Over the past few days, I stopped using a BlackBerry completely as an experiment. In the past when I tried other platforms, I still always have a BlackBerry with me at all times. People often say that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. So here I am, Day 3, telling you what I miss most from BlackBerry 10.
I started with a Windows Phone 8 device, and then promptly switching to Android 4.2.2. The thing that I miss the most? BlackBerry Hub.
I like how all my feeds are in one location. David Lundblad, Design Director at Mobile Nations, spoke my thoughts exactly in the recent Talk Mobile 2013 Hangouts video.
"I don’t care where the message was from, so stop making me go into all these different places. I just care about the content."
This pretty much sums up what I love most about BlackBerry Hub, an aggregator for all my communication content + Notifications. Call logs, BBM, Text Messages, Voicemail, 3 of my Email accounts, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp.
So how is BlackBerry Hub better than a Notification Centre found on Android?
1. No more jumping in and out
Notification Centre only shows you new items you have yet to view yet. Tapping on most notifications still brings you to the respective app to respond. You then have to go back into Notification Centre again to select another item. There still isn’t actionable notification for most of the items.
With BlackBerry Hub, I don’t even need to jump into any other location. I can reply to WhatsApp messages, BBM, Facebook Messages/Comments/Likes/Tag, Twitter Direct Messages/Mentions/Replies, etc, all without ever leaving the Hub or launching the respective apps.
2. Always there when you need it
If you have read the item, it disappears from Notification Centre. So if for example I read a message (WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, etc) that I don’t feel the need to immediately respond, when I want to reply, I have to go into the app to find that item again.
With BlackBerry Hub, the contents are all aggregated into a single easily accessible location. In the scenario described above, all I have to do is go back into the Hub again and the item will be in the same place as it were when it came in. Again, reducing the need to launch an app just to do a quick reply. Launching apps meant loading content, loading the app, which meant use of data and battery
3. More efficient
In the morning I often have new items from various sources (Emails, WhatsApp, BBM messages, Twitter, Facebook, etc). In notification centre, I would need to go through them one by one. Which meant jumping in and out of different applications. And no, if you just swipe it away, it will still be considered an “unread” item. Which meant that for emails, when you get to your desktop, you need to mark it as read. For facebook notifications it will still show up when you go into the app or webpage.
With BlackBerry Hub, I read what I think is important based on the preview, act on them, and just ignore the junk. When I’m done, tap and hold the date, tap “mark prior read”, tap “OK”. Simple as that. Fast, and efficient. The items will be synchronised to the respective apps as “read”, so I have no need to do the same thing twice to keep my inbox/notification uncluttered.
4. Filtering
Well, there isn’t really one on Notification Centre. Items just show up as they come in.
With BlackBerry Hub, I simply swipe right, and then I can filter the content according to its source. Which makes it a lot easier to go through large amount of content.
——-
While BlackBerry Hub is great, but it still isn’t perfect yet. Right now there are a limited amount of sources that can be in the Hub, like for example the only 3rd party app in the Hub now completely is WhatsApp, and Skype partially. BlackBerry have said back then that the API for integrating into the Hub will be released to developers to make use of. Then there are still a few bugs within the Hub that needs fixing, and features that needs implementing (remote search). But I think it is definitely a step in the right direction.
If apps like Line, Kik, WeChat, Instagram, for example built native apps for BB10, they could be integrated into the Hub. Which means chatting right within the Hub. Replying to comments on an Instagram post, or even posting a new photo right from within the Hub. Lots of possibilities and potential here.
I understand this might not be as much of an issue for others, and a notification centre will be enough for their needs, but for me it isn’t. BlackBerry Hub is a hell of a killer app. One that I seriously miss right now as I use an Android device. One that makes my life so much easier, and saves me loads of time everyday.
No comments:
Post a Comment