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Blackberry Android Operating Systems

BlackBerry OS Devices Will Stop Working On January 4, 2022 (liliputing.com) 67

Posted by BeauHD from the PSA dept.
If you're still using an older BlackBerry phone running BlackBerry OS, it's time you upgrade devices. According to BlackBerry, it's ending support for legacy services for BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry PlayBook OS on January 4, 2022. Liliputing reports: Among other things, that means that if you have a phone running BlackBerry 10 or BlackBerry 7.1 OS or earlier, then as of January 4, 2022 it will no longer reliably support: Phone calls; SMS; and 9-1-1 emergency calls. BlackBerry says WiFi and mobile data might also become unreliable, and applications including BlackBerry Link, BlackBerry Desktop Manager, BlackBerry World, BlackBerry Protect, BlackBerry Messenger, and BlackBerry Blend "will also have limited functionality."

The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is also reaching end-of-life status, which means that anyone hanging onto the 10-year-old tablet will also find it severely limited starting January 4th. But the fact that BlackBerry discontinued the tablet a year after launch suggests that there probably never were all that many PlayBook owners in the first place and that number has surely dwindled over the past decade. Folks who are still using a device with BlackBerry OS will want to check out the company's FAQ for tips on migrating their data to other platforms while they still can.
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BlackBerry OS Devices Will Stop Working On January 4, 2022 More

BlackBerry OS Devices Will Stop Working On January 4, 2022

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  • Have other manufacturers actually declared their phones unable to "be a phone" before?

    I can understand deprecating practically everything else on the list, but that seems beyond the pale.

    • Considering how standard 3g is getting killed soon and in many countries, it looks entire phone generations will soon be declared completely dead.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by bws111 ( 1216812 )

      Of course. My first cellphone was analog. It no longer functions as a phone.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by narcc ( 412956 )

      I have some serious doubts about the summary. I'll let you know on the 4th if my phone still works.

      My prediction? It'll be just fine.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Same here. I will probably get some Android and make sure I have a backup of all contact info, but that is it. If it really stops working, I can just swap out the SIM card to another phone.

    • But not cable TV box that is less than 10 years old!

  • not just unsupported but dysfunctional (Score:3)

    by aRTeeNLCH ( 6256058 ) on Wednesday December 29, 2021 @06:52PM (#62126373)
    If those devices would just be unsupported, that's fine. But the fact that even phone calls and SMS may not function reliably, whereas that shouldn't need any third party support (just the telco network the device is on), is a red flag never to buy anything from that company ever again.

    This one goes in the category of monthly subscription to start your car...

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by jmauro ( 32523 )

      That shouldn't be an issue since Blackberry hasn't made a phone since 2017. It just licenses its name now to other manufactures to slap on Android phones.

    • That's a pile of crap.

      They're ending software support for their OS. And they're saying "it might not work properly afterwards this date." What do you expect them to say? Hey, this thing is 10 years old, and we're not supporting it anymore, but it will keep working fine? Of course they're going to say "might not work anymore!"

      Old software dies; full stop. Go try running anything else from 2010 that's reached end of life, and see what happens if you have reliability problems. In fact, Microsoft released

      • I have a Nokia 1100 phone and it still works the way it did when it was new, even though the firmware was released in 2004. Windows 98 or XP also work, just that new software does not run on them, but I can still play the original Diablo on Windows 98.

        The point is that some things should not depend on "support". Sure, if you want compatibility with new software or hardware there's going to be a problem, also, some things depend on servers being available, but normally, it should be possible to use the devic

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AvitarX ( 172628 )

          It says they might become unreliable.

          I'm just guessing that maybe some of their devices were fully controlled by a server (for business control reasons)?

          Or maybe some very old devices did everything through a proxy the company had for that snappier mobile experience they all thought we wanted before smartphones?

          They weren't always sold as stand alone devices, and it doesn't shock me that a decade later some of them can't function as stand alone devices.

      • In that case, we need right-to-repair laws that include software. You stop maintaining stuff that's required for hardware you sold to function? Fine, just let users/third parties maintain it -- by releasing either source for that software or the hardware's documentation.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by narcc ( 412956 )

      Don't trust the summary. There's a lot of nonsense in it. Blackberry World has been dead for years, and most of the services on the PlayBook haven't worked for so long, I can't even remember when that happened. I can't use the internet on my PlayBook unless I'm logged in, and that hasn't worked for a very long time. Apps and games that don't use the internet still work just fine to this day.

      Now, if they issue a final update before EOL, I'll be thrilled. I'd love the get new certificates and the ability

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by narcc ( 412956 )

        Nevermind. I was just able to connect using my old BBID and password. I'm installing an update to PlayBook OS now. (Version 2.1.0.1917... I don't know how I missed that one. Here's hoping it opens the device so that it's less dependent on RIM.)

        Now, my BB10 phone can't connect to the update server at the moment. How very odd... ... a quick restart ...

        Okay, now I'm getting updates for software I downloaded years ago. This is wild. EOL seems to have brought my PlayBook back to life. (Updates installed

    • That was always the case with BlackBerry. I looked at a BlackBerry phone once and the thing can do absolutely nothing without RIM being interposed in between you and the cellular system.

      All BlackBetty devices were "Spy Devices" from the get-go -- only the addle would have had anything to do with them after reading the manual -- and only the addle did!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by narcc ( 412956 )

        That's simply not true. You could easily setup and run your own BIS server. It's what everyone who actually cared about security did anyway. RIM didn't need to be involved at all.

        The same couldn't be said for iOS and Android.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      But the fact that even phone calls and SMS may not function reliably, whereas that shouldn't need any third party support (just the telco network the device is on), is a red flag never to buy anything from that company ever again.

      My guess is that this is just the lawyers covering the corporate asses. Last update my BB Z10 got was years ago. Still no reliability issues.

  • We will in a time where everything will have EOL! (Score:5, Informative)

    by JcMorin ( 930466 ) on Wednesday December 29, 2021 @06:55PM (#62126381)
    I'm kinda shock to realised that everything will have stupid time-bomb and will stop working, even if you like and it was working perfectly fine! The best example will be stuff like thermostats and security camera that once the vendor stop supporting them, they will, at some point, failed to connect because their root certificate will expired. Just THAT little stupid totally broken "feature" will break everything connected to the internet if they don't upgrade. We probably waste and destroy billions worths on computers, cellphones and laptops because of SSL expiration. I know for sure dozen of device that were scrap after R3 (Lets Encrypts) root certificate expired this years. Owner devices to upgrade to another new device while the old one was working well.

    • Re:We will in a time where everything will have EO (Score:4, Interesting)

      by TheNameOfNick ( 7286618 ) on Wednesday December 29, 2021 @07:17PM (#62126471)

      It should be illegal to EOL a product without making public all information needed to practically and legally keep using working devices.

    • I'm kinda shock to realised that everything will have stupid time-bomb and will stop working, even if you like and it was working perfectly fine!

      Everything has always had a stupid time-bomb and will stop working. The only difference is the reason. Hardware/Software. Honestly it doesn't matter, what matters is the timescale and the reuse/repair value. If you're buying a recipricol compressor or a CNC machine you expect more than out of a phone.

      In this case we're talking about an 8 year old mobile OS which had its last major development 6 years ago. Hell their most recent phone (5 years old now) didn't even run Blackberry OS.

      These phones won't breat b

    • My thermostats and camera's have no "vendor supporting them" and will not fail to connect. They use wires and do not need "certificates".

      Only the addle will be affected because they insist on buying absolute shit.

      • My thermostats and camera's have no "vendor supporting them" and will not fail to connect. They use wires and do not need "certificates".

        Same here- I have dumb thermostat with a simple clock/timer in it; if nothing goes wrong it'll still be working 50 years from now. It already has 26 years run time on it and it just works day in and day out.

        No company can go out of business and make it stop working. There's nothing to hack so I don't have to worry about some bozo in Croatia using it to root my home network.

        Sometimes simpler is better.

        • Sometimes simpler is better.

          You seem to define "better" to mean lasts the longest. Can I recommend a simple mercury switch for you? They last 100s of years and therefore must be better in your eyes than any modern OpenTherm capable smart thermostat, despite the fact that the latter will literally save you many thousands of dollars over its life.

          I don't subscribe to being JustAnotherOldGuy, I'm more the young thinking type who understands "better" involves looking at all functions of a device. And no I've never seen a thermostat older

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by kackle ( 910159 )

            ... smart thermostat, despite the fact that the latter will literally save you many thousands of dollars over its life.

            I know the math/physics state there will be savings. Has there been done a house-sized experiment that demonstrated the savings/pollution reduction was significant (given a few degree differential)?

          • You seem to define "better" to mean lasts the longest.

            No, that's not what I meant. "Simpler" in this case means there's less to go wrong, no attack surface, no time spent updating it, no time spent undoing a bad update (as if that would ever happen!) and no need for features that I don't need and would never uses.

            Also, you ignored the very first word in that sentence, "sometimes". Sometimes doesn't mean "always", so maybe you should read a little more carefully.

            And as far as being "JustAnotherOldGuy", fuck off, sonny. I've been at and on the forefront of tech

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          A smart thermostat can save you money on your energy bills. At the moment that likely means less CO2 produced too.

          There is a balance where accepting a reduced life for the smart thermostat, say 25 years instead of 50, is a net saving over using a dumb one. Both in terms of your costs and the environmental consequences.

          So the key is to get a smart thermostat that uses open protocols, so it won't become obsolete too fast.

          • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • Mine raises the temp at 7AM and reduces it at 10PM.

            If I want it warmer I click the up button and if I want it cooler I click the down button.

            Since I'm home most of the time it's not that big of a deal. If I'm out for an extended period of time it gets turned down on "Override" mode.

            I seriously doubt a smart thermostat would save me much, especially when you factor in the cost of the thermostat itself.

            A Nest thermostat costs between $100 and $250, not an insubstantial amount of money. I could buy 7 or 8 of

    • Planned obsolescence at its finest. Can't one jailbreak these devices and put a friendlier OS on them?

  • All 3 remaining users (Score:5, Funny)

    by hdyoung ( 5182939 ) on Wednesday December 29, 2021 @06:56PM (#62126385)
    Will be terribly dissappointed

  • It's quite irresponsible for a company to just say something is end-of-life without enabling actual ownership of devices.

    I'd at least expect official instructions on how to unlock the Playbook bootloader so there's a chance someone might make something work on this fine piece of hardware.

    Show some corporate ethics.

  • it wasn't called "crackberry" for no reason.

    textbook story on how you have to stay on your toes when you're "king of the mountain", so to speak.

  • Government privileges should come with a price. Blackberry OS should be taken by public domain if they refuse to support it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rhipf ( 525263 )

      Should books lose their copyright if they stop publishing the book and a spelling mistake is detected?
      Ok, not a great counter example but just because you don't support something isn't really grounds for losing your copyright. A better solution is to just shorten copyright on all things subject to copyright so that they fall into the public domain in a reasonable time frame.

      • Should books lose their copyright if they stop publishing the book and a spelling mistake is detected?
        Ok, not a great counter example but just because you don't support something isn't really grounds for losing your copyright.

        There has to be a middle ground here.

        Books and software have fundamental differences that make your counterexample a bit trickier to equate. Exactly zero courts would uphold a copyright infringement lawsuit stating that the typo was fixed with a label maker or white out and a pen. Even if the labels were sold online with instructions as to where to put the necessary labels to fix the typos, or someone set up a store and advertised a service where people could pay to have typos corrected in their books, it w

  • The last update my BB Z10 got was something like 5 years ago, it will take a while for things to start breaking. They are probably just covering their sorry asses.

  • Considering I do indeed have BBOS 10 device. I suppose there's two possibilites - either it will keep working, in which case all is great, or I'm back to my "armoured" , relatively basic cell phone since I plain refuse to use either Android or iOS devices.

  • It's as if a million Blackberry users cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced and nobody cared....

  • BB's BIS (unlimited internet [excluding streaming]) stopped working years ago, and the side buttons, volume control, and speaker on my Curve all broke; but I always keep it with me and use it like a PDA because the keyboard and programs' UI is vastly better than Android and iPhone. I've been using an Android for calls, SMS texting, email, and browsing - but Android's a pain to use, especially editing text. The BB interface is to Android, what Xfce/XP is to the shitshow that's Unity/Metro.

  • And they think, they can get away with that?
    Especially in Europe?

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