It’s bittersweet news for die-hard BlackBerry fans, a shrinking, but fiercely loyal group. Yes, BlackBerry will continue to exist, but won’t offer any phones running on its own BlackBerry 10 software. Still, future Android BlackBerry devices means more choice besides the usual mix of Samsung, LG or HTC Android phones.
Something about a tree falling in a forest, but that might be a bit cruel.
And Microsoft’s up next …
BlackBerry won’t offer any new BB10 devices for this year.
Though the OS will be updated for the already known devices and they will continue selling them.
Also John Chen mentioned it might be able that we could see 2017 a new BB10 device if demand is there. (and BlackBerry is earning enough money)
I truly hope so. BB10 is an absolute joy to use. I’ve tried Android on and off, and we currenty have Winphone and iOS devices in the family (and I owned several iPhones in the past) – none can touch BB10 as far as I am concerned for sheer ease of use and power combined.
Messaging in the Hub and the BB virtual keyboard are unmatched as far as I can see in any other offering. The PRIV hub is not there yet and BB’s Android offering does not have the swipe gesture flow of BB10 either (although it does have quite a nice launcher)
If BB launch a new BB10 phone in 2017, I’d be very tempted indeed. Until then my Z30 will serve me fine
One can dream, anyway. The Priv is a portrait slider. Hopefully they’ll release a landscape slider this year. If they do, and the hardware isn’t 2 generations behind or priced outrageously like the other BB phones, then I can see picking one up.
Man, I miss the landscape hardware keyboard phones …
Hmm… I can’t remember BlackBerry ever built a horizontal slider before. So I personally doubt they will now.
I wonder if RIM still have plans for the QNX development plattform 6.7 or if it will stop at 6.6 (released 2014; http://www.qnx.com/download/feature.html?programid=26124)
I’ve been rocking a Priv for about a month now and am actually really happy with it. I love love love using the keyboard and find its word-prediction with keyboard swipe gesture support to be really good, even using two languages simultaneously. Aside from that unique aspect it’s a snappy, nice-looking phone that takes decent photos (though shot-to-shot time could be better).
As for caveats, the one thing that really bugged me at first but that I have since gotten used to is the flex in the back of the device – it’s like they left room for a bigger battery but for some strange reason built in a smaller battery after all. The only explanation I could come up with is that they left a gap for the purpose of heat management. On the flip side, the rubberized build means the phone is pretty robust against knocks and falls. I also have yet to find any crippling bugs, though I did discover that touches on the screen are sometimes ignored when one of more fingers are simultaneously on the keyboard, likely due to the gesture recognition on the keyboard. This is quite easy to avoid once you realize it, though.
On the whole it’s a phone I can wholeheartedly recommend to all physical keyboard die-hards, especially if you can get it at not too expensive a price as part of a plan. I’m pretty happy they seem to be going all-in with Android – it means my phone should keep getting updates for a while yet.
That price though. I’ll wait.