BlackBerry Returns With 3 Possible New Phones in 2017, But Do You Care? (cnet.com)

The BlackBerry KeyOne, which the company unveiled at MWC, may soon see some siblings. From a report on CNET: TCL isn't wasting time building up its portfolio of phones using the BlackBerry name. The company plans to release as many as three phones this year, TCL Communications Nicolas Zibell said in an interview on Saturday. The company is working on an all-touchscreen version, a spiritual successor to the DTEK 50 and DTEK 60 phones, which it also built for BlackBerry itself, according to a source familiar with the rollout plans. TCL will likely get rid of the DTEK branding, the source said.

Comments

If the keyboard is awesome, YES.

[TWX]

I started out with the HTC Dream, sold as the T-Mobile G1 in the United States. The physical keyboard was incredibly useful.

Among other uses, I can do device management with the phone. USB-OTG via USB-serial adapter sort of thing, or SSH. It allows me to be able to handle simple emergencies without having to drag my laptop around with me. Even the best on-screen keyboard on a phablet phone is not as good as a physical keyboard.

Obviously the vast majority of phone users do not do this, so I understand why the onscreen keyboard has won-out, but it would be nice if a single manufacturer made a ruggedized phone with a good physical keyboard. Even still though, users that want to do a lot of forums or instant messaging could probably benefit from a physical keyboard over an onscreen one, simply to reduce the error-rate.

Re:If the keyboard is awesome, YES.

[TWX]

I use Hacker's Keyboard. If the phone is in portrait mode the keys are too close together and it's easy to get the wrong one, and if the phone is in landscape then I can't see enough of the screen. Still better than dragging a laptop around when there's no immediate expectation of needing it.

Re:If the keyboard is awesome, YES.

[KiloByte]

My layout for N900 is pretty convenient for typing regexps and coding in general, especially compared to Nokia's anti-genious default where to type most symbols you need to press a key combination to pull up an on-screen menu, shift your fingers, navigate the menu (as terrible as the typical Android/iPhone on-screen "keyboard") and select something. All while there's a crapload of unbound shift/Fn combinations.

A physical keyboard is so massively superior to an on-screen one that I wonder why anyone would use the latter for anything but sparse status updates on this week's MySpace's remake (I don't know what's popular nowadays, now that Fecesbook is passe and only orange clowns are Twits?). But it's status updates on social media what's where advertising money comes from...

Depends

[stealth_finger]

Slide out keyboard, decent android phone, good internal storage and SD card slot, 1080p screen all for a decent price and I'd take one.

After market keyboards

[DrYak]

Obviously the vast majority of phone users do not do this, so I understand why the onscreen keyboard has won-out, but it would be nice if a single manufacturer made a ruggedized phone with a good physical keyboard.

Or at least leave enough access (pogo pin contacts, etc.) so 3rd party can easily manufacture after-market keyboards.
e.g.: TOHKBD (the other half - keyboard) back cover with magnetically sliding keyboard for the Jolla phone.

Same should also be possible for Fairphone 2 (has USB pogo pins available under the back cover for the exact purpose of this kind of extensions).

I care.

[snarfies]

I care VERY MUCH. I am willing to pay a permium - a hundreds of dollars premium - for a physical keyboard.

But if they are completely unrootable, like the Priv? No sale, at any price.

Re:I care.

[phantomfive]

Hey neckbeard, stfu. No one cares what you think.

I do.

depends

[marcelmol]

Only when they sell one with a landscape mode physical keyboard

Re:Do I care?

[Joce640k]

Betteridge's law of headlines applies...?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Priv owner here and I love it! QWERTY input 4life!

[DatbeDank]

I own a Blackberry Priv and absolutely love it. It's a solid phone that was hampered by rough software at launch which has been fixed. I absolutely enjoy using the phone. Not to mention, I typed up this post using the physical keyboard!

I'll be the first to admit the Priv was over priced at launch. I bought mine used on eBay as I don't like getting locked into a contract to get a new phone. It's a solid phone and the slider reminds me of the really old Tungsten T3, XDA win mobile phones, and my personal favorite the Droid 4.

I absolutely refuse to use on-screen keyboards. They're easily the worst for writing anything worthwhile. Seriously, i've been out in the field and had to write lengthy emails. No way in hell i'd do that with an on-screen keyboard.

Physical keyboards were the first thing they happily gutted from phones. Ironically, I think consumers prefer physical keyboards but the money saved and consumer apathy meant that manufacturers could continue eliminating feautures without complaint much to the chagrin of mobile tech nerds like myself. Now that they've finally hit the headphone jack, manufacturers are rightfully getting push back from consumers.

One day I hope for a mobile phone renassaince that brings back creative designs of the old days. One can only dream!

Re:Priv owner here and I love it! QWERTY input 4li

[Baron_Yam]

> It's a solid phone that was hampered by rough software at launch which has been fixed.

I have a Classic. Buggy browser, OS patching seems to have stopped, nobody's developing apps anymore (but at least it's Android-based now so you can side load many apps if you want to).

They hamstrung the Blackberry Bridge and then dropped the Playbook platform altogether after swearing up and down they wouldn't.

I like the sandboxed work and personal modes. I like the secure link to a private server (though poorly implemented so features fail if Blackberry has an outage).

Somebody has to make Keyboard phones

[Qbertino]

I like physical keyboards and it would be nice if Blackberry could continue producing them. The Keyone has me curious and an updated Passport with Android as OS would be interesting too.

Blackberry deserves to live on at least as much as Apple does.

And throughout the years their phones have gotten less uglier too. I remember my 8130 and 8310. Both very ugly and cheapy plastic all over. Not nice.
If they continue to build good phones with good keyboards, I'll always look into BlackBerry aswell when a new phone is due.

My 2 cents.

From Nexus 5 to BB Priv

[gargalatas]

Yes I have a BB Priv and I can tell you it was the best choice I could make! Priv is a great phone and BB made a great job leaving all the annoying and frustrating things of Android behind. But also BB made some little changes to the stock android. Yes I switched from Nexus 5 (with Android 6) to BB Priv (Android 6) and it's the same thing but with all the annoying features of Android like the "swipe again and again to unlock the phone are left behind. Obviously BB made a great effort to setup a good phone and start all over again with the android this time. Also I found surprising features like the capacitive physical keyboard. They also upgrade the software very often. Everyday they put a new feature!

Sort of

[Locke2005]

I miss my Google G1 phone which had a flip out mechanical keyboard, because I think I can type faster and more accurately on a mechanical keyboard than a touchscreen. So, while I'm not interested in a Blackberry, I am interested in phones with real keyboards and phones that can't be butt-dialed. e.g. the old flip phones.

I've still got a Priv

[wjcofkc]

I am still rocking the Priv and love it for the slide out keyboard. The phone still manages to be thin with great battery life. The two things I do not like about it are that the keyboard does not have the raised bumps, nor does it have the tool belt which I insist they could have integrated, albeit in a miniature fashion.

The KeyOne interests me greatly, but again no tool belt. I realize the tool belt makes most sense with a BB10 phone, but they should be able to put some software together to give it meaningful and similar functionality. The absolute deal breaker for me on that phone is the fixed keyboard which means VR is out of the question. We will see how the other phones look. The bottom line is that if you are looking for a BB phone with a keyboard, the tool belt is an essential component. Otherwise it's just not the same. A pity this was not understood.