10" Playbook Production Stopped in Favor of "Superphones"
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I think they are going with a touchscreen as the first "superphone" because that is what the large majority of consumers want. It is what the tech blog's and media expect. And releasing a very solid touch device on the BB platform will really say to the carriers, media, consumers, and financial analysts that RIM can play with the other manufacturers. Also it will wipe the storm name from a lot of peoples memory. I also think it is a good idea that they put their A Team on this and don't get in their way.
And there is nothing about QNX that precludes a full physical keyboard. Try to remember that the PlayBook runs Tablet OS which is running on the QNX Neutron kernel.
What I think will be very challenging for RIM is delivering consistency in the UI between all touch and physical qwerty devices and making that difference seamless to the developers of apps.
I see this as great news. RIM needs to deliver some solid devices. BB7, 4g PlayBook, first QNX powered handsets. That is their roadmap for next 12-18 months.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
I don't understand how there will be an issue between all touch and physical kb + touch? One will just default to an onscreen keyboard all the time and the other will have a choice between the two/will default when a phone is turned a certain way just as it does now...06-28-11 05:35 PMLike 0 -
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Think about swipe gestures and things like that. The difference between tapping and long presses vs navigating a highlight selection to something and clicking on it. Also think about short cut keys on qwerty device. There are just specific ways of making the UI really good that somewhat specific to interface being all touch vs qwerty.I don't understand how there will be an issue between all touch and physical kb + touch? One will just default to an onscreen keyboard all the time and the other will have a choice between the two/will default when a phone is turned a certain way just as it does now...
SurePress was a bridge in the UI between the two different interfaces and BB was always getting slammed for not having a true 'touch' OS.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com06-28-11 05:40 PMLike 0 -
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Oh and I am not saying it can't be done just that it will be a big challenge to deliver UI's that take good advantage of both input methods, yet are similar on look and feel, and share a common sdk so that app dens aren't rewriting apps between devices. I think that will put the coordination and collaboration of all these UI specialists and QNX and BB OS engineers to the test.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.comAngelo_Campher likes this.06-28-11 05:44 PMLike 1 -
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06-28-11 06:03 PMLike 0 -
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If this is the plan for the bold touch.....they should def make that one of there selling points! I am completely torn between the iphone 5 and 9930. I am almost certain if RIM came out and said the 9930 will be upgraded to QNX I think I would give RIM one more chance. I don't want another dead end device!!06-28-11 09:14 PMLike 0 -
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I don't think RIM hardly realizes what they are doing right now. I am sure the last thing on their mind is 9900 will be a dud in 8 months! Too bad the company is run this way. What a mess right now!06-28-11 09:19 PMLike 0 -
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Familiar arc to this thread -- here we are a month or two before the release of the 9900 and its already being pronounced a dud eight months after that, based on wild speculation and extreme anti-RIM assumptions.
From what I've seen of the 9900 series, it looks like a classic handset. The original 9000 was an email beast (even with that crabby dust-magnet trackball) and the new version's keyboard looks even better. As much as I'm looking forward to the Torch II, the 9900 has me wavering. It looks like a winner. It won't be the end of days if RIM comes out with an even better handset sometime in 2012 because the 9900 has specs and a form factor that has proven to be long-lived.
Nowhere is it written that every RIM customer must buy each new model. Its ok if you hold on and skip a model (unless you're a RIM fragger or a crackpot financial analyst).
Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk06-28-11 10:31 PMLike 0 -
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Amen to that!Familiar arc to this thread -- here we are a month or two before the release of the 9900 and its already being pronounced a dud eight months after that, based on wild speculation and extreme anti-RIM assumptions.
From what I've seen of the 9900 series, it looks like a classic handset. The original 9000 was an email beast (even with that crabby dust-magnet trackball) and the new version's keyboard looks even better. As much as I'm looking forward to the Torch II, the 9900 has me wavering. It looks like a winner. It won't be the end of days if RIM comes out with an even better handset sometime in 2012 because the 9900 has specs and a form factor that has proven to be long-lived.
Nowhere is it written that every RIM customer must buy each new model. Its ok if you hold on and skip a model (unless you're a RIM fragger or a crackpot financial analyst).
Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk
I don't understand how people cry that RIM is not releasing new hand sets, but will be PO'd if they drop a QNX Bold <12mo after the 9900
If someone is really PO'd about not having the latest phone they should upgrade and stop whining.06-28-11 10:43 PMLike 0 -
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Couple of questions...first, doesn't having 3 form factors hurt developers? They will have full touch, touch and keyboard, and keyboard. Why would a developer mess with that when they could just go android or iOS?
Second, does anyone think this will hurt current PB development? It seems that RIM has a hard time doing two things at once. They all but admitted that the phones were pushed back because they were working on the PB.
Just a thought...or two.06-28-11 11:00 PMLike 0 -
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One thing is for sure; developers would like less variation in the devices.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com06-28-11 11:04 PMLike 0 -
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It'd be awesome; but things like that simply do not happen; not with everyone that is involved in the chain off selling these devices.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com06-28-11 11:19 PMLike 0 -
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This is surely true. But there are sufficient numbers using the various form factors to make it worth an ambitious developer's while. There are a similar variety of Android form factors, too.
I think this pressure to conform to the easiest form factor for developers grows out of the Iphone's incredible success. For me, the availability of all those admittedly excellent Iphone apps (leaving aside the mass of junk Iphone apps) comes in a very distant second to having a form factor that works for me. One of the more remarkable aspects of Apple's dominance is the way they have dictated to their customers what they will use and what they will like. There are plenty of examples of this -- touchscreen is the future. Period. No one can possibly want a 7" tablet. Period. You will do everything only by means of an approved app. Period. When you want to make a telephone call, you will hold your Iphone just so. Period.
So long as there are RIMs, and Googles, HPs and Windows Phones out there, we will thankfully be able to say "pass" to the protocol. So long as RIM can entice the right developers to write the critical apps, I won't lose sleep over all the myriad apps on other systems, and I will be content to let developers figure this stuff out for themselves. I like Blackberry App World well enough, because you can fool around and try stuff out. But at the end of the day I only need a few dozen apps, not hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands etc. I can't quite get how we are all supposed to be so concerned with the difficulties of all these fringe developers, so that we will surrender our preferences so that the cookie-cutting can be done more easily and more cheaply. It could be that a few excellent specialty developers will emerge and prosper writing QNX apps and we will be repeat customers for those developers. I would certainly pay more for a high-quality app designed to exploit all of QNX's strengths. But this will take time and cause a lot of whinging in the press.06-28-11 11:44 PMLike 0 -
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One thing is for sure; developers would like less variation in the devices.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com06-29-11 12:06 AMLike 0 -
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i will not accept nothing less then a mini playbook as far as power. if it releases without a dual core cpu, i will not use a gimped qnx os. i will expect nothing less then a 1ghz dual core cpu, 4.3" or bigger full touch screen, 756mb or ram minimum, 8gb of internal memory minimum. why dual core? its not epeens or nothing its just that qnx runs best on multicore. if they dont deliver atleast the dual core i will defenitly be android. they should do two phones a qnx slate phone and one keypad phone like the 9900. personally i would be happy with one excellent slate phone, just to show apple what qnx can do when made smaller.Last edited by drethos; 06-29-11 at 05:47 AM.
06-29-11 05:43 AMLike 0 -
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I kind of agree with you here but for different reasons. Other platforms aren't full smp. iOS 5 may be and Ice Cream Sandwich maybe but it would be good to show the world a true smp OS on mobile. Of course by 2012 this may not be much if a factor. But Android and iOS are only just starting on multiple core chipsets and QNX has been doing that for many, many years already.i will not accept nothing less then a mini playbook as far as power. if it releases without a dual core cpu, i will not use a gimped qnx os. i will expect nothing less then a 1ghz dual core cpu, 4.3" or bigger full touch screen, 756mb or ram minimum, 8gb of internal memory minimum. why dual core? its not epeens or nothing its just that qnx runs best on multicore. if they dont deliver atleast the dual core i will defenitly be android. they should do two phones a qnx slate phone and one keypad phone like the 9900. personally i would be happy with one excellent slate phone, just to show apple what qnx can do when made smaller.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com06-29-11 06:30 AMLike 0 -
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sleepngbearRetired ModeratorI'll be very, very surprised if we see a candybar form-factor QNX phone any time soon. I think you're going to see this monstrosity 4.3" touch screen job that does all the crap everybody says a superphone has to do, and that's going to be it until they gradually migrate everything else over to QNX. But that complete transition is going to take years, which is why I argue so strongly against the notion that the BB7 phones are dead-end or DOA.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com06-29-11 08:24 AMLike 0 -
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BrantaRetired Network ModOnly whining, false objections, and attempts to scam a free upgrade. You can be sure the warranty failure rate for US owned specimens of the last non-QNX device will be close to 100% within a few weeks of QNX release.
The rest of the world's smartphone users expect flagship phones to be retired from production at any point from 6-18 months.kbz1960 likes this.06-29-11 10:49 AMLike 1 -
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pcgizmo#IMCrackBerry Ph.D.Only whining, false objections, and attempts to scam a free upgrade. You can be sure the warranty failure rate for US owned specimens of the last non-QNX device will be close to 100% within a few weeks of QNX release.
The rest of the world's smartphone users expect flagship phones to be retired from production at any point from 6-18 months.
06-29-11 11:05 AMLike 0 -
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RIM is going to slap on QNX on the BlackBerry Torch 2 and BlackBerry Touch. RIM said to themselves that since they already copied HP WebOS. Why not offer 2 QNX/WebOS phones with the PlayBook and rub it in HP's face.
06-29-11 11:28 AMLike 0 -
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10" Playbook Production Stopped in Favor of "Superphones"
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