[lemanissier]

how about no?

[bhoqeem]

It's a gorgeous design. Kudos!

[slagman5]

Why in God's name would you want that inferior tech? For 200-300 $ phones sure, but for high-end models I expect >500 ppi AMOLEDs.

Only if it's the new ones that actually replicate colors correctly, but if it's the typical amoled screens with their oversaturated colors, no thanks.

Posted without the aid of AutoCorrect with my physical keyboard via CB10

[anon(9353145)]

Why in God's name would you want that inferior tech? For 200-300 $ phones sure, but for high-end models I expect >500 ppi AMOLEDs.

I'm sure the tech will change, but for my money ips lcd are easier to read in sunlight, and you don't have to worry about screen burn in.

[stlabrat]

OP, i appreciate the effort and good integration of some of the input by CB. Few points from practical point of view:
(1) camera location might be better in the center for the AR application in the future
(2) camera depth (device thickness) is not realistic, at least is for today's tech on market. The MFG have not figure out a compact ultra thin auto focus wide lense digital camera as yet (may be my knowledge is old... take with a grain of salt.. it may not true).
(3) tool belt - extra function need to be coded in and take extra line that made the device longer. if alt and return key can be made multi function as pickup and drop phone, you can easily move the other two (function and return) to bottom and jog ball integrated with space bar...IMHO
(4) smily key board is very costly - TCL would need get a good handle on that - not everybody cup of tea - otherwise, you will see many BB type keyboard come out. it might jack up the price if you want to keep every body that complain BB price on the quiet side (tall order, unless it is free, it always too high priced).
(5) personally, BB logo need to move a bit high to free up the usable screen place.
(6) i don't like the edge to edge - to keep screen ratio, without get phone too long because of the KB, it better have bezel edge - mechanically support better and provide the high end look if it done properly (metallic overall frame, with space grey or Ti color for example). personal taste.
(7) for render, it need to define what is the thickest components, camera, or audio speaker, etc, you need to know the components spec and tolerance. close work with BOM of next generation and find alternative and trade offs before the rendering is key... IMHO.
Merry X'mas.

[stlabrat]

OP, i appreciate the effort and good integration of some of the input by CB. Few points from practical point of view:
(1) camera location might be better in the center for the AR application in the future
(2) camera depth (device thickness) is not realistic, at least is for today's tech on market. The MFG have not figure out a compact ultra thin auto focus wide lense digital camera as yet (may be my knowledge is old... take with a grain of salt.. it may not true).
(3) tool belt - extra function need to be coded in and take extra line that made the device longer. if alt and return key can be made multi function as pickup and drop phone, you can easily move the other two (function and return) to bottom and jog ball integrated with space bar...IMHO
(4) smily key board is very costly - TCL would need get a good handle on that - not everybody cup of tea - otherwise, you will see many BB type keyboard come out. it might jack up the price if you want to keep every body that complain BB price on the quiet side (tall order, unless it is free, it always too high priced).
(5) personally, BB logo need to move a bit high to free up the usable screen place.
(6) i don't like the edge to edge - to keep screen ratio, without get phone too long because of the KB, it better have bezel edge - mechanically support better and provide the high end look if it done properly (metallic overall frame, with space grey or Ti color for example). personal taste.
(7) for render, it need to define what is the thickest components, camera, or audio speaker, etc, you need to know the components spec and tolerance. close work with BOM of next generation and find alternative and trade offs before the rendering is key... IMHO.
Merry X'mas.

[anon(9353145)]

OP, i appreciate the effort and good integration of some of the input by CB. Few points from practical point of view:
(1) camera location might be better in the center for the AR application in the future
(2) camera depth (device thickness) is not realistic, at least is for today's tech on market. The MFG have not figure out a compact ultra thin auto focus wide lense digital camera as yet (may be my knowledge is old... take with a grain of salt.. it may not true).
(3) tool belt - extra function need to be coded in and take extra line that made the device longer. if alt and return key can be made multi function as pickup and drop phone, you can easily move the other two (function and return) to bottom and jog ball integrated with space bar...IMHO
(4) smily key board is very costly - TCL would need get a good handle on that - not everybody cup of tea - otherwise, you will see many BB type keyboard come out. it might jack up the price if you want to keep every body that complain BB price on the quiet side (tall order, unless it is free, it always too high priced).
(5) personally, BB logo need to move a bit high to free up the usable screen place.
(6) i don't like the edge to edge - to keep screen ratio, without get phone too long because of the KB, it better have bezel edge - mechanically support better and provide the high end look if it done properly (metallic overall frame, with space grey or Ti color for example). personal taste.
(7) for render, it need to define what is the thickest components, camera, or audio speaker, etc, you need to know the components spec and tolerance. close work with BOM of next generation and find alternative and trade offs before the rendering is key... IMHO.
Merry X'mas.

Nice points! Especially with respect to camera (heck they could consider copying Apple et al and put in two back cameras!). I appreciate that a smiley keyboard is pricier and harder than the new iteration, but worth it for the ergonomics. Again, I think if they get everything right and pay attention to all the little details, it's a premium phone that's going to appeal to a select crowd, not a mass market bestseller.

IF they can replicate the toolbelt through the existing pkb, I guess sure. But there's a nostalgia and simplicity about that toolbelt that I think makes it worth taking the risk.

Again, marketed properly, this would be a phone for creatives (writers), lawyers, entrepreneurs, small business, etc that would be a hybrid compromise between a phone and laptop. Keyboard shortcuts and touch capacitive pkb for plowing through email and other messaging where accuracy is of the utmost importance is a biggie, imho.

I'm going to Google Translate the page, and hopefully it's the original author of the render. It's a nice starting point for a conversation about looking back into BlackBerry's past and finding the best of everything and trying to put it all in one premium package. Most likely a unicorn endeavour but hey I like tilting at windmills from time to time.

Merry Christmas / Happy Hanukkah / Holidays to everyone! Hope you're having a nice relaxing holiday with loved ones. =)

[anon(9353145)]

On a side note, the Google Translation is not very helpful. It seems to suggest this is the Mercury (I very much doubt that haha), and the only details I can get from the image is that it was created in Adobe Photoshop 6. I dunno how I feel about tweeting someone else's image to TCL.

Any Photoshop experts on here who want to work up a modern Mercury render concept with smiley keyboard, toolbelt, possibly two back cameras, ... "The Woiks"? I'd be willing to donate for the effort.

[stlabrat]

(heck they could consider copying Apple et al and put in two back cameras!). - rule number one: bench mark other product, Thou shall not copy... that is what differentiate BB, Apple from others...

[bb10-you were great]

Nope. You "must not" charge premium prices. This is where hit the rail and could go further down.

IMO - Revive BB10 and make it as cheap as possible. Let people try BlackBerry! They know BB7 and how it lacked several basic features to its competitors. Let them feel an OS can be this smooth and faster. Once they realize it - they will be addicted to it.

Pricing - Target medium class. Make it fall in between $150-250. You have been targeting for years the 'elites', who per majority of statistics are minority in number and then you wonder why less and less people buy your devices. It's hypocritical. Target masses - not microscopic majority. You sold Passport at $800 and few bought it. Now it is available in stores in about $400 and no one is buying it. Only if you've made it $500 from the very beginning - figures could have been different and it can be very rightly said about other devices as well, such as Z10, Q10, and Priv.

Nokia has at some moment 85-90% market penetrations - because they made feature phones, cheap phones. Now Android does the same with about same result. You want the same? Learn from past. No one but you yourself set the platform on fire.

Bottom line: Update the tech. (offer something no else does) or at least make it competitive (offer what everyone else does) and that on a cheaper price. You have been offering reasonably less or almost same (at best) at comparatively higher prices. Fix it.

[ToniCipriani]

Nope. You "must not" charge premium prices. This is where hit the rail and could go further down.

IMO - Revive BB10 and make it as cheap as possible. Let people try BlackBerry! They know BB7 and how it lacked several basic features to its competitors. Let them feel an OS can be this smooth and faster. Once they realize it - they will be addicted to it.

Pricing - Target medium class. Make it fall in between $150-250. You have been targeting for years the 'elites', who per majority of statistics are minority in number and then you wonder why less and less people buy your devices. It's hypocritical. Target masses - not microscopic majority. You sold Passport at $800 and few bought it. Now it is available in stores in about $400 and no one is buying it. Only if you've made it $500 from the very beginning - figures could have been different and it can be very rightly said about other devices as well, such as Z10, Q10, and Priv.

Nokia has at some moment 85-90% market penetrations - because they made feature phones, cheap phones. Now Android does the same with about same result. You want the same? Learn from past. No one but you yourself set the platform on fire.

Bottom line: Update the tech. (offer something no else does) or at least make it competitive (offer what everyone else does) and that on a cheaper price. You have been offering reasonably less or almost same (at best) at comparatively higher prices. Fix it.

They were already "making it cheap as possible". Reason they cannot "update the tech" was said many times, the cost of updating BB10 to newer hardware is way too high.

[app_Developer]

Bottom line: Update the tech. (offer something no else does) or at least make it competitive (offer what everyone else does) and that on a cheaper price. You have been offering reasonably less or almost same (at best) at comparatively higher prices. Fix it.

I understand what you'd like to see, but what you're asking is just impossible in reality. BB can't afford to make the massive multi-billion dollar purchase commitments that are required to get good pricing on components.

On top of that major structural disadvantage of being a small company, you also want to add the cost of maintaining a custom OS (when everyone else is using android), including a custom set of hardware drivers (when everyone else is using Linux)

On top of all of that they have to pay thousands of high Canadian salaries and extremely expensive Canadian payroll taxes.

And you want them to do all of this, and still sell the phones for $200? The numbers just don't add up. How can you run a business like that?

[thurask]

And you want them to do all of this, and still sell the phones for $200? The numbers just don't add up. How can you run a business like that?

It seems implicit in most of these wishlist threads that BlackBerry is a charity.

[anon(9353145)]

It seems implicit in most of these wishlist threads that BlackBerry is a charity.

Couldn't agree more. And besides they tried the budget route with the DTEK50 (good phone) and DTEK60 (apparently a really good phone), and it didn't seem to make a difference for sales.

I'm excited that TCL 'seems excited' about taking over the BlackBerry brand and as many have posited, it seems like they're going to aim for the higher / niche end with the BlackBerry lineup (PKB presumably). But yeah, given the anemic sales, they're going to have to charge a decent price with a high margin imho. And if it fails, then probably no more PKBs and just mid to high end slabs with BlackBerry security.

Que cera cera, but I'm hoping they'll succeed.

[macterp]

Smiley phone? Come on, that's going too far and not practical..

Posted via CB10

[anon(9353145)]

Smiley phone? Come on, that's going too far and not practical..

Posted via CB10

I've heard very good things about the smiley pkbs of legacy BlackBerry on this forum (but no personal experience using one). My 'take' is that it's more intuitive / easier to use, especially if you're a keyboard warrior and like to type without looking. IF that's the case, then why not make it the best it can be?

[Mirko935]

Only if it's the new ones that actually replicate colors correctly, but if it's the typical amoled screens with their oversaturated colors, no thanks.

Posted without the aid of AutoCorrect with my physical keyboard via CB10

It can always be tweaked a bit in settings. Priv's screen with settings suggested by Notebookcheck's review is less saturated than many LCD phones. Even at its default it's not at all bad.

I've heard very good things about the smiley pkbs of legacy BlackBerry on this forum (but no personal experience using one). My 'take' is that it's more intuitive / easier to use, especially if you're a keyboard warrior and like to type without looking. IF that's the case, then why not make it the best it can be?

I've had three QWERTY PKB phones and none of them had a smiley, sad or whatever face. And I typed and am typing without looking on all of them, including Priv. Just saying...

[anon(9353145)]

I've had three QWERTY PKB phones and none of them had a smiley, sad or whatever face. And I typed and am typing without looking on all of them, including Priv. Just saying...

I'd be curious to hear from those who've used both what their preference would be. Smiley seems unlikely but personally it appeals to me, especially if it improves the PKB experience.

[slagman5]

Smiley phone? Come on, that's going too far and not practical..

Posted via CB10

Uh, actually it's more practical and the reason you wouldn't want it is not practical. The curved keyboard actually makes it easier to type on...

Posted without the aid of AutoCorrect with my physical keyboard via CB10

[slagman5]

I've heard very good things about the smiley pkbs of legacy BlackBerry on this forum (but no personal experience using one). My 'take' is that it's more intuitive / easier to use, especially if you're a keyboard warrior and like to type without looking. IF that's the case, then why not make it the best it can be?

Correct, it kind of goes along the way your thumbs pivot to reach the corners of the keyboard. That's why the Bold 9900 had a smaller keyboard than the Q10 but was much easier to type on.

Posted without the aid of AutoCorrect with my physical keyboard via CB10

[slagman5]

It can always be tweaked a bit in settings. Priv's screen with settings suggested by Notebookcheck's review is less saturated than many LCD phones. Even at its default it's not at all bad.

I've had three QWERTY PKB phones and none of them had a smiley, sad or whatever face. And I typed and am typing without looking on all of them, including Priv. Just saying...

It's not just the saturation, they do the oversaturation on purpose to try to make it look better. The problem typically was that LED screens do not replicate colors as accurately. This was based on tests, not opinion, just saying before you claim any kind of fanboyism or biased judgment. But I've read that the latest Samsung screens have good accuracy, but then you'd have to ask if the new BB phone will have one of these new ones made by Samsung or is using older tech that is inferior to LCD's in color accuracy... For my home PC, I absolutely avoid LED screens because I do a lot of photo retouching on my PC and need colors to be represented as accurately as possible.

And you said yourself you've never owned one with a curved keyboard, therefore you can not make the comparison. I *CAN* type on all of them without looking at them. But it's faster and easier on the curved keyboards...

Posted without the aid of AutoCorrect with my physical keyboard via CB10

[slagman5]

I'd be curious to hear from those who've used both what their preference would be. Smiley seems unlikely but personally it appeals to me, especially if it improves the PKB experience.

Exactly, having never owned one, he/she can't really make that comparison.

I went from the Bold 9000 to the Bold 9900 to the Q10 and now the Classic. The sizes of the keyboards in order from smallest to largest is in that same order. So the Bold 9900 had a smaller keyboard than the Q10 and the Bold 9000 was smaller than the 9900. Yet, if I'm to rate the ease of typing between all of them, I would have to say from best to worst: Classic > Bold 9900 > Bold 9000 > Q10.

I feel the Classic is the best but it's also MUCH larger than either the 9900 or 9000's keyboard. Both of those had the curved keyboard and typed better than the Q10 by far for me despite being SMALLER. So in theory if they made a keyboard the size of the Classic's (or even slightly smaller) but curved it would definitely be easier to type on than the Classic.

Posted without the aid of AutoCorrect with my physical keyboard via CB10

[MADBRADNYC]

I agree with slagman5. I personally could not give any credibility to dismissing something they've never had or tried. I basically skip right past posts like that. There is a history with BlackBerry and the Bold series keyboards which actually marked their height of usability and adoption.

I've used both straight and curve keyboards. And TBH, I've always said my favorite of all time were the rubber spaced keys on the 8300 series only due to the tactile precise feedback. But, there is something that makes the ergonomic "smiling" keyboard overall best IMO. YSWIDT...

In addition to that, BlackBerry has even migrated the famous Q and A alignment to their VKBs that others just miss. Total bonus!

I'm for personal preferences; however, I don't believe it's a "preference" if one has not tried another to compare. In order to "prefer" one over the other.

In my mind.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blac...ld?wprov=sfla1

[anon(9353145)]

Exactly, having never owned one, he/she can't really make that comparison.

I went from the Bold 9000 to the Bold 9900 to the Q10 and now the Classic. The sizes of the keyboards in order from smallest to largest is in that same order. So the Bold 9900 had a smaller keyboard than the Q10 and the Bold 9000 was smaller than the 9900. Yet, if I'm to rate the ease of typing between all of them, I would have to say from best to worst: Classic > Bold 9900 > Bold 9000 > Q10.

I feel the Classic is the best but it's also MUCH larger than either the 9900 or 9000's keyboard. Both of those had the curved keyboard and typed better than the Q10 by far for me despite being SMALLER. So in theory if they made a keyboard the size of the Classic's (or even slightly smaller) but curved it would definitely be easier to type on than the Classic.

Posted without the aid of AutoCorrect with my physical keyboard via CB10

Nice, thanks for the detailed input! Maybe I can find an old Bold just to play with the keyboard, lol.

In any event, they should look at Everything if they are considering a successor to Mercury, imho.

[CTripathi 030]

I love the concept. It will attract even touch phone lovers