RIM debuts Intel-powered BlackBerry

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Who cares, when the OS sucks?

One wonders what RIM is doing and where. Apparently they're still a going concern, but customers can't even turn to them for their own software, and their OS is woefully behind the Palm OS of 7 years ago.

For example, they apparently just added the concept of "categories" in version 4 (which is inexplicably missing from the RIM Web site's download section). Yet even now the implementation is defective: Categories from your tasks (like "gifts to buy") will show up when you try to filter your contacts in Address Book. Huh?

Alarms from Outlook don't work; after syncing with Outlook, the Blackberry won't sound an alarm unless you open the apppointment on the handheld, edit it, and re-save it. How does a major defect like that make it out the door in version 1, let alone version 4?

Then there are little usability problems that should have been obvious. The main screen shows the installed apps, and you roll through them with the thumbwheel. But when you get to the last one, do you think the cursor rolls off the end and goes back to the beginning? Nope. You have to roll all the way back through the entire collection.

Other sychronization problems abound. Sometimes the sync software will duplicate entries from Outlook that have already been moved to the Blackberry. If you sync again, the software contentedly allows the vast disparity of entries between Outlook and your Blackberry. The only way to fix it is to delete the entire contact database from your handheld and re-export from Outlook.

Maybe RIM should stop screwing around with unexciting hardware changes, fix its OS to make its PDAs functional, and then come up with a phone that doesn't make you feel like you're talking to an English muffin.

Posted by: dgurney   Posted on: 11/01/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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