BlackBerry, Under New Leadership, Unveils Its Newest Smartphone
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
Still, it amazes me that they don't do something fairly obvious like team up with Bloomberg on becoming the mobile Bloomberg terminals, complete with the chat and coloured keys.
That is one hell of an idea.
Customers can already get the full Terminal on an iPad (complete with colored keys). The same could most likely be done for the Blackberry, if there was significant demand. I'm not sure there will be.
I feel like hardware keyboards on mobile devices are archaic and overhyped. I know it's Blackberry's key thing, but instead of trying the same old tired keyboard, why not embrace the software keyboard with some innovations? They could do some research in ultrasonic haptic feedback, shape shifting displays, even something as far fetched as claytronics to replicate the the textures and friction of everyday objects.
If you like or have to use Blackberry, I guess this is the phone for you, but otherwise how can anybody want to choose a painfully mediocre device? I don't feel sorry for their slow fade into obsolescence.
Edit (after response below): I should add the only item I can think of is Apps but they are working on wrapping Android items.
Edit 2: z30 - sunspider - tinyurl.com/pt6gjrw
The device and OS itself is solid, but nobody cares if there are no applications for it. A smartphone without apps is not substantially different from a circa early-2000s feature phone with worse battery life.
Global Search. How do you do a global search on Android? On Android it's right on the home screen, with iOS it's there on the home screen but a little hidden.
Privacy/Permissions. How does one control the privacy settings on their device and know/control which app is accessing what? Android has permissions management per app, iOS has privacy management in its settings. They are both easy and clear to access and modify.
Backups. iCloud is essentially perfect, very futuristic, it backs up almost everything wirelessly; Android is great because all your data (contacts, calendar, photos, etc) is with Google and easily sync to your device, although I am unsure if it as robust as iCloud which essentially keeps a carbon copy of your phone.
Easy unlocking. The newest iPhones have TouchID, just tap and unlocked. Android has had patterns since forever and it has face unlock, also the newer Samsung phones have finger print unlock as well. It can be very frustrating typing a passcode each time you want to unlock your device.
Design and detail. Google and Apple are giving me the chills in this arena. iOS has always looked great and Material Design is hands down the best design language I've seen this year, sometimes I get a little envious of the design vs iOS. Google did an amazing job with that. Blackberry on the other hand has a design that is old that doesn't look like it's had the amount of thought that its competitors have. Apple, Google, and Microsoft not only understand how to make something that looks good, but also something that is intuitive, delightful to use, and focused.
Interoperability with existing services and devices. What if you have a PC or Mac or a tablet? How well will your Blackberry play with them? Apple devices work best with other Apple devices, but seeing that Google and Microsoft have extremely strong and versatile services, their products will work well on iOS. Android devices use Google services, which work well across platforms. MS devices use MS services which work well on Windows devices which are everywhere.
Strong commitment to platform services. Apple keeps building new services. Google is always building new services. Microsoft is now building new services. They all have a relentless command over their platform and show commitment to making their services better and useful. Siri, Google Now, Cortana, all compete with each other, all very strong services. Apple, Google, and Microsoft are simply the only companies with the resources to do things like these.
Always something around the corner. These companies work hard to make sure they keep us on our toes, this year I was impressed by Swift by and Android L by Google, I'm looking forward to Windows 9 from Microsoft.
Changes the industry and world. Apple, Google and Microsoft's changes are a shockwave throughout our lives. Collectively, they have an enormous power over billions of people and are changing lives every day. For instance, now that they've chose our Health and wearable devices as the new battlefield, we will probably see a massive changes of healthcare and fitness.
Wearables and Health. Stated previously but I can't emphasize this enough. We are all underestimating the power of wearables and the next few years will yield amazing technologies and transformations.
Home automation. For now the media has forgotten the release of HomeKit by Apple and how there are no products that support it right now, but boy am I excited to tell Siri to turn off my lights. I imagine Google will be doing interesting things with Nest and Microsoft has been toying with Home Automation for decades. This will be extremely interesting...
Free stuff, good customer service. I love all the free software from Apple (iWork, iLife) as well as the free repairs and replacements! I love Google Voice/Hangouts, Google Authenticator (app and server), Chrome and countless other really geeky Google services and advancements. Microsoft doesn't give me anything free that makes me joyful, but they are becoming a much more responsive company.
Tons of support. Because these companies have big platforms its not hard to discover if someone else has a problem (and solution) as well. Also they are quick to take care of issues.
Not going anywhere. I am sure that these companies will be around in the year 2100. I can keep some of my products as old relics. They will be in textbooks. I want to be on the right side of history.
These are many, but few out of the many reasons I think Blackberry devices seem painfully mediocre.
Edit: formatting and grammar
Reveal context menu: Touch the time.
Global Search: The home screen has a call, search, camera
Privacy\Permissions: Application Manager -- However all platforms really suck at this and a 3rd party app is necessary.
Backups: For Applications, it doesn't do it yet but if you backup using Link you can. For e-Mail (Calendar, Contacts), ActiveSync is supported.
Patterns: Might be a security requirement but I agree.
Design/Detail: Okay they fail hard here because settings is not alpha order, and many other things. However, navigating icon screens with that mini bar is pretty nice.
Interoperability with existing services and devices: It works really well with Windows, BlackBerry link mounts a network drive over a shared wireless network. BlackBerry Blend released on 24th does Windows/Mac and will probably make it the only platform which lets you use your phone from your PC, if it is as advertised.
Wearables and Health: Android is going to struggle here because of the security of it's platform with Health. BlackBerry has investments in several health companies. However, wearables they don't see to be going into.
Home Automation: If it runs on Android, it runs on BlackBerry, in many cases.
Free stuff/customer service: BBRY loses here but Google doesn't offer customer service. Google offers forums by dedicated people however.
Tons of support: CrackBerry was a decent resource but with BB10 you have to be on your own. After all the platform was completely rebuilt. A company with a "Ship or Die" ultimatum basically. We are only at 10.2 and the amount of changes each update brings is pretty fast. I expect many of the other items you have mentioned to get added. For example, adding quick settings is new, the flashlight, easy alarm management from quick setting, multiple alarms. Items are changing after each update, features being removed, changed, added. Swipe up does what swipe down used to do and so on and so forth.
Not going anywhere: Yeah you win there.
Platform of services: BlackBerry had BBM Chat which was pretty good. With the BlackBerry 10, and video/voice chat it has a communications platform. The Hub is pretty awesome to centralize communications, I don't think anyone does it better, however, their notifications suck. BBM has screen share. Channels is like "twitter/facebook" pages for companies. You have Voice Control for Siri, BlackBerry Link for ITunes, Blend to run on Windows/Mac.
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BlackBerry developer documentation is not as good but their entire developer platform is easy to navigate/learn/install and easy to get started. It currently has only one main version to develop for so easier to manage development cycles. This is why Android fails with it's rapid development and lack of application support across versions.
The Hub is centralized communication.
Runs Android applications. ActiveSync. Personal/Work Space, run your own BES server and setup your company on the personal side and yourself on the private side. Manage your kids mobile devices using your own "BES installation and for free"
BlackBerry link mounts a network drive for your device over wireless connection.
They have QNX which is in cars.
The only platform to have their own security management application. Microsoft has ActiveSync but it isn't as robust as BES/AirWatch/Meraki.
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Lack of apps, however, this is going to change slowly if adoption increases. However, Android applications work.
The camera is not the best.
Settings are not in alpha order.
Blackberry Protect doesn't protect.
Android applications are 90/10 whether they work or not.
Settings are buried all over the place.
Default e-Mail client and reply.
Edit: Forgot BlackBerry Blend in list of positives.
The Z10 was a BB10 device that did have a touch-screen keyboard, and its sales were pathetic.
The Microsoft + Nokia partnership has been gunning hard for Blackberry's market. Blackberry OS marketshare is almost half what it was last year, while WP has almost tripled.
Isn't the software keyboard old and tired by now? Whether or not you happen to like the result, Blackberry embraced innovation -- e.g., in the keyboard, screen, and OS -- much more than their competitors, who now struggle to differentiate themselves.
I don't think current smartphone vendors are struggling to differentiate. Apple is Apple, the experience and seamless integration across its products, Google is Google, data and democratization of power to its users, MS is MS, late to the party but making very good investments in its platforms so they're not a sinking ship (particularly Windows Phone).
It's too bad because I think the screen is innovative, and I wish others would follow suit. Some extra space on the side is more valuable to me than more at the top. I tried a squarish LG phablet a couple years ago and loved it. Unhappily the software was poor and I had to switch to something with a more standard aspect ratio.
Also, I trust Blackberry shares my priorities about productivity and security; anything to save me a few seconds each time I use it would be great. I hardly ever use my phones for anything else, other than occasional maps and web browsing. If it works well, I'm tempted, though its potential in the marketplace is worrying. And no, I don't care if you think my phone is unfashionable.
EDIT: Added a couple words to the first paragraph to clarify.
Serious question: doesn't the landscape mode of rectangular screens sufficiently address this?
Not for me, or at least not well. In landscape mode the screen is too short vertically (especially with the keyboard displayed). There's no getting around having sufficient space in 2 dimensions.
EDIT: Someone else posted that it displays 66 chars per line, which is enough for my text files! I wonder how Vim works on that keyboard.
Who is the market? Cheapskate enterprise customers with huge pockets?
What the Verge says is not gospel. The Verge could be right but a product with a completely different approach, in a brand that it's trendy to mock (and The Verge is a bit trendy), is not something I'd implicitly trust them about. For example, if a reviewer, like many, has dismissed Blackberry before the reviewer even sees the phone, then they are unlikely to be open-minded to changes from what they already know (new keyboard ideas, new dimensions, etc.).
Much of the review seemed to have problems with things that were different than the familiar iPhone/Android products. If we make iPhone/Android the rule, then we're choking off innovation. At least Blackberry didn't announce yet another phablet, as one competitor recently did.
Also, consider that many in the industry (and I don't know about The Verge at all in this respect) sell their positive opinions to the highest bidder, something Blackberry might not be able to afford right now.
EDIT: See the Register for a much more useful review. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/09/24/blackberry_passport_...
For example, the following sounds very appealing to me, (also, it displays 66 chars/line -- enough for my text files!)
> The key difference of the Passport, apart from its striking shape, is that the its QWERTY keyboard doubles as a capacitive multitouch trackpad. ...
Firstly, when editing text, the phone doesn’t move in your hands, and your attention doesn’t switch quite so much. Note "hands" – plural: this is a two-handed device.
I particularly enjoyed being able to select and manipulate blocks of text very quickly.
If they were serious about spreadsheets, why not shrink the keyboard horizontally and make the first phone (in a long time?) with a numeric keypad.
You may get your wish.
Where is the market for a $600 handset that isn't an iPhone 6?
This might not be a tens of a billions of dollar revenue per quarter business like top consumer electronics manufacturers are, but it is a great niche to be in since the security needs are always there for those types of customers.
In the $600+ Android flagships? (e.g., Galaxy Note 4 is $699 - $825 w/o subsidy, depending on carrier.)
The Passport was already in development
years before Mr. Chen arrived.
[1] http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/laptop/3573470/samsung-exits...
There's a pretty decent cursory review on The Register - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/09/24/blackberry_passport_...
Failing to compete with last year's devices is not the path to victory.
The register is the most positive writeup I've seen, and the headline is "it's bonkers". E.g. They like the trackpad keyboard for handling a large display without using both hands compared with Apple's "reachability", but you have to use both hands. So where's the advantage.