Just a few weeks ago I got something of a curse, which turned into a blessing. A bit of water had splashed out of a cup I kept on my nightstand, and landed on my BlackBerry. When I woke up I dried it out, but a few days later the trackball still wouldn’t work. Disappointed that I’d be without a properly functioning BlackBerry for a few days, I submitted my insurance claim. But instead of sending me a 9630, they sent me a 9650. This not only meant more internal memory and Wi-Fi, but also compatibility with BlackBerry OS 6. That was the best part to me. While BlackBerry 6 might not be the most revolutionary operating system, it represents a distinct improvement over previous iterations of the BlackBerry OS. 
The first thing I did after installing OS 6 was to search for a proper theme. I prefer to do this first, before rearranging icons, because oftentimes changing themes messes with the alignment. And so I rooted around the BBGeeks Store for themes. I also headed to some of my favorite theme sites, such as Hedone Design, Berry Good Themes, and Elecite. After narrowing it down to a select few, I chose my theme and installed it. It was then that I realized that it might not have been necessary. As I scrolled through the home screen, I appreciated the graphical interface. There were definitely aspects in this OS 6 theme that simply couldn’t have been present on previous themes. Yet the more I played with it, the more I realized that it was really just a graphical difference. Many OS 5 themes had similar navigation panes. It made me wonder how necessary a custom theme was for OS 6. While I was playing with this one all I could think about was how smooth and intuitive the navigation was on the Torch I had tested last year. After a while I switched back to the default theme — changing the wallpaper, of course, because who wants to stare at the Verizon logo all day? I found that I liked the standard interface better than the theme I had tried. To test this I tried another theme, Cubix, a theme we reviewed last week. Again, I enjoyed it, but I found myself quickly switching back to the default theme. I just liked the way it works. And there are plenty of ways you can customize it, too. And, as we learned a few weeks ago, OS 6.1 will bring even more customizability, including the ability to remove home screen panes. This line of thought made me wonder whether anyone else feels the same. Do you prefer a custom theme with BlackBerry 6? Or are you happy with the default? I’m sure that we’ll eventually see some killer themes that take advantage of the possibilities of the new operating system, but for the time being I’m sticking with the default. How about you?
6 comments… read them below or add one
David,
The Bold replacement was what Asurion offered me when I submitted my insurance claim. This was a little more than a month ago, so it was a while after you got your replacement. Maybe that’s the difference.
The device was shipped to me with 5.0 on it. I guess Verizon updated its inventory, but that didn’t extend to Asurion. In fact, I tried to update the minute I got it, but it wouldn’t work, through Desktop Manager or through Wireless Update, until the following week.
To the reply notifications, I’ll see what I can do. If there’s a WordPress plugin, I’ll try to track one down.
I love themes and I have most likely spent a few bucks buying ones that I though were good only to find out they were missing the clock on the home screen, their horrible font, etc. Just the little things I expect form the default theme. I have learned to just use the default theme and love it. There are some nice free ones that just play with the color themes so if you like the default but want a change in color. Most of these themes are still limited by that fact that the Theme Studio is still Beta. Once they release the final version I am sure they themes might get better. One thing I am happy to see in 6.1 is the ability to turn of those annoying “Favorites”, “Downloads” screens that some how always seem to get selected on when all I ever use is the All screen.
I’m more curious about the process you used to go about getting a Bold to replace a Tour? There were rumors last summer that Verizon was out of Tour’s and was sending Bold’s as warranty replacements, but that seemed to fizzle out. My trackball went bad in August and Verizon sent me a replacement Tour despite my lobbying for a Bold (third trackball fail). :(
I’m also curious why you had to install BlackBerry 6? A big chunk of the delay launching 6 on their Bold’s was they had to upgrade all inventory, but you got a Bold sent to you that still had 5.0 on it? Or is it that you just WANTED to do a clean OS load?
PS: PLEASE Joe, give us a way to get comment reply notifications? It’s really a pain to have to keep checking back to see if there’s been replies to comments here.
I have had my Torch for months. Default theme would have been perfect with more user control, so have tried several alternatives. Drives me nuts that none of them work perfectly because bugs in theme studio, andnwhen is RIM going to fix that !!
@phil I have no idea when they will fix the issues with the builder. Fingers crossed it happens shortly now that many more devices have OS 6.
I have had my torch for quite sometime and I have tried many themes, the only wish I have is that I could retain all the functionality of the standard theme but with different colour and icon variations because let’s be honest for a creative its difficult when you have to look at the same boring colur scheme and icons everyday.
So all I’d like is to have a theme exactly like the standard one just with different couler schemes.