Blackberry OS: Constructive criticisms
 

Since the outage, I'm seeing more rants and rant-ish statements about the BB OS. None are constructive. In the interests of (hopefully someday) making a better mousetrap for everyone, I thought I'd ask the following:

If you were put in charge of rewriting the Blackberry OS, what specifically would you change?

Honestly, there is little I would change in the OS and hardware, but I would work on building up their system redundancy, as well as fallback plans for when BIS goes down. I think the best way to do this would be to make the system hierarchical. RIM would maintain the top of the tree with a group of servers, while each mobile provider would operate their own servers that service just their customers. This would help to balance the load, and also would provide the needed redundancy. In this setup, a user's device would primarily interact with the BIS at their provider's datacenter. If that BIS went down, the device would interact with the one at RIM, and then attach to the one at the provider level once service was restored. To make this work, the provider-level BIS would replicate databases to the one at RIM, and the BIS at RIM would replicate required patches, policies, etc. down to the ones at the provider level. When a roaming device attached to a given network, the request would simply be forwarded to the RIM BIS for processing, and the device would attach there, or they could build in a method to allow the device to attach to its home provider's BIS. Essentially, this would look like a BES setup but at the carrier level. I believe this would allow for faster transmissions and also provide the needed redundancy for a growing customer base. Of course items like BlackBerry Messages and PIN messages would still have to transit the RIM core in the above design, but the the load on the core would still be drastically reduced.

I'd call it either a KrisBerry or a LunkBerry.... (y) (y)

Yea, if they'd take on no more users on the RIM network, that would be great.

Like, really, if it was just me, you and our close friends, it would all be honkey dory.

Apps use external memory.

Mapping App that used external memory for map instead of OTA retrieval of maps. This would be part of OS and not an add on.

An App that would tell you if something was down; BIS, BES, phone connection etc. This could be used to backcharge the service provider when they start the $ /kb billing they are trying to push down on us.

Ability to remove or not accept Apps pushed down by provider. Right now City ID will not turn off even though I did not accept the monthly charge to use it. Bing is another example.

Continue to clean up the touch screen functions. The current version on my 9550 is not bad but still not quite the same as the iphone.

Allow more than 160 characters on SMS.

Finally, call it a DuckBerry.

it's alot easier to be negative than to be positive I would say.

What would I change with the OS?

I really don't know....quite honestly. Let me get back to you on that.

Wirelessly posted (White and Nerdy)

Enhance the browser... Let it run an actual good browser. Like bolt or opera as default. Don't get me wrong, I love the browser, but its outlived its use

The only thing I would change is the annoying opening of the keyboard when you open an SMS message. The old version did not do this, but 5.0 does, and it sucks. Everything else is groovy though(so far).

Improve [replace] the browser and build in support for exchange, pop and imap mail without having to use BIS. Fix the memory leak issues that have plagued the devices for some time now. Better syncing of calendars, how about allowing all of the calendars to sync, not just the default one. Faster boot up times would be nice.

Add a 'reset function' app to the phone (or just a control panel that resets the phone). You shouldn't have to do manual battery pulls to reset the device. It should have a reboot function like a desktop or laptop computer. EVERYONE I know uses quickpull to reset and do manual battery pulls occasionally to reset/reboot the device.

ALSO as mentioned before: Buy the Bolt or Opera Mini web browsers. The BB browser is way behind the Android and iPhone browsers. Buying or licensing a better browser is an easy fix.

I wouldn't mind them making a blackberry with a slideout keyboard like the google 'Droid.

I think those are constructive ideas.

MEMORY LEAK!

past that a few things i would change one would be boot times, 2nd upgrade times.

Wirelessly posted (well lookie here!)

I like things simple!
The browser works just fine for me.
I would love a resolution to memory leaks though I think most are attributable to 3rd party apps
I'd love a native ability to secure individual files and apps and not just the device lock. Which I use

Absolutely correct. I have only one third party app on my device, and I have no memory leaks.

Try pressing Alt + Caps + Del.

actually, with my 9700 i don't experience memory leaks. But it was a hassle.

Browser does suck, but we are talking about OS right?

A reset button would be nice.

Also, apps take a god awful long time to install. That would be an issue with the OS being java based I would assume.

I'm with you there, the browser is limited but much more secure than the options.

I don't have quick pull and only reset when I upgrad or remove an app, rarely have to do alt-shit-del or battery pull. Usually only when I make a programing error :oops:

:? A better browser means a less secure device?? I don't think so.

Most of the deficiencies surrounding the BB native browser relate to how it handles active content (javascript, flash, etc). Active content on the web is currently the chief vulnerability exploited by malware purveyors.

The market of primary concern for RIM, for better or worse, is the business BES market. A poorly secured browser could allow for malicious code from a third party site to attack the BES exposing the corporate intranet. So, perhaps not a less secure device, but potentially a less secure system for some users.

The only two things I would change are:

1. Replace the current browser with an actual, functional browser based on WebKit. This is already in the works as far as I can tell, so let me add to this request that they hurry up and finish it.
2. Allow for proper IMAP support with IDLE support through BIS. This would include read status, deleted status, forwarded status, and reply status, and would also include folder support.

That still doesn't explain how making the browser better is making it less secure. RIM isn't Microsoft, can't you do both? You are supporting the status quo and justifying a crappy browser.