First Image of the upcoming BlackBerry Superphone!

I agree on both points, like the looks and concept but no keyboard will not be an easy sell with most faithfuls, it will however may those that left for iPhone/android back. I hope they last long enough to get there, they're getting hammered on share price more every week.

They need to hurry up already. My 9780 is burning pixels while I wait...

I'll go so far as to say that it is a big *mistake* for RIM to abandon the physical keyboard and debut YAMS phone (yet another mono slab). There are plenty of customers that aren't beholden to the monoslab design and just want to text/email like they always have. There *must* be something creative someone can do to make a phone with a physical keyboard still interesting and inventive... I'd say the Palm Pre was a decent shot in that direction.

Holy crap. Why does it look so tall/long? Long phone is long. It's so long that it looks like I could use it as a snowboard.

I'm not sure what all this moaning is about. It's not like RIM is abandoning the physical keyboard entirely. They are simply just adding more options to their upcoming lineup to attract customers from the iPhone and Android. If anything, you should be more worried about the upcoming OS, whether that could exceed what iOS and Android can offer.

I'm tired of Droids and know that Iphones don't work for me. I think this is a perfect oppurtunity for RIM to get ahold of some market share. They need to make it more compatible than Iphones (plug it in..have access to your photos..not need i tunes) and more reliable than Droids (doesn't turn off randomly when playing music like my droid X..) and they can have a winner.

This is a good move for them, though I love the standard BB format.

I think they should just have stopped making so MANY phones each year that look almost identical to each other. It was getting ridiculous to the point that the one day I was interested in getting a blackberry and asked what the difference between all these different blackberries was and the clerk was like "Um... I think this one has a better camera than that one, but that one has a faster processor, and that one has this but not that, and this one has that but not this" and so on, not to mention how long they keep the old phones out for and it just got so over-saturated with so many blackberries that look all the same. Having numerous form factors is a good step, but I would also stop putting out so many phones that look the same with different names as well as stop continuing to put out phones that came out years ago. Lessen how many dozens of similar phones are out there so it's easier for consumers to tell them apart. Look at Motorola, LG, Samsung, they don't put out 5 or 6 almost identical phones, you can easily tell their phones apart so it's easy to know what you're getting. Even Apple only puts out one single phone a year and is only offering 3 phones so it's not this big plethora of "Wtf am I getting?" with any of the other manufacturers.

For example, just check out a few carriers:

Telus, there's only 3 named models, but there's 8 phones because they all have different model numbers that are only slightly different from each other:
http://www.telusmobility.com/en/BC/smartphones/

(bell only has 4, and Rogers is down AGAIN) but regardless, it's just too cluttered a phone line with only slight differences between them, so I think making the lines a little more limited (and obviously keeping at least one line affordable for those that don't want to dump a ton of money) would definitely help boost interest when a new model comes out.

Without a keyboard, I'm not sure if I will get it since the main reason I use my Bold 9700 is because of the keyboard.

It'll be amazing if they make it like Asus Transformer. Just snap on a qwerty when you want it. Or Screen only when you dont.

I've heard Blackberry Thumb cited as the bane of the earliest BB devices, so a touchscreen is their way of avoiding the problem. But finally, a touchscreen BB that doesn't look like crap! (Sorry Touch/Torch users, but it always looked like an oversized screen plopped over where the keyboard was supposed to be... like a bizarre BB Bold.)

Currently have 9700. Didn't upgrade to current phones on OS7 because of no wifi calling.
Won't upgrade next year (when these BB-10 phones will be out) unless they have wifi calling AND a keyboard. That means when 9700 dies, will have to switch to an Android.
(I know that OS 7.1 will have wifi calling when it's released - about April?)

Originally Posted by mikethaler

Currently have 9700. Didn't upgrade to current phones on OS7 because of no wifi calling.
Won't upgrade next year (when these BB-10 phones will be out) unless they have wifi calling AND a keyboard. That means when 9700 dies, will have to switch to an Android.
(I know that OS 7.1 will have wifi calling when it's released - about April?)

OS 7.1 has been released if I am not mistaken....
Released to your device and carrier yet though? Or is the 9700 upgradeable to OS 7.1 ??

I'm not surprised it doesn't have a keyboard. It seems to me like those days are numbered and will be a thing of the past regardless of platform since they are becoming increasingly rare these days. Unfortunently there aren't enough people who prefer physical keyboards now to device manufacturers eyes which is why we're heading that direction.