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A new company promises a 5G keyboarded BlackBerry in 2021

pcmag.com

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Re: A new company promises a 5G keyboarded BlackBerry in 2021

#51

Post by 627467 »

VectorLock wrote: post #10

What percentage of the market for phones come with physical keyboards? I know some cling to the idea but I think the technology has progressed far enough to mostly eclipse it in every practical way, certain holdouts not withstanding, and the market reflects that.

In the (previously) fast growing smartphone market people prioritize other things (mostly software, camera and multimedia playback related things). But in a plateaued market? I think there will be opportunity for differentiation. I certainly would consider a qwerty smartphone after trying the Passport.

Re: A new company promises a 5G keyboarded BlackBerry in 2021

#52

Post by joemazerino »

xt00 wrote: post #4

Is there a name for the formula that blackberry and others follow? 1) successful consumer business 2) lose in the market so pivot to b2b 3) slow long decline 4) sell brand / assets to somebody else 5) new money results in a “hey we are going back to our roots” and launch products they originally were known for 6) finally go out of business for real, or sell remaining IP to a troll

Essential Phone?

Re: A new company promises a 5G keyboarded BlackBerry in 2021

#53

Post by rcfox »

908B64B197 wrote: post #41
walterbell wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BB10 had the opportunity to support security and the open web, instead of chasing the app store quagmire. WebOS is now open-source and based on OpenEmbedded, which can be minimized. Blackberry has already ported some of their special sauce to Android, they could do the same for WebOS, extracting suitable components from both BB10 and QNX/automotive. Instead of worrying about apps (previous war), they could invest in…

Truth is, the company should have abandoned it's OS before they released their first touch screen device and go with Android. I remember playing with it (the Storm?). It was 2 years after the iPhone was released and it was two years behind the original iPhone. The only moat to keep users they had was their messaging app, but Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp killed it with interop. And it's not like their userbase was…

The first release of Android was only a couple months before the release of the Blackberry Storm. That obviously wasn't an option.

Re: A new company promises a 5G keyboarded BlackBerry in 2021

#54

Post by mightyscouse »

protomyth wrote: post #42
walterbell wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BB10 had the opportunity to support security and the open web, instead of chasing the app store quagmire. WebOS is now open-source and based on OpenEmbedded, which can be minimized. Blackberry has already ported some of their special sauce to Android, they could do the same for WebOS, extracting suitable components from both BB10 and QNX/automotive. Instead of worrying about apps (previous war), they could invest in…

There developer story was way too confusing. Adobe Air just wasn't a good idea. Blackberry had been Java, and I wonder what made that a pain. The Runtime for Android was a good idea, but they really needed to pick something. QNX is doing fine in cars, shame it never really got a chance. The 2 screen Doom and rebooting drivers over the network showed some amazing stuff.

It wasn't so much that it was Java (albeit ME without generics) it was more you didn't get an awful lot out the box.

You had to hand roll all your UI with drawing routines that scaled across various devices and handle all the touch/tracker button events yourself.

Networking was a minefield. Depending on your connection (bis/bes/tcp/WiFi) you'd have to pass various undocumented params. Think we had a modified version of some networking code a RIM employee has given us, God knows how you'd have figured it out as an indie dev.

The support and open source ecosystem wasn't really there at the time either. Just a couple of devs who were super prolific and knowledgeable on the dev forums (thanks Peter Strange, if you're about HN)

Re: A new company promises a 5G keyboarded BlackBerry in 2021

#55

Post by rcfox »

xt00 wrote: post #4

Is there a name for the formula that blackberry and others follow? 1) successful consumer business 2) lose in the market so pivot to b2b 3) slow long decline 4) sell brand / assets to somebody else 5) new money results in a “hey we are going back to our roots” and launch products they originally were known for 6) finally go out of business for real, or sell remaining IP to a troll

Blackberry was initially B2B. You could technically get your own personal Blackberry device, but you pretty much needed needed a business server to get the full experience.

They were starting to lean more towards consumer features in 2006 (reluctantly adding a media player!) but the iPhone forced them into the consumer market.

Re: A new company promises a 5G keyboarded BlackBerry in 2021

#56

Post by borgel »

SuperPaintMan wrote: post #48
otabdeveloper4 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Unihertz Titan and it feels like a better Blackberry than Blackberry ever was. (I only ever used Blackberries since BB10 and later.)

A Key2 is my daily, but there's a backup unlocked Titan running Lineage ready to take over if it dies. Now the question is, once this hardware becomes available will I still need it or will the Key2 power though. Although being able to load GSIs on the Titan feels amazing!

Woah, I had no idea there was a Lineage build for the Titan! Is it available through the Lineage site?

Re: A new company promises a 5G keyboarded BlackBerry in 2021

#57

Post by walterbell »

dang wrote: post #47
wffurr wrote: post #2

No actual device announced, just a licensing agreement for the Blackberry brand to a Foxconn subsidiary "to deliver a new 5G BlackBerry Android smartphone with physical keyboard, in the first half of 2021 in North America and Europe". Bad title, the original is "OnwardMobility Announces Agreements with BlackBerry and Foxconn Subsidiary FIH Mobile to Bring BlackBerry 5G Smartphones to Market" which I might summarize a…

OK, we've replaced the submitted title ("New BlackBerry with physical keyboard announced") with a substring of the article title. This thread is pretty good though. Sometimes a lame article generates good comments.

This article includes a bit of history and context ("Who Are These People?") about the new team, https://www.pcmag.com/news/new-blackberry-with-keyboard-comi...

> The maker of super-tough phones largely sells them to large business and industrial customers, but it also has products at all three major US carriers.

Re: A new company promises a 5G keyboarded BlackBerry in 2021

#58

Post by Lorin »

arch-ninja wrote: post #29

God I wish BB10 was open sourced. Today the biggest problem with phones is their bloated runtimes, android being the largest offender. I want something with the form factor of the q10 running a QNX-based os I can ssh to and use rsync to copy music, contacts, and a calendar to.

Q10 was a great form factor... and BB10's swipe methodology and permission control were great. Sadly they couldn't compete with Android and were really headstrong.

Give me a Q10 with a higher resolution display, better camera, USB C, and you got yourself a banger.

Sadly the Key2 physically was a step back from the comfort of the KeyOne. I hope this device actually stacks up, or they finally decide to make an official physical keyboard attachment for some other popular devices

Re: A new company promises a 5G keyboarded BlackBerry in 2021

#59

Post by 908B64B197 »

rcfox wrote: post #53
908B64B197 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Truth is, the company should have abandoned it's OS before they released their first touch screen device and go with Android. I remember playing with it (the Storm?). It was 2 years after the iPhone was released and it was two years behind the original iPhone. The only moat to keep users they had was their messaging app, but Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp killed it with interop. And it's not like their userbase was…

The first release of Android was only a couple months before the release of the Blackberry Storm. That obviously wasn't an option.

I'm really getting downvoted without explanations here.

The Storm should have been a warning sign that their OS was starting to heavily lag behind. By the time it arrived on the market Apple already had the App Store and the 3G on the market. Anyone from BlackBerry taking a trip to the local mall would have noticed what was wrong with the Storm and the OS in the first 30 seconds when trying a (first gen!) iPhone.

Re: A new company promises a 5G keyboarded BlackBerry in 2021

#60

Post by dang »

walterbell wrote: post #57
dang wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, we've replaced the submitted title ("New BlackBerry with physical keyboard announced") with a substring of the article title. This thread is pretty good though. Sometimes a lame article generates good comments.

This article includes a bit of history and context ("Who Are These People?") about the new team, https://www.pcmag.com/news/new-blackberry-with-keyboard-comi... > The maker of super-tough phones largely sells them to large business and industrial customers, but it also has products at all three major US carriers.

Ok let's change to that from https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200819005202/en/Onw.... Thanks!
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