Verizon's Exclusive Touch Screen Phone

[ruinfx]

The industrious Boy Genius has apparently unearthed more juicy tidbits about that rumored BlackBerry touchscreen device. Word from BG is that the new iPhone-ish handset is now dubbed the "Thunder," and will come to Verizon and Vodafone as an exclusive device. The phone will reportedly have four physical keys (send, end, menu, and back), sport a hybrid CDMA EV-DO Rev. C / GSM HSPA radio, and could come equipped with a 4G LTE component. Internally, the device is known as the BlackBerry 9500, though it's possible that designation could change. BGR has included a self-made mockup (above) of what the device may look like, but as of now, no one has laid eyes on this mythical creature.

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/05/13/blackberry-touchscreen-phone-to-be-dubbed-thunder/

A lot of people think that the new iPhone will cut into RIMs sales, but it looks like they don't intend to take this one sitting down. I doubt this phone will be able to compete with the iPhone's UI but some people just love BlackBerries(Crackberries) and they have a pretty big following. This phone IMO won't be competing on ease of use and music but the e-mail/business side of things. Looks like Verizon customers will finally have a phone they can brag about.

 

[onlycopunk]

I thought blackberry users liked having a full QWERTY keyboard. It would be near impossible to shoot off emails quickly with a touchscreen keyboard.

 

[ruinfx]

I thought blackberry users liked having a full QWERTY keyboard. It would be near impossible to shoot off emails quickly with a touchscreen keyboard.

yea it really does seem counterintuitive but hey every phone manufacturer seems to think they need to put out a touch screen phone to remain competitive.

 

[GFLPraxis]

Ugh. The iPhone has inspired so much stupidity in the industry.

It's got a very unique and special touchscreen that works extremely well with fingertips. However, users are stupid and say "oooh touchscreen". But normal pressure touchscreens are very poor interfaces.

So many manufacturers are now just slapping touchscreens onto products just to make it sound as good as the iPhone. This undermines the iPhone's uniqueness, and when people get the phone and realize how frustrating and unintuitive it is they just go back to buttons.

 

[zainjetha]

Fake Fake Fake.

 

[Bosox3]

Fake Fake Fake.

fake?? umm..ok

 

[nickspohn]

If people want a touch screen phone, they are going to buy the iPhone, not this Blackberry. I bet the UI is going to suck too just like the rest of the touch screen phones that have been thrown together and released to the public.

No one knows what that phone is going to look like either yet.

 

[Bosox3]

If people want a touch screen phone, they are going to buy the iPhone, not this Blackberry.

Yea..thats the case for people w/ At&t..but not Verizon.

or people can go w/ HTC Touch Diamond. Which is a really nice phone.

Im on the fence on which phone to get...the new Iphone or HTC Touch Diamond...either way I still have some time to decide.

 

[mkrishnan]

Yea..thats the case for people w/ At&t..but not Verizon.

Count me in as being skeptical that RIM would launch a new Blackberry model as exclusive on one CDMA carrier in the US and another GSM carrier elsewhere. That's just idiotic, even if the two companies have a financial tie-up...

 

[Consultant]

Actually, as many people mentioned at AI, with so many companies trying to copy the iPhone, people would probably think, do I want a wannabe or do I want the real thing?

http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=86885

 

[Bosox3]

Actually, as many people mentioned at AI, with so many companies trying to copy the iPhone, people would probably think, do I want a wannabe or do I want the real thing?

http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=86885

The real thing?? The Iphone is a copycat too though.

 

[ipodtoucher]

Fake Fake Fake.

Well it's not fake...the picture is sort of a fake, it is a mock-up of what someone thinks it woll look like...but it sounds to be in the works...

 

[Zwhaler]

Cool, but I'm still getting an iPhone. Verizon can't sync music with Macs! People out there, you have no idea how much it sucks to take music from a Mac, transfer it to a PC, import it, struggle with XP, name each and every track (using the speakers on the Mac, since the PC speakers don't work) ahh sorry for that rant, I just had to get it out. As my friend says, that just goes to show much both PC's and Verizon fail.

 

[t0mat0]

Verizon's Exclusive Touch Screen Phone... Mockup

Wow. What a world beating...mockup

 

[yayaba]

Are the touch screens on those other phones even as usable as the iPhone one is? I thought touch screens sucked and all of them felt like the Nintendo DS ones until I used an iPhone.

 

[abiallan1]

hi..

thanks for the link u hav given....

its simply rocking

 

[detz]

Interesting, but I think it's a fake too. Isn't Verizon exclusive for the new BB though so that should hold people on their network for a while.

 

[kdarling]

Interesting, but I think it's a fake too. Isn't Verizon exclusive for the new BB though so that should hold people on their network for a while.

Missed what the fake reference is about.

Verizon, Vodafone, Telus, Rogers I think... all will have the Storm.

Vodafone says they'll give Storms for free with a contract.