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BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

venturebeat.com

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Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#161

Post by nailer »

erichocean wrote: post #117
nailer wrote: post #77

BlackBerry owns a bunch of patents around Elliptic Curve Cryptography [1] - since they own Certicom [2]. Maybe they're going to troll as a business model? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECC_patents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerry_Limited#Certicom

And yet they don't seem to apply[0] to what may be the most widely used ECC library, NaCl[1]. So maybe they're not really worth much... [0] http://cr.yp.to/ecdh/patents.html [1] https://nacl.cr.yp.to/

Thanks re: [0]! Re [1] wouldn't openssl/boringssl/etc be the most widely used ECC library? Most people are using ECC with older style non-Edwards curves, also openssl has curve25519 in the next major release. NaCl seems to only do newer algos according to https://nacl.cr.yp.to/securing-communication.pdf - what software uses NaCl now? Thanks!

Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#162

Post by camelNotation »

Silhouette wrote: post #92
camelNotation wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "As much as I'd love to see more handsets with physical keyboard, they never seem to sell well enough for manufacturers to invest in releasing more models." Because like the Priv, they attach keyboards to massive screens. Those screens aren't necessary in a productivity phone. They make it unwieldy and ridiculous to use. The form factor of a Blackberry Classic is all you need, just integrate with Android.

The form factor of a Blackberry Classic is all you need, just integrate with Android. I think you just inadvertently highlighted why that business model would be so difficult. I was almost 100% with you in this thread until that point. I too would like to have a modern phone with a good hardware spec that is primarily a communications tool and personal organiser, rather than an entertainment product. I would like goo…

I'd be perfectly happy with a Blackberry Classic running BB10 OS. I just really like Google's productivity apps and would miss them a great deal.

Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#164

Post by st3v3r »

Silhouette wrote: post #146
st3v3r wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is completely off topic, and they weren't looking to get away from the "mess and creepy factor", they were concerned about the temptation of installing Facebook.

If you really think that security and privacy are off-topic in a discussion about wanting a phone with a focus on useful productivity functions rather than entertainment apps, I think you're missing one of the main reasons for smartphone fatigue. camelNotation themselves mentioned the desire for high security, right there in the top comment that started this thread.

If you're really that upset about it, then make your own. Go on Kickstarter, and raise the money to build one. You should receive plenty of backing.

Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#165

Post by Silhouette »

st3v3r wrote: post #164
Silhouette wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you really think that security and privacy are off-topic in a discussion about wanting a phone with a focus on useful productivity functions rather than entertainment apps, I think you're missing one of the main reasons for smartphone fatigue. camelNotation themselves mentioned the desire for high security, right there in the top comment that started this thread.

If you're really that upset about it, then make your own. Go on Kickstarter, and raise the money to build one. You should receive plenty of backing.

After you.

Personally, I just use a "feature phone" and avoid the smartphone game today. I get to make calls, I pay hundreds of pounds less per year, and I only have to charge the battery every few days.

I was just agreeing with another poster that there is a market out there for something beyond that without going to the full smartphone-and-apps, entertainment-device model. I have enough businesses already without starting another one for this, but if anyone did want to, I'd be an interested potential customer, is all I'm saying.

Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#166

Post by Silhouette »

camelNotation wrote: post #162
Silhouette wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The form factor of a Blackberry Classic is all you need, just integrate with Android. I think you just inadvertently highlighted why that business model would be so difficult. I was almost 100% with you in this thread until that point. I too would like to have a modern phone with a good hardware spec that is primarily a communications tool and personal organiser, rather than an entertainment product. I would like goo…

I'd be perfectly happy with a Blackberry Classic running BB10 OS. I just really like Google's productivity apps and would miss them a great deal.

Fair enough. :-)

Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#167

Post by ksk »

nixos wrote: post #144
ksk wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, hes defining his productivity, and you're defining yours . Both of you can be right :) To your point, Apple did put a computer in my pocket, but it took away my control over it and it became _their_ computer. No root access, no control over updates, no way to copy files in and out of it, no way to control any aspect but what they let me. That is not my definition of a real computer, but an appliance. Sure,…

Um, there was no root on Blackberry

Well, sure.. it didn't run UNIX. But for for all intents and purposes you had 'root access'. You could install any BBOS you wanted, look at the entire filesystem and install any third party app (w/o signing, or appworld), and the OS exposed APIs which iOS doesn't. All of these things were out of the box and didn't rely on jailbreaking or exploiting vulnerabilities in the OS.

Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#168

Post by st3v3r »

Silhouette wrote: post #165
st3v3r wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're really that upset about it, then make your own. Go on Kickstarter, and raise the money to build one. You should receive plenty of backing.

After you. Personally, I just use a "feature phone" and avoid the smartphone game today. I get to make calls, I pay hundreds of pounds less per year, and I only have to charge the battery every few days. I was just agreeing with another poster that there is a market out there for something beyond that without going to the full smartphone-and-apps, entertainment-device model. I have enough businesses already without s…

"After you."

I'm not the one complaining that there isn't a phone catered to me.

"I was just agreeing with another poster that there is a market out there for something beyond that without going to the full smartphone-and-apps, entertainment-device model. "

There really isn't, though.

Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#169

Post by IshKebab »

ClassyJacket wrote: post #153
Silhouette wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hardware seemed nice and it had the latest security updates. Ironically, it was security that put me off BlackBerry as a brand. There was the whole mess over whether their messaging systems were actually secure in technical terms, and the final conclusion seemed to be that some of them weren't. Apple handled the related issues much better. More than that, when they brought out the Priv and made a big deal about putti…

When Blackberry went Android, they threw security out the window. Until Marshmallow, Android made absolutely no attempt at any kind of security whatsoever - any app could read anything on your phone and there was nothing you could do to stop it - messages, contacts, microphone, location - and to this day, apps still have to voluntarily opt in to the permission system.

That totally untrue. You needed to ask for permission for those things at install time. It wasn't a great system, sure, but what you said is objectively false.

And apps do not have to voluntarily opt in to the permission system. Any app that targets Android 6 or later is required to use it.

Android has enough security problems without having to make them up.

Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#170

Post by ClassyJacket »

IshKebab wrote: post #169
ClassyJacket wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Blackberry went Android, they threw security out the window. Until Marshmallow, Android made absolutely no attempt at any kind of security whatsoever - any app could read anything on your phone and there was nothing you could do to stop it - messages, contacts, microphone, location - and to this day, apps still have to voluntarily opt in to the permission system.

That totally untrue. You needed to ask for permission for those things at install time. It wasn't a great system, sure, but what you said is objectively false. And apps do not have to voluntarily opt in to the permission system. Any app that targets Android 6 or later is required to use it. Android has enough security problems without having to make them up.

>You needed to ask for permission for those things at install time

No, apps didn't have to ask. They had to tell you, but they didn't ask - you couldn't say no. All you could do is never install the app, which we all know is not realistic. Everybody's just clicking straight through that screen because every app simply requests almost every permission. People aren't gonna buy a 1000$ phone and then not install Facebook because it needs Contacts permission.

Personally, I just gave up on Android and got an iPhone.

> Any app that targets Android 6 or later is required to use it.

Sure, but apps can simply target Android 5 to avoid it. It's not like enough Android phones get updates for apps to be able to be exclusive to anything less than Android ~4 years old.

I'll concede my wording should've been more specific, but my main point is correct.

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