Last week, a news story popped up that was straight out of the early-2000s — BlackBerry is back!
A company by the name of OnwardMobility is working with BlackBerry to release BlackBerry-branded phones starting in 2021. Details on the phones are still very thin, but we know that at least one of them will have a physical keyboard and 5G.
We saw this attempt once before with TCL, but that partnership died just a few short years after it began. That's raised some concern as to whether or not this latest attempt will have any legs to stand on, resulting in some of the following comments from our AC forum members.
Skimmed the article, here are my thoughts. Blackberry had it's day. They are going to need to pull out all the stops to make a device that people will buy. If they want to survive, they need to do the following (in my opinion): 1. Regardless of the diehards, get rid of the physical keyboard. Sure the purists want that, and I understand, but this is a business. A business needs to sell a lot...
Golfdriver97
I do agree with you on all of your points. They need to make a phone that's a hefty contender. I am a physical keyboard enthusiast but I do see what you are saying about what the overall market desires in a smartphone. Of course, they could make the flagship-level phone with a full touchscreen and the mid-range or entry-level phone with a physical keyboard. The way they manufactured the Z10...
Morty2264
I have zero interest. The device is going to have a physical keyboard, which I haven't used in over 8 years. At this time I have no desire to return to a nostalgic form factor that provides no benefit to me but simply takes up extra space, adds extra weight, and adds an additional point of potential hardware failure. I suspect this device will be as much a failure as all the other attempts to...
Laura Knotek
One would think that a moderator of CrackBerry forums would have some level of interest! And we know you wouldn't buy it anyways even if it didn't have a keyboard, because who buys a SlabBerry? If it's gonna be like any other piece of glass, what's the point? Also, a keyboard doesn't take up more weight, the KEY2 LE (156g) is most likely lighter than the slab you're using. And the few...
the_boon
What about you? Are you excited for BlackBerry phones to return?
