New RIM Patent Points Toward Touchscreen BlackBerry Slider
We’ve told you time and time again about RIM’s plans to issue a BlackBerry handset with a touchscreen and the recent uncovering of a telling patent filing makes the forecast for a touchscreen RIM quite promising indeed. The patent covers a slider device with trackball navigation and a slide-out qwerty keyboard. Operation of the theoretical device would be achieved using the physical keypad and controls or with a finger or stylus on the touchscreen. Display orientation will be able to rotate to either portrait or landscape depending on usage. This isn’t the first patent we’ve seen from RIM that involves a touchscreen, but it certainly is more probable than most in terms of a design that we may see used in the production of a touch device from RIM. A BlackBerry with the form factor explained and illustrated by this patent would most likely be very well-received by an army of BlackBerry users eagerly anticipating the advent of BlackBerry touch. What do you think, would this one be a winner?
hell yes ill take one like yesterday
I’m not really liking this concept it remind me too much of the ugly phones that HTC makes ie MDA and Wing. If Blackberry wants to make a slider i think it would be great if they went with something along the line of the Samsung i620 but better.
If it’s still pretty slim, I would be interested.
I think I will have to get one when it comes out..
IT DOES NOT FEEL VERY BLACBERRY TO ME… BUT YOU NEVER KNOW UNTIL YOU ACTUALY SEE ONE!
Suck! Look like it will become BlackSidekicker!
I’ll take it if they put the effort into really competing with the Apple Monster and just not putting something out half ass. It has to be slim, the browser has to quality, it has to have everything!! Don’t tell me you can’t make it have all the features a media consumer and a business consumer want. It’s a win win for everyone and everyone will buy it and you will be the hero, if not, the advertising machine that is Apple is going to take you over…someday.
Hell to the yea,this is what im talking about,for this to work with crackberry users,it has to be a hybrid(a blackberry will always have a physical keyboard,always),i hope to be a true multimedia device,it has to have at least a 3″ screen for video,it will be thinner than the curve for sure,cant wait,this new blackberry will no dont blow the iphone out the water and have the apple fan boys mad again(i have a ipod touch-first one,yeah!!,and i downgraded from a curve to a 7290-so i love apple),but im a blackberry addict,and finally RIM has stepped their game up with a true blackberry that will change the game again,mark my words.
I’m def trading my Curve for one, but it does look a bit thick…
I should say that it should be at least as thin as a iphone,it would be hard for RIM to make a slider thinner than a iphone,but they might.
Will it hold up to the constant opening and closing required to feed the crackberry habit?
I would most likely trade up to it from my current Pearl, as this is the form factor I’ve been wanting from RIM. But, here are my requirements:
- WiFi
- GPS
- 3.5″ stereo headphone jack
- MicroSD slot
- USB port for charging and syncing
- at LEAST a 2.0 MP camera – how about 5.0!
- 3G
- a good Bluetooth stack, that supports stereo headphones
If RIM can’t deliver this, then my next phone won’t be a Blackberry.
Mark my words, this will sell like hotcakes….I’ve NEVER been a proponent of touchscreen BB’s, but this made me a believer. As long as I can revert to a physical keyboard if necessary for tactile feedback, then I’m an early adopter baby!!!!
Don’t see why not….phones like the LG Rumor, HTC TYTN2/Tilt, HTC S730/Vox, and all the sidekicks hold up to constant sliding mechanisms….
Looks like another HTC brick. I don’t like it but hey its just a sketch.
I am a crackberry addict and I will be waiting patienly for the day that it drops
I would buy one in a second if it had at LEAST RevA EVDO, 802.11g (or n), and NO camera! I wish RIM wouldn’t so segregate their market into totally different devices for cam and no cam. I much prefer a 83xx form factor but have to go 88xx since I can’t have cam due to work location. If they’d offer this both with and without cam, oooh!
Not feeling it.
This would be an instant hit.
I just hope AT&T doesn’t get exclusive rights first. That would suck ballz for everybody, AT&T included because their iPhone would canibalize sales.
Does anybody have ANY IDEA when this phone is coming out! I am going to get the curve to hold me over if this isnt coming out for another 6 months……..LET ME KNOW!! HOW DO I FIND OUT?
That patent looks exactly like the Android prototype phone over on Engadget. But…meh why not.
Ugh. To me BlackBerry has always been fully accessable right from pulling it out of the holster. No flip, slide, twist, etc.
If this comes out, it’ll be the first one known to break.
It is my hope that this patent was files as a block to prevent other companies from marketing this SK-look-alike (blech).
I think this would be an excellent challenger to HTC, but I myself would not buy it. I think it would be popular in luring in the qwerty slider crowd who has gotten fed up of WM6 devices and wants a superior mobile OS. With the new 4.5 OS soon to drop and 5.0 by end of this year, it could turn into a very competitive market for media smart phones. Looks like RIM is gearing up to take a larger chunk of the consumer pie.
HTC/WM6 watch out!
The great thing about RIM is the choice of smartphones that they produce for their worldwide BB users.
As long as RIM keeps on manufacturing ‘real’ intuitive keyboards as opposed to socalled ‘touch’ keyboards then I’ll continue to be a BlackBerry/CrackBerry User and Abuser!
Keep on Crackin’,
- CB
I sold my Wing and got a Curve specifically because I didn’t want to constantly fool with a slide mechanism. Touchscreen is good. Slider is horrible.