[Tim Heard]

They should release unlocked in early to mid-September, giving carriers plenty of time to release their own branded versions before the holidays.

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[CTU2fan]

It is not enough. It might be fine for traditional BlackBerry customers, but not for people who would like things like Psion, Prada, N900, and Communicator.

I'm not familiar wih those...do you need the phone open in landscape mode to use them?

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[Tim Heard]

I'm not either. I looked up the Nokia N900. It was released about 7 years ago.
Assuming that this is a phone for business users first and foremost, the landscape version doesn't make sense. It's physically much more cumbersome to type on a landscape QWERTY keyboard, and the landscape view doesn't lend itself as well to reading documents and emails.

I'm not familiar with those...do you need the phone open in landscape mode to use them?

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[tnewton3]

I wouldn't purchase this device off contract, would be looking to upgrade into it. I think that anything over the 700 mark is too much for a phone.

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[CTU2fan]

I wouldn't purchase this device off contract, would be looking to upgrade into it. I think that anything over the 700 mark is too much for a phone.

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I think the S6 Edge is something like $779 from T-Mobile on easy pay or whatever they're installment plan is called. This will likely be similar.

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[bandpass]

I'm not either. I looked up the Nokia N900. It was released about 7 years ago.
Assuming that this is a phone for business users first and foremost, the landscape version doesn't make sense. It's physically much more cumbersome to type on a landscape QWERTY keyboard, and the landscape view doesn't lend itself as well to reading documents and emails.

That is the Maemo predecessor to the N950 Meego QWERTY that Elop made sure to bury, refer to the latter one if you prefer.

[Tim Heard]

<shrug>

I get the basic idea. There are a lot of phones that came along and looked like that.
I'd be willing to bet that some other company holds patents on phones that use that form factor.
Regardless, if BlackBerry were to release that type of slider phone and NOT a portrait slider,
their VP of Product Development would be out of a job soon after that.

I think/hope that this one will be pretty wide - potentially as wide as a Passport, and also long.
From a business user's perspective, I want a full physical keyboard, but also a lot of screen space.

It likely will also offer a virtual keyboard that would have both portrait and landscape layouts, in case
someone wants to type with it while in full touch mode.

That is the Maemo predecessor to the N950 Meego QWERTY that Elop made sure to bury, refer to the latter one if you prefer.

[bandpass]

1. A portrait slider is what people need to hold the phone and type with one hand.

2. But other people want a good view of what they compose on the screen, landscape slider is better for that, especially if it is a 5" 16:9 phone.

3. And the people who want a bigger keyboard also prefer landscape.

I am interested in 2 and 3. I don't like operating smartphones with one hand.

[Tim Heard]

We'll agree to disagree.
With a portrait slider, you can see what you type. That's kind of the point of having a physical keyboard below the screen.
I have never used a physical BlackBerry keyboard and typed with just 1 hand, so I'm not sure what you mean by that. It
seems like that would be nearly impossible.
To me, a portrait slider layout would be inherently difficult to use, especially if you're considering a phone that will potentially
be 6 inches long.
Do you currently own a Passport? If you use that one-handed, that's a pretty amazing trick. I suspect that we'll be looking
at a keyboard that's about the same size, but hopefully with a 4th physical row.

1. A portrait slider is what people need to hold the phone and type with one hand.

2. But other people want a good view of what they compose on the screen, landscape slider is better for that, especially if it is a 5" 16:9 phone.

3. And the people who want a bigger keyboard also prefer landscape.

I am interested in 2 and 3. I don't like operating smartphones with one hand.

[bandpass]

Do you realise that most of the time a portrait slider's tall 16:9 5" screen will be wasted, while you could see the emails you compose more or less as they would appear on a computer in landscape?

Maybe you just use email as txt.

[Tim Heard]

I used a Dell venue Pro for several years after my Blackberry Bold (or whatever it was) ran through the wash one time too many.
I understand how a portrait slider works and how things appear on a slider.
I think you're making some assumptions that may or may not be true, and will depend somewhat on the display settings.
I can only speak for myself regarding what I want and need, but I think I'm fairly representative of most people who want a Blackberry slider phone.
What I want is a slider mechanism that's about like what the Dell venue Pro offered, a keyboard that's somewhat like the Dell Venue Pro keyboard, or any current full BlackBerry keyboard, but maybe more spacious, and a screen that's at least as tall as the Z30 and as wide as the Passport. The width should take care of your concerns about being able to read emails.
My recollection though was that I sent and received a whole lot of emails on my previous phone. They were generally more than 140 characters at a time, and I didn't find myself longing for a landscape view. I believe there were settings that allowed lines of text to scroll to the next line.
Again, to be 100% clear, I'm only speaking for myself. I *think* other Blackberry users are excited that the phone that was shown is a portrait slider, but maybe they are just excited that it's a slider at all.

Do you realise that most of the time a portrait slider's tall 16:9 5" screen will be wasted, while you could see the emails you compose more or less as they would appear on a computer in landscape?

Maybe you just use email as txt.

[bandpass]

I used a Dell venue Pro for several years after my Blackberry Bold (or whatever it was) ran through the wash one time too many.
I understand how a portrait slider works and how things appear on a slider.
I think you're making some assumptions that may or may not be true, and will depend somewhat on the display settings.
I can only speak for myself regarding what I want and need, but I think I'm fairly representative of most people who want a Blackberry slider phone.
What I want is a slider mechanism that's about like what the Dell venue Pro offered, a keyboard that's somewhat like the Dell Venue Pro keyboard, or any current full BlackBerry keyboard, but maybe more spacious, and a screen that's at least as tall as the Z30 and as wide as the Passport. The width should take care of your concerns about being able to read emails.
My recollection though was that I sent and received a whole lot of emails on my previous phone. They were generally more than 140 characters at a time, and I didn't find myself longing for a landscape view. I believe there were settings that allowed lines of text to scroll to the next line.
Again, to be 100% clear, I'm only speaking for myself. I *think* other Blackberry users are excited that the phone that was shown is a portrait slider, but maybe they are just excited that it's a slider at all.

I am not talking about reading emails, but about composing somewhat formatted emails with a proper screen width.

In the same way that you don't want a landscape slider, I definitely don't want a portrait slider.

I am also annoyed by physical keyboards available only in layouts that I don't want. A proper physical keyboard should be configurable by software these days. Given that BB10 does not even have a full range of virtual keyboard layouts, this is a tall order.

A 5" landscape keyboard would not only allow for keys with an adequate with, but would probably permit to have more keys than the traditional BlackBerry layouts.

As I said, traditional BlackBerry users are probably happy with portrait, but a lot of other people are not.

[Tim Heard]

"A lot" is a relative term. People who believe that BlackBerry should abandon keyboards altogether don't seem to believe that "a lot' of people will want this new slider, given that they assume it's going to be a fraction of the number of existing BB users. (As opposed to the possibility of attracting new users.) Given how the clamor for a landscape slider phone seems to be a fairly quiet one, it seems like the "a lot" of people wanting a landscape slider is likely a subset of the "a lot" of people who want a portrait slider, which may or may not really be a lot of people.

As I said, traditional BlackBerry users are probably happy with portrait, but a lot of other people are not.

[Tim Heard]

Just to clarify further, how often to do you need for format emails?

I get a LOT of emails on a regular basis. Generally, unless it's marketing material (which I usually delete after a cursory glance) it's never formatted. And what I get that IS formatted, probably was originally drafted on a desktop, or a laptop at the very least.

I am not talking about reading emails, but about composing somewhat formatted emails with a proper screen width.

In the same way that you don't want a landscape slider, I definitely don't want a portrait slider.

I am also annoyed by physical keyboards available only in layouts that I don't want. A proper physical keyboard should be configurable by software these days. Given that BB10 does not even have a full range of virtual keyboard layouts, this is a tall order.

A 5" landscape keyboard would not only allow for keys with an adequate with, but would probably permit to have more keys than the traditional BlackBerry layouts.

As I said, traditional BlackBerry users are probably happy with portrait, but a lot of other people are not.

[bandpass]

Just to clarify further, how often to do you need for format emails?

I get a LOT of emails on a regular basis. Generally, unless it's marketing material (which I usually delete after a cursory glance) it's never formatted. And what I get that IS formatted, probably was originally drafted on a desktop, or a laptop at the very least.

It is irrelevant how often one must write an email with a bit of character layout, it is enough that it needs to be done sometimes.

[bandpass]

"A lot" is a relative term. People who believe that BlackBerry should abandon keyboards altogether don't seem to believe that "a lot' of people will want this new slider, given that they assume it's going to be a fraction of the number of existing BB users. (As opposed to the possibility of attracting new users.) Given how the clamor for a landscape slider phone seems to be a fairly quiet one, it seems like the "a lot" of people wanting a landscape slider is likely a subset of the "a lot" of people who want a portrait slider, which may or may not really be a lot of people.

You may assume that more traditional BlackBerry users prefer a portrait slider, but not that the same holds for the general public.

[slagman5]

We'll agree to disagree.
With a portrait slider, you can see what you type. That's kind of the point of having a physical keyboard below the screen.
I have never used a physical BlackBerry keyboard and typed with just 1 hand, so I'm not sure what you mean by that. It
seems like that would be nearly impossible.
To me, a portrait slider layout would be inherently difficult to use, especially if you're considering a phone that will potentially
be 6 inches long.
Do you currently own a Passport? If you use that one-handed, that's a pretty amazing trick. I suspect that we'll be looking
at a keyboard that's about the same size, but hopefully with a 4th physical row.

I don't think this will be as wide as the Passport, which would make the one-handedness comparison kind of invalid...

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

[bandpass]

I would argue that it is more urgent to produce a landscape slider than a portrait slider, as using a virtual keyboard taking 50% of the landscape height is horrible (applicable even for general use, not just about formatting emails as mentioned above).

[Tim Heard]

I hope it IS as wide, but the Dell venue Pro was about as wide as an iPhone, and I still typed on it using 2 hands.
It's hard to tell looking at the few images there are of the demo that was held up.

I don't think this will be as wide as the Passport, which would make the one-handedness comparison kind of invalid...

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

[Tim Heard]

Now that the new slab phone is out, they will tease us with a few more shots of the slider.

[CTU2fan]

I would argue that it is more urgent to produce a landscape slider than a portrait slider, as using a virtual keyboard taking 50% of the landscape height is horrible (applicable even for general use, not just about formatting emails as mentioned above).

This is very true. My last landscape slider was pretty big (Motorola Photon) and using the virtual keyboard in landscape was pointless. I can definitely recall situations when I was happy that that phone was a landscape rather than a portrait slider (great phones besides the awful fixed battery). But I still preferred the form factor of the 9810. I'm hoping this will be like that, only bigger.


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[slagman5]

I hope it IS as wide, but the Dell venue Pro was about as wide as an iPhone, and I still typed on it using 2 hands.
It's hard to tell looking at the few images there are of the demo that was held up.

Unless the guy holding it is Andre the Giant, it surely doesn't look as wide as the Passport...

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

[Tim Heard]

You're right. I just went back and looked. It had 4 columns of icons, and the Passport has 5.

Too bad. I have grown to like the wide screen. Just wish it were also much taller.

[hlg8888]

Because a removable battery allows me to 1) have a fully charged phone on the go. 2) it doesn't require me to have something dangling near my chin while in an important conference call.

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[hlg8888]

Tell me do you find the removable battery on the Q10 heavy and big? Come on.

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