Like dinosaurs, there was a time when Blackberries ruled the Earth.
Now, they’re just hoping to avoid the same fate.
In a world bursting with iPhones and Androids, Blackberry made its biggest push ever to stay relevant -- to survive, really -- with the launch of Blackberry 10.
The redesigned smartphone was introduced at an event in New York on Wednesday morning, and for those who have been carrying these things around for the better part of the last decade, the first and most obvious change was the elimination of a physical keyboard.
The Blackberry 10 has received pretty solid praise in the weeks since Research In Motion (now renamed "Blackberry") released a batch of the devices to the tech community for a test run.
So, will it still be the go-to handheld for businesses and maybe, maybe even some regular ol' users, too? Here's a quick look at what it's packing:
- A 4.2-inch, 356 pixels-per-inch touchscreen on the Z10 model
- A second model, the Q10, retains a physical keyboard per customer request
- BlackBerry Hub, a new one-stop shops that aggregate all your messaging and social content
- BlackBerry Flow, a tool for easier navigation between programs without requiring a 'Home' button
- Blackberry Balance, which allows different user profiles on one phone; for instance, different experiences for your work and social lives
- Blackberry Peek, which lets you swipe to a side panel to check messages while watching a video uninterrupted
- BBM Screenshare, a built-in live video chat program
- 70,000 apps at launch, the most ever for a new device
- A new platform designed to interact with other electronics, from cars to doctor's records
An impressive device to look at and, sure, critics are (so far) on board with it. But is it enough to pry the iPhones out of our hands or make new buyers pass over a universe of Android options? In other words, is it enough to save the Blackberry? Tell us what you think in the comments!
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