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Texas Company Promises to Release 5G BlackBerry With Physical QWERTY Keyboard in 2021

H2SO4 said:
Me. Looking at switching from Apple products so I'm interested to see what other shave to bring to the table.
Mind you, by your logic nobody else should even try. Not a person on the planet should want something different right?
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Calm down
 
So here’s my 2 cents. I carry both a iPhone 11Pro and a Blackberry Keyone.
  • I only use the blackberry for emails, text and phone calls. Nothing else
  • Because of the limited use, the battery lasts forever.
  • my iPhone is for everything else, apps, camera, etc
  • The call quality is much better on the keyone. The speaker phone is much better
  • The keyone is built like a tank. It might have a shot at lasting more than one round in an alley fight with an old Nokia. My iPhone has broken its screen a few times etc but this keyone is very tough.
  • The keyboard on the keyone is bliss. I am typing this right now on the iPhone and I wish I was on the blackberry. I can type without looking at the phone.
  • The keyone is SOOO fast because I’ve stripped it down to just the basics and removed all the garbage. I don’t know what’s up with the latest iOS release but my phone has been stalling a bit and needs a few reboots a week. I’m probably going to go on iOS14 to see if that helps.
  • I like having both mobileOS with me as my work required me to be able to do some things on Android. Also there are still some security things I have to do that involve blackberry’s software suite. It works perfectly on this phone (even though it’s not BB hardware).



 
H2SO4 said:
Not a person on the planet should want something different right?
Click to expand...

Hopefully these guys did SOME market research to show that there are buyers for this phone.

I think there is minimal investment risk though, outside of marketing and support because this looks to be a Chinese made generic keyboard model with a licensed BB label on it and some off the shelf, whitelabled pre-installed apps. The announcement indicates a partnership with FIH which probably has 50 different types of cheap mobile models in its arsenal for purposes just like this. Ultimately that's what should worry a potential buyer, that this is just some generic phone with a keyboard slapped on it. Just my 2 cents, could be wrong and this was a very costly hardware design effort by Onward but I highly doubt it.
 
I would buy it, I love GOOD physical keyboard phones. The problem is, every Blackberry branded Android phone has been awful.
 
OMG!!! I cant wait to see this on my YouTube feed ever wondered what happened to the blackberry...
 
i had a bb back in the day - company issued - forgot what i did with it
the rise and fall of bb - just as epic as enron
bb has head just above water
 
Zaft said:
Dead on arrival
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DUDE this is more like a miscarriage or better yet these tadpoles never made it past ... (you know the rest fill in the blanks).

the fruit company brand that JUST won’t die!! It’s like that company that brands it’s name for Towers, no matter how much money it looses it just never dies lol.
 
luisfrocha said:
Are they seriously still trying?!?! 🤦‍♂️
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No, BlackBerry isn’t trying to still make it in the smart phone business. They are doing well with their software ventures at the moment. This is another company hoping to crack into the smart phone market by licensing the name and probably some security software from Blackberry. Minimal risk to BB for licensing their name and software...
 
It would be great with some competition to android and iOS. I really liked Nokia/Windows Lumia phones. Never had the pleasure of trying out Blackberry. Since many developers seem tired of iOS and Android app stores. This is a golden opportunity for a new mobile os and App Store.
 
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I really enjoyed my Blackberry Passport very much its camera could have been better. I liked the broad form factor with Touch pad keyboard for navigation and typing!
 
Mr Magoo said:
It would be great with some competition to android and iOS. I really liked Nokia/Windows Lumia phones. Never had the pleasure of trying out Blackberry. Since many developers seem tired of iOS and Android app stores. This is a golden opportunity for a new mobile os and App Store.
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I have used both Windows Mobile Lumia 950XL and BB Passport. Both were even with iOS and Android on important things then. But developers ditched them in favour of Android & iOS.

Yesterday I have made an observation in another thread where the Epic battle with Apple must be seen with some traction in the mobility OS space by alternative forces. Today, I am seeing this news.
 
Remember all the android phones that attempted a physical keyboard and advertised against apple, where did they all end up?
 
Ramchi said:
I have used both Windows Mobile Lumia 950XL and BB Passport. Both were even with iOS and Android on important things then. But developers ditched them in favour of Android & iOS.

Yesterday I have made an observation in another thread where the Epic battle with Apple must be seen with some traction in the mobility OS space by alternative forces. Today, I am seeing this news.
Click to expand...
This is another android crap.
 
Relentless Power said:
Oh the days of Blackberry. How I miss my Curve. Say what you want, but those phones were amazingly compact, the keyboard was excellent, Durable and it’s good to have change in a world of when everything is primarily the same.
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Agreed! That was my first Blackberry. Didn't have to worry about a shattering screen or the device slowing down after software updates :D
 
ugahairydawgs said:
There are other, much better options though. Blackberry isn't even Blackberry anymore. It's just a label slapped on a device made by a 3rd party made possible by a licensing agreement, and a new licensee at that which was made necessary after the previous 3rd party (TCL) said they were going to stop making "Blackberry" devices (presumably because nobody outside of the 50 people that still read Crackberry were buying them).
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Nevertheless. I'm not blinkered, I'm open to ideas and new products.
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SharkeyStormcrow said:
Calm down
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Just calling out a ridiculous post when I see one. All calm thanks.
 
anson42 said:
Hopefully these guys did SOME market research to show that there are buyers for this phone.

I think there is minimal investment risk though, outside of marketing and support because this looks to be a Chinese made generic keyboard model with a licensed BB label on it and some off the shelf, whitelabled pre-installed apps. The announcement indicates a partnership with FIH which probably has 50 different types of cheap mobile models in its arsenal for purposes just like this. Ultimately that's what should worry a potential buyer, that this is just some generic phone with a keyboard slapped on it. Just my 2 cents, could be wrong and this was a very costly hardware design effort by Onward but I highly doubt it.
Click to expand...
You're probably right but I'm interested to see where it goes.
 
bheathain said:
What was a regular blackberry? Mine was a hard keyboard with a non-touch screen. Pretty "regular" back then.

I had the 8310 pictured:

BlackBerry Curve - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
Click to expand...

I had a "regular" 6000 series with a monochrome screen, a thick heavy beast.

My mistake though, when you said Curve I thought Pearl. I went from a non-roller ball type of BB to the smaller Pearl with the roller ball and there was so much not to like about that move. Had I gone to a Curve, that would have been a real upgrade. I fell for the greater portability of the Pearl. It was that, but so less usable otherwise.
 
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