home-Internal stairs-Removing BlackBerry ID in Kyiv. Block BBM, BlackBerry ID, Protect and World Blackberry id bypass

Removing BlackBerry ID in Kyiv. Block BBM, BlackBerry ID, Protect and World Blackberry id bypass

In this issue we will continue our conversation about extracting information from mobile device backups. The topic of today's article is the devices of the Canadian company BlackBerry running the BlackBerry 10 OS. We managed to see that, and in the world of Android, traditional confusion and vacillation reign. What about BlackBerry 10?

Introduction

So, BlackBerry 10. A system that the developer company positions (or, more accurately, positioned) as the most secure in the world. Open source code, many models and a variety of hardware platforms are not about BlackBerry. The fleet of devices is limited to a dozen models, and variations of the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 are invariably used as the hardware platform (in the BlackBerry Passport - Snapdragon 801).

Creating and restoring backups is a standard feature in BlackBerry 10. To perform a backup, you can use either the proprietary BlackBerry Link application or one of the third-party solutions - for example, the universal tool Sachesi.

If you can create a backup copy of your data using a third-party utility, how does this compare with the declared security? Oddly enough, it goes together quite well. First, to connect BlackBerry Link or Sachesi, you need to unlock the device by entering the correct PIN or passcode (otherwise the connection will not take place). But secondly, it’s much more interesting. The backup is created inside the phone and is immediately encrypted. Nothing comes out in clear text: the entire data stream is encrypted, and BlackBerry Link or Sachesi simply saves it to a file.

Similar to iOS? Not really. In Cupertino, local backups can be encrypted by specifying any password, or they can not be encrypted at all (in this case, remember, the data from the keychain will still be encrypted, but with a hardware key, which allows you to restore the keychain exclusively to the same device from which it was backup taken). Canadians took a different route. They generally forbade not encrypting data. At the same time, backups created on one device can be easily restored on any other smartphone running BlackBerry 10 registered to the same user. How so? Let's take a closer look at encryption in BlackBerry 10.

Encryption

The encryption key for backups on BlackBerry devices is not tied to the hardware or the user's password, but to the BlackBerry ID account. When you create an account (to which purchases in the BlackBerry store and the BlackBerry Protect service are linked), a certain secret key is also created, which is stored both on the BlackBerry servers and on the device itself. This key is stored very deeply in the device; there is no way to get it out of user mode (however, you can’t get it out even by physically removing the eMMC chip - at least if data encryption is activated).

When BlackBerry Link requests a backup from the device, the system service returns the already encrypted data using the same key for encryption. Likewise, data can be restored to a new device - but only after the device is linked to the same BlackBerry ID account from which the backup was made.

Historical reference

BlackBerry smartphones have always had encryption, but it hasn't always worked this way. In the previous generation of BlackBerry OS (up to and including version 7), backups created in the BlackBerry Desktop app could be encrypted with a custom password or not encrypted at all. At the same time, much less information was included in the backup copy than is stored in BlackBerry 10. Confusion? No: BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10 are two completely different operating systems. Today, BlackBerry OS is of purely historical interest.

Breaking

Obviously, to hack a BlackBerry 10 backup, you need to get the encryption key, which is stored on the BlackBerry server and somewhere in the depths of the device. It cannot be removed from the device, the Canadians tried their best. The server releases the encryption key outside only if a new device is initialized. So the only way is to pretend to be a BlackBerry phone, connect to the server and get the required key.

We carried out such an attack in the Elcomsoft laboratory. Having looked at the request addresses and introducing ourselves as a brand new smartphone, we successfully connected to the BlackBerry server, gave it our BlackBerry ID account information, including the password, and received the coveted key! And with its help - access to the contents of the encrypted backup copy.

How we did it

As we have already established, the data is backed up inside the device. Data encryption is implemented using the AES-256 algorithm, and verification is implemented through HMAC-SHA-1. The system obtains the encryption key from the file /accounts/ /sys/bbid/keyCache. If the file is not found, a request is sent to BB Olympia Service (blackberryid.blackberry.com).

If BlackBerry Link is used, the backup will be saved in BlackBerryBackupFormatV2.0.0 format as an encrypted BBB-QNX file. In fact, this is a very ordinary ZIP, which contains a manifest.xml file and a large number of encrypted binary files (looking ahead, these are encrypted tar archives).


How to decrypt this backup? First, extract the BlackBerry ID from manifest.xml (to do this, read the keyed parameter of any tag). Typically, the BlackBerry ID matches the user's email address.

Next, you need to register a new fake device. To do this we will need to establish a connection to the BlackBerry server. Server address: blackberryid.blackberry.com. Request parameters: bbid (Blackberry ID), password, pin (device serial number), salt (client entropy). Answer:


Explanation of the response (omitting obvious fields):

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BlackBerry refused to provide user data to the Russian authorities, after which BlackBerry ID was blocked by Roskomnadzor on April 28, 2017. This page contains information related to site blocking.

The website blackberryid.blackberry.com is blocked. Checking the blocking.

Which BlackBerrys can block?

Only devices running the BlackBerry 10 OS operating system can be blocked. Blocking only means no access to the BlackBerry ID website, i.e. There are difficulties when installing applications. The problem is being solved. How? Read below.

BlackBerry Android devices are not blocked because... Applications are accessed through Google services, not BlackBerry.

Solutions to the problem

Help setting up a VPN

BlackBerry Russia does not provide assistance in setting up a VPN, because... This is prohibited by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Symptoms of blockage

How can you tell if your device is blocked?

  • Your telecom operator or Internet provider has been blocked if you cannot activate your BlackBerry the first time you turn it on or cannot install an application from BlackBerry World, BlackBerry Messenger does not work and the device displays errors:
  • No Internet connection

Can't connect to WiFi?

When connected to a WiFi network, the device requests access to the resource "blackberry.com", which is blocked in Russia. To connect to a WiFi network, you must turn off your mobile network. Now this issue is being resolved.

Reason for blocking

BlackBerry was recognized as a distributor of information and, under the new legislation, was required to provide data about users and store it on Russian servers. BlackBerry refused to provide user data, after which the BlackBerry ID website was blocked.

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Last week we discussed how Xiaomi, represented by its official partner, covers, and does it relatively effectively, the delivery of smartphones of the same name in parcels from China. The indignation of those who wanted to save money and get an alternative to buying smartphones from official supplies can be understood. I am closer to the approach of the same Meizu, which does not fight such parcels in any way, but also does not service such smartphones in Russia under warranty. These are fundamentally different markets that do not intersect with each other. A person who buys a product in China, as a rule, will not buy a similar product in Russia. And vice versa. Therefore, Meizu also increases sales of official devices within the country from year to year, while the gray market remains insignificant and is almost not growing, it is stable.

Now Xiaomi users are signing a petition to the Federal Customs Service and also calling for a boycott of the purchase of official smartphones. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, because it will not be heard by other buyers. Even if they talk about this on Channel One, it will not have any impact in federal networks; ordinary people will buy the product based on the cost and its characteristics. The only way that exists is litigation and compensation for your moral damage, if any. But knowing the Russian specifics, it can be argued that no one will waste their time and money on this venture, especially among those who bought Xiaomi in China. Therefore, I think they will make a little noise about this topic, and they will forget about it in the wake of other events.

For example, the Eurasian Union has agreed on a new threshold for duty-free import of goods; from January 1, 2019, it will be possible to import goods worth no more than 500 euros without paying 30% customs duty. From January 1, 2020, the amount will decrease to 200 euros. Interestingly, most of the smartphones that people buy in China today easily fit into both the first and second thresholds. The problem will be more likely for those who buy expensive goods.

Despite the holidays, we still need to start our “Spillies” with government affairs and the actions of officials, which sometimes lead to very unexpected consequences.

Roskomnadzor against messengers, accidental victim - Blackberry

Amazing time, amazing events. Roskomnadzor was recently criticized by the Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko, in her opinion, officials did not fight the spread of death groups on social networks actively and aggressively enough. A note about this was published on May 1 in Vedomosti, then it began to be reprinted, as usual, in the regions, and the citation of Roskomnadzor involuntarily increased, but not in the way this body would like. Apparently, they decided to put out the flames with active actions that everyone would talk about, and away they went.

Observing the actions of Roskomnadzor from the outside, I can note that this department has learned not to cut from the shoulder, but to test its initiatives first. For example, in Russia, a register of organizers of information dissemination has been created, in which these organizers must enter information about themselves, and also agree to store user correspondence for a year and then provide it at the request of law enforcement agencies. The problem is that most of the “organizers” are outside Russian jurisdiction and do not plan to move into it. Therefore, the laws adopted in Russia are perceived as a joke, and no one is in a hurry to respond to them; moreover, most companies simply know nothing about them. Roskomnadzor writes letters to companies, and when they do not respond, they begin to block them. Moreover, pay attention to the selectivity of such blockings; this is the most natural testing of the market. At the end of April, the Internet radio Zello was blocked; it had about 10,000 users in Russia; they say it was loved by protesting truck drivers. Some saw politics in this, but I am sure that no one at Roskomnadzor thought about this, but blocked the most unknown service, the shutdown of which would not cause a storm of indignation.

In the next wave, four messengers were blocked - Blackberry Messenger (BBM), Line, Imo, Vchat. In a couple of days - Chinese WeChat. Moreover, the blocking in this case was carried out clumsily, the agency tracked the IP addresses used by the companies and added them to the “black list.” There was already a precedent with LinkedIn, when the social network application was forced to be removed from the most popular application stores and users simply could not use it download. The story with messengers has not yet come to this, but for most people they simply stopped working. Those who knew how to use VPN easily bypassed the bans, shrugging their shoulders and continuing to use their usual services. But many people, far from technology, began to look for alternatives.

Roskomnadzor’s campaign against instant messengers is a storm in a teacup; the agency is trying not to offend any significant number of people so as not to provoke social unrest. This is a choice of small layers in which, even if there is disturbance, it will quickly subside, and people will find either workarounds or alternatives. But Blackberry Messenger got a little glitch, which happens when people don't fully understand what they're blocking.

Let me remind you that Blackberry once relied on its operating system and called it Blackberry 10. It never took off, but there is a certain number of fans, including in Russia. According to two operators from the Big Three, about 16,000 BB10 devices operate on their networks. We can safely assume that there are no more than 30,000 of them in the country. One of the most iconic models on BB10 is the Passport. It is not officially available in Russia; there are many offers on the gray market in the range from 15 to 20 thousand rubles. The model is very unusual and has a number of interesting features, which is why people adore it and use it even today.


I was very surprised that at the beginning of May, Passport offers suddenly began to appear en masse on message boards for ridiculous money, for example, five thousand rubles for a device in perfect condition (of course, it’s used, but even for a used one the price is very low) . Other models were also available at bargain prices. It turns out that the blocking of BBM by Roskomnadzor was done immediately for a number of server IP addresses, including those that actually serve BB10 and devices on this OS. The funny thing is that BBM works in terms of text messages, as before, but now you can’t make calls in the messenger (this also applies to those who are roaming in Russia). But the saddest thing is that the app store no longer works in BB10, you cannot download new applications, which caused panic among users. In addition, it is impossible to activate new, just purchased devices, the gray market froze in an unpleasant anticipation of how this story will be resolved, because they have the goods in their hands and are now looking for ways to get rid of it. For those who collect phones, it's time to take a closer look at the BB10 models, in particular, the Passport, the prices can be very attractive.



In Russia, the number of corporate Blackberry users is unknown, but BB10 devices were purchased by state-owned companies such as Gazprom, Russian Railways and a number of smaller players. For them, the devices stopped working in the same way as for all other users. It is not very clear what Russian corporations will do in this case, will they replace their employees’ phones with others or will they still force them to cancel the blocking? It is unknown, since it is not clear how critical this is for them. It is possible that this blocking does not play any role, since the number of users of these smartphones within companies is minimal. But for some reason I’m sure that out of 30,000 BB10 devices in Russia, the lion’s share are corporate users.

The whole story with resource blocking looks like a farce, since it creates problems primarily for Russia, and not for the creators of resources and programs who live in other countries. Who is bothered by WeChat, which is the main means of communication in China? Most people in Russia used this messenger to communicate with colleagues in China; it is a fast and effective way of communication. Now we have been excluded from this communication for a while, especially by officials who should think about the benefits for the country. The professional part of traders, engineers, and people of other professions were deprived of a tool for communication. Of course, this will not cause a social explosion; we have already found ways to ignore these blockings. But why put a spoke in the wheels of those who are doing their job? For what?

I have another bad news for Roskomnadzor and those officials who sincerely believe that the policy of bans is working. I have a feeling that they were not children or they do not have children of their own if they believe that only prohibitions can achieve something in this life. As life experience shows, this is an ineffective measure in isolation from an integrated approach. Remember how Roskomnadzor blocked individual pages for information, so as not to block entire resources? With the transition to https://, this becomes impossible; now we will have to either abandon this norm or block resources entirely. I am sure that initially they will block sites completely, that is, they will introduce some kind of censorship. The measure is weak and ultimately meaningless; there are no examples in the world of effective blocking based on this principle.

The only problem is that education in the country is poor. If we had strong specialists in different fields, this game of blocking would have been impossible from the very beginning. Firstly, the people responsible for blocking would be able to explain to their colleagues why it is ineffective and unnecessary. Secondly, ordinary users would easily bypass the blocking, which would make it unnecessary. But instead, we are playing with the appearance of some kind of hectic work, and Roskomnadzor is making every effort not to cause a reaction from society, since for this they can hit the cap from above. Whatever one may say, it all comes back to education.

Effective battery capacity in a Canon camera

An amazing thing is human thriftiness, a friend of mine bought a camera around the same time as me, the same Canon 5D3, or for fans of the exact names Canon 5D Mark III. From my previous cameras, I knew for sure that a standard battery was enough for me for all possible tasks, but I shoot video extremely rarely with a DSLR and only on major holidays. My friend, however, is thrifty and therefore, just in case, the fireman bought a second LP-E6 battery, which sat safely in the case for almost four years. However, the case itself has also become a piece of furniture, bought for an expensive camera; my friend carries the camera with him in a regular backpack, just like me, since there is no space when traveling, however, just like two hands are not enough to drag everything.

The other day, in the camera settings, I discovered that the effective battery capacity had dropped by two notches; the instructions said that it was time to replace the battery.


Surprisingly, when the 5D3 first appeared on the market, I carefully read many reviews, which almost always mentioned the CIPA method, which described the typical number of shots on one charge, for this camera it turned out to be 950. It is clear that this number of shots depends on the testing methodology, my experience shows that it is infinitely far from reality. So, on average, I took about 2000 photos on a fresh battery. The operating time of the camera greatly depends on the installed memory card (its class), what lens you have, what focus you use, and so on. But the most voracious mode is, of course, Live View, when the field of the frame is shown on the screen, and shooting is not done through the viewfinder. Considering that for me Live View is necessary in a small number of cases, I do not abuse it.

“Dead”, according to Canon, my battery gives an average of 1500 shots, it lasts for 3-4 days on trips, and at the same time it is quite predictable in its behavior, there is no sudden discharge. In more expensive cameras, chargers have the ability to train batteries, force them through charge-discharge cycles; my camera does not have this option. Considering that I use the camera all the time, there was no need to store the battery.

Now comes the fun part! What do you think is the effective capacity of a battery that has been sitting in a case for almost four years? You'll never guess, especially since it was properly half charged when it left the factory. We charged this battery and saw that the camera reported that it had lost one bar. Then we messed around a little, inserted it into another camera, where we added a couple of years to the date settings. And guess what? Suddenly the battery “lost” its effective capacity and also turned red in the menu. Just miracles in a sieve, there’s no other way to say it. If I were a little more trusting, I would immediately run to buy the LP-E6N (this battery replaced the regular six). But I’m in no hurry to do this, since the current battery is quite capable of working for another couple of years at most, but it is guaranteed to work well for at least a year.

Unlike smartphones, the battery in a digital camera is not subject to such stress; it does not go through daily charge/discharge cycles; the charging process itself is longer and more gentle. My camera has a mileage of 117,000 shots.

Let's count how many charging cycles the battery has had. So, if we take 1500 shots per charge as an average, we get 78 cycles! A total of 78 cycles over four years. In various sources I have seen mention that in two years a Li-Ion battery loses about 20% of its original capacity. I was unable to find the original source of this statement, which is widespread in the world, but specifically my camera battery over the same four years of operation lost 25% of its capacity, judging by the number of pictures that can be taken with it.


But this is an unscientific method “by eye”, so I grabbed my battery and took the batteries of my friend (from the case, as well as from the camera; during this time he got 32,000 shots). The analyzer showed a very interesting picture:

  • My battery is 69% of rated capacity;
  • Comrade battery - 73% of nominal capacity;
  • Battery from the case - 70% of the nominal capacity.

First and foremost, you don’t need to stock up batteries for future use if you don’t use them; after all, batteries are consumables, but not that cheap. If they just sit there and you don't use them, they start to break down just as much as if you were using them. On one of the basic level DSLRs, my battery lost about 60% of its capacity in three years; the battery stopped holding a charge and discharged sharply under certain conditions. But I used that camera to its fullest, there was no shame. But if you bought a spare battery and it lost its characteristics, then this is sad.

The next question that surprised me is why Canon set up their cameras so that, depending on the age of the battery, they warn you that it’s time to change it and recycle the old one. After all, the mileage of such batteries is short, and they can easily last another couple of years. It is clear that this is a consumable product and everyone treats it as such, but at first glance it seems that the company is pushing consumers into a purchase that is not so necessary. That is, this is not a real assessment of what happened to the battery in past years, but a certain calculation algorithm based on time.

Our debate turned out to be serious, passions were running high, and this is the hypothesis we came up with. About six years ago, Japan tightened the rules regarding portable batteries, then there was a wave of fires of various equipment, and this usually affected old devices. That is, the problem was that Li-Ion batteries became potentially dangerous after 3-5 years of operation, they could no longer withstand the load and could ignite under certain conditions (a very rare combination of different factors). In those years, Nikon even went to reduce the battery capacity in new cameras, but the internal design changed, which was made reliable and designed for a longer service life.

Most likely, Canon introduced its system for estimating battery capacity in the wake of those discussions, hence the dependence of the effective capacity on the date. That is, any of their batteries will be rated lower and lower over time, and this is not a real assessment of characteristics, but a predicted one. They played it safe, and the company can understand this. On the other hand, we as users benefit from this, since we continue to use the batteries without any problems. A potential problem could be power-hungry modes such as video shooting and Live View, which may cause batteries that are rated to have a low effective capacity to warm up. And in theory, such heating can become dangerous, for example, in the summer. In practice, this again must be a coincidence, since usually the shooting style and tasks do not change unexpectedly. And if a person constantly shoots video or uses Live View, then he has already gone through a large number of charging cycles over a couple of years, and his battery does not provide the same capabilities as before. To test the hypothesis, I turned to a professional cameraman who uses a Canon camera for video shooting and shoots one and a half to two hours of footage every day. According to him, his batteries are a consumable item; usually there are six batteries in stock, on average each one lasts about a year, then is thrown away. That is, these batteries cannot face the same problem of aging, they simply do not live up to this period.

Everyone chooses what to do with batteries independently, I plan to watch mine for at least six months, and if there is no deterioration, I will stay with it until next summer, when I buy a new battery. There is no reason to rush, even if the camera takes a thousand pictures on one charge, for me this is still a comfortable number.

And one more thing that surprises me. People who buy expensive cameras suddenly start saving pennies on batteries by buying some Chinese batteries or replacements. For what? What is the meaning of such an action is absolutely unclear to me. As a rule, a Chinese substitute (not a fake, but an alternative to the original battery) works exactly the same, but there is no certainty about this, you will try everything on your own skin and only then share your experience with other people. You definitely shouldn’t believe anonymous reviews on websites that everything was fine with such and such batteries. The unpredictability of this issue, as I see it, makes the purchase of alternative batteries not a very necessary saving, although here everyone decides for himself.

Difficult quarter for Apple - courts, disputes and falling sales

Apple is going through a difficult period in its history; the company has been in a period of internal strife since 2016, challenging the power of Tim Cook and his leadership, which are practically invisible from the outside. But many events and decisions made become available to us, as they are expressed in very real figures in reports and events in the courts. The attack on Qualcomm was initially successful, the chipset supplier was forced to pay in several countries around the world, and it seemed that retaliatory lawsuits would not be successful. But Qualcomm still managed to surprise: the company not only went to court, it asked the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to impose restrictions on the supply of iPhone to the US, since this product violates the company’s intellectual property. It is clear that this is just another argument for Qualcomm and the possibility of a supply ban is unlikely to be implemented. The example of a similar dispute between Apple and Samsung shows that the ITC takes a long time to make a decision, it drags on for years, and in the end, when the ban appears, it does not cause any harm.

Apple and Qualcomm are arguing over the amount of payments, and during a discussion of the quarter's financial results, Tim Cook, answering a question from one of the analysts, directly said that the dispute would be resolved in court. At the moment, Apple does not know how much to pay Qualcomm and how fair this company’s claims are; they want to leave this issue to be decided in court. I think that after a series of legal battles, Apple will be able to get their way, and Qualcomm will begin to receive lower license fees.

The British Imagination, which supplies graphics solutions for Apple (graphics development for Apple processors), was unable to agree with the company on continued cooperation and formally announced that it was looking for buyers for non-core assets; the company is preparing for the fact that within two years Apple will stop paying money and will develop graphics independently. Most likely, the sale of assets is due to the fact that the company needs money for the courts, since the company's top management has already announced that it will protect its intellectual property.

The quarterly result for Apple was both excellent and not quite what the market expected. Excellent in terms of revenue, income and cash growth (the volume of funds in the accounts exceeded $250 billion!). The quarter was conditionally bad, as iPhone sales fell year on year and turned out to be lower than market expectations. Thus, a year earlier the company supplied 51.19 million iPhones to the market, but in the first quarter it was able to deliver only 50.76 million iPhones.

God knows what kind of drop that characterizes the current stagnation in iPhone sales, and in all price segments. These smartphones are already present in the mid-price segment with refurbished models, and it is difficult to expect further penetration into low price segments. Tim Cook promised in the second half of 2016 that he would stop the decline in sales, which was demonstrated in the fourth quarter, when more iPhones were shipped to channels than the market needed. Manipulating channel supplies is a typical action for most companies, but, discussing the report for the first quarter, Apple's CFO launched into lengthy explanations of what wholesale and retail sales are, why the company reports on wholesale supplies (hello to those who still don’t believe that Apple reports exactly the same as other companies). In fact, the CFO, while talking about how the company struggled with iPhone inventory throughout the first quarter, admitted that the channel was overloaded a quarter earlier. The action and its consequences are obvious, so I see no point in discussing them. From a profit perspective, the iPhone business remains healthy, but unit sales will be stable or slightly down, which is typical of the current state of the market and its saturation in the upper and mid-price segments. In the future, the situation will worsen, as China is systematically conducting a campaign to squeeze the iPhone out of the market. This applies not only to phone sales, but also, for example, application developers are preparing to sue Apple for the monopoly position of the iOS application store, that is, there are no alternative ways to get onto the platform except by complying with all the rules from Apple. The lawsuit has clear political overtones; it is impossible to predict its outcome in China.

But I repeat that Apple’s main problem remains the lack of new markets and products; the company lives today on one product, the iPhone. Everything else is not so important, and we see that so far Apple cannot come up with any alternative for its main product. There are no new and large niches in the market, which can be considered a disadvantage in the medium term. And the current actions of management only confirm this opinion; they are optimizing the supply chain for the iPhone in order to achieve better costs. That is, they plan that this product will continue to remain the main one for the company. This is somewhat frustrating, since the company is painting itself into a corner, and if the new iPhones retain the same design for the fourth year in a row, then a decline in sales will be guaranteed. People are tired of the iPhone design, they want something new, and as we can see from the growing sales of many players, they are successfully getting it.

FitBit added sleep phases to all bracelets and trackers

Just recently, a firmware update was released for most FitBit trackers and bracelets, which adds sleep phase analysis, you can not only see how much you slept, but also evaluate the quality of your sleep. Until recently, only the Alta HR had this feature, with the update it appeared on older models, so pay attention if you use them and have not yet updated.

Windows 10 S for US schools - an alternative to Chromebooks?

One of the most exciting events of the week is the announcement of Windows 10 S and new Surface laptops that will use this OS. By and large, we have before us a version of Windows 10 that is castrated in almost every way, which lives in the cloud and does not have the ability to change the browser, search engine, or install applications not from the cloud from Microsoft and the corresponding application store. This is a response to the popularity of Chromebooks in the US educational system, where Google with its product has already been able to occupy more than 60% of the market. I wrote about the reasons for such success of Chromebooks in Sofa Analytics, I advise you to read that text to understand the reasons for what is happening.

It's understandable that Microsoft wants a piece of this pie, but the company's approach is not as simple as Google's. Firstly, Windows 10 S is a system that has many limitations, in particular regarding hardware. Ultimately, it was the low cost of Chromebooks and their maintenance that became the key to their success. Microsoft has the opposite approach: the Surface Laptop costs $999, which is prohibitively expensive for educational institutions. For comparison, a regular Chromebook in the US starts at $149, plus an annual subscription to a management system for schools and universities, which includes service support, costs $30. In total, all costs fall within the limits of up to $200, if you choose the simplest solutions. If we focus on more expensive machines, their cost will be about $300. In the same price segment are iPads, which Apple sells for $299 for schools.

At first glance, it seems that Microsoft completely missed the mark with its Surface Laptop. But it is not so. Partners release their solutions with the same hardware design, and their prices start at $189, the main focus is on their sales, and not the Surface Laptop. The machine from Microsoft is needed only to demonstrate Windows 10 S, it has no other tasks, and no one expects it to be successfully sold in large volumes.



What's surprising is that with the Surface Laptop, Microsoft tried to solve several problems at once. So, this is a device with a 13.5-inch touch screen (2256x1504 pixels) and a light weight of 1.25 kilograms. Inside is an Intel i5, 4 GB of RAM and a 128 GB SSD. In fact, this laptop is an attempt to grab a little from the sales of MacBooks, and not Chromebooks at all. At the presentation, they talked a lot about the fact that they were creating a laptop for students. But will they be satisfied with the restrictions it contains? For example, there is no Chrome browser in the app store; it is impossible to install it on this laptop. Most of the games that exist for Windows as a platform are not there; the list of missing programs can be endless. In fact, in a different package they offer us the Universal Windows Platform, which failed both on tablets and on phones, of which there are almost none anymore.

In some ways, this approach reminded me of Apple, when you are tied to only one application store and are forced to be content with only what is there. This is completely contrary to what we have come to expect from Windows computers, and, perhaps, this will be the stumbling block for many buyers of such computers.

My first impression of the Surface Laptop was extremely positive; for the money it is a very worthy and interesting piece of hardware. The only question that arises is whether it will be possible to install a normal, adult version of Windows 10 there, and Microsoft immediately gives the answer - for $50 you can buy an upgrade to Windows 10 Pro and get access to any applications. Sales start on June 15, there is a choice of different configurations, including i7, and what’s also intriguing is that they promise up to 14.5 hours of operation on a single charge. In my opinion, in the USA this laptop will be popular as an alternative to the MacBook; in Russia, no decision has been made on starting sales; most likely, these machines will not officially appear here.

What do you think of the Surface Laptop? Like it or not? Would you like such a laptop? In Russia, the discussed price for these devices is from 75 thousand rubles for the basic configuration, but I repeat that the prospects for the launch are still vague and, most likely, this will not happen.

During the holidays I plan to add various texts, here is the Blackberry KeyOne, which is very unusual, and the summer novelty from Vertu, a feature phone on Android, and much more, so keep an eye on the main page, despite the fact that May is a quiet month of interesting materials there will be a lot. Starting May 16, Android Pay will also launch in Russia, which will be interesting for everyone who does not use Samsung smartphones but wants to pay from their device.




P.S. I would like to congratulate you on Radio Day, which at the same time has become a professional holiday for many of those who read “Spillikins” and our pages. But, of course, I cannot help but congratulate you on another holiday, Victory Day. On this day, I want to wish you and your children only one thing - that there will always be a peaceful sky above their heads and that they will never see war. For peace!

The service is unavailable.

Due to the fact that the BlackBerry ID service is blocked in Russia, activation of the device in the usual way is impossible. When you try to activate your device, one of the following errors occurs:

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This situation with the BlackBerry ID request occurs:

  • When deleting device data (Device Wipe or Factory Reset or Security Wipe)
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Another situation where BlackBerry activation is required is the “Complete setup” message that appears periodically; When trying to complete the setup, the device says there is no data transfer capability, and when connected to Wi-Fi, there is no “Next” button, and the setup cannot be completed. In this case, you can use the device like a regular phone, but BlackBerry functions are not available, and there is also no ability to connect to a computer via BlackBerry Link to transfer data and create backups.

BlackBerry activation via VPN and Proxy is not possible. Additional hardware is required for activation.

If your BlackBerry is working and the “Complete setup” message does not appear, then the device is activated.

We can activate your BlackBerry ID and restore your device to full functionality. The expected operating time is up to 30 minutes, that is, right on the spot. When placing your order, please provide your BlackBerry ID and password.

The BlackBerry ID activation service is relevant for BlackBerry on all operating systems, but this is especially true for BlackBerry 10:

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