[rawilliam]

iPhone 4s has glass front and back, right?

Why couldn't a BB10 phone have a screen on front and back. The front screen would be smaller with a physical keyboard, and the back would be full sized for doing all the stuff you want a full sized screen for. No slider to deal with either. Only one screen would have to be lit at any given time. I realize that it would be more expensive and would result in a thicker phone (although Apple has shown that the screens can be made thinner and lighter), but would it be doable? And would it be wanted?

[belfastdispatcher]

How would you put a case on it?

[GTiLeo]

How would you put a case on it?

clear rubber :P

[kye2000]

case around the bezel

[Superfly_FR]

iPhone 4s has glass front and back, right?

Why couldn't a BB10 phone have a screen on front and back. The front screen would be smaller with a physical keyboard, and the back would be full sized for doing all the stuff you want a full sized screen for. No slider to deal with either. Only one screen would have to be lit at any given time. I realize that it would be more expensive and would result in a thicker phone (although Apple has shown that the screens can be made thinner and lighter), but would it be doable? And would it be wanted?

Man, I love the idea !

[berryaddictnoza]

iPhone 4s has glass front and back, right?

Why couldn't a BB10 phone have a screen on front and back. The front screen would be smaller with a physical keyboard, and the back would be full sized for doing all the stuff you want a full sized screen for. No slider to deal with either. Only one screen would have to be lit at any given time. I realize that it would be more expensive and would result in a thicker phone (although Apple has shown that the screens can be made thinner and lighter), but would it be doable? And would it be wanted?

The keyboard side screen could be like the Kindle e-ink screen which requires little power drain, and could stay on with no timeout, displaying time, notifications, ect. COOL!

[lorax1284]

Neat idea... I bet a concept device could be built and trialled and would make the pros and cons apparent. I wonder what engineering difficulties would surface relative to the "solved" problems of sliders, and what is the relative cost of a backside full screen compared to a slider mechanism?

[Andrew4life]

Biggest problem is size. A screen with a digitizer (touch screen) is usually about 4-5mm. So your phone would at minimal be an extra 4mm thicker.
The other thing is that disassembly would likely be difficult
Blackberry (and most other) phones are laid out in this manner from top to bottom:
Protective glass/plastic
LCD/LED Screen
Motherboards and electronics
Battery and internal plastic casing to protect electronics
Removable Plastic/Metal backing (iPhone is the exception where you can't remove the battery)

By having two screens, you would not be able to easily pull it apart to replace a battery or put in an internal microSD or microSIM card because you'll have the motherboard sandwiched between two screens that need to stay connected. And if someone is pulling them apart to stick in a battery or SIM card, they'll likely damage the ribbon connection to the screen.
The idea itself is quite interesting though and is pretty much similar to what you had on flip phones. One for the time and notification displays on the outside, one for the actual screen on the inside.

To have an actual high resolution screen on both sides would just not make sense economically either. Screens are generally not a major cost, but even at 10-20% of the entire material cost, thats a pretty large margin lost.

[Dapper37]

It was just Halloween, FrankenBerry.... Boo!!

[CrackedBarry]

Wow. Is this a joke? Seriously? What sort of problems would that design solve, that you can't eliminate with, idk, pretty much any other phone design.

Are you seriously suggesting a DOUBLESIDED phone, TWO phones in one, because sliders are too much trouble?!? Isn't that kinda like... Idk, suggesting that people glue four walls and a roof to their car, and drive around in a portable garage so they wont have to deal with the hassle of finding parking spots and opening garage doors?

You know what I would pay two, nay THREE HUNDRED dollars for though? A ticket for the press conference where Thorsten Heins in all seriousness introduces this as the phone that will make RIM relevant again. Man, that would be a priceless moment!

[djenkins6]

Asus have brought out a laptop with double sided screen, but as the reviewer said, there is very limited use cases Hands-on: Asus Taichi (Core i7 Processor, 4GB RAM) - Notebooks - CNET Asia

[kbz1960]

Wow. Is this a joke? Seriously? What sort of problems would that design solve, that you can't eliminate with, idk, pretty much any other phone design.

Are you seriously suggesting a DOUBLESIDED phone, TWO phones in one, because sliders are too much trouble?!? Isn't that kinda like... Idk, suggesting that people glue four walls and a roof to their car, and drive around in a portable garage so they wont have to deal with the hassle of finding parking spots and opening garage doors?

You know what I would pay two, nay THREE HUNDRED dollars for though? A ticket for the press conference where Thorsten Heins in all seriousness introduces this as the phone that will make RIM relevant again. Man, that would be a priceless moment!

I don't know maybe it's called vision or innovation. Seriously if everyone thought oh well I think all the current designs are good enough I think we would be without many great products.

[belfastdispatcher]

Right now I'm more about bringing things back to basics with devices specialized to be very good at a few tasks rather then owning a jack of all trades, master of none device.

I don't remember life being so complicated when I had a 8320 and a laptop. Now every new device doesn't seem to be good enough because we keep trying to do a laptop's job with a phone.

[joeldf]

I don't know maybe it's called vision or innovation. Seriously if everyone thought oh well I think all the current designs are good enough I think we would be without many great products.

There is also something called "practicality". People have mentioned double-sided screens before. But really, what is the point in actual use that would make it remotely useful? You can only see one side at a time. What, you're gonna flip it over and back again constantly to use it? How aggravating would that quickly become?

Innovation is supposed to make things easier. Not more convoluted.

[kbz1960]

There is also something called "practicality". People have mentioned double-sided screens before. But really, what is the point in actual use that would make it remotely useful? You can only see one side at a time. What, you're gonna flip it over and back again constantly to use it? How aggravating would that quickly become?

Innovation is supposed to make things easier. Not more convoluted.

What is harder about flipping it over compared to sliding it open?

[joeldf]

What is harder about flipping it over compared to sliding it open?

Sliding up only needs a thumb push on my Torch, but I do it so rarely now that it doesn't matter. I pretty much stay all touch now. My fingers tend to rest on the back (which would constantly be on the screen on a double-sided unit). I am currently using my phone one handed while holding my 3 year old laying with me on the couch sleeping and the phone is held up and tilted down such that the "back" screen, if I had one, might think it's the "up side", if it were to use some orientation sensor. That would mess me up.

I just think the idea creates more problems and provides no benefits to usability whatsoever.

[kbz1960]

As it may. But I like the idea of something different.

[joeldf]

That, it would be.

[CrackedBarry]

I don't know maybe it's called vision or innovation. Seriously if everyone thought oh well I think all the current designs are good enough I think we would be without many great products.

You seem to confuse "innovation" with "an idea so awful, it hasn't been done before". New does not mean innovative, and just because it hasn't been done before doesn't mean it's worth pursuing.

There's a reason why manufacturers haven't done this before, and I suspect it's the same reason why they haven't tried sticking a 2 liter gasoline engine and 2 liter diesel engine in the same car. There are benefits, but the drawbacks hugely outweighs them.

[anon(3896606)]

I don't like it, if you dropped the phone, you are screwed either side it lands on...

[jenks5150]

Not to mention using the full touchscreen side your hand would be wrapped around a keyboard on the other side. This one's a fail I think.

[kbz1960]

You seem to confuse "innovation" with "an idea so awful, it hasn't been done before". New does not mean innovative, and just because it hasn't been done before doesn't mean it's worth pursuing.

There's a reason why manufacturers haven't done this before, and I suspect it's the same reason why they haven't tried sticking a 2 liter gasoline engine and 2 liter diesel engine in the same car. There are benefits, but the drawbacks hugely outweighs them.

All true. I'm sure some have thought about it and maybe it isn't feasible but I really don't see where it would be a negative. They already put 2 screens on flip phones that flip both directions. Slider parts are another point of failure, maybe the OP was thinking about a way to eliminate those parts.

I also think some ideas considered awful have turned out to be in fact quite good over time.

[olblueyez]

Anyone going to be willing to pay for such a device? Anyone thing Blackberry thinks people would be willing to pay for such a device? Anyone think a second screen on the back will satisfy people wanting a physical keypad? They already have the all touch screen ready to go. Is this just a foggy dream?

9900 & Tapatalk

[kbz1960]

Just a dream. Awesome things come from dreams, just maybe not this one.

So how many that hate the idea also hate the idea of the wrap around screen on curved glass?

[rawilliam]

My reasoning:

1) A lot of people with sliders complained about the annoyance of opening and closing the slider.
2) Screens are getting thinner (see iPhone 5).
3) Blackberry customers are going to be stuck with the choice of large 720p screen but no keyboard, or keyboard but no 720p screen. They have to make a trade-off whichever choice they make.
4) Battery life would not have to be adversely affected, because only one screen would have to be lit at any point in time (I suspect).
5) There will be a lot of apps that will not work on the small square shaped screen.

There may be problems with the antennae though.