Want to downgrade from a smartphone: Blackberry?

steve-in-kville

steve-in-kville

Joined
Dec 25, 2001
Messages
1,139
My Nokia smartphone is about 5 years old and on its way out (battery not holding a charge, locks up,etc). I am really considering going to a Blackberry Torch or similar "slider" style phone. Enough to text, get email and get the weather, etc.

Thoughts on this?
 
you are unlikely to get 5 years out of a slider phone, given that there is wear and tear on a mechanical part of it. 5 years is a good run for a phone though. there are some decent mid-range phones out, moto g5 looks pretty good. Then again, if the price is right, get whatever you want. keep in mind that blackberry is struggling, so you may end up with a phone with no support should things go wrong.
 
I was just poking around on ebay for another phone... I am really limited with my AT&T service! Its either a smart phone, or a flip phone. Appears to be no in between. Not against some the newer, more rugged flip phones, but that's quite a step back. Gotta give this one more thought....
 
You could go for an older iPhone model. Like a 3G or 4. Sure it may have stuff you don't need, but you should be able to pick up a 4 or even a 4S for $100 without a whole lot of trouble.

And yes AT&T sucks, they suck so much that they're the Prime Minister of sucking - Disgruntled AT&T customer, haha.
 
Blackberry is still a smartphone. Have you tried texting/emails using a swipe keyboard? You might be able to find an inexpensive Android phone and limit the apps to the ones you mentioned. I have a lower model blackberry phone I use as a backup when I travel out of the country, but found I did not get along well with the keyboard versus using a swipe style with Android. Plus, Android let's you use widgets to show the weather, text, and email on the main screen. Just be careful that the specs aren't too low.

Right now I keep a Samsung galaxy j1 mini prime as a second business phone with minimal apps that works fine. It has a replaceable battery and two sim card slots so I can change carriers when traveling or change the battery if the old one konks out. The down side, is that with the smaller screen, I make more mistakes with the tiny onscreen keyboard. If you go for an unlocked phone, make sure that the 3G or 4G radio frequency matches your carrier's.

I will say that my Blackberry goes longer on a charge and has a much better speaker phone than my higher end Android phones though... although maybe the fact that it's 2G and doesn't have a touch screen also saves battery life. Another down side is that my Blackberry doesn't charge with a lot of my universal micro USB chargers.
 
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the problem with older smart phones is that they are a security risk and not updated at all. and for those that do get updates, they become very sluggish after because they were not made with the new updates in mind.

i would suggest just buying a used phone thats a year or two old and just use that with the latest updates on it.
 
I still have my Razr. Another backup (my family uses flip phones while I use a couple smart phones). The thing is, whenever I take it out, it's a lot bigger than I remember. Some inexpensive smartphones are more pocketable just because of the slimness. However, I am often disappointed in the battery life and loudspeakers for conference calls on many smartphones in comparison to the non-smartphones of the early 2000's.

Samsung is supposedly coming out with some higher end flip phones in 2017, but I don't know if they will be available in the US.
 
If you are buying a new phone for AT&T you could look at the Blackberry Priv or Q5, or the Nokia E6 - if you want a slab phone with a physical keyboard that still runs Android.

CAT and Galaxy Actives are great rugged phones if you want something for outdoors. My personal solution for something to take into the yard and to the sea is a Samsung Note (it's 5 years old now) in an Otterbox Defender case that is completely water and mud resistant. I have the software updated to the latest version of Android Marshmallow and I'm about to upgrade to Android Nougat. And I have two of these.

With an unlocked phone that uses a SIM and Android, you can get just about anything that you want. You can also get rid of most of the apps that you don't want or completely hide them. Throw in a user replaceable battery and you can get plenty of miles and flexibility. Good luck!
 
I was thinking of switching back to a Blackberry myself but I've had a great experience with Samsung Galaxy.. had the s4 for 2 years until I switched carriers and had to change phones but it would probably still be going strong if I wasn't forced to upgrade, iPhones are also really well built and in my experience have great batteries but I didn't like the interface.
 
Thanks for the replies. I've been using a Nokia Lumia and I really like it. But its starting to show its age. I was shopping this afternoon at a local wireless store.... $500+ for a smartphone?? I don't think so...
 
Nokia has reissued the 3310.

https://www.nokia.com/en_int/phones/nokia-3310

Nokia 3310 in 2000:

004AFDA100000258-0-image-a-4_1487281278092.jpg


Nokia 3310 in 2017:

new-nokia-3310-2017.jpg


Yas, it's a smart phone . . . but not very smart.

Nokia's Lumia Windows phones start at about $30 refurbished. I've used three or four of them. Not bad phones, their limitation is Windows Mobile which is very limited. You'll need a free outlook.com account. Do your homework, get one that works with your carrier.
 
My work-issued phone is a flip. We can call and text, but no data.
I hated typing texts on the dang thing, (and couldn't get a smart phone 'cuz AT&T will force a data plan) so I got a Pantech P2020 and swapped SIM cards.
No worry that AT&T will try to bump to a data plan (though it CAN do data), and it has soft and physical keyboards (and predictive on the soft keyboard).
Win-win.

Pantech%20P2020%20Ease.jpg
 
The big thing with smart phones for me is cost relative to my use. I discovered a Samsung phone (currently sold) that you can get at Walmart for about $18 (plus connect fees) and it does everything I need to do with a smart phone. My carrier is Verizon and this new phone has worked out well for me. If I decide to change or I break it, I am not out much money. No contract.
 
adnj said:
If you are buying a new phone for AT&T you could look at the Blackberry Priv or Q5,
Click to expand...

I have the Priv on Verizon. It was a nice phone until the March update, now the battery life is as bad as an iphone so I have to leave it on my desk plugged in like all the iphone users at work.

I wouldn't get a Blackberry OS phone as they (blackberry) have pretty much abandoned the blackberry OS for Android.
 
My logic goes like this if you just want something simple and live in the states just get an iPhone, the SE is reasonably cheap and you have the Apple store to take care of problems. Apple phones have a lot of longevity and will stay secure throughout its useful life. If you're more hands on then any Android with community support and an unlockable bootloader is the they way to go. You won't need to rely on your carrier and OEM for support so you can have a better OS that is supported for longer extending the life of the phone.

Smart phones are a commodity at this point you just need to choose your price bracket and decide how much brain power and time you willing to dedicate to them.
 
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