Comments on: Delayed screen backlight in OS 4.5

By: DavidB

DavidB — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:37:39 +0000

Well Joe, I understand the “only official updates” mantra makes sense for a “main device”, but you’re likely going to be waiting forever for Verizon to release an update for the 8330. 4.5.0.169 is an “official release” from a USA carrier (USCellular), and while I understand it’s not Verizon USCellular does use Verizon’s network where they don’t themselves offer service so I can’t see what harm could come of it. But hey, it’s your device, and I get the hesitation. I was like that for a long while on my 8830 but Verizon’s incomprehensible foot dragging to release updates for it and for my “toy” 9530 drove me to forget waiting on Verizon releases. I’m never going to be calling them for software support anyway, I’m pretty sure I know far more about BlackBerry software than any Verizon BlackBerry support rep.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:32:56 +0000

I think the issue, SilverTiger, is that we’re using different devices and therefore different OS versions. I haven’t noticed this on any OS I’ve run other than .138.

DavidB, I keep my main device, the 8330, with only official updates — though I suppose an update from another carrier should work well enough.

By: DavidB

DavidB — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:35:25 +0000

I don’t recall either problem ever on my 8830.
And seriously Joe, you of all people should now that .138 is way out of date. You should at least get .169 from USCellular, or you can get .175 from Sprint with the browser bug fixed (if you have an 8330m not an 8330).

By: SilverTiger

SilverTiger — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:13:53 +0000

I was intrigued by your “Bonus bug” and tried it on my 8900. First, let me say I have not updated the OS and, as a general principle, never upgrade any software, phone or computer, unless I have a good reason to do so (e.g. to deal with some bug).

If I enter the Applications menu and then leave the phone alone, after a while the home screen appears (without the screen first going black). When I then press the menu key, I go straight back into the Applications menu, and this is the case whether I press straightaway or first let the screen go dark.

Maybe what you are describing, then, is a “feature” and not a “bug”? What happens when, from the home screen, you press the menu key: does it display the general menu or go back into Applications?

By: Ed

Ed — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:19:42 +0000

I noticed the same issue on my Curve after upgrading, though it doesn’t happen very often. Every now and then, there will be a delay when “waking” it from a black screen. I’ve learned to live with it.

The biggest annoyance with the upgrade that I noticed is that it is more difficult now to select text in a text field in the browser. For example, if you’ve entered some text in a text field (e.g. Google search field), then decide you want to delete or modify it, it takes several clicks of the trackball before it registers and allows you to select text.

Overall, I do not think the upgrade is worth it for most users. The main reason I did it was to make use of the new gmail plugin, but I did not find it very useful after all.

I did my upgrade on a Vista laptop, and it took a very long time to 1) install the upgrade package on the laptop then 2) install the upgrade onto the Blackberry. Throughout the process, I was very concerned that it was going correctly due to the number of manual steps I had to take and also lack of progress information. I *highly* recommend backing up your Blackberry thoroughly before attempting this upgrade.

The biggest upside with the upgrade is being able to view HTML emails more cleanly, but this is really not a big advantage.