Before you get too excited, all three of these suckers seem to be variations on a theme -- all have a QWERTY keyboard, 3G, WiFi, and GPS, and are members of the 9000 series, apparently -- so we might just be looking at different carriers here, not some massive, dreamy phalanx of unique hardware all hitting within a few months of each other. The latest batch of devices said to be making the rounds in RIM's labs are apparently codenamed Onyx, Driftwood, and Magnum, and may feature the touchscreen / QWERTY hybrid concept rumored to be hitting the pictured
Pluto (confused yet?). Notably, only the Driftwood will support UMA -- important for T-Mobile -- while both the Onyx and Magnum are lined up for AT&T, so this is a pretty wild situation developing north of the border here. Downmarket, it seems that the
Gemini isn't just a single device but a whole series of lower-cost models in the same vein as the present-day
Curve. Doesn't really matter to us what they're called -- can we just get them rolled out on the double, please?
[Image via
CrackBerry]
posted April 6th 2009 5:08PM
I can't stand candybar qwerty phones, it's such a shame that BB seems dedicated to this ugly, obsolete, annoyng and unpractical shape/layout for their phones.
The Storm is'nt perfect (by a long shot) but it is nice looking and definitely a step in the right direction.
RIM should concentrate in making the Storm2 a great phone without all the problems affecting the actual iteration.
Qwerty candybars have had their time, I whish RIM would notice that it's finished years ago.
Not gonna happen. Too many people prefer this form factor. Also, touchscreen technology simply isn't ready for prime time for enterpise buyers and email power users.
I'm not sure how much more practical you can get than having all buttons available immediately without opening or sliding anything...
When Palm did a survey landscape over portrait qwerty, an overwhelming amount of the survey said that the portrait was more acceptable. Although I think Landscape qwerty's are better and easier to navigate.
power users prefer candybar qwerty and IMO its the best. Like EVDO'H said, its not gonna happen. the Candybar form factor is characteristic of the blackberry brand
i will stop using Blackberry if they convert all their devices to touch screen. in the time it take my girlfriend to type 20 words on her iphone i can pump out more than 50 typing the exact same thing. i would have to convert back to dealing with people and their annoying voices. NO BUENO!