1. thedose's Avatar
    Doesn't the virtual keyboard in essence make the screen smaller?
    Is the virtual keyboard always on? Or does it just come up when needed?

    I don't see a virtual keyboard in my screenshot, do you?

    Why didn't BlackBerry add a fourth row to the Passport?-img_20150118_182955.png


    Do you guys honestly not think of this before asking this question? Or do you just not own a Passport?

    The beauty behind the Passport's hybrid 3-row physical w/digital keyboard design is that you retain the large screen, yet gain the use of the digital keyboard only when needed. The digital keyboard goes away for everything else and only comes up when needed (inputting text).
    01-18-15 05:31 PM
  2. donnation's Avatar
    Is the virtual keyboard always on? Or does it just come up when needed?

    I don't see a virtual keyboard in my screenshot, do you?

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Do you guys honestly not think of this before asking this question? Or do you just not own a Passport?
    Wow, take a breath. Yes I realize that but when it comes up it takes up screen space. The question was us there additional space on the bottom that could have accommodated the 4th row.
    01-18-15 05:37 PM
  3. Shumsher's Avatar
    Because BlackBerry wanted to make something different. For the diehards they released the classic, end of story.

    Blackberry did something great with the passport, and it's talked about a lot, either you love it or you hate it. Everyone's been chiming in on it because of how polarizing it is. They also received a lot of free marketing from people just talking about the phone in general on TV.

    With how little attention Blackberry receives, it brought them into the spotlight, 1) for the design 2)for breaking the old blackberry 'amazing' keypad formula.

    Maybe for a future product they'll have a passport screen with a 4 row keyboard!
    Mansoor2 likes this.
    01-18-15 06:02 PM
  4. slagman5's Avatar
    Doesn't the virtual keyboard in essence make the screen smaller?
    Yep, they always show the way excel spreadsheets look on the Passport compared to the others. Unfortunately that's only while you're viewing them only. If you're editing them, and using numbers and symbols, which is quite often with spreadsheets, it's definitely up...

    Posted without the aid of AutoCorrect with my physical keyboard via CB10
    01-18-15 07:16 PM
  5. canadian nick's Avatar
    I personally would like 4 rows, that mock up looks great.

    PassportSQW100-1/10.3.1.2072

    Posted via CB10
    01-18-15 07:32 PM
  6. Zedd88's Avatar
    Ok. Assuming they did release a Passport with a fourth row of keyboard which is slightly longer. If that happened, am sure there would be a thread that says, why didn't they just add a few more millimeters to the height and add a toolbelt? Preferences vary and as much as some people say that they prefer a four row keyboard some also prefer the three row. It was a design decision and am glad they did it the way they did.

    Also as much as some of you said that they lost potential passport users because they made it a three row keyboard, the same could also be said if they added a few millimeters to the phone and added a fourth row keyboard. Had they added a fourth row keyboard, I would have dismissed the phone and they would have lost a potential customer.

    Again, preferences differ.

    Posted via CB10
    thedose and christausky like this.
    01-18-15 07:46 PM
  7. pandabear444's Avatar
    ^+1 to that. They make that and I'm in full time.
    01-18-15 08:27 PM
  8. mofokey's Avatar
    Virtues or vices of a 4th row of keys aside, I think it's a study material for some discipline of cognitive science in its own right how people can repeatedly manage to fail to see that there is enough room on Passport to accommodate an extra row of keys while keeping the screen size and the overall dimension the same, especially after a few mockup pictures have been posted. That's actually way more interesting to me than why BlackBerry didn't include a 4th row of keys.

    I think it bears repeating here that an extra row of keys would not only have allowed the full use of the screen space at all times (with no contextual virtual keyboard eating up the space sometimes) without increasing the overall size of the device (that is, if it was that important to keep the name "Passport" and the slogan "symbol of mobility" and all that marketing strategy intact by keeping the dimension of the device roughly the same as the travel document), it would've also made the device easier to hold, as an extra row of keys would've balanced out the top-heaviness of Passport by increasing the space below the screen that the user can use to hold the device.
    Last edited by mofokey; 01-19-15 at 09:08 AM.
    01-19-15 08:14 AM
  9. mofokey's Avatar
    Ok. Assuming they did release a Passport with a fourth row of keyboard which is slightly longer. If that happened, am sure there would be a thread that says, why didn't they just add a few more millimeters to the height and add a toolbelt? Preferences vary and as much as some people say that they prefer a four row keyboard some also prefer the three row. It was a design decision and am glad they did it the way they did.
    But that doesn't make someone's preference for a 4th row of keys any less valid. For that matter, the preference of someone wanting a toolbelt isn't any less valid either.

    And empirically speaking, I don't see a thread asking for a toolbelt, even though Passport as it is designed currently does NOT have a toolbelt. If your point (i.e. asking for an extra row of keys is like asking for a toolbelt - that is, it's a ridiculous thing to ask for - I mean, who would ask for a toolbelt on a cell phone, right? That was your intention in making this comparison.) were to hold, there would already be a thread asking for a toolbelt. Are those people waiting for this discussion regarding a 4th row of keys to be over before they can get in the arena? Hm?

    Also as much as some of you said that they lost potential passport users because they made it a three row keyboard, the same could also be said if they added a few millimeters to the phone and added a fourth row keyboard.
    No need for a few extra milimeters... see my post above...

    Had they added a fourth row keyboard, I would have dismissed the phone and they would have lost a potential customer.

    Again, preferences differ.

    Posted via CB10
    With respect, I highly doubt you would have. Nobody was asking for a three row keyboard and nobody really thought of it. It is an innovation, for better or worse. I suggest that you only got to think of a three row keyboard because of the way Passport is designed. If Passport came out with 4 rows of keys, closer to the other BlackBerry devices as well as other physical keyboard devices, I highly doubt you would've dismissed it because it's not three rows. Again, with all due respect, I find this comment to be very disingenuous... Of course there's nothing I can do if you just flat out deny it, but I think you would know the truth about it better than anyone else.

    Yes, maybe you would dismiss a Passport-like device with a 4th row of keys now that you've seen Passport, but would you have dismissed it for that reason if you hadn't seen a Passport, with the way it's designed? Not likely.
    01-19-15 08:23 AM
  10. Zedd88's Avatar
    But that doesn't make someone's preference for a 4th row of keys any less valid. For that matter, the preference of someone wanting a toolbelt isn't any less valid either.
    Exactly, read my post again. I said it is a matter of preference. I never said it was less valid.

    And empirically speaking, I don't see a thread asking for a toolbelt, even though Passport as it is designed currently does NOT have a toolbelt. If your point (i.e. asking for an extra row of keys is like asking for a toolbelt - that is, it's a ridiculous thing to ask for - I mean, who would ask for a toolbelt on a cell phone, right? That was your intention in making this comparison.) were to hold, there would already be a thread asking for a toolbelt. Are those people waiting for this discussion regarding a 4th row of keys to be over before they can get in the arena? Hm?
    Again, you don't get my post. I never said it was a ridiculous thing to ask. My point is that there are different preference and had they made it four rows there are others who would not be pleased because aesthetically it would look like a big Q10 with the top half of the phone being the screen and the bottom half being the keyboards. And it is not ridiculous to ask for a toolbelt in a phone as others have asked for it already. My point is in any design decision, they would not have pleased everybody.

    With respect, I highly doubt you would have. Nobody was asking for a three row keyboard and nobody really thought of it. It is an innovation, for better or worse. I suggest that you only got to think of a three row keyboard because of the way Passport is designed. If Passport came out with 4 rows of keys, closer to the other BlackBerry devices as well as other physical keyboard devices, I highly doubt you would've dismissed it because it's not three rows. Again, with all due respect, I find this comment to be very disingenuous... Of course there's nothing I can do if you just flat out deny it, but I think you would know the truth about it better than anyone else.

    Yes, maybe you would dismiss a Passport-like device with a 4th row of keys now that you've seen Passport, but would you have dismissed it for that reason if you hadn't seen a Passport, with the way it's designed? Not likely.
    Exactly, it is an innovation, for better or worse. You nailed it. And it was a design decision that Blackberry made. I had said that (it was an innovation) in my previous post. Please read back to my previous posts. And when I said that I would have dismissed the passport if they added a few millimeters to add a fourth row. I was referring to another poster who said that a few millimeters would have accommodated a fourth row. Adding a fourth row without adding to the height would mean a smaller chin, even if you move the screen up (as shown in the mock up).

    I would have dismissed it because I also dismissed the Q10. And again you nailed it, I got interested in the Passport because of its innovative design. That's why I said I would have dismissed the Passport if it was basically just a bigger Q10 (which essentially it would be if you add a fourth row key). I don't own a Q10 nor any Blackberry phone ever.

    I am a Blackberry convert with the Passport being my first Blackberry device, thus I have no qualms about the virtual keyboard. Since I am more used to an all touch screen. The ratio of the screen to keyboard size is also something that affects my decision. If you look at the current design of the passport the keyboard area is just twice as big as the round home button of the iPhone and even other Android phones. And also it doesn't appear as if half of the phone is keyboard and half is the screen.

    Again, if they are able to add a few more millimeters or reclaim space by moving the screen up, I would have preferred they add more space to the screen (4:3 aspect ratio) than adding a fourth row keys. Is my preference ridiculous? No. Are your preference for a fourth row keys ridiculous? No, I never said that! Are the preference for a toolbelt ridiculous? No (that's why the Classic also sells). So what is my point, again let me state it since you seemed to have missed it or misunderstood it in my previous post. My point is different people have different preference, and whatever design decision BlackBerry made, it cannot please everybody. But for me it worked since it convinced me to take a closer look at the Passport and eventually to buy it. And you are too presumptuous to comment that it is disingenuous of me to say that I would have dismissed a Passport with a four row keyboard without even knowing my preference in phones.

    Posted via CB10
    01-19-15 09:31 AM
  11. jdesignz's Avatar
    3 rows is the new qwerty!

    ₱asaporte₱ilipinasSQW100-1/10.3.1.2072
    01-19-15 09:41 AM
  12. WES51's Avatar
    Why didn't BlackBerry add a fourth row to the Passport?

    Perhaps planned obsolence, so in future they can bring out a Passport2 with 4th row as improvement.

    How else could they ever to impove this phone, that already has everything?

    A Classic2 with a 4th row would of course disprove all the creative pro 3 row arguments of this thread.
    01-19-15 09:50 AM
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