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Print 32 comment(s) - last by tviceman.. on Dec 13 at 11:56 AM
One of two new BB10 smartphones gets leaked

RIM has a lot riding on its next generation smartphones and BlackBerry 10 (BB10) operating system. Most consumers, businesses, and government agencies have left RIM for dead, so the company definitely needs a winner to stay relevant in a market that is dominated by iOS- and Android-based devices.
 
For those that are still firmly in the RIM camp, a slew of new high-resolution pictures of the BlackBerry L-Series smartphone were leaked this evening. When it comes to new product leaks, we're used to being hit with the "blurry cam" treatment. But surprisingly, these images are high resolution and capture the L-Series from nearly every angle.

 [Image Source: TINHTE.VN]

The shots give us a glimpse at the display, front-facing camera, rear camera with flash, microUSB connector, HDMI connector, microSD slot, and 1800 mAh battery. The black slab is quite minimalist in design, but it sure does have the commenters over at CrackBerry bringing out their pacemakers:
 
Glad I'm not the only one who has to change their underwear.
Dat glASS...
I think I did something in my pants, and my wife wasn't behind it!
 
Well, we can definitely see that the BlackBerry crowd is fired up, but are regular consumers and businesses going to come crawling back to RIM?


[Image Source: TINHTE.VN]

You can check out the rest of the images here.

Sources: TINHTE.VN, CrackBerry


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RE: Meh.
By bug77 on 12/12/2012 6:26:03 AM , Rating: 4
Actually, I think it's one of the best looking phones out there. I can see anyone still using a BB scrambling to get this one.


RE: Meh.
By Labotomizer on 12/12/2012 8:38:08 AM , Rating: 5
Except if someone is still using a Blackberry, they are using it for the physical keyboard as that's all they really have going for them. Or if the company forces it on them, but since this doesn't work with existing versions of BES I don't see companies rushing to upgrade, since that means they have to double up their BES environment to support both old and new.

As for slide out keyboards, those pretty much suck. It's the one with the small keyboard along the bottom that keep people using BB. They do have a BB10 device with that kind of keyboard coming out and that's likely what current BB users will move to. This on the other hand? Hello Storm 3, as I don't see consumers suddenly wanting it and I don't see the current BB market wanting it either.


RE: Meh.
By GulWestfale on 12/12/12, Rating: 0
RE: Meh.
By Labotomizer on 12/12/2012 9:30:20 AM , Rating: 3
The one with the keyboard does have an edge to edge display though, 4.3 inches with a physical keyboard. That one is more exciting. But I'm not convinced yet, and I'm not sure it's worth upgrading our BES infrastructure for. I think the biggest news is that it supports ActiveSync, so that's a huge plus. It's about f'in time is all I have to say on that one.


RE: Meh.
By retrospooty on 12/12/2012 5:37:17 PM , Rating: 2
"the biggest news is that it supports ActiveSync, so that's a huge plus. It's about f'in time is all I have to say on that one."

4-5 years ago was about f'ing time for that. Now its just too late. We are draining our BB users as their contracts expire. As soon as the last one is gone in Q2 next year we will power the wretched Blackberry server off permanently.

I am not seeing anything great about this phone. At least it has Micro SD, HDMI and Mini-USB, with a big screen so it already beats the pants off the iPhone, but I dont see anyone switching back without a compelling feature that you cant get elsewhere... This is just catching up to where we already are.


RE: Meh.
By Labotomizer on 12/12/2012 8:55:01 PM , Rating: 2
You're absolutely correct on ActiveSync. I was trying to find some sort of positive. Rim will likely end up as a MDM company as Fusion will support all the major platforms. I won't lie though, I did enjoy the money made from everyone thinking BB10 will be a hit. Did wonders for the stock price. I'll dump it soon. The business community really wants rim to succeed so may as well take advantage.


RE: Meh.
By Cheesew1z69 on 12/12/2012 10:35:02 AM , Rating: 4
I think it kind of looks like the Droid X now that I look at it a bit more.


RE: Meh.
By bug77 on 12/12/2012 10:26:42 AM , Rating: 3
All manufacturers have made the transition to software keyboards successfully. I fail to see why you think this won't work for RIM. The phone could have a horrible display and a poorly executed keyboard, but we haven't seen that yet.
All I see is a nice looking phone, with user-replaceable battery, SD slot, USB (that is most likely used for charging, too, since I can't spot a proprietary slot for that) and microHDMI (I think). What's not to like?


RE: Meh.
By Labotomizer on 12/12/2012 10:35:07 AM , Rating: 2
You misunderstood my comment I think. This wasn't a comment on if RIM could successfully implement a software keyboard, at this point that shouldn't be terribly difficult to do because of how many have done it successfully. The comment was related to the people who are still die hard blackberry users. We have 13 people internally who use Blackberry. Almost everyone has moved to iPhone or Android. These people have not moved because they prefer the hardware keyboard and the fluff features don't matter to them. The CEO and COO are two of them. These diehard BB users aren't BB users because they are love RIM or BB. They are diehard users because of the physical keyboard.

Several of them would have switched to Android or iPhone if they had a device with a non-slide out keyboard like the BB Bold. So I'm not sure who this device is supposed to appeal to. People who have already switched to another platform? Because it's unlikely going to appeal to people who are BB users currently, the device they'll want is the 4.3" with the physical keyboard. And to me that looks like the more interesting of the two device anyway. I'm quite good with the soft keyboard at this point, despite thinking I'd never like them, but I won't lie and say I don't miss the physical keyboard.

I'm also not predicting success or failure for BB10. I really don't know how well it will do. I just think that if it's successful, it won't be this phone. It will be the other.


RE: Meh.
By Labotomizer on 12/12/2012 10:36:27 AM , Rating: 2
I should have noted, they have tried to move to other platforms, or most of them have, and went back to BB. So it's not like they didn't give it a chance. But when email is the most important thing your phone does, it's hard to beat that physical keyboard.


RE: Meh.
By maugrimtr on 12/12/2012 11:28:12 AM , Rating: 2
It seems to be a nice looking phone. Despite the glass everywhere, you can notice the bevel in the HD photos. Port also indicate it won't the thinnest phone. Still, it looks attractive and not dated. Need hardware specs!


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