NEW BlackBerry Slider Full Touch

[Super XP]

The Rumoured Specifications of this Slider Device by a reliable Source:
While the specs of the device weren’t offially announced, we are informed of the following unconfirmed details:
Full Touch w/ Virtual Keyboard & Physical Keyboard - Your Choice.
Snapdragon 810, 64 Bit processor (4 x 32-Bit & 4 x 64-Bit Cores) Basically making this device future proof.
3 GB Ram
32 GB Inbuilt, + 128 Gb Micro SD
3850 mAH non-removable battery
16 MP rear camera with a 5 MP front camera
http://rapidmobile.biz/blackberry/bl...kberry-slider/

[pp05]

Can see why there is a lot of interest surrounding the handset.

[Biscuit]

Is it enough to tempt people away from their Android/iPhones though?

[pp05]

Is it enough to tempt people away from their Android/iPhones though?

Some will have both. I see this more with iPhone users though since many Android apps are available.

Realistically you are not going to see those two platforms shrink massively due to this handset. This handset is flagship and will have a price to match.

BUT

The hub.

A keyboard (without screen compromise)

The massive battery.

And of course The Hub. (BlackBerry users will know what I mean).

[scaryjim]

heh, not often we get to bump threads in the Blackberry section without spammers doing it for us.

But this one deserves a bump as we now have release details for Blackberry's sliding phone - now called the Priv.

And it's running Android.

Someone stab me in the face please, I can't take it any more. BB 10 is a fantastic OS. BB hardware is just beautiful; my Q5 is the first phone I've owned that I genuinely feel like I won't be able to replace when it dies. And we get the "Priv" with Android.

Bleurgh.

[Ttaskmaster]

Why the piddly little 'width' keyboard, though?
Why not use the full height of the device?
Bigger, better keyboard and also useful in mobile gaming.

[scaryjim]

I dunno, full details here:

http://shop.blackberry.com/store/bbr...9QgaAusV8P8HAQ

It's a pretty standard blackberry keyboard layout. it's a fairly big device (5.4") so I think a landscape keyboard across the full device would be too big to use conveniently with two thumbs, but too small to type onto properly.

Blackberry users are used to the two-thumb close keys typing style: you don't want to change that too much or you lose your core market. My old Milestone 2 was a 3.7" device and it's landscape keyboard was about as wide as I'd want to type on, and I've got big hands. The Priv is a full inch longer than the Milestone 2 - that's a lot of extra stretch for convenient typing.

Personally I'm a big fan of portrait sliders, and if the Priv had BB10 on it I'd be seriously considering it when my current contract expires in December. Not that I dislike Android, particularly, but I love BB10; a large, touchscreen slider just isn't enough to tempt me away...

[Ttaskmaster]

It's a pretty standard blackberry keyboard layout. it's a fairly big device (5.4") so I think a landscape keyboard across the full device would be too big to use conveniently with two thumbs, but too small to type onto properly.

147mm long?
I have a wireless thumb-board/mini-keyboard thing that's wider than that and it's absolutely gorgeous - Second best thumb-board I've even known (best is still the Tmobile MDA Vario and its clones).

Blackberry users are used to the two-thumb close keys typing style: you don't want to change that too much or you lose your core market.

So it's a Blackberry device for Blackberry users?
I thought they were doing quite poorly and needed more people buying their stuff?

I got on reasonably well with the Motorola Flipout, but Blackberry keyboards always failed me. The Flipout had it down well for that size, mainly due to the curved keytops... and I have pretty large hands, too.
As is, I have to go one-fingered on most portrait touch keyboards, so this would just be more of same, I fear.

[scaryjim]

... So it's a Blackberry device for Blackberry users? ...

Unless there's a much larger minority of android users crying out for a physical Qwerty than I've come across, yes. I can't see who else it's aimed at. If there was a sizeable market for qwerty-smartphones surely we'd have seen a much better choice of them over the last few years? There was a momentary fad for them about 5 years ago, that lasted for about a generation and a half, then they faded into obscurity again. Blackberry has been the only significant player in the Qwerty smartphone market for .. well, forever, as far as I can see.

AFAICT this is basically a Blackberry device to try to stop Blackberry users going to another smartphone manufacturer when they jump ship from BB10. The slide is very reminiscent of the Torch; it's basically saying to BB users "look, we know you don't like BB10, but see, we can do Android as well! You can keep your lovely keyboard and that legendary BB security...."

As a device I think I like it. I just want it with a different OS...

Quick EDIT:

I thought they were doing quite poorly and needed more people buying their stuff?

What BB actually need to do is win back their core market first. Over the last few years they've been shipping users hand over fist, and attracting new users isn't going to help if they can't win back their core market. That said, I don't think the Priv is the device to do that, as the vloume of their market share was in low end messaging devices, where they no longer have a device to sell to their loyal following: my wife just spent £22 on a factory-new Blackberry Curve 9320 - a 3 year old device - because there is not a single new smartphone on the market that meets her needs. I suspect where most of BB's market share went over the last few years was away from those entry level phones to entry level Android alternatives; and the Priv isn't going to bring a single one of those people back...

[Ttaskmaster]

Unless there's a much larger minority of android users crying out for a physical Qwerty than I've come across, yes. I can't see who else it's aimed at.

Like most markets, I think people have just given up and resigned themselves to whatever is the only option they're given. In this case crappy touchscreens that leave us forever typoin...[del, del, del]...typong...[del, del, del]...tyuping...[del, del, del]...continually correcting our texts all the time.
Makes a nightmare out of working on Office documents and replying to anything with more than a single short sentence!

If there was a sizeable market for qwerty-smartphones surely we'd have seen a much better choice of them over the last few years? There was a momentary fad for them about 5 years ago, that lasted for about a generation and a half, then they faded into obscurity again.

Fashions went over to these ultra-wide, ultra-thin handsets, in which it's quite problematic to install a slide/fold keyboard. It also costs more to make two versions of a phone and HTC were having some money worries at the time, IIRC?
People seem to be losing interest in the latest highly-snapable large plates of glass, judging by complaints I hear around me, though... so maybe we'll start getting proper keyboards again!

But certainly you don't find that many keyboarded devices on the 2nd hand market, as users mostly guard them like gold and use them until they kark it. Those that are available are still surprisingly expensive, too!
I also note that they still make clip-on keyboards for devices.

Blackberry has been the only significant player in the Qwerty smartphone market for .. well, forever, as far as I can see.

it's basically saying to BB users "look, we know you don't like BB10, but see, we can do Android as well! You can keep your lovely keyboard and that legendary BB security...."

If it is as good as my current Naffphone, I'll happily give BB a go. If it has Andy, all the better.

Over the last few years they've been shipping users hand over fist, and attracting new users isn't going to help if they can't win back their core market.

Depends how many new users they get?

my wife just spent £22 on a factory-new Blackberry Curve 9320 - a 3 year old device - because there is not a single new smartphone on the market that meets her needs.

I know how she feels!!

and the Priv isn't going to bring a single one of those people back...

Not at THAT price, no...!!

[scaryjim]

... Depends how many new users they get? ...

Sadly I don't think it does; or rather, I don't think they have as many potential new users as they have potential ex-BB users that they could win back. At one point they had 20% of the market, but they've lost the majority of that.

I don't see how they're going to attract new customers while they're regarded as an irrelevant has-been holding on by the skin of its teeth thanks to the dedication of a few fanatics. I suspect that core market is still there waiting for a good, affordable BB phone to swing back to, but leave it too long and they'll have got used to touchscreens and iOS/Android, and there won't be any driver to get them back to BB. Get the core market back and generate a buzz about the brand, and you've got something to sell that new customers might actually be interested in - and perhaps more importantly that developers might be willing to throw some weight behind. A smartphone platform with less than 1% market share is going to have a hard time convincing developers that it's worth targetting...