There’s been a lot of chatter lately about BlackBerry working on a device running Android, and at first, the rumour was that the portrait slider – yes, with a keyboard – the company briefly flashed before our eyes early this year was going to run Android. I got excited over this one, because I’ve been wanting a modern smartphone with a keyboard for a long time now. The Passport is a good example, but it’s quite expensive for entry into a platform with dubious longevity (I did actually try to buy one when I was in Canada late last year, but Canadian stores were afraid of my money). So, the prospect of an Android slider from BlackBerry surely had my wallet rumbling.
Too bad. A new rumour today suggests that while BlackBerry is indeed working on an Android device, it’s not the slider device, but a lower-end, Android One-like device. Still interesting, of course, but not nearly as interest-piquing as a device with a hardware keyboard.
Assuming the rumours don’t change tomorrow, those of us hoping for a modern Android smartphone with a hardware keyboard will have to wait a little longer.
What does this mean for QNX?
It will keep going. It is still the only mobile os which is certified for military and government usage. Android is a means to entice new users onto BlackBerry and then upgrade to their “real phones” that run the same apps
This is an interesting and partially reassuring take on what’s happening.
http://berryflow.com/2015/06/the-future-of-android-on-blackberry/
Anyway I’ve got my gripes with BB’s strategy (of lack thereof). Let’s see how it plays out. I really hope BB10 stays and is maintained and evolved.
Not anymore. We run iPhones and Samsung KNOX-enabled devices, which have both been approved since late last year. BB10 is still the first choice, but the tides are turning as end-users (and eventually, decision-makers) are wanting to get their hands on the iPhones.
Edited 2015-06-22 03:55 UTC
Obviously I don’t know which “we” you are referring to, but my understanding is that iOS 6 was cleared only for low-level security clearance work. Obviously this brings the iPhone into the mix but isn’t yet suitable to be a replacement.
In the UK, the DoD is only allowed to use iPhone and KNOX vis BES. Again, this is only available to lower security scenarios.
Has anyone tried (I haven’t) a case with a hardware keyboard similar to that one:
http://www.amazon.com/Naztech-12555-Sliding-Bluetooth-Keyboard/dp/B…
?
I have one of those attached to a Galaxy S3.
The veredict is: it is better than not having a hardware keyboard at all, but I DON’T RECOMMEND IT, as it has a lot of drawbacks.
Basically:
1. After opening the case, you can’t type immediately. If you do, it misses the first one or two keypresses
2. If the battery is low, it is less responsive (you press a single “a” and the phone puts “aaaa”, as if it has missed the first key-up event and it kept the key until it receives a key-up retransmission).
3. The double-width space bar is tricky; sometimes it doesn’t register the press.
4. The layout is far from perfect. My worst gripe is shift and caps-lock (I kept using caps when I wanted to press shift).
5. Now you have to charge the phone AND the keyboard case.
6. The resulting phone+case is very big, as in “nearly not pocketable”.
As for me, I returned to my trusty Xperia Pro, which has an all-around excellent keyboard.
I bought the S3 and that case in the hopes of having somewhat similar with more modern specs, but it didn’t live to expectations.
NOTE: previusly to the Xperia Pro, I had a Nokia C3 and a Motorola Flipout. Both of them had nice keyboards too, unlike this keyboard case.
Edited 2015-06-19 07:50 UTC
Thanks. It would be good if you told us which is the manufacturer of your hardware keyboard case
(in order to avoid buying one, and to evaluate other similar products).
The merchant from which I bought the case is not in amazon anymore. And about the “brand”… it seems that the same case is sold with different brand names from different merchants.
That said, the one I bought is exactly as this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Frog-tech-Multifunction-Bluetooth-Backlight-m…
Watch closely at the photos and notice that there is no “speaker grill” at the left of the keyboard (the one you posted for the S4 had the grill, so that keyboard is not exactly the same as mine, despite being very similar).
Why in all hells do we even still have that cursed caps lock key? It’s close to useless even on full-sized keyboards, but on a mobile keyboard it’s just a waste of space. Question aside, the issue could be worked around with External Keyboard Helper Pro which would permit the caps lock to be assigned as a shift key instead.
You can install the Play Store on a BlackBerry device running QNX. Is the integration with Play Store the attractive part, or is the Android user experience you are after, vs. the BBOS user experience?
I’m still very happy with my BlackBerry Passport. I had an iPhone 6 before it for about 2 weeks. After I returned it I couldn’t believe the huge number of users out there who actually believe it to be the best. The very first moment when I had to login into each and every Apple service individually even though they all used the same credentials I knew the phone wasn’t for me. It continued when I tried to send a file for an app only to find out that Outlook wasn’t listed, what, I than realized that OneDrive nor Google Drive was listed as options to save a file to, just iCloud and DropBox. I stopped, looked up what was happening and to my absolute surprise, iOS’s share function in apps use hard coded lists and even worst I wasn’t able to select my own default apps. Than there was the problem of my terminal app terminating it’s connections every time I switched to a different app. The list just went on and on before I just gave up and returned it, what an absolutely horrible phone. So while I was at the mobile store I saw the BlackBerry passport and decided to go for it, my mobile provider allows their users to try phones out for 2 weeks.
It’s been a great phone, full multitasking, I can change my default apps which is a normal feature found in every mobile OS, except for iOS, quick, zero lag and even though the BlackBerry Store didn’t contain much I found everything I was looking for in an Android app. Also even though people have reported problems running certain Android apps I haven’t had a single problem. They all run great and are very quick.
I’ll probably end up buying this new BlackBerry as well as I’m completely infatuated with them now. Their OS 10.3.1 phones are just so good that I have to see what they do with Android.
I honestly don’t understand why the iPhone is popular, it has got to be the worst mobile OS I have used in the last 5 years. The apps are great which is it’s only saving grace but I refuse to own a phone that only has 1GB of memory, doesn’t allow it’s users to choose it’s own default apps, can’t run apps in the background and has horrible inter-app communication. All things the Passport does perfectly.
There’s this lingering rumor that the next BlackBerry OS update (10.3.4?) will remove the Android runtime, so that BlackBerry is not in violation of the Google Play Terms of Service. If this is the case, and I hope it isn’t, I won’t be purchasing BlackBerry again, as this is a bait and switch on devices less than a year old (Passport purchased new in November 2014).