1. slagman5's Avatar
    So, I was having lunch with a classmate of mine since we have the same site for our clinical rotation, and she asked about my trip. She has her Samsung S7 Edge on the table there as we speak, and I go on to describe the phone. I tell her about all of the features like the 2-day battery, the capacitive keyboard, runs Android, same camera as the Pixel, 8MP front camera, and she was like "wow, that sounds cool." And when I said I was going to buy it, her first reaction was "Wow, but that's like an $800 phone isn't it?" and when I corrected her that it will be $550 her eyes literally went huge and she said "Man, I'm going to have to look at that when it comes out."

    At no point did she say, "But Kenneth, does it have the Qualcomm sd821 CPU with 4 cores and the Adreno 530 GPU?" For her and pretty much every "normal" person I talk to, they care about the features they see, touch, and use. They might ask about the screen, camera, and now the keyboard. But people here seem to think that the average consumer will be online reading up spec sheets instead of walking into a store and playing with the displays until one catches his/her eye either by the features or by the price...

    The things that got a reaction from her was when I described the capacitive keyboard, and when I mentioned the 2-day battery life. She complained that her Samsung barely gets through 3 quarters of the day.

    I'm going to remain cautiously optimistic that they will get good carrier support, some level of advertising, and as long as the carrier reps are not trashing them for no reason like they did before, I think this could be a decent selling phone.

    Posted without the aid of AutoCorrect with my physical keyboard via CB10
    03-04-17 04:14 PM
  2. kvndoom's Avatar
    Great post; we techie types are always quick to forget that we're the vocal majority on message boards but the silent minority in the real world.

    Blackberry Poptart SE - Cricket Wireless
    03-04-17 04:29 PM
  3. MyriadeCoh's Avatar
    Some level of advertising is the key. They never had.
    anon(9710735) and yuvaraki like this.
    03-04-17 04:32 PM
  4. slagman5's Avatar
    Some level of advertising is the key. They never had.
    Agree. We'll see how TCL handles themselves come April.

    Posted without the aid of AutoCorrect with my physical keyboard via CB10
    Superfly_FR likes this.
    03-04-17 04:36 PM
  5. bb10adopter111's Avatar
    I have been shopping in carrier stores to see what's available, and I have to say that the lack of options has never been worse. I see LG, Samsung, Apple, and NOTHING else on display in store after store. Windows phones are mostly gone now, and I don't see any of the smaller brands, including Alcatel.

    In that environment, I would think that sales reps would find it easy to get excited about an alternative and learn to demo it properly.

    Also, almost all the Android phones I saw are still running Marshmallow, so a Nougat phone might have additional appeal.

    Posted with my trusty Z10
    03-04-17 05:11 PM
  6. ominaxe's Avatar
    There's a reason that you only see LGs, Samsungs, and Apple. It's because all slabs are so similar, so you just need to show the big guys to have a good idea of what they can do. Any more androids would be superfluous. The good thing about BlackBerry is that the PKB speaks for itself. It already fills it's little niche spot and can naturally find its own spot on the floor.
    Insync and mister2d like this.
    03-04-17 05:17 PM
  7. europolska00's Avatar
    It's an interesting insight in to what the average Joe thinks.
    03-04-17 05:44 PM
  8. jope28's Avatar
    More than the price, I'd say the fact that most Americans buy phones from their service provider is the biggest challenge.

    I've noticed in my circle (purely anecdotal and not scientific evidence lol) most would only buy outside the carrier unlocked devices just for either the "high-end" expensive devices or lower priced 'budget' devices like what the Motorola G5 will be.

    I'm a physical keyboard fan, but am not ready to let go of my Passport or BB10 just yet.
    That being said, I personally believe the KeyOne is overpriced because I doubt the rest of the market values a hardware keyboard as much as I do.
    03-04-17 05:59 PM
  9. u4ria's Avatar
    On the flip side, I have a friend that I talk to all the time. She loved BlackBerry devices because of the keyboard and BlackBerry 10 in general. But she eventually had to go the Samsung route since her phone died and the carrier didn't carry BlackBerry devices anymore.
    Well I told her about the upcoming K1 and kept her up to date about it via all the videos and CrackBerry posts. When I told her the price, she said it's too expensive and that she thought €400 would be what she'd pay. She'll hold off until the price drops to that point. She's nowhere close to being a techie or anything like that. She just like how easier it was to do things on her old Q. She's Dutch btw.

    Now I have another friend but he's in Germany. He's very techie and uses a Classic at the moment. He's been following the K1 and his response to the pricing was "I wonder if they are really serious about such prices."

    Just food for thought.
    yessuz likes this.
    03-04-17 06:52 PM
  10. deadcowboy's Avatar
    Good thread. It's really not a bad price considering what BlackBerry/TCL is spending their budget on (the things people actually care about...for once, you're right).

    I think the fingerprint reader will be the clincher. It's in such a clever location too.

    Posted via CB10
    BigBadWulf likes this.
    03-04-17 06:53 PM
  11. consv93's Avatar
    Great post; we techie types are always quick to forget that we're the vocal majority on message boards but the silent minority in the real world.
    Corrected
    03-04-17 09:35 PM
  12. gruv4u's Avatar
    Most importantly, has to be available in stores for people to experience. Not one of those dummy units. An actual, functioning unit.
    It would also be nice if it was displayed with other BlackBerry devices (if that's even possible).

     Passport SE with Vitamin (SR) 10.3.2.2836 (OS Version) 10.3.2.2876 on AT&T
    03-04-17 09:49 PM
  13. meattray's Avatar
    Pretty interesting. I'm always curious to see what the 'normal people' think about these devices and pricing. I think what you mentioned rings very true. Very few people know or care about the 'specs'. If they see it and it doesn't lag or hang up then they're happy. They want to see those unique features.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Posted via CB10
    03-04-17 10:15 PM
  14. zensen's Avatar
    And what will alleviate fears is if they can get demo units into stores and ppl can test it out for themselves. From all impressions I've seen the UI works smoothly and nothing lags.

    Everything that you mentioned like taking good photos (the reputation of the pixel), long battery life, great screen will win a lot of ppl over.

    I also hope the uniqueness can also help sell a few units as well since this isn't just another phone slab.

    Posted via CB10
    03-04-17 10:22 PM
  15. aha's Avatar
    And what will alleviate fears is if they can get demo units into stores and ppl can test it out for themselves. From all impressions I've seen the UI works smoothly and nothing lags.

    Everything that you mentioned like taking good photos (the reputation of the pixel), long battery life, great screen will win a lot of ppl over.

    I also hope the uniqueness can also help sell a few units as well since this isn't just another phone slab.

    Posted via CB10
    The problem is, most of the sales people probably are well versed with specs, who may steer buyers away for the price over spec argument
    hoopitz likes this.
    03-04-17 10:37 PM
  16. jackcarr's Avatar
    I have been shopping in carrier stores to see what's available, and I have to say that the lack of options has never been worse. I see LG, Samsung, Apple, and NOTHING else on display in store after store. Windows phones are mostly gone now, and I don't see any of the smaller brands, including Alcatel.

    In that environment, I would think that sales reps would find it easy to get excited about an alternative and learn to demo it properly.

    Also, almost all the Android phones I saw are still running Marshmallow, so a Nougat phone might have additional appeal.

    Posted with my trusty Z10
    There's one thing that makes this scenario unlikely...and that's the fact that the phone is a BlackBerry. Even if it is an Android phone...it won't matter. The sales people in the stores hate BlackBerry. They have an aversion to it. Don't expect any love from any carrier's sales staff. You won't find any there if you're into BlackBerry. They all think it's a waste of time to even bother with it and will more likely try to talk anyone interested in it to buy something else.

    Sorry to sound like a downer on this one...but having experienced the BlackBerry hate first hand in more than one carrier boutique, it's not wise to hope for any positive vibes to come from carrier sales staffs. They're all about selling iPhone and Samsung.

    Posted via BlackBerry Passport
    03-04-17 11:02 PM
  17. mithrazor's Avatar
    If you guys are wondering if it's over priced or not (I personally think it's reasonably priced).

    Look to the PC market. Laptops generally have a wide range. You have the opening price point then you have a premium like HP Spectre series.

    BlackBerry is a premium device with a grade lower in CPU. If it had the latest chip, it would be $699. You're saving a $149 dollars from a mid-tier processor.

    The build, the camera, the speakers, battery, everything else is completely premium.

    If it was a 821 or 835, the "overpriced" crying would be much more dramatized.
    yyz321 and Jrox74 like this.
    03-05-17 12:25 AM
  18. mod9's Avatar
    There's one thing that makes this scenario unlikely...and that's the fact that the phone is a BlackBerry. Even if it is an Android phone...it won't matter. The sales people in the stores hate BlackBerry. They have an aversion to it. Don't expect any love from any carrier's sales staff. You won't find any there if you're into BlackBerry. They all think it's a waste of time to even bother with it and will more likely try to talk anyone interested in it to buy something else.

    Sorry to sound like a downer on this one...but having experienced the BlackBerry hate first hand in more than one carrier boutique, it's not wise to hope for any positive vibes to come from carrier sales staffs. They're all about selling iPhone and Samsung.

    Posted via BlackBerry Passport
    Exactly!

    The name BlackBerry is tainted and it is BlackBerry's fault. Some sort of a miracle needs to happen to change carriers, sales people and consumer's mindset.

    Posted via CB10
    03-05-17 12:59 AM
  19. rkp10001's Avatar
    So, I was having lunch with a classmate of mine since we have the same site for our clinical rotation, and she asked about my trip. She has her Samsung S7 Edge on the table there as we speak, and I go on to describe the phone. I tell her about all of the features like the 2-day battery, the capacitive keyboard, runs Android, same camera as the Pixel, 8MP front camera, and she was like "wow, that sounds cool." And when I said I was going to buy it, her first reaction was "Wow, but that's like an $800 phone isn't it?" and when I corrected her that it will be $550 her eyes literally went huge and she said "Man, I'm going to have to look at that when it comes out."

    At no point did she say, "But Kenneth, does it have the Qualcomm sd821 CPU with 4 cores and the Adreno 530 GPU?" For her and pretty much every "normal" person I talk to, they care about the features they see, touch, and use. They might ask about the screen, camera, and now the keyboard. But people here seem to think that the average consumer will be online reading up spec sheets instead of walking into a store and playing with the displays until one catches his/her eye either by the features or by the price...

    The things that got a reaction from her was when I described the capacitive keyboard, and when I mentioned the 2-day battery life. She complained that her Samsung barely gets through 3 quarters of the day.

    I'm going to remain cautiously optimistic that they will get good carrier support, some level of advertising, and as long as the carrier reps are not trashing them for no reason like they did before, I think this could be a decent selling phone.

    Posted without the aid of AutoCorrect with my physical keyboard via CB10
    Spot on! Lions share of the premium mobile consumers don't understand the ram, clock speed and other techie stuff underneath a phone.

    They are concerned about looks, camera (quality of pics), battery life, color of a phone etc. And yes they will be all keen if spoken to about the usefulness of a physical keyboad.

    The new generation of mobile users are not used to seeing or using pkbs. Its time its marketed - marketed by explaining how shortcuts could make ones life easier. How scrolling is possible which makes reading/handing the device extremely fun and easy.

    Lowering prices won't get new users or bring back old loyalists. but marketing the device will.

    Making key1 a mass device by pricing it sub 300 usd is killing the product before its actually born!!
    gokulesh likes this.
    03-05-17 01:55 AM
  20. falbo's Avatar
    I think it was good that you were able to find or identify a normal person in this day and age ;-)
    03-05-17 02:17 AM
  21. bb10adopter111's Avatar
    There's one thing that makes this scenario unlikely...and that's the fact that the phone is a BlackBerry. Even if it is an Android phone...it won't matter. The sales people in the stores hate BlackBerry. They have an aversion to it. Don't expect any love from any carrier's sales staff. You won't find any there if you're into BlackBerry. They all think it's a waste of time to even bother with it and will more likely try to talk anyone interested in it to buy something else.

    Sorry to sound like a downer on this one...but having experienced the BlackBerry hate first hand in more than one carrier boutique, it's not wise to hope for any positive vibes to come from carrier sales staffs. They're all about selling iPhone and Samsung.

    Posted via BlackBerry Passport
    Many of the sales people I spoke with were aware that TCL were producing BlackBerry now and thought that would help. They liked the Alcatel phones.

    Posted with my trusty Z10
    03-05-17 02:32 AM
  22. ardakca's Avatar
    Spot on! Lions share of the premium mobile consumers don't understand the ram, clock speed and other techie stuff underneath a phone.

    They are concerned about looks, camera (quality of pics), battery life, color of a phone etc. And yes they will be all keen if spoken to about the usefulness of a physical keyboad.

    The new generation of mobile users are not used to seeing or using pkbs. Its time its marketed - marketed by explaining how shortcuts could make ones life easier. How scrolling is possible which makes reading/handing the device extremely fun and easy.

    Lowering prices won't get new users or bring back old loyalists. but marketing the device will.

    Making key1 a mass device by pricing it sub 300 usd is killing the product before its actually born!!
    Well there is a gap. The features the common consumers use are backed by the internals the common consumers don't care. That keeps the user experience fluid through out its life cycle. And it is only unfair to BlackBerry KEYone when someone goes far and compares flagships to a high-mid range phone. I am not trying to be negative in any ways but apart from the physical keyboard which I very like has nothing more. I was expecting a 500 $ price tag but 50 bucks more won't hurt me.

    Got off track. The lion's share cares about the looks and how well the camera operates and apps. But to keep those features operate flawlessly you are going to need RAM and a decent clock rate (welcome to android). If you can't maintain the nice UI experience then next time you are doomed. Software has a huge role also.

    For the record still waiting for KEYone release with fingers crossed. .
    03-05-17 03:04 AM
  23. anon(9710735)'s Avatar
    BlackBerry just needs to have better advertising and improve their salesmanship. We all remember how they let everyone down with the awkward promo for the amazing Priv...

    Posted via CB10
    Jrox74 likes this.
    03-05-17 03:38 AM
  24. world traveler and former ceo's Avatar
    Well said. Saw KeyOne last night.. great phone with awesome pkb..... premium all the way!

    Posted via CB10
    03-05-17 08:17 AM
  25. rkp10001's Avatar
    Well there is a gap. The features the common consumers use are backed by the internals the common consumers don't care. That keeps the user experience fluid through out its life cycle. And it is only unfair to BlackBerry KEYone when someone goes far and compares flagships to a high-mid range phone. I am not trying to be negative in any ways but apart from the physical keyboard which I very like has nothing more. I was expecting a 500 $ price tag but 50 bucks more won't hurt me.

    Got off track. The lion's share cares about the looks and how well the camera operates and apps. But to keep those features operate flawlessly you are going to need RAM and a decent clock rate (welcome to android). If you can't maintain the nice UI experience then next time you are doomed. Software has a huge role also.

    For the record still waiting for KEYone release with fingers crossed. .
    Agree what you say dude but i am sure you are not suggesting that 625 soc isn't capable of handling apps work flawlessly. Its just that there better specs available and BlackBerry decided to go for 625.

    Even if keyone was loaded with 821, it would look inferior when compared to 835. And couple of months down the line somewhat better specs would come knocking.

    I am disappointed that BlackBerry didn't load the phone with 4 gb ram. I hope BlackBerry knows what they doing and they would have thoroly tested to decide that 3 gb is good enuff for keyone
    03-05-17 08:54 AM
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