4.5 OS Beta Reviews

[am_bb8800]

Hi all,

Just wanting to know if any users have any comments using the 4.5(beta) OS upgrade?.

I have been using it for about a week on BES and so far (touch wood) no issues to mention. I'm going to test the new bluetooth A2AP function tomorrow.

[GaryCutri]

As there are many different versions of the 4.5 firmware floating around the web I believe many people will be having different experiences. At this stage users will really need to be connected to a BES 4.1 server running SP5 to get the full benefit of the 4.5 firmware. I have found the Free\Busy calendar lookup and desktop search features to be really useful and the document saving and editing is fantastic.

[am_bb8800]

Thanks Gary,

Yes your right, you will need the benefit of the new BES software for the full impact and I've tried to point IT at the new version. There issue is that they are moving from Notes to Outlook so they are not updating there software.

I'm using 4.5.0.9 (all I can find) and from what I've read that version is unstable but so far i haven't noticed any stability issues.

Some initial comments so far.

Email (via BES)

The new email view layout is nice and certainly tries to break up the email into sections. HTML would be nice but I'll have to wait until IT come to the party

Address Book

Much the same new layout as the email viewer but it splits the name and company onto separate lines which I don't like to much as i have to scroll through more screens to find someone. Yes i can type there name in to lower the search but sometimes i don't know there full name.

Now this might be in the older OS but I don't recall seeing the "Add custom ring tone"

Browser

Now its different to the old one and Im not sure i like it more or not. The "column" view uses a pointer that you can scroll around the screen to click on the links etc instead of highlighting. I'm still getting use to it but I'm sure it will grow on me.

Media Player

If for any reason to upgrade it would be for the media player.

Video FULL SCREEN ! YES ! A nice black I/F and search.

Music, now supports playlists, album, artist etc, I sync'd a playlist from iTunes (using SyncTunes) and it sync'd all the songs and the playlist so I now can sync all my playlists and have the songs and playlists appear on the BB. And now A2AP works i can listen to them without cables.

Photos has a nice I/F like the other media apps, nice black search and a lot faster to load the thumbnails then the old OS.

Explorer now has "hidden File" properties so you can hide/un-hide files and again has a better I/F all round.

Voice Notes

A lot better I/F and usability, saving and sorting is better.

Spell Check

Works a treat, I use to use LexSpell but now 4.5 has its own spell checker so i can uninstall the 3rd party app.

Documents To Go

I can open saved files on the SD Card but I think not having the BES support is stopping me from saving the documents from the email.

Memory Cleaner appears on the home screen (it might of in the old OS)

Bluetooth

I have now tested the bluetooth A2AP and it works OK with my Logitech Headset with good sound level and clarity. Sometimes it looses its bass and sounds "tiny". You have to restart the media player and all is good.

It sync's to over BT devices well and has a better pop up descriptions.

3rd Party Apps Stability

So far all my 3rd party apps are working as they did before the upgrade.

Yahoo Messenger
Google Maps
bbTracker
BlackBerry Tracker

Note: downgrade and test the above features again.

I'm sure there is heaps of things I've overlooked but its fun trying them all out.

What doesn't work

I can't do a soft reset "Alt/Case/Del" it just doesn't work. I have to remove the battery.

Calendar, I can see the different calendar views ie BIS and BES but when i create a new calendar entry it only allows me to select the BIS email accounts and not the defaul BES desktop account, any ideas??

[kirkg]

I've just got an 8310...I'm not using a BES but I'm wondering,
a) If OS v4.5 beta is still ok for me to run
b) Assuming it's ok, where can I d/l v4.5 beta?

Thanks.

Kirk.

[Gregmyers]

The download link has been removed but there are heaps of comments on it ; Link : OS 4.5.0.37 Download Links For 8100, 8300, 8700, & 8800 Series!!! | BerryReview

[supabrudda]

It's listed on the Blackberry site as a download from Vodafone Netherlands.

I briefly had it on a 8100, I found it a bit sluggish (lots of keyboard/trackball freezes & hourglass appearing), colorpearl stops working & causes some weird problems (message light stays on once lit, can't save & exit from colorpearl), it became a bit more stable after removing it.

Docs to go is quite nice, especially with the free upgrade to spreadsheets.
(weirdly enough the upgrade from the app itself tries to use WAP, & not the BES, so it fails, I had to manually download the JAD & use desktop software to install it (although emailing a link to the JAD should work).

The web browser with mouse pointer (same as OS4.3 on 8110) is a huge improvement.

Wasn't sure about how to use the mailbox search (search from Mail app didn't find emails not on my BB). But saving docs is quite good feature, but everything slowed down whilst the download was in progress (i.e. keyboard/trackball freezing).

The upgrade itself took I believe 45mins, the BB was stuck on the spinning hourglass for a good 30min after the install, I thought it failed & was about to re-flash it.

I had plenty of memory free (>30mb), but the freezes are really annoying when you're typing/navigating, so it's back to 4.2

[GaryCutri]

Originally Posted by supabrudda

It's listed on the Blackberry site as a download from Vodafone Netherlands.

I briefly had it on a 8100, I found it a bit sluggish (lots of keyboard/trackball freezes & hourglass appearing), colorpearl stops working & causes some weird problems (message light stays on once lit, can't save & exit from colorpearl), it became a bit more stable after removing it.

Docs to go is quite nice, especially with the free upgrade to spreadsheets.
(weirdly enough the upgrade from the app itself tries to use WAP, & not the BES, so it fails, I had to manually download the JAD & use desktop software to install it (although emailing a link to the JAD should work).

The web browser with mouse pointer (same as OS4.3 on 8110) is a huge improvement.

Wasn't sure about how to use the mailbox search (search from Mail app didn't find emails not on my BB). But saving docs is quite good feature, but everything slowed down whilst the download was in progress (i.e. keyboard/trackball freezing).

The upgrade itself took I believe 45mins, the BB was stuck on the spinning hourglass for a good 30min after the install, I thought it failed & was about to re-flash it.

I had plenty of memory free (>30mb), but the freezes are really annoying when you're typing/navigating, so it's back to 4.2

The 4.5.0.37 version still has a number of bugs on the 8100 but the current beta version is up to 4.5.0.52. This new version seems very stable with the only issue being the hour glass appears if you haven't accessed your media files in while. I think Vodafone just wanted to get the firmware out and released a very early version which explains the bugs you experienced.