New BlackBerry Phone Planned by Third Party:
It looks like BlackBerry hardware is back from the brink of extinction once again. Today, the security startup OnwardMobility announced plans to release a new 5G BlackBerry smartphone with a physical keyboard. It could arrive in North America and Europe as soon as the first half of 2021.
This may sound familiar. A few years ago, BlackBerry seemed to be a thing of the past. Then, TCL agreed to manufacture two BlackBerry-branded phones. In February, TCL decided not to renew the deal with BlackBerry, and this month, it stopped selling the devices. Thanks to OnwardMobility, BlackBerry may get one more chance.
Also at Arstechnica and CNet.
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New BlackBerry Phones Coming From OnwardMobility
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(Score: 2) by black6host on Friday August 21 2020, @10:41PM (2 children)
I loved my Blackberry. I loved the keyboard and I miss having one. However, the keyboard wasn't the only, or even the main, draw for me and I suspect others. It excelled in a business environment. For me, the ability to download good apps for task management, contact management and a myriad of other tasks was what sealed the deal. Remember, this was at a time when people were coming off palm pilots and many had just flip phones.
Fast forward to now, Android and iOS are thriving. There are untold apps to do just about anything you'd like. Sure, Blackberry could conceivably bring back the physical aspects of what I loved but it won't be the same as when Blackberry was in its heyday and offered hardware and software hands above the rest.
I mean, who needs a keyboard anyway when you can just talk to your phone? I kid, sort of...
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Friday August 21 2020, @10:53PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC9AjN5l4Gs [youtube.com]
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 22 2020, @03:01PM
Oh, sure, I can talk to my phone with my broad west coast of Scotland accent..but will the fucking wee bampot listen?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 21 2020, @11:45PM (1 child)
I have nostalgia for nokia brick phones and nokia/motorola flip phones.
Blackberry? I know at one time blackberry was likened to crack (mobile email anywhere), but nobody has nostalgia for them now.
(Score: 1) by petecox on Saturday August 22 2020, @12:04AM
each to their own - Pinephone exposes pogo pins for expansion; in planning is a Nokia-style horizontal slider keyboard for ssh-ing while on the bus.
that said, if I were in the habit of regularly typing long streams of conciousness into work emails on a 5" phone, I'd probably just carry a keyboard and mouse in my backpack, connected via USB-OTG.
(Score: 2) by bmimatt on Saturday August 22 2020, @12:34AM (3 children)
I used the 8100 model (IIRC, the one with little rolling ball navigation) for quite a while. I can still remember the phantom nerve twitches it gave in my leg where it usually rested in my pants pocket. I liked that phone at the time, but I doubt I could be convinced to use a newer model, unless it has hardcode privacy controls built in.
(Score: 2) by bmimatt on Saturday August 22 2020, @12:36AM (2 children)
Clarification - the twitches were phantom vibration feelings, they went away after a few weeks of retiring the phone. The vibrator on these things were vicious.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 22 2020, @12:46AM (1 child)
People pay good money for vibrators.
Blackberry sex toy.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Saturday August 22 2020, @01:21AM
There are apps for that [cosmopolitan.com], and you can even use nokias [gizmodo.com.au]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 22 2020, @01:13AM (2 children)
Some parasite gets the brand name, spews out a few Android phones.
(Score: 1) by petecox on Saturday August 22 2020, @01:28AM
TCL also have the rights to Palm
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday August 22 2020, @01:48PM
But on the plus side, they will make phones with keyboards. I'll forgive many ills to avoid having to type on a touchscreen.