[Marcin Dabrowsky]

Not sure if anyone else posted about this and if it has been posted I apologize.

This new physical keyboard monstrosity that Samsung RUSHED to the market, to me, points out that they are a bit worried about the BlackBerry slider.

Why in the world would Sammy do this now of all times? All the years and all the slabs and all the knockoffs, and Samsung makes an attachable pkb now just as the slider is about to come out?

Either they are:

1. Testing the pkb waters.
2. Trying to steal some spotlight from BlackBerry (utter failure)
3. Are connected to BlackBerry in the hardware front some way and this is an attempt to market a pkb device or at least get some sort of a message out that pkb is still a thing. Anything that Samsung puts out gets attention, and that will ultimately help sell the slider.

I am thinking #3 is the most logical answer.

Thoughts?

Posted via Silver Passport.

[anon(9186565)]

Your #3 doesn't sound wrong. But I'm not sure if Samsung would really do that. Samsung and BlackBerry want to work together but they are still two different companies. Hurting your own company to help the other one? This would only make sense in case they were in a "mother-daughter-relationship" (not sure if you can say it this way in English lol).

But this Samsung PKB shows me that they see a market for PKBs. And if Samsung tries to get into this market I assume that this market is not just a niche.

Posted via CB10

[ImBerryCurious]

I think the power that is now being packed into mobile tech these days has sparked a wider interest in productivity. The Note was originally marketed as a productivity machine. So, it's logical that they may want to see if there is any interest in physical keyboards specifically. They didn't spend much money making these cases so it won't matter if it doesn't catch fire.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[Marcin Dabrowsky]

Yeah it seems like a half assed attempt at testing waters. I just found it very interesting that they decided to do this a few months before the slider is out and not years ago. I feel something fishy going on.

Posted via Silver Passport.

[6stringriffs]

Apple has one too for IPhones. Made by Typo. Saw it at an Apple store last week. No it's not for I pads. I saw it, touched it, & it's made for Iphones.

[Dat Gui]

Their physical keyboard isn't even like an electronic keyboard addon. It's just a plastic thing when pressed down, presses on the touch screen keyboard to input the letter.

Posted via CB10

[dvarnai]

Their physical keyboard isn't even like an electronic keyboard addon. It's just a plastic thing when pressed down, presses on the touch screen keyboard to input the letter.

Posted via CB10

lol no. it uses the fingerprint scanner. its ******* top notch technology right there

[joeldf]

lol no. it uses the fingerprint scanner. its ******* top notch technology right there

No, it's as mentioned above. It uses capacitive pads under each key to press the virtual keyboard under the hardware keyboard cover. Just like touching an onscreen key with a stylus. Reviewers have shown us this by removing the keyboard to show the vkb pulled up onscreen under it.

It doesn't cover any actual usable screen real estate because the vkb is pulled up as it would normally be anyway without the hardware keyboard cover.

Of course, it doesn't help that it looks like crud, and apparently, according to reviews, not the best feel while typing.

Posted via CB10

[Adam Kowalczyk1]

It's almost like Samsung did a crappy job on purpose.

Posted via CB10

[Ment]

It fits in with Samsung's shotgun approach manufacturing. Tons of device models, multiple smartwatch models, why not throw a PKB addon , sells a 100,000; back to drawing board to reiterate and on to the next.

[Xadion]

To me this is more of a shared license between Samsung and BlackBerry - curved screen for a keyboard.

Posted via CB10

[cgk]

It's Samsung they knock out random half-assed stuff all year around - this is pretty standard for them

Sent from my LG-D802 using Tapatalk

[Alejandro Nova]

Samsung is truly a company of "launch everything, let's keep what sticks". They are releasing flip phones, candy bars running Android, and they've released Windows Phones too.

Wide vision, from Chile.

[Tre Lawrence]

Yep, as astute folks have already noted, par for the course with Samsung.

I bet you it has received more coverage courtesy of BlackBerry though.

[ToniCipriani]

Samsung is truly a company of "launch everything, let's keep what sticks". They are releasing flip phones, candy bars running Android, and they've released Windows Phones too.

Wide vision, from Chile.

And phones with their own OS (Tizen), despite the constant delaying.