The future of Blackberry... a Square ugly phone


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The BlackBerry Passport, the company's upcoming square -- yes, square phone -- is "like the IMAX of productivity," according to the company.

No, that's no typo. BlackBerry is betting its future on a square phone, and the company laid out the reasons why in a blog post this week.

With just 2.6 million phones sold last quarter, most pundits have written off BlackBerry for dead. With developers turning to iOS, Android, and Windows Phone, BlackBerry recently turned to emulated Android apps as one of the pontoons that will keep the company afloat. But an aggressive hardware design will apparently be another option.

The BlackBerry Passport will features a 4.5-inch square screen, with a squished, hardware keyboard tucked below. BlackBerry hasn't yet announced a price or a ship date. It has, however, rolled out the rhetoric.

"Consider how IMAX screens start with a more traditional 16:9 aspect ratio projection for conventional movie trailers and then expand to their true dimensions (and the audience goes, ?ooh?)," Matt Young, a blogger writing for BlackBerry, said in a blog post on the BlackBerry site. "The Passport is like the IMAX of productivity, and you don?t have to sacrifice screen real estate, vertically or horizontally."

Young went on to note that the optimal number of characters on a line in a book is 66 characters, versus the 40 usually shown by smartphones. The Passport will apparently show 60, although that could presumably be adjusted by shrinking the text size. And eliminating the rectangular form factor will also eliminate landscape and portrait viewing modes. Architects, writers, and doctors will benefit from the wider screen, he wrote.

It's unclear, however, whether anyone cares enough about a square display to bet their future on a platform with so many problems. And, to boot, it's just plain ugly. Could the Passport be the ticket to BlackBerry's revival? It doesn't look likely.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2451647/blackberry-makes-its-case-for-a-square-phone.html

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While it may not be appealing to some, the square design is consistent with modern mobile operating system user interfaces (Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 UI, etc).

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While it may not be appealing to some, the square design is consistent with modern mobile operating system user interfaces (Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 UI, etc).

 

uh... what...

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uh... what...

Sorry, HawkMan.

What I meant was that the hardware design (square, flat, etc) matches the user interface (square, flat, etc) of current mobile operating systems . . .

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Where in hell blackberry think that a square design is actually attractive? I want to meet their industrial design team. Just to laugh hard in their face.

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Sorry, HawkMan.

What I meant was that the hardware design (square, flat, etc) matches the user interface (square, flat, etc) of current mobile operating systems . . .

Even if Microsoft decided to make a square phone to match Windows Phone 8 OS design... It will be the worst idea ever. Not attractive at all and ugly as hell.
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What's wrong with square?

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That looks like a tablet but don't know exactly what it is but does not look bad at all. You can make any design for a tablet, even square and looks all right. But don't pretend to apply the same idea in a phone. It's just not practical.
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That looks like a tablet but don't know exactly what it is but does not look bad at all. You can make any design for a tablet, even square and looks all right. But don't pretend to apply the same idea in a phone. It's just not practical.

 

It's an image from Star Trek.

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Square is fine for a device... unless it's a phone. Phones aren't square because they are supposed to be able to fit in your pocket.

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That looks like a tablet but don't know exactly what it is but does not look bad at all. You can make any design for a tablet, even square and looks all right. But don't pretend to apply the same idea in a phone. It's just not practical.

What's the difference?

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People might buy it you know. A tablet with a proper blackberry keyboard might just work. They need to do something different to get noticed and the article on the neowin site got it bang right. Not sure why people criticise the device when not all the specs are released yet. Its not that appealing to me, but I wouldn't call it ugly or hideous either. 

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Square is fine for a device... unless it's a phone. Phones aren't square because they are supposed to be able to fit in your pocket.

Why couldn't a square phone fit in one's pocket? Obviously the phone shown above couldn't (because of the size), but what if it were smaller?

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Why couldn't a square phone fit in one's pocket? Obviously the phone shown above couldn't (because of the size), but what if it were smaller?

 

 

then you will be wasting a lot of potential space?     pockets are usually not square...      the rectangular design is optimal, and is used for a reason!   not because someone just randomly picked it, like blackberry with this phone!

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Square is fine for a device... unless it's a phone. Phones aren't square because they are supposed to be able to fit in your pocket.

 

You are completely mistaken. Any phone can be made to have a square screen right now if the manufacturer decided it to be. Lol...Just reduce the vertical height of the current screens...done. Now whether that is practical for usability is a different matter. 

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I would love to have this form factor, especially the keyboard, as an iOS device. Heck, I'd even take it as an Android device. I'm not sold on the BB software ecosystem however.

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Why couldn't a square phone fit in one's pocket? Obviously the phone shown above couldn't (because of the size), but what if it were smaller?

It would fit in a pocket. Pockets should be big enough to carry it.

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That is way too big for a square phone. LG has made some square phones in the past, Optimus VU, Lotus. The square form factor doesn't work very well at all, it feels way too big and awkward to hold.

 

LG-Optimus-Vu-Review-Comparison.jpg

Pic taken from: LG Optimus Vu Review (Phonearena)

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Sorry, HawkMan.

What I meant was that the hardware design (square, flat, etc) matches the user interface (square, flat, etc) of current mobile operating systems . . .

 

Except metro isn't square, its simplified rectangular. How in the world does this phone look like modern/metro at all, anymore than any other rectangular phone with sharp corners.

 

All phones today are flat and rectangular.

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Except metro isn't square, its simplified rectangular.

I must respectfully disagree. Metro consists of both squares and rectangles.

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Square

noun
noun: square; plural noun: squares
1. a plane figure with four equal straight sides and four right angles.

rectangle.gif

Rectangle

noun
noun: rectangle; plural noun: rectangles

1. a plane figure with four straight sides and four right angles, especially one with unequal adjacent sides, in contrast to a square.

 

How in the world does this phone look like modern/metro at all, anymore than any other rectangular phone with sharp corners.

All phones today are flat and rectangular.

I believe that this is exactly what I had written. Also, your comment about all current phones being flat and rectangular is simply not true. Look at some of the images posted in this topic for examples . . .

. . . Good golly, Miss Molly. I am sorry that I had even posted in this topic. I didn't know there were members who were so passionate about the design of a phone.

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You're comparing a POS LG to a BB? I am sure that BB will know how to make a phone right. This is going to work very well for businesses. 

 

That is way too big for a square phone. LG has made some square phones in the past, Optimus VU, Lotus. The square form factor doesn't work very well at all, it feels way too big and awkward to hold.

 

LG-Optimus-Vu-Review-Comparison.jpg

Pic taken from: LG Optimus Vu Review (Phonearena)

 

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Square is fine for a device... unless it's a phone. Phones aren't square because they are supposed to be able to fit in your pocket.

Let's not forget basics, it's also supposed to fit comfortably in your hand for extended periods (phone calls).

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I think the square idea is interesting, and I don't think it is ugly at all, at least not from the front, which is the only angle shown in the picture.  I just don't like Blackberry and used to make fun of people who had them when they first came out so the chances of me ever getting one is pretty much slim to none.  They will have to come up with something more novel than a square screen to get my consideration.  I'm not a big fan of hardware keyboards on phones, either; the buttons are hard to press because they're so tiny and I hate the obnoxious clicky sound they make when people are rapidly typing on them.

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