[John Albert]

Nothing wrong with this company. BlackBerry might be started licensing its keyboard design, and this company is now one of the licensees.

[Simon6333]

signed up and paid the 10 quid ...be interesting to see how far this gets

[zhongtiao1]

signed up and paid. Looking forward to seeing how it will turn out.

It most likely is either a high end mediatek chip, or a mid range snapdragon or exynos. I'd guess 4gb of RAM, but I'm hoping for 6

[howarmat]

I'd be curious on how good this company is with updates to the OS and their security. Quick search would show they seem to be pretty horrible at updates. This is a complete hackers phone really is my guess and you will have to rely on custom roms to MAYBE get up to date software and that is a stretch. Its a complete opposite from the security and privacy aspect that BBMo has.

[MandelK]

.....and be successful.

i would not comment the success now, as there is no such thing with Android on the market yet.
But i was wondering when Huawei and Samsung introduced there foldable phones, that the unfolded format would be like almost squared.
I think that Blackberry could give it anouther try and ask google

[troglodrew]

Messages them about the error message when I tried to pay the $10 - they responded quickly saying they were working on a solution

[Elephant_Canyon]

I wonder which is more vaporware... this or the KEY3?

At least this is something...

For a product to be vaporware, it has to be officially announced. The KEY3 may never even make it to vaporware status.

[Sbakhtar]

Can you give us a link?

i want this phine. Was waiting for something like this

[Drg84]

The passport? It can easily support Android. I personally would put something like Cyanogenmod or another lightweight variety on. It can make even a snapdragon 410 feel snappy

[anon(10512033)]

Reservations are sold out. CrackBerry effect!

[zhongtiao1]

Reservations are sold out. CrackBerry effect!

Wow! I guess I got lucky then

[Tsepz_GP]

Wow, I am late on this!

Just came across it on PhoneArena:

Hoping for a BlackBerry Passport running on Android? The Unihertz Titan could be the next best thing

While we might never see an Android-powered Passport, the closest thing to such a device will soon be available on Kickstarter. According to CrackBerry, a phone manufacturer called Unihertz is planning on releasing a model called the Titan. The handset will reportedly be equipped with a Passport-esque 4.5-inch LCD display carrying a 1440 x 1440 resolution. The device will also pack a massive 6000mAh battery and offer wireless charging, a fingerprint scanner and a face unlock feature. It also will come with NFC (for Google Pay), dual SIM functionality and Global LTE support. Similar to the Passport, the Titan keyboard has three rows of keys and will probably feature a touchscreen QWERTY above the physical one. Those helping to fund the device through Kickstarter might be able to pick up the phone for $199.

https://www.phonearena.com/news/This...sport_id117464

[zhongtiao1]

Let's try and build the phone. If the phone would fully retail at $360, and early bird is at $199, most likely the end cost to break even for them is $160 From what I can find on alibaba:

6000mah internal, non removable battery= about $4
Keyboard = approximately $12-$13
Screen = $45 (going off of blackberry passport screens here)
Front camera= (5mp) $4.50
Back camera w/ flash = (8mp) $10.50
Fingerprint scanner= $3

now here's where it gets hard. We are currently at about $80. This leaves us with about $80 for the case and mobo with cpu. Not including a safe bet of $10 for labor.

So, processors that fit this price range are:

Mediatek X27 (mt6797x--used mainly on tablets)
Snapdragon 670 (Used in the pixel 3a, has dropped in price a little)
Snapdragon 425 (Low end, most likely not)
Mediatek P series (mid-ish range chip)

Out of all of the above, the mediatek x27 seems the most likely. Based on their other phones, it fits. This also leads to having 4gb of RAM.

[troglodrew]

Reservations are sold out. CrackBerry effect!

Glad I made it! This should be a wake up call to TCL. It's crazy that there is currently no real options to buy a BlackBerry in the US (extremely limited inventory of the Key2LE and Key2 or the outdated KeyOne). Clearly there is a demand for a new pkb device (even if it isn't huge). A company like TCL just needs to manufacture according to that demand.

[Chuck Finley69]

Glad I made it! This should be a wake up call to TCL. It's crazy that there is currently no real options to buy a BlackBerry in the US (extremely limited inventory of the Key2LE and Key2 or the outdated KeyOne). Clearly there is a demand for a new pkb device (even if it isn't huge). A company like TCL just needs to manufacture according to that demand.

That’s what they’ve been doing

[danfrancisco]

Oh I am so getting this phone!!!

[troglodrew]

That’s what they’ve been doing

Apparently not.

[fschmeck]

I would love something like this, but my biggest concern would be the quality of the keyboard. I guess at this point I’d have to wait and see.

[RK_BB]

https://www.theverge.com/2015/2/17/8...-keyboard-case

[Chuck Finley69]

Apparently not.

The Key2 has been available for about one year and the Key2 LE for several months. You've had plenty of time for buying either one.

[troglodrew]

The Key2 has been available for about one year and the Key2 LE for several months. You've had plenty of time for buying either one.

You're absurd. "Several months" is not any length of time to sell an upgraded phone to a consumer base. Even if you put TCL/Blackberry in the lower tier of smart phones, even BLU and companies like that, keep their phones on the market for 18+ months.

[RK_BB]

The Key2 has been available for about one year and the Key2 LE for several months. You've had plenty of time for buying either one.

Maybe @troglodrew had another device on contract that they were waiting to sell?

Point is that @BlackBerry Mobile shows these products on their site with links to official resellers that seem to be entirely out of stock, at least in the US.

Add the fact that there is no news about a new device in the making and that doesn't leave too many options for an otherwise would be customer.

I am all for tight inventory control but not if it comes at the cost of retaining customers.

[Chuck Finley69]

You're absurd. "Several months" is not any length of time to sell an upgraded phone to a consumer base. Even if you put TCL/Blackberry in the lower tier of smart phones, even BLU and companies like that, keep their phones on the market for 18+ months.

How much time is needed? The complaining from many people, not saying you, seems to be that people haven't bought thinking prices would drop. It appears that BBMo isn't attracted to selling below certain price so when demand falls off, so does inventory.

If the retailers are seeing demand, orders are placed. Some third party sellers are offering inventory at markup if that helps.

[howarmat]

I can go to my best buy tomorrow and pick up an atomic LE so stock is around if you want one

[RK_BB]

How much time is needed? The complaining from many people, not saying you, seems to be that people haven't bought thinking prices would drop. It appears that BBMo isn't attracted to selling below certain price so when demand falls off, so does inventory.

If the retailers are seeing demand, orders are placed. Some third party sellers are offering inventory at markup if that helps.

I agree but I also think that if the manufacturer sees no orders from their local retailers then they either need to give an option to buy their product directly or entirely remove the listing.

There is something misleading about the current state of affairs.