Tag Archives: BlackBerry

Clicks QWERTY keyboard iPhone case brings back the joy of typing

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Remember the days when you could swiftly type a long response on your phone in just seconds? Even if you didn’t own a BlackBerry, our amazing human brains managed to evolve to adapt to the esoteric T9 input, resulting in a flurry of thumbs hammering out text at mind-blowing speeds. Just like with pen and paper, there are benefits to having physical keys to type with, including muscle memory, accuracy, and sheer satisfaction. Those are the joys that this new case is trying to bring to the iPhone by snapping on a full yet tiny QWERTY keyboard that gives creators the power to turn text into stories, quickly and accurately.

Designers: Michael Fisher and Kevin Michaluk

Although the BlackBerry is now a footnote in history, there was a time when it was the de facto standard of productivity. It’s a bit ironic that its most iconic feature is all but a memory today when text is even more critical in mobile life. From notes to todos to captions to messages, we type plenty of text on our touchscreen smartphones, which painfully drives home the fact that these smooth, flat surfaces have terrible ergonomics and haptics for such an activity. There have been a few attempts at resurrecting the BlackBerry or at least bringing the physical QWERTY keyboard to smartphones, but Clicks is trying to differentiate itself by projecting a fun and creative character that’s more in line with today’s creators.

For one, the cases distance themselves from the drab and serious styles of business-minded BlackBerry clones by embracing colors and curves, whether it’s the yellow Bumblebee or even the gray London Sky. Perhaps to avoid any litigation like its forebears, Clicks adopts circular keys with some spacing in between, giving the keyboard a more whimsical appearance. Regardless of the design, the Clicks QWERTY case has the same mission as all other QWERTY cases before it, bringing a familiar sensation to upgrade the typing experience. Best of all, the keyboard no longer eats up half your screen, leaving room for more content.

Using the case itself is as simple as pie. You slide the iPhone in from the top, carefully align the Lightning or USB-C connector, and snap the top on. The case doesn’t have a battery of its own, which makes it lighter and cheaper, so it draws power from the iPhone itself. It does support pass-through charging so you don’t have to remove the case just to charge the iPhone. The one drawback of its simple design is that MagSafe accessories won’t stick to it, but you can still enjoy wireless charging on a flat horizontal surface.

The Clicks QWERTY keyboard case is compatible only with the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 models, though their availability won’t happen all at the same time. The $139 price tag is going to be debatable, especially for those who aren’t yet convinced of the advantages of having a physical keyboard at the cost of making a tall phone even taller. But for creators who find themselves always pecking at their phone’s screen, this quirky accessory is a done deal.

The post Clicks QWERTY keyboard iPhone case brings back the joy of typing first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Beepberry is a messaging gadget that curbs smartphone addiction while looking like a retro BlackBerry

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Pebble smartwatch founder, Eric Migicovsky has been under the wraps for quite some time, and he has a side project that’s got everyone interested. While he’s deeply engrossed with his chat aggregation app Beeper and a mystery Android phone, Eric has gone back to his roots and created a computing device for sending or receiving messages.

Dubbed Beepberry, the strange-looking gadget is a raw prototype that is right out of the hardcore tech DIY realm. It’s a dump phone to get rid of smartphone addiction as the innovator wanted a “weekend device” to keep connected with people but not have the multimedia distractions of a modern phone.

Designer: Beepberry

To keep things simple, the gadget only works with the in-house Beeper app and nothing else is a privilege here. For those who don’t know, Beeper is an all-in-one chat device with all the chat platforms like WhatsApp and iMessage in one place.

Migicovsky says that the raw gadget is essentially an “e-paper Cyberdeck” that seamlessly fits in “your pocket.” For the Beepberry, the creator has mashed up Sharp’s 2.3-inch Memory LCD screen (400×240 resolution), genuine Blackberry Classic keyboard and Raspberry Pi Zero W into one. Since it is virtually open source for now, so in the right hands it acts like a portable e-paper computer for geeks.

In fact, the official website where the Beepberry is up for $79 describes it as a handheld device that can be tweaked for getting weather updates or playing Ascii Star Wars. Since the gadget is barebones for now, you’ll have to figure out a way to somehow hook on the 2,000mAh battery. Some of the demos show the creators using a rubber band to hold it in place!

Shell out $99 and you’ll get a Pi Zero W preinstalled to make things easier. For now, there is no cellular connectivity option, so you’ll not be aware of those messages if they are important. Nor does the gadget come with a case, so you’ll have to 3D-Print it yourself.

The post The Beepberry is a messaging gadget that curbs smartphone addiction while looking like a retro BlackBerry first appeared on Yanko Design.

This cute BlackBerry-like phone is something some might wish they could buy

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By now, there is only one phone design that is known to “work,” and everything else is seen to be an experiment or an exercise in failure. Once upon a time, however, there was both beauty and chaos in diversity, with a new phone shape coming out almost every month or so (yes, we’re looking at you, old Nokia!). Although the age of smartphones has made the screen-only “candy bar” form factor the sole victor, there was one design, in particular, that almost stood the test of time. That would be BlackBerry’s QWERTY phones, a design that is perhaps forever associated with being “work-minded” more than anything else. The brand might be dead, but that design continues to spark some people’s imaginations and desires, as shown by this rather adorable take on that form factor that may never come to be.

Designers: Jasper Morrison for Punkt

The history of mobile phones is almost a beautiful testament to the amazing power of the human brain to adapt. Even with a T9 keypad that was really designed for landlines, people have developed the ability to rapidly hammer out text on just 12 keys. That said, it was the introduction of a full but miniaturized keyboard that made BlackBerry devices the go-to for more business-minded people. That and the company’s much-praised suite of services, including the once might BBM or BlackBerry Messenger.

The history of that company and the brand has now become legend, but the interest in QWERTY phones, as they are called, apparently lives on. CrackBerry shared an exclusive look at one such attempt that almost revived that design, though its fate still hangs in the balance. The Punkt MC01 Legend, from a Swiss company famed for its minimalist phones, took that QWERTY idea and gave it a more modern spin that honestly deserves a chance in the market.

Compared to the last traces of BlackBerry’s QWERTY phones, the MC01 Legend has the makings of a more ergonomic and distinctly minimal design. The keys are better spaced apart for more comfortable thumb typing, and the back isn’t completely flat but rises and falls to create an angled surface that makes it easier to grip the phone while typing. Admittedly, that does make the device thicker than even the thickest phone, but it chooses to optimize for what it does best rather than look good simply for the sake of appearance.

Unfortunately, the MC01 Legend might never come to be, though Punkt hasn’t completely taken it off the table. There have been roadblocks to the device’s deployment, most of which revolved around Android being deemed unfit for both the uncommon 4:3 screen size and the company’s hardline stance on privacy. Either way, the design is definitely striking and a tiny bit adorable, especially if you’re the kind of phone user that types out messages, emails, and texts more than you watch Netflix or play Genshin Impact.

The post This cute BlackBerry-like phone is something some might wish they could buy first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Macintosh Pocket computer concept makes us wish we had a time machine

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They always say that hindsight is 20/20, but that really doesn’t mean much when you can’t change what has already happened. Many of us would probably try to undo things or make different decisions based on what we already know happened, but that just isn’t possible. To be fair, our predecessors did the best they could, based on information they had at that time, and even the greatest visionaries couldn’t have predicted the ups and downs that would change the world for better or worse. The young Steve Jobs of the 80s, for example, probably never saw the iPhone or even the BlackBerry coming, so we can only imagine how things could have turned out if Apple had the knowledge and resources to make a pocket computer back in the days. Fortunately for us, somebody asked that same question and came up with a rather intriguing answer.

Designer: Rex Sowards

Apple did try to briefly venture into the pocket computer market, but the Newton was more aimed at Palm, which was a Titan in that niche market during that era. It wasn’t exactly pocketable by any standard, but it did try to introduce innovative ideas and features in the personal digital assistant (PDA) market that was thriving at that time. The Newton, however, barely lasted a decade, especially after it failed to meet the returning Steve Jobs’ infamously high standards.

This Macintosh Pocket isn’t a simple rehash of that failed concept, though. Instead, it takes its DNA from two unlikely sources. On one side, you have a QWERTY keyboard in a cramped space that has become synonymous with BlackBerry. On another side, you have the two-step chassis of a Game Boy Pocket of that generation, hence the “Pocket” in the concept’s name. At the same time, you still have the telltale design language of Apple from the late 80s to early 90s, like that off-white color scheme and Macintosh keycaps.

The concept doesn’t simply slap on a display and a keyboard on a Game Boy body and call it a day, though. There was a great deal of thought given to how the mouse pointer would be controlled for a device of this size. A touch screen and a BlackBerry-esque touchpad were both out of the question, and a Lenovo nib is probably just as unlikely. Instead, Sowards took his inspiration from the PowerBook’s iconic trackball, reduced in size, of course. He even took the extra step to pattern the button after the PowerBook’s design, making it curve around the trackball on one edge rather than being perfectly square.

The back of this device is equally interesting in how it hides the ports that were standard on the Macintosh Classic. The most logical positions for these would be on the sides, but that would have cluttered the gadget’s design, a big no-no for Apple. Hiding it behind a panel where the Game Boy’s batteries would have been is a rather sneaky way to keep the design clean without losing functionality. Unsurprisingly, there is absolutely no room for a floppy drive of any size.

It’s probably questionable whether the Apple of the 80s would have adopted such a design, even if they magically foresaw BlackBerry’s becoming the de facto standard mobile device in the business world. It’s still an interesting thought experiment, though, combining designs and lessons learned by various companies across various industries. The craziest thing about this concept, however, is that it is probably completely doable today, thanks to 3D printing and small PCBs. It won’t be able to run the old Mac OS, though, at least not legally, but it could still be an interesting foray into what could have been if the stars were just aligned differently.

The post This Macintosh Pocket computer concept makes us wish we had a time machine first appeared on Yanko Design.

BlackBerry Passport 2 concept images emerge, sporting iconic physical QWERTY keyboard + a dual-lens main camera

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It seems like the ‘berry still has some juice left in it! The Passport 2 concept builds on the successful 2014 BlackBerry Passport, and does what BlackBerry does best… provide a uniquely different smartphone experience that’s characterized by that beautiful QWERTY keyboard.

For everyone who thought BlackBerry was done and dusted, 2020’s been a pretty interesting year for the company. Chinese giant TCL no longer holds the rights to manufacture BlackBerry phones, and since August of last year, the Canadian smartphone company has been partnering with American brand OnwardMobility to keep the BlackBerry name alive. While both companies have been pretty mum about what’s in the pipeline, Ts Designer and LetsGoDigital have been cooking up some concepts based on the fragments of news they’ve gathered from press releases and company statements. Meet the Passport 2, a conceptual Android-running BlackBerry phone with a 4.5-inch touchscreen display, a physical keyboard, and a 5G chip on the inside.

I have to admit that seeing a new BlackBerry does give me a bit of nostalgia. I’ve never been a fan of touchscreen keyboards, and that’s a complaint that BlackBerry and I have always had in common; although BlackBerry phones have an archetype, and it’s safe to say that the archetype isn’t really popular anymore. However, there are still probably some people who would prefer a BlackBerry in 2021, and I’d venture a guess that the Passport 2 concept is targeted firmly towards them. LetsGoDigital reports that the Passport 2 is envisioned as BlackBerry’s first 5G-ready phone, with a waterproof exterior and Android OS interior. The overall aesthetic of the phone hasn’t deviated too much from BlackBerry’s signature style, and it looks every bit like the Passport from 2014, although with a slicker design featuring a slimmer upper bezel, gold accents around the sides and the keyboard, and a nifty dual-lens camera on the back… you know, to keep the customer happy!

Sadly though, the Passport 2, as exciting as it may look, is just a fan-made concept for now. OnwardMobility and BlackBerry are definitely working on a 5G Android phone according to reports, and I’ll be pretty happy if it looks even half as good as this!

Designer: Ts Designer for LetsGoDigital

Images via LetsGoDigital

From Apple to Android, these framed disassembled smartphones make for a worthy designer gift!

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When you buy a new phone, all that’s worth appreciating is the design engineering of this little gadget that rules our lives. Disassembling your phone and then preserving it in a picture frame is not an everyday affair, but some creatives have made a skillful enterprise from this. Not a long while ago, we saw Indie art studio GRID amaze us with the iPhone 5 Framed Edition. And now we have a featured artist with a massive collection of teardown smartphones and tablets well preserved in photo frames for generations to appreciate – because why should iPhone users have all the fun!

Computer engineer Kevin, inspired by Todd McLellan’s Things Come Apart series, went on to dissemble popular phone models right from the nostalgic Android Blackberry and Nokia models to the much modern ones like the Apple iPhone 8 and Honor 6 Plus. It all started with his first iPhone that was taken apart and then framed in his living room. Then he couldn’t stop himself from dismantling his old gadgets, including iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 6, and Sony rx100m2. On posting the setup on social media, the pictures attracted fans who also wanted their gadgets to be framed for cherished memories on their living room wall or bedroom desk. This fueled his passion, and Kevin ultimately opened his own Etsy shop that goes by the name FEIPPO. The idea is to keep your keepsakes safe – maybe it was the first gadget you bought with your own salary, a gift from your spouse, or just because you love watching the individuals that make up these complicated gadgets. This is a great way to memorialize your device instead of having it collect dust in the corner of your desk.

The taken apart mobile devices are meticulously preserved in glass frames with the optional frame choice in chestnut, tan, black or white. These decorative art pieces for any desk setup are absolutely hypnotic, especially how all of the disassembled parts are explained in detail with accompanying text descriptions. Since Kevin’s collection is enormous, we have handpicked our favorite Android and Apple devices for you to enjoy. If you are also thinking of framing your old gadgets in this manner, you deserve a hi-five from me!

Designer: Kevin

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Disassembled Gadget Art: Where Old Smartphones Go to Die

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Inspired by Todd McLellan’s Things Come Apart object breakdown photography series, Kevin of Etsy shop FEIPPO carefully disassembles smartphones of yesteryear and frames all the pieces for display as wall art. I say smartphones, but he also has some classic Nokia brick phones available as well, which I’m surprised he was able to tear down at all based on how well they were assembled in the first place.

Prices range from $140 to $240 depending on the phone, and each includes all the phone’s original components, although there’s no guarantee if you reassemble all the pieces that it will work again. Still, certainly something to keep in mind in the event of an emergency.

I wonder what my grandchildren will think when they see one of these hanging in the hallway when they come to visit. ‘Whoa grandpa, what the heck is that thing?’ I imagine them asking while taking digital photos with their cybernetic eyeballs and posting them to the latest social media platform telepathically.

[via DudeIWantThat]

BlackBerry is still alive… And its latest smartphone will have 5G and even a physical keyboard

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It seems like BlackBerry still has some fight left in it! After being unceremoniously dumped by TCL following a failed 4-year license agreement, BlackBerry partnered with OnwardMobility, a mobile security company, to work on its upcoming line of smartphones. In August last year, OnwardMobility issued a press release highlighting that they would be launching a “5G BlackBerry Android smartphone with a physical keyboard in North America and Europe.” The company even stated that they would be partnering with Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile Limited to design and manufacture these smartphones. As we gradually approach the launch of these phones, Jermaine Smit (better known as his internet alias Concept Creator) has partnered with LetsGoDigital to envision what these phones will probably look like… and let’s just say, they’re about as long as a meatball sub.

Ask any Max-sized iPhone users what an annoyance it is to reach the back button on the top-left corner of a screen and you’ll probably figure out that smartphones are already pretty big to begin with. The Blackberry Key 3 concept adds a further 1.5 inches to the smartphone’s height with a dedicated, physical, touch-sensitive keyboard. Now I don’t mean to dunk on the Key 3, the physical keyboard has always been BlackBerry’s schtick… but maybe a slide-out keyboard would work better for a smartphone in today’s world. That aside, the Key 3 looks rather impressive.

The BlackBerry Key 3 concept comes with a profile that’s reminiscent of the Note 20 Ultra. It features a flat surface on the top and bottom, while cascading edges on the sides result in a phone that’s comfortable to hold, along with a waterfall display, there may be a chance of the phone registering accidental palm touches. The camera setup on the back features 3 lenses and a flash, looking quite similar to the one found on the OnePlus 8, and sitting right beneath that is the familiar BlackBerry logo. Flip the phone back over to the front and it kind of looks slightly meme-ish. It’s obscenely long, considering the screen’s already 20:9 to begin with. Adding to that is a slight forehead bezel (which features a single front-facing camera) and a massive chin, which houses a full QWERTY keyboard. The QWERTY keyboard, from what I can tell, is a part of the display, but it’s always there… even when you don’t need it. Sort of like the soft keys often found on Android phones, the keyboard is static in its position, and can easily be used when you need to type. This ideally means a keyboard never blocks or overlaps elements on the screen, so you’re always treated to a full-screen interface all the time. I’m not entirely sure if the keyboard’s layout is dynamic, i.e., whether it changes to reveal emojis or other languages, but if I were a betting man, that would honestly be a pretty remarkable feature. I could even imagine having app-specific controls, like playback controls for YouTube and Netflix, or gaming controls while you play games (reminds me of the LG Wing if I’m being honest). There are a few undeniable perks to owning a BlackBerry phone, and I’d say the Key 3’s no different. Aside from the keyboard, BlackBerry phones are known to have a much higher security standard than your regular Android or iOS device. If you can somehow look past the length of this phone, the Key 3 could actually be a compelling device to a certain subset of people. Besides, look to the base and you’ll even notice a 3.5mm headphone jack!!

Designer: Concept Creator (Jermain Smit) for LetsGoDigital

A closer look at the camera module, which looks heavily borrowed from the OnePlus 8. There’s no reason to believe that the original BlackBerry phone will sport the same camera module, so we can write this one off as Concept Creator’s own personal touch. That being said, if the BlackBerry did have a camera that was as good as the OnePlus 8, it would still be leaps and bounds ahead of what they’ve currently got.

From the looks of it, the phone sports a brushed metal back, which would probably mean no wireless charging. There is, however, a Type-C port on the base… and I may be sounding like a broken record here, but I’m still pretty impressed by the fact that flagship phones in 2021 can still have 3.5mm jacks!

There’s no indication of what this concept’s dimensions are, although it’s worth remembering that the BlackBerry Key 3 is just a fan-made concept phone. OnwardMobility announced that BlackBerry would launch its 2021 smartphone sometime in the first half of the year, so if things are still going according to schedule, the phone should ideally be announced in the next 2 months or so!

Image Credits – LetsGoDigital

An iPhone with a Nokia-style sliding keyboard would make more sense than a folding phone

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It’s the year 2005, and Nokia’s E-Series phones have a cult following that’s difficult to ignore. The phones came with a relatively large-ish screen, but what really sealed the deal was the fact that you could slide the screen to reveal a nifty, usable QWERTY keyboard underneath. Before the iPhone became the computer in your pocket, the Nokia E-Series phones were the computers in everyone’s pockets. The E stood for Executive, and it wasn’t uncommon to see businessmen in suits strutting down the road with Nokia phones in their hand and Jabra earpieces in one ear. It was the iPhone and AirPods combo, nearly 15 years prior.

I think the fundamental problem with the smartphone touchscreen isn’t its size, it’s how we use it. Screens have a finite amount of space for infinite amounts of data, which makes designing interfaces really complicated, and using them even more so. In that regard, just empirically, a bigger screen on a smartphone doesn’t make it ‘better’… which is why this concept by Johan Gustafsson feels so refreshing. In a world where smartphones are finding new ways to push more pixels into a smartphone, Gustafsson’s iPhone Q brings a level of sensibility to that computer in your pocket – by simply making it a miniature computer!

The iPhone Q (named after the fact that it comes with a dedicated QWERTY keyboard) presents a bold ‘new’ vision for the iPhone. I use the word ‘new’ in air-quotes because while adding a dedicated tactile keyboard to a phone isn’t new, it’s new for the iPhone, and more importantly, it presents a new format as smartphone companies desperately try to make their phones look less blockish and more gimmicky. In a world of folding phones with creased displays, pathetic battery-lives, and clunky bodies, the iPhone Q feels like that perfect premium, enterprise-grade smartphone to pair with the iPad Pro or the MacBook Pro. The phone comes sans a notch, but makes up for the lack of a front-facing camera with a complete tactile keyboard right underneath the screen. The screen slides upwards in landscape mode, revealing the 42-key keyboard below, which can be used as a much more functional alternative to the on-screen keyboard, allowing you to quickly replay to messages and send out emails in a jiffy. A dual-lens camera on the back reinforces the fact that the iPhone Q is less of a multimedia device, and more of a piece of functional hardware, designed for a niche of executive users.

Sure, the iPhone Q is just a concept, but even conceptually, it feels much more contextual and sensible than a folding iPhone with a larger screen. Quite like the iPhone Pro, designed for professional media-creators, the iPhone Q serves a niche group of users, becoming a perfect alternative to people who still use BlackBerries. Sure, they may be a small group RIGHT NOW, but if the iPhone did sport a dedicated slide-out keyboard, I’m pretty sure a lot of executives and office-goers would promptly make the shift!

Designer: Johan Gustafsson

Engadget Podcast: How Reddit day traders blew up GameStop’s stock

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If you were confused about how, exactly, a bunch of Reddit finance obsessives turned the beleaguered GameStop into a white hot stock, you’re not alone. This week, Cherlynn and Devindra chat with Mike Futter, author of the GameDev Business Handbook an...