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Leaked Photo Shows Touch-Screen BlackBerry 10 Phone

Posted by Soulskill on from the finally-arriving-at-their-own-party dept.

alancronin tips this quote from CNet: "A new leaked photo of the BlackBerry 10 smartphone, or the 'London,' promises a completely different looking BlackBerry than the world is used to. According to the BlackBerry news site N4BB, a photo of the device (which is designed by Porsche) shows a slender touch-screen phone that is the color 'gun metal.' Several apps are shown in the photo, including Facebook, BBM, and DocsToGo. ... The London is the first BlackBerry 10 and is slated to have a TI OMAP dual-core CPU running at 1.5GHz, as well as 1GB of RAM, 16GB storage, and an 8-megapixel camera."

12 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. Irrelevance and mediocrity by LordLimecat · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The entire reason I loved my blackberry was its keyboard-centeredness. Why the heck do I want a business phone that has a crappy touch keyboard? Theres android and iPhone for that.

    I guess we still get the BES stuff, but which users are actually going to want a blackberry? If youre going to mandate a business phone, why mandate one that sucks at being a business phone?

    I mean, I guess what they had wasnt selling phones, and their market share was shrinking-- seems logical to make a change, right? Except they just killed 80% of what made blackberry so popular to begin with. Being just another touch-device clone isnt really the way to claw your way back into the game.

    1. Re:Irrelevance and mediocrity by Eyeball97 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Been using touchscreen BB since the storm. Truly a horrible machine, hardware-wise, and the storm 2 wasn't much better. But, and I suspect I may be in a minority, I still prefer my storm 2 touchscreen to my SGS2 for one simple reason - the hardware "click". I've lost count of the number of times I've cursed at Android for following a link (i.e. picking up a 'click') when I'm actually just trying to scroll. Never happened on the BB, not even once.

      As for bb and "keyboard-centeredness" I came from a Bold 9700 to the Storm, and if I had a time machine and could go back, I'd give up the keyboard in exchange for display real-estate again in a heartbeat, despite the shortcomings of the storm. I did curse, throw fits and desperately miss the physical keyboard for a couple of weeks but after that, I became accustomed to the touch keyboard and now don't miss the physical keyboard at all...

      I'm not convinced the keyboard alone accounted for "80% of the popularity". For me I could care less - it's BBM and Push/Notifications that make it my choice of 'business' phone.

  2. Wrong product name by JoeyRox · · Score: 5, Funny

    They should call it the Blackberry 12, since it'll be released one chapter after Chapter 11.

    1. Re:Wrong product name by acoustix · · Score: 4, Insightful

      RIM has no debt. Has over $2B in the bank. They will be fine.

      --
      "A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
  3. The photo was cropped ... any rounded corner? by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Unfortunately the photo was cropped and all I could see is a rectangular thingy.

    Anyone saw any "rounded corner"?

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:The photo was cropped ... any rounded corner? by Tapewolf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That line is getting REALLY tired...

      Normally I'd agree, but Apple's recent behaviour has made legal action over similar-looking devices very much a legitimate concern.

  4. With keyboard as well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    RIM have already announced there will be a version with a physical keyboard and a 720*720 screen, for "real" BB users. The BB on-screen keyboard as on the PlayBook is, in my view, better than others, but I agree: as someone who uses a BB for messaging, I am waiting for the keyboard version. Preferably the slider.

    Currently the meme is that RIM is dying and I suspect this has its origins in the large and well staffed Apple and Microsoft PR departments. But consider: the difference between a BB phone and Android/iOS is that the BB doesn't phone home all your private information to Google or Apple. A lot of "apps" are basically Trojans for privacy violation. What message do you think that RIM is addressing to corporates, right now?

    1. Re:With keyboard as well by somersault · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Currently the meme is that RIM is dying and I suspect this has its origins in the large and well staffed Apple and Microsoft PR departments

      Um. Okay. Nothing to do with Blackberrys being shit to use, and requiring a third party server add on to work effectively, then?

      --
      which is totally what she said
  5. It's not only the hardware by erroneus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sure, the hardware is a thing. But it's only a thing that supports better software and performance. The main thing is the things people can do with it.

    The "wow" about iPhone, and later Android, was "look at all the things I can do with it! And the number of things I can do with it is growing like crazy!"

    The thing about Android is "look at all the things I can do with it! with fewer restrictions! and cheaper!"

    What does Blackberry bring? Developers? Apps? Freedom?

    They bring business maturity. That's about it. Is it enough?

  6. Personal experience by Kupfernigk · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Indeed. It is noticeable that when I send emails from my phones, both of which have physical keyboards, the reply from iOS and Android users tends to be either very short, or a phone call. I recently had a message from a BB user on behalf of an iPhone user, presumably because the iPhone user didn't want to have to type two sentences on an iPhone.

    Speech is all very well, but there are many circumstances when it is inconvenient - for the hearing impaired (there are rather a lot of us), in meetings/lectures/seminars, or where ambiguity or being overheard must be avoided, as with user names, passwords etc.

    --
    From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
  7. Have you actually tried one? by Kupfernigk · · Score: 4, Informative
    Are you comparing like to like? Like to like is a Bold 9900 versus an iPhone, not a corporate 2010 model versus a 2012 phone. The last generation of BlackBerries are actually not hard to use, very configurable for business use (different notifications for different classes of incoming message, auto clock mode in dock, powerful security certificate handling), and the "third party server add on" is a messaging server - how well does your corporate iPhone work without one? Exchange is a third party add on from a phone point of view. I assume you mean that the BES is an add on to your Exchange server, but does your Exchange server provide secure XMPP or an equivalent out of the box?

    Apple and Google have very carefully shifted the grounds away from considerations of message security and integrity, messaging flexibility, and privacy to - ooh shiny! Angry Birds! But I suspect that eventually people will realise that it's panem et circenses to keep the mass buyers happy. A phone is always a compromise as a media device, which is why screen sizes keep creeping up, and a media device is always a compromise as a phone (too big, battery life too short).

    --
    From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
  8. Legitimate business people... by mevets · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What makes one a legitimate business person?
    Is that a euphemism for prostitutes and drug dealers?
    If you have to write 50 emails a day from a mobile device, you have made a serious vocational error.