blackberry

Steve needs to upgrade from his old BlackBerry and he wants to know how he can export and save his text messages. Leo says it's possible to save text messages via SIM, but the SIM is very small. He could back up the text messages with the BlackBerry software, as well as third party solutions, but whether they will be legally viable after that is another story. Which is why Leo would recommend keeping the phone and sim as is and get a new SIM for the new phone.

Eric's mom uses an old phone that has a physical keyboard. She needs a new phone now and he can't seem to find one small enough for her. Leo says that Samsung does make smaller versions of their Galaxy Phones, like the Alpha, which is 4.7 inches. The smaller the screen, though, the harder it will be to type. He can go with the older iPhone, like the iPhone 5 or even the iPhone 4S, which is available for free now. It's a great smartphone for a first choice.

Dana says that the best carrier in Santa Monica depends on who you're calling and where you're calling from. Different phones work better in different areas because of algorithms. Some carriers are going to be better in certain zones than others. But she says that T-Mobile is the best out there based on her experience as a phone company executive.

Michele is contemplating getting a Blackberry because she thought it had the best encryption. Leo says that every smartphone can be encrypted. But the traffic coming out of the smartphone is another issue.

Encryption on the Blackberry runs through Blackberry's own servers. But even email can't really be encrypted unless she shares that encryption with the recipient.

Benny wants to get a Blackberry Z10 because he used one for awhile and loved it. Leo says that they're easy to find on eBay, but Leo likes to get stuff like that from NewEgg. He can get one "open box" from them for around $200. He should make sure he doesn't get the Verizon version, he'll want the AT&T and T-Mobile versions that are unlocked. Those are called "Unlocked GSM."

Alan still uses a Blackberry Bold and he's keeping it because of his unlimited data. Leo says that if he pays the full price for the phone and it's not being subsidized, chances are he won't lose his data plan. The carrier will try hard to get him to transition off the unlimited plan to a family share plan, but Leo says they'll get him on overage charges. So he should keep it as long as he can. The chatroom says Verizon doesn't consider the Blackberry Bold a smartphone, so he may not be able to keep that unlimited data plan no matter what he does. He also wants to tether to his laptop.

Austin wants to know what the future has in store for Blackberry. Leo says that Blackberry has the benefit of its servers being very secure, but recently they let the keys go to China and India and that's just asking for trouble. Leo says thinking email is secure at all is a risk.

Dave keeps track of all of his customers using the "tasks" section of Lotus Notes, and has been using it with a Blackberry. Now his company is switching to iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S4 and needs to find a way to make it work with that. Leo hasn't been using Lotus Notes for a long time, but ScooterX from the chatroom found something called IBM Notes Traveler in the Google Play store.

Stan is upgrading his Blackberry phone and wants to know which smartphone to get. Leo says to not count out the Blackberry Q10 through T-Mobile. It'll be like the new Z10, but with a keyboard. If he's used to Blackberry's ecosystem, it'll certainly be a good upgrade. Will they use the "pearl" trackball? Leo says no, Blackberry has discontinued that. Stan liked the pearl though for running through menus quickly.