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BlackBerry design chief says 2012 phones will be 'charming, whimsical and fun

Todd Wood, RIM's senior vice president of industrial design has teased next year's BlackBerry handsets, describing them as "charming, whimsical and fun." Admittedly, those last two words aren't closely associated with BB devices of the past, but the manufacture will certainly be on the charm offensive after those service outages last month. In an interview with Pocket-Lint, the Wood explained how this year's range was influenced by Bellagio in Italy. This is apparently inspired the style licks -- like the 'fretted' keyboard -- on phones like the Bold 9930 and the barely-announced Bold 9790. Next year's models, presumably arriving with a software refresh in the form of BBX, will be drawn from ideas at a design workshop held in Malmo, Sweden. While we can't imagine seeing a Nordic wood-encased Bold, nor the disappearance of RIM's talismanic keyboard, hopefully the change in design focus will bring a bit of texture and spice to BB's next roll of the smartphone dice.

BlackBerry design chief says 2012 phones will be 'charming, whimsical and fun' - Engadget

Cant wait!

[Jake2826]

Interesting.

[rgorman]

I don't want "charming, whimsical and fun"... I want "efficient, simple and robust".

If I wanted the other I'd buy a "my little pony" hat.

[T�nis]

Yea, that's too bad. I don't care for charming, whimsical, or fun.

[SCPanther13]

Poor choice of words, to be sure. Well... unless they're accurate, in which it's a poor choice of design focus.

[howarmat]

they ditching there enterprise customers then

granted most people want their phones to be a little fun but this sounds like they are swinging a little too far on that side of things

[Danf]

Notice he didn't say they would be, on time and working right.

[Eli_B]

I think a device that's charming, whimsical and fun would be really cool. I think there has to be elements of those things in order to have a good phone.

Case and point: The new iPhone. I think it's a charming and fun phone. I've used it before and have a lot of fun with it.

If you had an ordinary looking phone, it wouldn't be as nice to own, I don't think, because looks are a big part of what attracts people to certain types of phones (form factor and cosmetic).

My 9900<and this is STRICTLY my humble opinion> is a charming, sexy and fun phone to own. I think it runs circles around my old 8530 in every way.

Food for thought

[johnenglish]

Good design = good function. Everyone needs to stop assuming that you can only have one at the exclusivity of the other.

[mrspeedy101]

are there gonna start making unicorn phones ....i waant rough edgy tech savy mouth watering game changing phones

[msmara]

Maybe he means charming whimsical and fun on top of what they already are aka sleek sophisticated and business savvy. To make the perfect well rounded phones.

I immediately thought of Disney..and it seems they're designing the phones in special and unique ways, drawing inspiration from different places is artsy and out of the box, I imagine a very high-end feel result. Can't wait to see what they come up with.

I like the fact that the design of the phones can be explained by the owner, to me it means you own something different and special. It's all about the details!

[qingyuank]

Will it leapfrog the competition?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[phuoc]

Will it leapfrog the competition?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

One can only hope.

[blackberry-unlocking710]

I don't want "charming, whimsical and fun"... I want "efficient, simple and robust".

If I wanted the other I'd buy a "my little pony" hat.

Strongly agree with you.

[rfalter]

How about if they are current, fast, timely, and have some feature sets that encouage coders to write for them.....more and more of my banks, stores I shop at, airlines, magazines, newspapers, etc., have stopped writing apps for BB....every time I look the ad says 'for iPhone and Android'.....and whimsical ain't going to make it better. But maybe that will fly in Indonesia, or Jakarta, or Beijing.....nah, they have tons of Apple Stores. Maybe Venus.

[Rootbrian]

I wanna be able to get touchy-feely with it!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Delil]

I am just waiting for samsung Galaxy nexus

And what does that have to do with this topic? There's already a topic for people who are leaving blackberry for other devices. Go post it there.

Try the search function if you dont see it !!!

[Caymancroc]

Of all the marketing you get out of RIM (and that isn't alot), I am surprised they chose these words to describe their devices for next year.

The biggest surprise is going to be if many people buy these whimsical fun devices. Maybe someone will buy one for their significant other and charm the pants right off them?

I can tell already that 2012 will be a historic year for RIM... they might actually go under.

How about designing a phone with a full size BT native keyboard, HDMI out, VGA out, ability to print, and a camera that can replace a simple point and shoot? Also it would be nice if BB Maps wasn't absolutely a laughing stock when trying to find directions and the app store was good. How about designing that? I am pretty sure I would give up the whimsical and fun portion to have that...but wait, there is a phone that does all of this and more. iPhone 4S.

Still trying to figure out how a phone can be charming.

[Caymancroc]

I wanna be able to get touchy-feely with it!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Hahaha. You will really appreciate the fact it is "charming" then.

[Delil]

They have a lot of challenges ahead of them I agree.
But the difference compared to a couple of years ago is:

Now they are actually aware of the shortcomings. And being aware and accepting is the first step.

They'll have to work as hard as they can. I'm convinced they'll deliver.

And to answer your question: Maybe it will have a Siri like app with a charming voice :-)