What I discovered is that although the phone may not have been affected by the Blackberry services shutdown, it’s hobbled by something far more insidious: A complete lack of Android updates. After all, there isn’t much like it these days, and perhaps for all those coming from a now-dead BlackBerry Curve or a Q10 may be considering a jump over to one? When BlackBerry shut down crucial services for its old operating system at the beginning of the year, I had a sudden nostalgic urge to take out the Android-based BlackBerry Key2 and see how it performs in 2022. Because of its failure to adapt to the growing smartphone market dominated solely by touchscreens, not to mention the lack of updates for the newer, surviving models - like the BlackBerry Key2 - the BlackBerry as a device is better off dead for all intents and purposes. Given its PDA-esque design, it wasn't suitable enough to be turned into a smartphone - or, at the very least, the culturally accepted definition of a smartphone: All touchscreen, no physical QWERTY keyboard. Its death was confirmed when OnwardMobility lost the rights to the BlackBerry name despite its attempts to resurrect the brand with the BlackBerry 5G, which suffered multiple delays in 2021.ĭespite being one of the most popular mobile devices in the 2000s next to the T-Mobile-exclusive Sidekick, BlackBerry didn't survive the smartphone era, even though it triggered the advent of smartphones starting with the iPhone. In fact, I thought the BlackBerry had already died by the time everyone got their hands on the iPhone and/or an Android smartphone in 2011 and I was shocked to learn that the minuscule PDA-like device was still around last month when the company that shares its name decommissioned calling and messaging services for the classic models and rendered them useless. I haven't seen anyone use a BlackBerry since my freshman year of high school. The Black Shark 5 Pro delivers gaming goodness without the headachesĪll the best new smartphones from MWC 2022 Our 5 favorite iPhone and Android apps by Black developers I’ve used Android phones for 10 years, and I hate these ones the most The 15 most important smartphones that changed the world forever Whether this new partnership can make a difference remains to be seen. Should the phone eventually arrive, it wouldn’t the first modern keyboard BlackBerry to launch, with the KeyOne and Key2 already having been launched under TCL. With the brand in the news for a not-so-positive story and nostalgia levels on the rise, this new company was keen to remind others that it wasn’t dead. BlackBerry this week finally turned off the servers powering its older and more classic handsets, from BlackBerry 7 to BlackBerry 10. It’s also easier to tap out long missives on a moving keyboard than one with no travel, no matter how good you are at touch typing. For those who like to take copious notes on their smartphones or send a lot of emails, a physical keyboard can be intuitively faster than a touchscreen keyboard. ![]() The problems that led to the adoption of full-screen phones will still remain, like a smaller screen space for instance. “Everyone has eagerly awaited additional information following our last announcement, but 2021 was truly a challenging year to launch a new phone, much less one with the high expectations we set and the fact that we want to get it right!” the OnwardMobility team wrote, “While we encountered various delays that prevented us from shipping in 2021, we will be providing more regular updates starting this month that will clarify and answer many of your questions about the ultra-secure 5G enterprise smartphone (still with a keyboard!) we’re bringing to market.”īlackBerry trailer depicts the rise and fall of the iconic phoneĪ new Android 14 update is here - but you still shouldn’t download itĥ phones you absolutely shouldn’t buy on Black FridayĪt the same time, in an era of folding phones, a keyboard phone sounds more than a little retro. After missing that launch period, the Onward Mobility team shared an update this week, letting BlackBerry enthusiasts know that their phone was still coming. Following a breakup with TCL in 2020, BlackBerry partnered with the little-known Texas company OnwardMobility to launch a new phone in 2021. A new BlackBerry phone is still in the cards for 2022, according to hardware partner OnwardMobility.
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