Blackberry + Android = PRIV!!!

[Demel]

Got an email from blackberry today about a new phone they have. I'm not a gadget freak but I have been wanting a blackberry with the android os for a couple years now and it is finally here is anyone else  excited about this or already has one? Do tell

http://us.blackberry.com/smartphones/priv-by-blackberry/overview.html

[sLaughterMed]

Frankly, its been a long time coming. BlackBerry has been really struggling since the beginning of the smartphone revolution. I think this is finally a move in the right direction for them.  Hopefully it hasn't come too late for them.

[powernoodle]

It is 10 years too late.  They've been asleep at RIM for a long, long time.  I was a total Crackberry addict back in the day, but the rest of the world moved on while RIM stayed behind.  If the Priv is not a major seller, RIM will no longer be in the hardware business.  So yeah.  Too little, too late IMO.

[Demel]

Good to hear different perspectives on it. I actually thought they had died out compmetely. You never know what could happen. Companies have made comebacks in the past. Time will tell. I hope to get one in hand soon

[Ricardomfs]

Last week my brother trade is iphone for a blackberry passport, bulky big, but great performance, quick, easy to use, amazing phone, built quality is very very good, i always liked blackberry, and when they launched this one i will try it my self, i like blackberry, and i really like android, since i trade ios for android, will be very dficult to go back, i can´t complain about anything, own a htc m8 for almost two years, and this guy never ever crashed once, my previous Samsung s4 in case, oh my God...! So built quality of a blackberry, great design, on android, it´s a yes for me, and blackberry is one of those brands, that should never leave the market, but...!

[powernoodle]

My 18 year old son - who is a math and computer science major at university - much prefers a phone with a physical keyboard.  So he is a Blackberry fan, and has used my old Blackberries that I left laying in a drawer from 10 years ago.

He went to the AT&T store to look at the Blackberry Classic and the Priv, where he was told that they had not sold a single Blackberry in the past year.  He ended up passing on the new Blackberries, and just bought a new but old stock Blackberry Bold 9700 direct from China.  Got it yesterday and it works fine.

Blackberry could resurrect itself, but I am not counting on it.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/06/investing/blackberry-priv-phone-android/

My son's "new" Blackberry 9700:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerry_Bold_9700

[Whoey]

they should consider rolling their own android for other devices and do sort of like the google play edition of phones... that way they don't need to worry about the hardware, just securing the OS and it's apps.

[derekmac]

BB always made a great phone, but believed that they would always be on top, and never bothered to keep up with the tech.

Since it's a Canadian company, I would love to see them make a big comeback, but it will never happen.  10 years ago, everyone wanted a BB, but now, people don't even remember their name.

They need to drop their prices too if they want to sell more phones.  If you sign up on a 2 year contract here, the Priv is $410!!!  You can get an S6 edge for less than that, and EVERYONE knows Samsung, and 95% of people looking for a new phone will go with the S6 over the Priv.

[Fortytwo]

I'd need to see the pricing around here but I'm very fond of the idea of a physical keyboard. I remember my Sony Ericsson P1 and how nice it was with the close to full-scale keyboard. The rocker-button solution worked really well too.

[Syph007]

I worked there for 7 years.  I dont miss it

[AimlessWanderer]

My perspective:

Android = Google = Avoid!

I have a Blackberry as a personal phone, and another as a work phone. I chose Blackberry to avoid the other smart phones. If I can't get a Blackberry that isn't infested with some form of Google/Android malware, then I'll probably stop using smartphones. Simple as that.

[jzmtl]

They need to drop their prices too if they want to sell more phones.  If you sign up on a 2 year contract here, the Priv is $410!!!  You can get an S6 edge for less than that, and EVERYONE knows Samsung, and 95% of people looking for a new phone will go with the S6 over the Priv.

The spec looks quite impressive, especially optical image stabilization (although kinda doubt it's real OIS), but $410 on contract is a killer when top of the line phones from competitors are half that.

Although given blackberry's security, rooting might be impossible and combined with the lack of system control in android it's a concern. Without rooting I can't even disable apps from auto starting or send me unwanted notifications.