[Chuck Finley69]

Pushing buttons is more satisfying than glass...and shortcuts and people's reaction to the device

Fun to you, and some others for nostalgia, but 99.9% of people simply don’t prefer for themselves. People aren’t buying them because there aren’t choices. People stopped buying them first, so OEMs stopped wasting resources on something no longer worthwhile from a profitable goal business model.

[Deimos10]

Fun to you, and some others for nostalgia, but 99.9% of people simply don’t prefer for themselves. People aren’t buying them because there aren’t choices. People stopped buying them first, so OEMs stopped wasting resources on something no longer worthwhile from a profitable goal business model.

I don't think anyone - including people who are still interested in keyboard phones - is under any illusion there is a huge market for them or will be. The fixed keyboard form factor is basically set, it is what it is, and it clearly does have value to some people which means there is a market. How big that potential market is no one really knows. Unfortunately TCL screwed a lot of things up and BlackBerry exited the market with a firesale of soon to be discontinued products, so neither of those scenarios offer much useful insight into the matter. Perhaps the Unihertz situation does, but then again I have to think true demand is tempered substantially when its a plastic hobby device shipped in a plain cardboard box from Hong Kong.

[conite]

I don't think anyone - including people who are still interested in keyboard phones - is under any illusion there is a huge market for them or will be. The fixed keyboard form factor is basically set, it is what it is, and it clearly does have value to some people which means there is a market. How big that potential market is no one really knows. Unfortunately TCL screwed a lot of things up and BlackBerry exited the market with a firesale of soon to be discontinued products, so neither of those scenarios offer much useful insight into the matter. Perhaps the Unihertz situation does, but then again I have to think true demand is tempered substantially when its a plastic hobby device shipped in a plain cardboard box from Hong Kong.

TCL offered the pkb space far more than it warranted - very well-built devices, international support infrastructure, and excellent patch support.

As much as you want to complain about their faults, things will NEVER get better than that - Unihertz and OM included.

[Deimos10]

TCL offered the pkb space far more than it warranted - very well-built devices, international support infrastructure, and excellent patch support.

As much as you want to complain about their faults, things will NEVER get better than that - Unihertz and OM included.

Unfortunately I don't share your inexplicable enthusiasm for TCL BlackBerry. As far as things "NEVER" (all caps for emphasis, indeed!) getting better than TCL, particularly when it comes to OM - we shall see. Personally I can't see how things could get much worse for BlackBerry devices after TCL's inglorious hack job.

[conite]

Unfortunately I don't share your inexplicable enthusiasm for TCL BlackBerry. As far as things "NEVER" (all caps for emphasis, indeed!) getting better than TCL, particularly when it comes to OM - we shall see. Personally I can't see how things could get much worse for BlackBerry devices after TCL's inglorious hack job.

It's not so much enthusiasm as it is just being realistic.

Having had a major OEM, with real resources, take on the brand after BlackBerry left the handset business was a big win for us.

We are now relegated to the kickstarters and upstarts of the world going forward.

[Chuck Finley69]

I don't think anyone - including people who are still interested in keyboard phones - is under any illusion there is a huge market for them or will be. The fixed keyboard form factor is basically set, it is what it is, and it clearly does have value to some people which means there is a market. How big that potential market is no one really knows. Unfortunately TCL screwed a lot of things up and BlackBerry exited the market with a firesale of soon to be discontinued products, so neither of those scenarios offer much useful insight into the matter. Perhaps the Unihertz situation does, but then again I have to think true demand is tempered substantially when its a plastic hobby device shipped in a plain cardboard box from Hong Kong.

The PKB market is what all the BB licensees sold at best since it was the middle of the road, middle of the demand curve that BlackBerry has always been. The reality is that BlackBerry devices have always been a middle tier device for the almost 20 years of it’s smartphone history. The entire mobile industry always sees the greatest demand in the mid tier and that’s pretty much every other product on the planet.

[Deimos10]

The PKB market is what all the BB licensees sold at best since it was the middle of the road, middle of the demand curve that BlackBerry has always been. The reality is that BlackBerry devices have always been a middle tier device for the almost 20 years of it’s smartphone history. The entire mobile industry always sees the greatest demand in the mid tier and that’s pretty much every other product on the planet.

Not sure how you got middle of the road from 'inglorious hack job'. Anyway, probably just another stream of consciousness response so feel free to ramble on.

[Chuck Finley69]

Not sure how you got middle of the road from 'inglorious hack job'. Anyway, probably just another stream of consciousness response so feel free to ramble on.

There’s nothing TCL could have done to move anymore significant number of devices and the project ever have a chance of success. Failure after failure of PKB device sales from Blackberry Limited in 2012-2013 forward are due to not enough PKB demand to achieve quantities of scale.

[Deimos10]

There’s nothing TCL could have done to move anymore significant number of devices and the project ever have a chance of success. Failure after failure of PKB device sales from Blackberry Limited in 2012-2013 forward are due to not enough PKB demand to achieve quantities of scale.

"Nothing they could have done" indeed. Unfortunately not flushing what little remained down the toilet wasn't one of those things they didn't do. Pity.

Let's see what Onward Mobility comes up with.

[the_boon]

There’s nothing TCL could have done to move anymore significant number of devices and the project ever have a chance of success. Failure after failure of PKB device sales from Blackberry Limited in 2012-2013 forward are due to not enough PKB demand to achieve quantities of scale.

Making a slider would have most likely led to a bit more sales, than that recycled 4.5" LCD

[spARTacus]

Mobile hotspot is not available as quick button on my Samsung A21, not even if I try to rearrange the buttons or add other ones. I can still get to it relatively easily through settings for my mobile data/cellular. However, it's not available from quick buttons. My phone came stock (I think), not through a carrier.

[Chuck Finley69]

Making a slider would have most likely led to a bit more sales, than that recycled 4.5" LCD

Even had the PRIV been flawless, it’s what convinced me a VKB was better than a slider. Coming from the Classic and Passport, I was still partial to PKB for the most part. Then I had a Z30 and Leap. I would actually carry the Leap with Passport and Classic and I found the larger screen more convenient for everything not typing related.

Eventually I had PRIV and dual carried with LG either G or V series. I found myself using the slider PKB less and VKB more. I believe that’s what 99.9% of users find. The slider becomes a heavy, bulky VKB attached to an unnecessary PKB device. I enjoyed the KEYone far more than PRIV and DTEK or Motion as well. Sliders feel like trying for that “making everyone happy” but fails to satisfy either side….

[spARTacus]

I found the ability to enter a custom SSID and password, when setting up hot spot, as useful.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

I found the ability to enter a custom SSID and password, when setting up hot spot, as useful.

Yes... and standard feature thankfully.

[EFats]

There’s nothing TCL could have done to move anymore significant number of devices and the project ever have a chance of success. Failure after failure of PKB device sales from Blackberry Limited in 2012-2013 forward are due to not enough PKB demand to achieve quantities of scale.

I dunno if it has to do with the PKB. Just walk by your carrier store and see what phones they push or advertise or are even available for fondling. It was almost never the KEY1 or 2 or Priv. Most people do not follow the phone industry, they get what the reps suggest and they never push a Blackberry.
Not just BlackBerry, many other brands have fallen by the wayside due to lack of carrier store support, not having a PKB and running Android didn't help LG, Sony or several others.

[joeldf]

Sorry. Errant post.

[Chuck Finley69]

I dunno if it has to do with the PKB. Just walk by your carrier store and see what phones they push or advertise or are even available for fondling. It was almost never the KEY1 or 2 or Priv. Most people do not follow the phone industry, they get what the reps suggest and they never push a Blackberry.
Not just BlackBerry, many other brands have fallen by the wayside due to lack of carrier store support, not having a PKB and running Android didn't help LG, Sony or several others.

The PKB just wasn’t the important feature that average users cared about then or now. Consumers gave up the PKB and other BlackBerry features like superior email capabilities with the introduction of Android/iOS devices and their underdeveloped ecosystems. Consumers didn’t and don’t walk into carriers asking for guidance back then or now as much as walking in and telling reps what they wanted.

[spARTacus]

I like the fact that PKB and VKB phones both had/have the ability to do hot spotting.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

I dunno if it has to do with the PKB. Just walk by your carrier store and see what phones they push or advertise or are even available for fondling. It was almost never the KEY1 or 2 or Priv. Most people do not follow the phone industry, they get what the reps suggest and they never push a Blackberry.
Not just BlackBerry, many other brands have fallen by the wayside due to lack of carrier store support, not having a PKB and running Android didn't help LG, Sony or several others.

Carrier store support is really only a USA thing.... your placing a lot of control in the US market if you think US Carrier's have determined the fate of BlackBerry, LG, Sony and several others.

Maybe, just maybe... the reason US carrier don't support those brands, is a result and not a cause? I'd look more at blaming non competitive pricing, buggy software, lack of innovation that matters to end users, lack of long term software support....

As for the PKB... again it's a big world out there and lot's of places where carrier's don't drive people's choices or market conditions. And yet the PKB doesn't exist anymore. If folks in India wanted a PKB, the Jio Phone 2 would have been a sucess and spanned additional PKB phones....