Blackberry: Classic or Dud?

my blackberry keeps making noises unbidden - it's like it's tuning in to some radio or something? i didn't tell it to do this, no relevant application seems to be running, i don't even know HOW to make it do it

it first happened the night of the boston bombing - it played a full news report for NO REASON at all and completely freaked me out. now it seems to be picking up some sort of broadcast from the french open - if i knew how to make this happen i would have done it myself, but now i am concerned with WHY and HOW DO I MAKE IT STOP.

Pull the battery?

yeah that'll probably work but i want to know why and i want it to NOT DO IT. i genuinely think all technology is a) not controlled by me in any way b) out to get me

Any obvious reason why my Blackberry (I know, I know) has suddenly stopped receiving emails? And any obvious fixes, aside from "switch off for five minutes"?

Hmm. It works if I connect to Wifi.

I was hoping this thread was bumped because someone bought a key one

Saw a review of BlackBerry yesterday by Matt Zoller Seitz, who I like as a TV writer. Didn't read it, but I've seen the film now and will. I know he liked it--surprised.

I found the three principles so hard to take--one yells and scowls nonstop; one is a cartoon geek; the David Foster Wallace guy wears the same dopey expression the entire film--I wanted out after about half an hour. (When Saul Rubinek appears, he puts those three actors to shame just by acting human-like. Rich Sommer--Mad Men's Harry Crane!--does all right too.) The soundtrack is much better than Air's, but to little effect. (Didn't get "Waterloo Sunset" at the end for a few seconds, but then, duh, I figured it out.)

I've never owned a cell phone, but I associate the BlackBerry with Obama in 2008, so having everything falling apart at that exact moment (a bit earlier even) was somewhat confusing.

It was all right enough as a film, a watchable trifle but the leads are indeed one-note aside from Beruchel. I gotta give credit to makeup/costumes departments though in that I didn't recognize either Cary Elwes or Michael Ironside, and their names are right there in the credits.

I'm sure it's not my thing, but Glenn Howerton screaming is, so I'll still give it a watch

He does scream with proper business asshole verve.

Anyway, nice enough interview with Matt Johnson:

https://defector.com/blackberry-director-matt-johnson-is-not-wearing-an-outfit

I recognized Cary Elwes, but needed a reminder in the credits of his name. Didn't recognize Michael Ironside at all...my strongest association with him is Scanners, 40 years ago.

I completely missed out on Blackberries. They definitely had a pop-culture moment in the mid-2000s, when someone like Paris Hilton would be widely known for using hers. Some called them crackberries because they were apparently so addictive. But what features did they have that garnered that much attention? Was it just their web-browsing and texting capabilities? Throughout their heyday, I was on old Nokia bricks and flip phones. When I graduated from those, smartphones had already been a thing for several years.

According to the movie, phone + web + texting was revolutionary. But, as Paris Hilton might say, I am so not the person to answer that.

It was the keyboard, man
And email
And push notifications