[anon3700711]

Clearly enough room for numbers and/or an ALT + Shift Key.

[Jtaylor1986]

I see 3 rows )

[thurask]

Touch sensitive keyboard makes it redundant. Unless AT&T wanted that out too.

Posted via CB10

[7onZ]

Because BlackBerry thought out of the box

"When life gives you Blackberries... keep moving b*tch!"

[kasedillz]

Probably would be difficult to access the characters in the 4th row from an ergonomics standpoint. Makes more sense to add a dynamic virtual row on top that changes and adapts to whatever you are doing on the phone.

Posted via CB10

[thedose]

3 row + 4th row as digital = larger screen.

To have a 4th row and keep the beautiful display, it would have to be taller, even taller than the redesign and would still need the chin or else it would be uncomfortable like the failed Droid Pro. (feel free to measure the height of the letters on the pkb of the Passport and you'll see what I mean, don't forget to include the height of the chin piece).

As 7onZ mentioned, Blackberry thought out of the box and decided on a hybrid physical/digital keyboard, which imo is absolutely fantastic and part of what makes this phone so unique.

It just takes some getting used to is all, as with anything...

[Tabdus]

Just get a classic. The Passport is unique BECAUSE it has 3 rows.

Posted via CB10

[tfp]

Personally, I like the 3 rows of the Passport.

[Carjackd]

Weird, but 4 rows would feel awkward now.

Executive Producer of a Bunch of Lowers for a BBM Group that doesn't Exist via My Passport

[mofokey]

Would've been fine with a 4th row, especially given a huge amount of top bezel where the blackberry logo is. If for nothing else, then to put a "back" button for android apps.

[thymaster]

What's wrong with 3 rows?

[gg bb]

3 rows is good but ....

the position of zero (at the top on Q)

and the fact that although swipe down acts like an alt key in some situations but not others like in crackberry app narks me.

Why?
0 Q
# A
* Z

And not

# Q
* A
0 Z

0 Q. 1 W. 2 E. 3 R. Only makes sense with 4 T.... 9 P which is a bit naff and hence why they did not do it.

Edit : Sorry Z10 Z30 do it that way so might have made some sense.

What's wrong with the app libraries that mean that when an app responds to alt N it can't respond same to swipe down N?


Edit:

Suggestion:

We now have a second keyboard layout with passport distinct from Q10/Q5/Bold and that's ignoring the fact Z10/Z30 is slightly different again.
Adding yet another format would just add confusion.

Remedy to any issues with the 3 rows.

Put #*0 like other kb BlackBerry devices not 0#*

Add one button like the volume buttons on side of phone beside A & Z and let that button be alt shift toggle or programmable to something else.




Posted via CB10

[slagman5]

Because BlackBerry thought out of the box

"When life gives you Blackberries... keep moving b*tch!"

Newer has to be better right?

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

[slagman5]

3 row + 4th row as digital = larger screen.

To have a 4th row and keep the beautiful display, it would have to be taller, even taller than the redesign and would still need the chin or else it would be uncomfortable like the failed Droid Pro. (feel free to measure the height of the letters on the pkb of the Passport and you'll see what I mean, don't forget to include the height of the chin piece).

As 7onZ mentioned, Blackberry thought out of the box and decided on a hybrid physical/digital keyboard, which imo is absolutely fantastic and part of what makes this phone so unique.

It just takes some getting used to is all, as with anything...

Number of rows does not affect the size of the screen. I've made many mockups that clearly show you could fit a 4-row keyboard with the same screen size without any increase in external size. Plus, that "large" screen is made smaller with the virtual row, had they added the 4th row the entire screen would be usable, no virtual row to take up room on the screen...

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

[slagman5]

Just get a classic. The Passport is unique BECAUSE it has 3 rows.

Posted via CB10

Actually it's unique because of the screen and the touch sensitive keyboard. Having a full keyboard wouldn't make it less unique, jut more usable screen space (by eliminating the need for the virtual row) and faster to get to the symbols, especially multiple symbols typed in a row...

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

[thedose]

Number of rows does not affect the size of the screen. I've made many mockups that clearly show you could fit a 4-row keyboard with the same screen size without any increase in external size.

Plus, that "large" screen is made smaller with the virtual row, had they added the 4th row the entire screen would be usable, no virtual row to take up room on the screen...

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

Please post this mockup here as I'm interested to see it, thanks.


Also, the 'large' screen is large because the digital keyboard only comes up when needed (which isn't all of the time) thus remaining a 'large' screen/retaining it's size while browsing/doing things other than typing. You make it seem as if the virtual row is constantly on... It only pops up when you need to type something (which is not as often as you use the screen for browsing etc...) I don't see how that is a big deal...

Had they added a 4th row and diminished the screen to include it, the screen would not be the same size as it currently is, without altering the height of the phone of course...

But yes, please post your mockup, I am sure in your mockup there is no Blackberry logo, and the screen probably almost touches the camera/light sensor/phone speaker, yes?

Also, have you seen the Passport's internals? Perhaps they gave it that huge gap up top for a reason?

How would your mockup affect the internals? It is not simply a matter of designing the outside of the phone, you have to put it all together, and I'm sure you are well aware of this...

[slagman5]

Please post this mockup here as I'm interested to see it, thanks.


Also, the 'large' screen is large because the digital keyboard only comes up when needed (which isn't all of the time) thus remaining a 'large' screen/retaining it's size while browsing/doing things other than typing. You make it seem as if the virtual row is constantly on... It only pops up when you need to type something (which is not as often as you use the screen for browsing etc...) I don't see how that is a big deal...

Had they added a 4th row and diminished the screen to include it, the screen would not be the same size as it currently is, without altering the height of the phone of course...

But yes, please post your mockup, I am sure in your mockup there is no Blackberry logo, and the screen probably almost touches the camera/light sensor/phone speaker, yes?

Also, have you seen the Passport's internals? Perhaps they gave it that huge gap up top for a reason?

How would your mockup affect the internals? It is not simply a matter of designing the outside of the phone, you have to put it all together, and I'm sure you are well aware of this...

I can't find it now, posted it a while ago so it's likely buried, when I get home from work I'll look for the images on my PC harddrive and post them again here.

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

[slagman5]

Please post this mockup here as I'm interested to see it, thanks.


Also, the 'large' screen is large because the digital keyboard only comes up when needed (which isn't all of the time) thus remaining a 'large' screen/retaining it's size while browsing/doing things other than typing. You make it seem as if the virtual row is constantly on... It only pops up when you need to type something (which is not as often as you use the screen for browsing etc...) I don't see how that is a big deal...

Had they added a 4th row and diminished the screen to include it, the screen would not be the same size as it currently is, without altering the height of the phone of course...

But yes, please post your mockup, I am sure in your mockup there is no Blackberry logo, and the screen probably almost touches the camera/light sensor/phone speaker, yes?

Also, have you seen the Passport's internals? Perhaps they gave it that huge gap up top for a reason?

How would your mockup affect the internals? It is not simply a matter of designing the outside of the phone, you have to put it all together, and I'm sure you are well aware of this...

Ok, so I can't find the ones I made before, probably deleted them, and yes, they are just crappy copy/paste with a little bit of editing from one device to another, I'm not into rendering, but it should give a good idea how it would look. And I've taken plenty of phones apart, this would not change the internals. The amount of room inside will remain the same, locations of the ribbons, angles, and attachments might shift a little but that's about it.



Same screen size, same aspect ratio.

Edit: BTW, just in case you didn't notice, but the last photo in your post with all of the parts sitting side-by-side, the mainboard is upside down, lol. That protrusion is the slimport/extension, should be toward the bottom of the phone, not the top. But anyway...

[olee2222]

@OP: I keep asking from myself the same question...

I love your mockup w 4 rows.
Would be 1000x times more productive.

With 3 rows the screen appears to be larger.

Posted via CB10

[olee2222]

The virtual row also complicates some of the android ports that I use.
The apps don't count on a virtual row to appear.
Often the virtual row hides buttons on the screen when the cursor is in a text field, and there's no easy way to hide the virtual row.

Posted via CB10

[AmritD]

It's a question a lot of us have been asking. I personally feel that had they given the 4 row keyboard, MANY more people would have been happy. Typing symbols and numbers. The passport keyboard just can't match it.

Q5 SQR100-3/10.2.1.3442

[dmateo]

Weird, but 4 rows would feel awkward now.

Executive Producer of a Bunch of Lowers for a BBM Group that doesn't Exist via My Passport

Hahahaha love your sig!

Posted via CB10

[thedose]

Ok, so I can't find the ones I made before, probably deleted them, and yes, they are just crappy copy/paste with a little bit of editing from one device to another, I'm not into rendering, but it should give a good idea how it would look. And I've taken plenty of phones apart, this would not change the internals. The amount of room inside will remain the same, locations of the ribbons, angles, and attachments might shift a little but that's about it.



Same screen size, same aspect ratio.

Edit: BTW, just in case you didn't notice, but the last photo in your post with all of the parts sitting side-by-side, the mainboard is upside down, lol. That protrusion is the slimport/extension, should be toward the bottom of the phone, not the top. But anyway...

slagman5, thanks for the mockups!

However, you forgot one thing, from my post... Look at how tiny the chin piece is on that 4-row mockup... What, you would hold the phone by the space bar? Talk about top heavy!

You need to have the room for the chin piece -- thus proving my point that by adding a 4th row, it would be absolutely necessary to increase the height of the phone! -- maybe bringing it near the height of the iPhone 6, which is preposterous!

The chin piece on the 3-row passport is already too tiny (hence why AT&T increased it), so imagine making it even smaller (your mockup), that would again be like the failed Droid Pro! I returned that phone because it was soooooo uncomfortable + horrible OS, but design wise, it had many of the things we (9650 fans) were looking for as the next device (this was before the 9930 had come out). Here is a picture of the Droid Pro in case you haven't seen one:

[Kaniberry]

I dont't think "get a classic" really adresses the needs of those of us who would prefer a fourth row. I prefer the Passport to the Classic because of the large screen but for my needs the Passport would be a far better device if it was a bit taller and had a fourth row.

Posted via CB10

[Mansoor2]

There was absolutely no reason to stick three hours except for this silly fascination of having the phone that is exactly the size of a passport. Even if they had elongated the phone by a few mm, it would've made no difference because after all it is the width which makes this device unwieldy not it's (diminutive) height!