A new 5G BlackBerry phone with Android and a physical keyboard will arrive in 2021

[Skipple]

Summary

Blackberry is making a new phone with a keyboard to be released in 2021 for NA and Europe. It will also include 5G. 

 

Quotes

Quote

...BlackBerry phones are coming back from the dead, a second time. After TCL tried and failed to make a business out of licensing the BlackBerry brand and selling Android phones, a new startup called OnwardMobility sounds like it will pick up essentially the same playbook in 2021.

 

There aren't too many details yet, but OnwardMobility put out a press release and website detailing the new BlackBerry phone plan. The company says it will make "a new 5G BlackBerry Android smartphone with physical keyboard, in the first half of 2021 in North America and Europe...

 

BlackBerry-branded phones from BlackBerry died in 2016 when the company quit the handset manufacturing business. BlackBerry stuck with its own in-house OSes for too long while the Android and iOS duopoly took over the world, and the company's sales tanked. It wasn't until 2015 that BlackBerry made its first Android device, the BlackBerry Priv, but by then it was a "bet the company" situation and the Priv flopped. BlackBerry ended up licensing the brand to Chinese company TCL Communication, which went on to produce some shamelessly rebranded slab phones and a few faithful-but-expensive QWERTY bar phones like the BlackBerry KeyOne and the Key2. TCL wasn't any more successful than BlackBerry selling Android phones, and in February 2020, BlackBerry announced that TCL was walking away. The TCL licensing deal actually expires at the end of this month, and BlackBerry already has a new suitor lined up.

 

OnwardMobility's press release says BlackBerry and FIH Mobile will be involved in the design and manufacturing of the new devices, which is a good sign.... 

 

It's not clear why OnwardMobility thinks it can succeed where TCL failed, but we'll see what the company's sales pitch is like when the phone launches next year.

 

My thoughts

Honestly, I'm not sure if there is a target audience for this anymore. Most everyone has gotten used to onscreen display keyboards. Having half the phone taken up by a keyboard has so many disadvantages. But man, these companies keep chomping at the bit to make a phone with a keyboard and slap a Blackberry logo on it. Nostalgia, man. 

 

Sources

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/08/blackberry-android-phones-will-rise-from-the-dead-again-under-new-startup/

 

[Moonzy]

2 minutes ago, Skipple said:

I'm not sure if there is a target audience for this anymore.

sometimes my sweaty palm wishes for physical keyboard instead of capacitive touch screen

 

but i wouldnt want my phone screen to be cut in half permanently too

[TempestCatto]

BlackBerry Bold 9900. Need nothin' more

[DrMacintosh]

Lol, why. Nobody likes physical keyboards. They don't help you type on a phone and they take up screen space. 

[Skipple]

1 minute ago, TempestCatto said:

BlackBerry Bold 9900. Need nothin' more

9000. Need that scratchy little ball. 

[Tech_Dreamer]

Why dey still tryin doe?

[mr moose]

2 hours ago, Tech_Dreamer said:

Why dey still tryin doe?

Maybe the CEO died a few years ago and the board has been trying to run the company ala weekend at burnies.

[CephDigital]

3 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

Lol, why. Nobody likes physical keyboards. They don't help you type on a phone and they take up screen space. 

Sliding keyboards like the Nokia N97 tho. That's where it's at. I'd love to have a 6.8", android remake of that phone.

[BSittery]

2 minutes ago, TheUberMedic said:

Sliding keyboards like the Nokia N97 tho. That's where it's at. I'd love to have a 6.8", android remake of that phone.

 

I mean, it already exists....

[RejZoR]

BlackBerry should go with the privacy shtick and form phone and Android OS around that. With option to disable Google Play services entirely without having to unlock and root the damn phone (so, it's up to user to decide which way they want it), expand privacy by adding "app firewall" to the OS and also have privacy filter built in (similar to Blokada). Then don't make 300 billion phone models and have good support for those few that you release with up to 5 years of software updates. Not even required to make a 1500€ flagship out of it. Chipset and storage, yes, please still make it fast as possible because this defines the phone smoothness as whole, but I'd be fine with just a single very good camera. 1080p display is beyond anything anyone would ever need on a phone. Wouldn't mind having both, facial and fingerprint unlock that can work on "either" basis or if user wants on "mandatory" basis where both face and finger needs to match at the same time.

 

I know there are some already, but they go on such absurd levels with privacy they turn themselves into absolute niche that it's not realistic for 3/4 of people. Where this would be. If they can squeeze it into something like a 500€ package I'd be interested. They don't need to make wild innovations or dramatic changes. I just want a reliable and somewhat private smartphone that just works and serves me as an user. I'd then gladly just stick with them and all they'd have to do is update specs as time goes by and they get slow. Many will say there are plenty of options with that, but there really aren't.

[suicidalfranco]

I miss BBM, if only they didn't wait so long before going "hey we're sinking let's give BBM to everyone in order to stay relevant now that the marketplace is flooded with IM apps".

 

[mr moose]

16 minutes ago, suicidalfranco said:

I miss BBM, if only they didn't wait so long before going "hey we're sinking let's give BBM to everyone in order to stay relevant now that the marketplace is flooded with IM apps".

 

Do you miss the BB OS or the phone itself?  Looking back it with the whole touchscreen rectangle being the winning design,  had they swapped OS's to android and started making touchscreens I have no doubt they would never have disappeared  from the market.

 

 

 

 

[suicidalfranco]

10 minutes ago, mr moose said:

Do you miss the BB OS or the phone itself?  Looking back it with the whole touchscreen rectangle being the winning design,  had they swapped OS's to android and started making touchscreens I have no doubt they would never have disappeared  from the market.

 

 

 

 

None, just BlackBerry Messenger, loved the feature where everything message related all rested in one convenient place.

Actually, have to correct myself, that feature was BlackBerry Hub, not BBM

[mr moose]

Just now, suicidalfranco said:

None, just BlackBerry Messenger, loved the feature where everything message related all rested in one convenient place.

Actually, have to correct myself, that feature was BlackBerry Hub, not BBM

ahhh,  there's not a similar app for android?

[suicidalfranco]

1 minute ago, mr moose said:

ahhh,  there's not a similar app for android?

just googled around and seems like RIM made a suit of apps that try to mimic the features of Hub

https://www.blackberry.com/us/en/products/blackberry-hub-plus

 

Could try it for a while and see if it brings the same feel as the OG one

[Doobeedoo]

BB more like ByeBye. 

[sub68]

I like blackberry's but I don't know if this one will be bad or good

[Drama Lama]

1 hour ago, huilun02 said:

If you're a boomer but somehow don't hate the covid 5G towers, then this is the perfect phone for you

And if you really want a blackberry instead of a phone with touchscreen 

[Commodus]

5 hours ago, mr moose said:

Do you miss the BB OS or the phone itself?  Looking back it with the whole touchscreen rectangle being the winning design,  had they swapped OS's to android and started making touchscreens I have no doubt they would never have disappeared  from the market.

 

 

 

 

I'm not even sure that would've helped the company. Not completely, anyway. BlackBerry's decline ultimately started when it was initially dismissive of the iPhone. Instead of acknowledging that the BlackBerry needed a fundamental overhaul, it genuinely believed the iPhone design was "impossible" and even suspected that Apple had rigged the Macworld demo. It should have been starting its rethink on January 9th, 2007 — it might've been too late by the time Google could make Android available.

[pythonmegapixel]

12 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

Nobody likes physical keyboards.

Speak for yourself!

If I could somehow have an all-screen phone which also had a physical keyboard (like a modern day slider phone) at a fairly low price point I'd love it. I don't like typing on touch screens.

[Kisai]

22 minutes ago, Commodus said:

I'm not even sure that would've helped the company. Not completely, anyway. BlackBerry's decline ultimately started when it was initially dismissive of the iPhone. Instead of acknowledging that the BlackBerry needed a fundamental overhaul, it genuinely believed the iPhone design was "impossible" and even suspected that Apple had rigged the Macworld demo. It should have been starting its rethink on January 9th, 2007 — it might've been too late by the time Google could make Android available.

The Blackberry was the de-facto standard device businesses were using at the time, and they were almost entirely replaced overnight with the iPhone. Funny considering that the Android OS was intentionally designed to steal customers from RIM since all the Android prototypes looked like BB knockoffs until the iPhone was released.

[mr moose]

5 hours ago, Commodus said:

I'm not even sure that would've helped the company. Not completely, anyway. BlackBerry's decline ultimately started when it was initially dismissive of the iPhone. Instead of acknowledging that the BlackBerry needed a fundamental overhaul, it genuinely believed the iPhone design was "impossible" and even suspected that Apple had rigged the Macworld demo. It should have been starting its rethink on January 9th, 2007 — it might've been too late by the time Google could make Android available.

Android killed Blackberry, BB growth peaked in 2009 coinciding with major realeases of android.  ios that was growing until then did not take sales from BB they took sales from symbian, then android tool sales from BB and symbian while holding ios steady in 2010 and in decline in 2011. 

 

 

 

Then after 2011 Android's sales were significant compared to IOS. BB and IOS still tracked together with ios breaking free and going up only at the end of 2011. 

 

Someone tried to argue that iphone killed BB the other day, the reailty is BB was never a market leader as symbian ruled the roost and android effectively took their business along with BB.  Even though ios was bigger than android at the start, you can clearly see from 2010 that androids growth tracks well with the decline of BB and ios until the end of that year.

 

An important thing to remember is that when this all started smartphones where not the mainstay of the general population they were limited to business and tech heads.  Also the main thing that propelled androids market growth over ios in the twenty teens was growing wealth in the 3rd world countries.  I have no doubt that if we restrict this graph to only the US, Canada, Australia etc, that androids graph would plateau or bounce around the 50% market with apple some where around 2015 (maybe even a bit earlier)

[Commodus]

15 hours ago, mr moose said:

Android killed Blackberry, BB growth peaked in 2009 coinciding with major realeases of android.  ios that was growing until then did not take sales from BB they took sales from symbian, then android tool sales from BB and symbian while holding ios steady in 2010 and in decline in 2011. 

 

 

 

Then after 2011 Android's sales were significant compared to IOS. BB and IOS still tracked together with ios breaking free and going up only at the end of 2011. 

 

Someone tried to argue that iphone killed BB the other day, the reailty is BB was never a market leader as symbian ruled the roost and android effectively took their business along with BB.  Even though ios was bigger than android at the start, you can clearly see from 2010 that androids growth tracks well with the decline of BB and ios until the end of that year.

 

An important thing to remember is that when this all started smartphones where not the mainstay of the general population they were limited to business and tech heads.  Also the main thing that propelled androids market growth over ios in the twenty teens was growing wealth in the 3rd world countries.  I have no doubt that if we restrict this graph to only the US, Canada, Australia etc, that androids graph would plateau or bounce around the 50% market with apple some where around 2015 (maybe even a bit earlier)

That's some good data, I'll give you that. Mid-2010 was an interesting time, when Apple overtook RIM and Android overtook almost everybody.

 

I'd say we could look at the iPhone as the warning shot, at least — RIM needed to rethink absolutely everything about the BlackBerry, right away, and instead it assumed that it didn't have to do much more than throw a bone to the touchscreen crowd. Early Android was rough, but by the time the Moto Droid arrived it was clear the company was in trouble. Can you imagine if it had a proper touchscreen OS ready by, say, late 2009? I don't think it'd have held on to all of its market share, but we might still be talking about it as a third viable option.

[RejZoR]

Sure, Android dominates the market through sheer numbers. But the whole Android as an ecosystem is an absolute clusterfuck just like Linux is. 300 billion distros, variants lots of proprietary crap bolted on top, crap updating process with months of waiting for Google to release new version and then months of waiting for individual vendors to release updates for their own devices and poor longevity of updates for individual devices. It's not hard to claim the crown through raw numbers just because anyone can stick Android into anything, even a god damn toaster, but if it's actually good, that's something entirely different. And I can tell you straight away that it's just incomparable to iOS. iOS is this more strictly moderated ecosystem, but it's super unified, especially thanks to long software support, meaning devices in a very wide timeframe have same latest version and not like with Android where entire ecosystem is totally fragmented and plagued by ancient outdated versions. When update comes out it comes out for all devices at the same time.

 

Samsung sort of got my attention with 3 years of updates, but I'm guessing it's only on their flagships. Which means I'd have to buy at least their cheapest Galaxy S model to have that. You feel less pressured by time it takes for vendor to release OS updates if you just have longer term support for it. Where 2 years go by so fast. Though I need to check policies how they word them. Coz there is a difference between 3 years of updates and then you miss the 3rd year by a bit for new major Android version or guaranteed 3 major versions. Which would mean guaranteed 3 versions, whatever time they'd arrive. But I just prefer Apple's handling of updates. You just get every new major update for at least 5 versions. And that's that. No buts or ifs and no asterisks anywhere. The sooner Android vendors adopt this, the higher the chance they'll have more loyal customers who stick with their products instead of jumping between vendors every 2 years.

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, RejZoR said:

Sure, Android dominates the market through sheer numbers. But the whole Android as an ecosystem is an absolute clusterfuck just like Linux is. 300 billion distros, variants lots of proprietary crap bolted on top, crap updating process with months of waiting for Google to release new version and then months of waiting for individual vendors to release updates for their own devices and poor longevity of updates for individual devices. It's not hard to claim the crown through raw numbers just because anyone can stick Android into anything, even a god damn toaster, but if it's actually good, that's something entirely different. And I can tell you straight away that it's just incomparable to iOS. iOS is this more strictly moderated ecosystem, but it's super unified, especially thanks to long software support, meaning devices in a very wide timeframe have same latest version and not like with Android where entire ecosystem is totally fragmented and plagued by ancient outdated versions. When update comes out it comes out for all devices at the same time.

 

Samsung sort of got my attention with 3 years of updates, but I'm guessing it's only on their flagships. Which means I'd have to buy at least their cheapest Galaxy S model to have that. You feel less pressured by time it takes for vendor to release OS updates if you just have longer term support for it. Where 2 years go by so fast. Though I need to check policies how they word them. Coz there is a difference between 3 years of updates and then you miss the 3rd year by a bit for new major Android version or guaranteed 3 major versions. Which would mean guaranteed 3 versions, whatever time they'd arrive. But I just prefer Apple's handling of updates. You just get every new major update for at least 5 versions. And that's that. No buts or ifs and no asterisks anywhere. The sooner Android vendors adopt this, the higher the chance they'll have more loyal customers who stick with their products instead of jumping between vendors every 2 years.

We get it, you love iOS. I prefer it too, but please don't turn this into a platform war thread.

 

The new BlackBerry phones will have to use Android. There's no way around that. It's just a question of whether or not OnwardMobility can offer a version that pleases BlackBerry fans. I quite liked using BlackBerry's in-house software on phones like the Priv and KeyOne, but it wasn't enough to save BlackBerry and TCL in the marketplace.