Items tagged with BlackBerry
When it comes to smartphones, it seems as though the downfall of the [mobile] physical keyboard was inevitable with the arrival of the original iPhone in 2007. However, 11 years later, BlackBerry is still producing smartphones with a physical keyboard, the latest of which is the Key2. The Key2 is the successor to the KEYone, and features a slimmer top bezel and keys that are marginally larger for an improved typing experience. The overall physical dimensions are smaller than the KEYone and it takes on a more refined, svelte appearance. Given that the keyboard is not moveable (like the Priv)...
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BlackBerry has seen better days, but it is trying to prove that it still has some life left in it by suing one of the biggest names in tech: Facebook. BlackBerry alleges that Facebook is infringing on its patents relating to BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). According to the Canadian company, it has been in talks with Facebook for several years over coming to an agreement on the use of the patented technology, however, BlackBerry feels that it has come to an impasse. BBM was an early way for BlackBerry users to send text messages (including images) to other BlackBerry uses while bypassing carrier fees....
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The phone formerly known as Krypton has not officially launched as the BlackBerry Motion. Though you will not find any reference to the new handset on BlackBerry's website, the company announced its newest smartphone at GITEX Technology Week, with a shout out to TCL Communications, its manufacturing partner. BlackBerry also confirmed that its Motion handset wields a capacious 4,000 mAh battery. By tasking TCL with manufacturing chores, BlackBerry frees itself to focus on software and enterprise-level security features. The side effect is that BlackBerry might not be able to supply as many handsets...
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The company that once upon a time was known as Research in Motion (RIM) is getting ready to release a new smartphone, the BlackBerry Motion. Known internally as Krypton, what looks to be an official press rendering of the new handset has found its way to the web, courtesy of Evan Blass (who else?), otherwise popularly known on Twitter as @evleaks. In an exchange on Twitter that follows his post, Evan alludes to the BlackBerry Motion not being a flagship handset. Previously leaked specs back the assertion—the BlackBerry Motion is said to feature an all-touch front display with a Full HD 1080p (1920x1080)...
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We have not heard a whole lot from BlackBerry lately, but if you're rooting for the Canadian smartphone maker, you'll be happy to know that it has not thrown in the towel. Just the opposite, it prepping the release of another smartphone with a physical QWERTY keyboard. Called the KEYone (previously known as Mercury), it will officially be on sale in Canada next month at Bell, Bell MTS, Rogers, SaskTel, and TELUS Business starting at $199 CAD on a two-year term, manufacturer TCL announced today. "After all the anticipation and positive response received from the BlackBerry community on the BlackBerry...
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It has been quite the tumultuous journey for BlackBerry, the company formerly known as Research In Motion (RIM). After a series of failed attempts to claw its way back into relevance through various hardware releases and software strategies, BlackBerry sort of faded from view, at least in the media. What actually happened is that it pivoted to software almost exclusively, and found a potentially winning strategy in the process. BlackBerry's latest financial results are promising. In the company's fourth quarter of fiscal 2017, it raked in $297 million, racing past the average estimate by analysts...
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BlackBerry isn’t ready to completely throw in the towel on the smartphone market just yet. Even though its market share has fallen to below one percent in recent years, BlackBerry is still soldiering forward with a new Android-based smartphone. First officially unveiled in prototype form at this year’s CES (and leaked weeks prior), BlackBerry confirmed this week that the ‘Mercury’ will launch on February 25th at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Those of you expecting a flagship-level smartphone may be disappointed. The Mercury is rumored to ship with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor,...
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If you’ve been longing for an Android smartphone that has a built-in QWERTY keyboard, but weren’t too impressed with BlackBerry’s Priv, the Canadian company is apparently back at it again with a new QWERTY model. But unlike the Priv, whose slider keyboard could be stowed when not in use, the new Mercury smartphone has a fixed keyboard directly below the display. Unfortunately, we don’t have much to go on other than the two images below of the device that showed up on Weibo over the weekend. You can take this news with a grain of salt for now, but it does at least seem to confirm Blackberry...
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BlackBerry is no longer designing and manufacturing its own smartphones, which means that we’ll no longer see daring designs like the Priv or Passport. What this does mean, however, is that those that are still firmly in the BlackBerry smartphone camp will instead get “new” devices that are essentially recycled designs from other OEMs. In this case, BlackBerry’s newest DTEK60 flagship is manufactured by Chinese OEM TCL and bares more than a passing resemblance to the Alcatel Idol 4S. The DTEK60 is by no means a slouch in the specs department, as it features a 5.5-inch QHD (2560 x 1440) display,...
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If you liked recent, unique smartphone designs like the Passport and the Priv, you won’t be seeing anything like them in the future from BlackBerry. Buried in the company’s fiscal Q2 2017 earnings report is news that BlackBerry is exiting the hardware business and will instead “outsource that function to partners”. This should come as a surprise to no one that has followed BlackBerry since John Chen took the helm. In early April, Chen boldly stated that he would sever BlackBerry’s hardware division if it wasn’t profitable by September. Given that BlackBerry has less than 1 percent of the global...
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Last week we reported that Apple’s self-driving car project, code-named “Project Titan”, was experiencing a big shakeup. This week, however, it seems that Apple is trying to get the ball, or should we say tire rolling. Apple, has hired former QNX co-founder and chief executive officer Dan Dodge in order to further the project. Dodge is now part of a team headed by former Apple hardware chief Bob Mansfield. Dan Dodge at DevCon 2010Dodge co-founded QNX in 1980 as a student at the University of Waterloo in Canada. The company was sold to Harman International Industries Inc. in 2004 and then Blackberry...
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Although BlackBerry has definitely seen better days, that isn’t stopping the company from pushing ahead with new Android-based smartphones following the late 2015 launch of its Priv flagship. We’ve known for quite some time that BlackBerry has three new Android devices in development, and the company today announced the first of those devices, the DTEK50, which will be available for $299 unlocked from both T-Mobile and AT&T beginning August 8th. DTEK50, which was previously known by its "Neon" codename, doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue like Neon. And BlackBerry fans looking for a high-octane,...
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Just before the holiday weekend started, there were some fireworks going off in BlackBerry land when word leaked out that U.S. Senate staffers would no longer have access to the company’s smartphones. It was reported that there were only 600 BlackBerry devices on hand, and once that inventory was depleted, staffers would have to choose from Android and iOS-based alternatives. Rather than let this report stew any further, BlackBerry took to its blog to help clear the air a bit regarding its smartphone production. While the original report indicated that Verizon and AT&T were suspending...
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The reign of the Blackberry on Capitol Hill has come to an end. Blackberry phones had long been the phone of choice for members of Congress, but Blackberry recently informed Verizon and AT&T that production of all BlackBerry OS 10 devices has been discontinued. BlackBerry’s smartphone market share was below 1% this past year, and the company sold just 500,000 units by May 31st while Apple sold 51.2 million units through March 26th. Why then are Blackberry smartphones so popular among members of Congress and their staff? The long battery life, an email-heavy focus, and an easy to use interface...
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