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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-13T11:22:16+00:00

I need to buy a Blackberry device for testing Blackberry apps. I guess the

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I need to buy a Blackberry device for testing Blackberry apps. I guess the story is the same like with iOS and Android testing devices where it is not advised to buy a top new mobile, but rather slow and older device. If it works on them, it will work on other (without going into details on diversities in iOS and Android platforms).

Which device do you recommend? We usually build apps against BB 5 upwards.

Also, will current BB mobile devices be able to upgrade to BB 10? I guess not, but I may be wrong.

Thanks in advance

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  1. Editorial Team

    I’d go for low-end devices where things can’t be so easily masked by powerful CPUs or large amounts of memory. Also look for the worst possible camera (with no autofocus), no 3G, 320×240 screen resolution, etc. With OS 5.0 this would be the 8520, but it doesn’t have GPS, and this is an interesting feature for testing. The GPS-enabled variant, 8530, can be difficult to find in the market. 8900s running 4.6 used to be plagued with OS bugs, so these were exceptionally well-suited for testing. (The failure rate skyrocketed if it was the boss/customer device). If you need to boost the chances of getting a CPU register hit by a cosmic ray then this is THE DEVICE. It has GPS and you could upgrade it to OS 5.0 but then it would lose most of its “magic”. Also it is probably out of stock in most sellers. Try to get yourself a 9300 instead, it is almost as bad as the 8520 but features GPS and is relatively recent (OS version is 6.0).

    A single device won’t allow you to infer your application behavior in other OSes or device models, though. To cover this part, you can test in simulators, or if you need more, rent an online testing platform (like Perfecto Mobile and the like).

    About BB10, it is a completely different OS not compatible with previous versions. RIM hasn’t disclosed info about any BB Java device being upgradable to BB10 (my guess is none of the current devices will). You can still target both BB10 and BB Java by developing in WebWorks (HTML5 + JavaScript).

    Update:
    If you can’t find any of the above mentioned models in the market have a look at the 9220, which is this year’s revamped 8520 running 7.1 (no GPS as well). The 9320 is similar but features 3G and GPS.

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