BlackBerry Slider undergoes further undercover inspection, side shots emerge
By Darren Murph 
posted March 13th 2010 12:29PM
posted March 13th 2010 12:29PM
posted March 13th 2010 12:29PM
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RIM, release it already!!
@Glodokboy
It's actually decently thin for a slider, good job RIM
Needs some Android love !
Wow. looks pretty nice. If they could incorporate Palm's WebOS onto it, it would be a pretty stellar offering.
@Thor e
... it's a RIM phone you genius.
@Thor e that was palm's job with the pre. why the hell would RIM put somebody else's OS on it??!
@worldspawn
That's not the point Dr. Chimichanga. I'm saying it's a nice physical design as RIM is known for. What they lack to a certain degree is a decent touch interface. Having nice hardware with a brilliant touch OS Such as WebOS would be a great combination however not possible right now since they are different companies.
Sorry to confuse. Next time I will use smaller words and type slower, "Genius"
@Thor e I think RIM's best option is to build a second OS from scratch as mentioned and sell both the legacy and new OS for the next couple of years until most of their users have gone to the new OS. That would be the only way RIM could migrate to a better operating system.
and ill slide it right back at em, no thanks BB
Good lord, if BB can come out with a slider that still has their AWESOME physical keyboards, as well as an updated OS that is a little less aimed at the business world and more aimed at the media junkie, then no one will be able to catch them.
What about the OS/UI?
every time I make up my mind on my next phone, you guys leak out something better... grrrrrrr
Help me make up my mind already!! I already have a BB and didnt like Storm at all. This is lot better concept, hope they come through with a decent OS to go along.
@neosplit LOL!! Right now I'm torn between the Pre and the Android. The Storm had been going for a while, but they need a new OS.
I still say they should make this a separate phone. Not everyone wants a portrait slider. There are plenty of people happy with the traditional candybar QWERTY of the Bold/Tour and the touchscreen slate Storm. I think it could be really successful, but it's not the natural evolution of either type of phone.
What is the natural evolution of the Bold/Tour? Honestly, I think it's the Magnum concept we saw a little while back. Keeping the candybar QWERTY and giving it a touchscreen at the top is the way to go. I kinda like the Palm Pixi, so maybe I'm biased, but that's my take on it.
@kenny goo Agreed! The magnum looked great!
My experience with the Storm kinda ruined BB's for me.
@MONKEY the storm is hardly a traditional BB, where the strength lies in the keyboard (that can be used one-handed) and the speed.
I thought the SurePress was a nice idea (after using a ton of WM phones with shitty resistive screens) but unncessary since the Storm had a good capacitive screen.
What sucked about the storm (OS 5.0; I've never used the previous versions) was that the virtual keyboard was too small to be used comfortably, even though they did provide full qwerty and half qwerty options.
@MONKEY same. my storm is so annoying to use...and the BB key broke so....im dealing with that til november. >.
As an 8900 user, I am not looking forward to another BB.
I've used OS 5, and I'm more than disappointed in RIM's lack of progress. Oh, so they included transitions and a browser that has text overlays. How helpful.
Will this slider design make the browser 2-5 times faster to match Bolt and Opera? I would use the latter two exclusively, but cursor movements do not move smoothly and jump vertically/horizontally in set pixel increments.
Will the slider give me a free program to read PDFs saved to memory and not just those received via BES/BIS emails? Yes, you read correctly, no BB can view a PDF saved to the memory without a third-party app, none of which are free. You can, however, view those sent to your email through BES/BIS. Have fun sending 100 MB of PDFs through your email.
Will apps–such as Gmail, Google Maps, and Facebook–no longer require WAP/BIS connections and finally operate under WIFI (T-Mobile can force these apps to use WIFI with a servicebook, but you must be a T-Mobile customer; no luck for AT&T).
Can I torrent files? Unzip rars? Use my phone as a WIFI hotspot? Because WM could do all these things. Windows Mobile 5, that is.
I don't hate RIM, I don't hate my 8900. I just hate that RIM doesn't allow me to do the things that I want. It does all of the tasks well, I have no problems with current functionality, much like the iPhone. Everything that it actually does, it does well. But it's missing that key WM philosophy that kept me a devoted customer (until I needed a BB): letting the user do whatever they want. I don't care about a pretty GUI if I can't do anything with it.
I don't think I'll be switching to WP7, and Android is not refined enough for enterprise use. Maybe Meego will join the flexibility of Maemo with the solid business foundations of Symbian.
A user can only dream...
@Hung
Err... scratch "Symbian" in that last paragraph.
I've always been a little perplexed as to the volume of fans of the keyboards on the blackberries.
Granted, I've never actually used one for any length of time but just this week I've been given a brand new bold onyx which I plan on selling and I found that I pressed more than one key at a time on numerous occasions. My thumb literally covers three or more of the keys at a time.
I guess like anything it's what you get used to
@GmanC
I completely agree with you. I personally find bb keyboards to be kind of cramped. I have definitely used better.
@Rafe1621 i had an old 8700c which to this day to me is the finest keyboard on a phone i've used. i got a bold 9700 now, it took me a few weeks (far more than it should be) but I've grown accustomed to it and type as fast as i did on my 8700.
and as far as others' wishes go, i guess there is a market for everything and blackberry has been the slowest to evolve, yes. i had a wm6.1 phone in the treo pro, while i bet it could do far more than this bold i have now can do, i just feel like the bold does what i NEED it to (email, text, call) better and more efficiently. winmo lagged for me, and while are probably faster phones now than what my treo pro was capable of, there was no total package for me like the new bold. i dont expect my needs to rise any time soon. but yeah i guess i digress. the only thing i'm hoping for is that webkit browser to be able to run on my current phone. then i think i might have this phone a while.
The slider is a Bold 9700a you even have tags saying it is and both bbleaks and crackberry say the same thing.. So why would you start this article off going on about how unsure you are about whether new tour bold or storm?
If fact did you know the new TOUR2 is being released as a bold? I guess not. I think this article needs to be fixed
Why is there a Texas Instruments logo on the top of it?
@TheLostSwede Ignore me... that's the silent logo... doh... lack of sleep... :p
The choice of material looks similar to the Palm Pre. In fact the Pre has the same combination of shiny black front and back covers with a matte black trim between them.
Not that I care, just thought it was interesting enough to point out.
Man, this thing is so god damn ugly and it's so not like RIM... I hate it.
Give me this slider, with a touch screen, cdma and gsm (like the storm 2) wifi, bluetooth, gps and an updated os and faster processor/more ram and we will be doing well
Pretty soon... RIM will have cell phones in every style:
QWERTY/candybar, touchscreen, flip, and now slider.
Why shouldn't they?
@Michael Scrip
why cant everyone? that is the bigger question...
Mmm hmm, seeexy.
May be Palm and BlackBerry should merge, then we will have a great OS with great hardware....
For the first time I'm getting kind of angry with the stupid people here. Why in the world every god damn phone that they post here the first thing someone has to say" we need android on that" like are you serious guy? This a blackberry news. There's millions of androids phone is not enough fir you guys? Keep it to yourself when is an android news JESUS
GSM and CDMA variants on all carriers would let anyone get it. More sales. Nice to see a good keyboard slider, that you can use with one hand, so you have a great screen and easy input. Would be even better if it was a touchscreen with some new software. Hope we see a new OS from RIM with the webkit and intuitive use.
I can almost garrantee that this is CDMA/GSM world phone and exclusive Verizon (at first). The battery and the baterry layout which is the same as both Storms give it away. Could be called the storm 3 but I doubt it because of the stigma of the first 2 devices and not a Bold because the new tour will be called a Bold as well now. This will also have a capacitive touch screen only no surepress and it will not be thinner then the pics you see now.
Also the titanium bezel gives it away that the phone will be verizon as well .(just to follow up)
@badbot
Dude, what are you talking about? The bezel doesn't give ANYTHING away, as all versions of the new Curve (CDMA and GSM) have that. The screen needs a full bezel around it because it is standalone (not attached to the case) and it needs the physical support; that's doesn't hearken it to the Storm. No SurePress kinda points you AWAY from a follow-on to the Storm, don't you think? And the keyboard is a Bold keyboard (bezeled/angled keys, less inter-key space, less of a "smile" curve) as opposed to a Curve keyboard (rounded keys, no bezel, more of a "smile" curve)
The Bold line, however, does distinguish it from Storm in the fact that it will be 3G, as opposed to Curve or Storm @2G. I'd bet that if it comes out at all, it will be a Bold follow-on, with 3G.