 phones have ground breaking battery life and software to enable this, if they also happen to be removeable then fine. I chucked the battery that came with the 9900 out and replaced with a Mugen 1500, why could RIM not have done this to start with?
Yes, great news, I have a Bold 9930 with 2 spares, always powered up. evenif I am away from home all day
All I want from BB10 is for them to keep the physical Send and End keys. I just hope they don't forget their roots.
Whatever the batteries are removable or not.
Just give me something that can make the phone last for 2 days (1 full day at least)....
If they stay on a battery like 9900, I will move to apple
Even though the stock battery will be great, i'll always get an extended battery or two, to compliment it. I'll be one to not keep searching for a plug when one runs dry, i'll swap with a fresh one. Just like i'm doing now with the 9900 and previously, 9700.
That was the best piece of news I have heard in a long time. Now what's the chance that the next version of the PlayBook will have the same capability. I've only heard of two other tablets this size being able to. Hopefully RIM will consider it.
Very disappointed to hear this. It's just a ploy to make more money by selling extra and extended batteries. What I want to see from RIM is innovation. I want to see a battery life like that of the Droid RAZR MAXX which would no longer necessitate the need for removable battery.
No it's not. eBay sellers will be providing extended batteries, much cheaper. It's been the same across most carriers/manufacturers selling anything with a removable battery that costs money to replace when it wears out. I won't be disappointed. If you can't appreciate it, don't buy it.
Dunno if it's ever been suggested but I would like to see a built in battery that will hold just enough charge to keep the phone alive for 30 seconds or so so you can change a battery while still staying on the air. Mid call or email if you have to.
Also, can't waaaiiit for the BB10 hands on story! Must. Work. Now.
Excellent, another feature superior to my sucky iphone... which I can hardly wait to ditch.
This is good, but more important, I would like to know what size batteries are being considered. Those wimpy 1230mAh batteries in the current 99xx/98xx series are way too small.
"Tools not Toys" Really? If you want to continue to push that lame motto, you might want to tell the staff to stop blogging about games coming to B.B. It comes across as contradictory.
I love how a few ppl automatically assume the battery is going to be crap since its replaceable. Think of the benefits instead for a change. Besides the option being available for "power users", I just like the fact that if/when the battery inevitably gets to the "seniors discount" age, there's no need to send out the device to RIM or to the not-so-genius-bar-type shop or anywhere. Just find a replacement (which will be readily available for the same reason of being replaceable) and stick it in. Done. Batteries are a wear and tear item, there's no doubting that. Not everyone upgrades devices on a weekly basis, so for the majority of users the device will almost certainly outlast the battery, so for a few bucks you've pumped some new life into your device. I actually think this was a decision RIM made with the consumer and their time and dollars in mind, and I applaud them for that.
It would be Super cool if RIM ships the BB10 phones with 2 batteries!
Like a boss! #BeBold
9900 - 7.1.0.649
P'9981 Theme
Is this is signaling that RIM is finally listening to its users, then is great news. What remains now is to see if they are going to have microsd slot on BB10 and on next PlayBook which a lot of people asked for a microsd slot but they didn't listen.
This caters more to the vocal die hard users of BB. Ask the millions of North Americans who have left BB. Battery life doesn't matter to them to a certain extent.
:) Perhaps RIM will include an option to install the "RIM Hourglass of Death". That way, for those true Blackberry die hard fans, they can feel right at home with their new phone - battery pulls, long reboot times, and an hourglass. All things I love about my Blackberry <--sarcasm
qwerty bb10 phones should have removable batteries. FUll touch, no.
Quickpull or Alt shift del isn't a battery pull.
Isn't QNX a software that doesn't need battery pulls ??? Playbook etc + I read it in a thread.
& if there are removable batteries, does that mean that the battery life is poor ?
Just killer great news here! Not that I've ever had to do much battery pulling, to keep the option is paramount in my books. Spare batteries? Check! Good choice by RIM. Big big benefit.
At first I thought this was a good idea, right now I'm not so sure. If it takes as long as the playbook to boot up, changing the battery will not be a good experience. I hope the sim card is not under the battery either. And I hope the only reason to pull the battery will be to put in another battery, and not to reboot the phone because of problems. This thing has to have almost zero frustrations as far as user experience. I'm sorry, but RIM backed themselves up into a corner. Having a removable battery is fine for me so long as I never have to remove it.
+1.
If you ever used a Playbook, and since it uses the same OS, then you know that you never have to pull a battery to reboot the device. Since they both have QNX, why would it be any different? And I may have had to reboot the Playbook once since I got it. And it has only been turned off a couple of times since I got it almost a year ago. That should tell you how stable QNX devices are.
I actually typed that on my playbook. I know you don't have to pull the battery to reboot it, but I did have to reboot my playbook several times since I've had it for almost a year as well. Maybe it's because I have sideloaded a bunch of stuff, but really the point is that I hope having the removable battery doesn't cause any un-needed frustration, like maybe the door will be tricky to take off or snap back on, or maybe the door will be a cheap piece of plastic and be called out in reviews. Maybe the SIM card will be under the battery which I think is annoying. I love my PB. I am running the elusive OS 2.0.1.668...so we'll see.
You know what could be very interesting to have. A sort of power backup onboard the device. It would be very small but would last as long as a few minutes, long enough to change the battery without having the device shutdown.
I was going to post this exact suggestion myself. I've been thinking about this for a long time now. Seems totally doable to me, it would be perfect. I hope someone at. RIM thought of this.....
Excellent idea that I suggested in the future. Jk. It is an excellent idea. I think the device may be dimemsionally larger somehow if that were so.
You WILL have to pull it out, IF it gets wet.
This is a great news! Hope the battery is between 2000mah-3000mah for lasting power!!
Yiippiiii -(ˆ▽ˆ)/\(ˆ▽ˆ)- °\(^▿^)/°
This is also good news for the environment. :-)
And how is that?
Only thing I can figure is that if the battery craps out, you're only junking a battery, and not an entire device...
Good point, but there are still ways to get to and replace the battery of other devices.
It is nearly impossible to remove the battery from the current most popular tablet, the iPad3, just for one example. It cannot be replaced either, so disposal would be harmful to environment.
We're talking about phones, not tablets.
I sometimes find myself wishing that I was part of the "hands on" groups. Then I have a sudden change of heart and become excited knowing that seeing bb10 devices for the first time is still on the way and not a thing of the past. I love blackberry and am looking forward to hearing about crackberry's hands on. Hurry kevin. NOW!!!!
I do hope they keep it thin. I would hope no thinker then the PlayBook. It is a good thickness and a BlackBerry phone should not be any thicker... It may even be slightly thinner.
Cannot wait for BB10!!!
Hopefully the only reason to do a battery pull is if the battery goes dead and not anything to do with software installation or updates.
If you've ever owned a PlayBook, you'd know the answer to that already...
A tablet is not a phone, but I understand what you and others mean with that statement.
I just hope that with this option, the phone is still very impressive and sharp. I like the thought of a removeable battery! +1
Funny, I never even needed to switch my battery in my old BB, but having since switched to a GSII I could use a battery switch almost everyday.
I think launching BB10 with removable batteries will be huge in this era of power-sucking devices.
Go RIM!
Great news, I still hope the phones are nice and thin at the same time... Don't need to beat apple on their thinnest phone game, but would still like to have a thin blackberry !
if thin means a bad battery life, then i don't need it to be thin. i want a killer battery.
There will always be extended batteries on ebay. I am counting on it. :D
+1
Awesome. Thank you RIM!!!
One more reason BlackBerry will always remain my #1 choice.
When my wife's iphone dies its dead. When my berry goes down I usually have my spare battery close by! Ha!!
Freakin Awesome news. Just need to be sure to have micro sd slots and have adobe flash fully baked in and we are set to go.
Great news Kevin!
Im curious though. How has it "become clear"? Was it reported somewhere? Or where you given the green light to tell us a little more about the phones?
Yes, it's clear from going hands-on. Plus even before that, it was confirmed in that other interview/article linked to in the post above. And others who have gone hands on too (Al Sacco's recent post), have confirmed as well.
The first and third options are the same.
Is the next article about, the CB staff experience with the BlackBerry 10 device?!
I know you all said 'its coming'
Working on that write up right now! Hopefully later today... worst case, will go up tomorrow morning.
wwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeee!
that's what you said yesterday!!!! come on let's see it.
Please don't put up until tomorrow what you can do today (even if that means you have to sleep a little less) You can do it. LOL.
Kevin! Kevin! *chanting*
TMO_9000_32GB_PB
KEVIN KEVIN KEVIN!!!! *chanting*
Awesome :) now it would be good if they had spring loaded SIM cards and media cards
Nokia, Motorola, & RIM tried to get that with their proposed nano-sim designs. Apple pushed their own design (which is a mimi-sim with the plastic cut off) & refused to negotiate
Well of course they will. We can't do battery pulls without the option to remove the battery. Sheesh!
everheard of quickpull?
everheard of alt+right shift+del? Wait, your on a storm, nevermind. ;)
I have only opened my battery door to replace the standard 8gb microSD card with a 32gb class 10 card.
Don't feed this troll
How is he a troll?
I've learned to purely hate battery pulls. I don't have an iPhone, but if I did, and if I needed more battery life, there are decent solutions for them. I hope BB10 is solid, cuz I wouldn't bite if the word gets out that people are still wasting time with this...
Without removable batteries, water damage would KILL even worse.
@bikester
No need for battery pulls when there's QNX at the core of the new OS, dipstick! You can reset the new OS without one...
First!
Actually very happy about the removable batteries.
I'm all for removable batteries but I just hope they make the batteries bigger by DEFAULT. 2,000+ mAh for the QWERTY and at least 3,000+ mAh for the all-touch device.
Chinese makers will have double the size extended ones. :D
I'll be grabbing TWO of them.
They would sue rim for making bb10 phones with non-removable batteries because that would be copying them lol.