Tag / QWERTY
BlackBerry 10 launch liveblog: full-touch Z10 and QWERTY Q10 shipping this week in UK and Europe
It’s been a long time coming, but today is the day that RIM steps into the future as they prepare to unveil their new – and heavily delayed – BlackBerry 10 platform and devices. Rumour has it that we will see two devices today – one with RIM’s iconic QWERTY keyboard and one with just touch input – and further leaks suggest that we could even see devices on store shelves within the next 24 hours. Whether or not this turns out to be the case, RIM’s New York launch event starts at 10am ET/3pm GMT, and we will be blogging it live on this very page. Join us then to find out what RIM’s been working on.
All times are in GMT
This event has now finished
14:58 Let’s go!
15:00 Things seem a bit late starting, but the live stream is available here.
15:01 The apps seem to be popping up already. Here’s evidence.
World of Goo and Angry Birds Star Wars have appeared on my Dev Alpha
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Steve (@stroughtonsmith) January 30, 201315:04 According to TechnoBuffalo, the Z10 is already in Phones4U. We’ll be hunting it down tomorrow.
15:06 Things are kicking off! They flashed up the already-announced software stuff and now a broadcasting guy is showing global launches.
15:08 Now they’re showing business people (including EE’s Olaf Swantee) talking about what they love about BB10.
15:09 What seems evident is that carriers and businessmen love BB10, but will consumers?
15:10 I love rhetoric questions.
15:10 Alec Saunders, VP of Developer Relations (and this guy) says there are no devs in Antarctica. I need to prove him wrong.
15:13 “Honk if you want BlackBerry 10!” says this guy.
15:13 Now there’s a guy who made a song called No Sleep ‘Til BlackBerry 10. I kid you not.
15:14 Now random guy is talking to CrackBerry Kevin, the guy who said he wouldn’t cut his hair until the launch.
15:15 THEY ARE CUTTING KEVIN’S PONYTAIL.
15:16 Here’s Thorsten Heins, sounding German.
15:18 “Innovation is at the heart of RIM. Now finally, here we are!” Thorsten gets applause.
15:19 They keep saying BlackBerry 10 is here, but they’re not actually doing anything.
15:20 Are you hyper-connected socially? BB10 is for you!
15:21 It is ‘built to keep you moving’.
"We will soon give you more ways to connect your mobile experience to not just other people, but the whole world around you." = INTERNET
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(@Bluewall) January 30, 201315:23 We can confirm Thorsten did just say ‘internet of things’.
15:23 Thorsten’s thanking the QNX guys, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis.
15:26 RIM is killing the RIM name. RIM is now BlackBerry, making the BlackBerry. Finally they are making sense.
WHAAAAAAT RIM IS NOW BLACKBERRY THEY CHANGED THE NAME OMG
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nilay patel (@reckless) January 30, 2013RIM is now just BlackBerry. Less confusing! Also a reminder if the new phones don't work the company is dead. They have nothing else.
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John Herrman (@jwherrman) January 30, 201315:28 BlackBerry’s new stock symbols are BBRY and BB.
15:29 NEW PHONES. Z10 and Q10.
15:29 The Z10 has a 356ppi 1280 x 768 4.2″ screen with a textured surface for comfort.
15:31 The Q10 has a physical keyboard. That’s literally it.
15:32 It does, however, have a glass weave cover. Nobody knows what that is, but it sounds weavy.
The four physical keyboard lovers in the audience are excited
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Steve (@stroughtonsmith) January 30, 201315:34 Some guy called Vivek is showing off the Flow multitasking and Peek notifications while watching a video of a German car.
15:37 Vivek and Thorsten are making vacation jokes in the Hub (the one with the notifications).
15:38 BB10 can link contacts together automagically, just like every other platform in the world.
15:38 Thorsten is literally clapping louder than the entire audience.
15:40 The new prediction-heavy keyboard looks cool, and is modelled on the BB QWERTY.
15:41 The default email signature seems to be “Sent from my new BlackBerry Z10”. UGH. I WILL NOT READ YOUR EMAILS WITH THAT KIND OF ADVERNATURE.
15:43 Balance lets you have work and personal profiles. Thorsten’s talking about the boring business security stuff.
15:56 We’re back! WordPress decided to do some server maintenance. Here’s what we missed.
Stuff we can't liveblog: BBM video calling and screensharing, Skype app and BlackBerry Remember (Evernote-ish thing for BB).
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Xavier Voigt-Hill (@Xavdog) January 30, 201315:56 And camera stuff, new third party apps (70k total) and Story Maker. STORIES.
15:58 The review embargo has been lifted. Here’s Joshua Topolsky’s.
From the @verge review : "The problem with the Z10 is that it doesn't necessarily do anything better than any of its competition."
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Steve (@stroughtonsmith) January 30, 201316:02 Over 1k top apps are on BB10. Massive punch aimed at Microsoft.
16:03 There’s Rdio, SoundHound, EA, social stuff and other stuff, but no sign of Spotify. Dealbreaker for many.
It's a sad day when some corporate executive screams "WE HAVE ANGRY BIRDS COMMITTED TO BLACKBERRY 10!" on stage.
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Jesus Diaz (@jesusdiaz) January 30, 2013His basic message on apps? "WE HAVE APP." #blackberry10
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Xavier Voigt-Hill (@Xavdog) January 30, 201316:06 You can also get movies, TV and music from BlackBerry World.
16:07 Insert generically intensely soundtracked content advertising video here.
16:08 All four US carriers are getting these. Insert Thorsten clap.
16:09 The Z10 is available tomorrow in the UK in basically every store. I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow.
16:10 Chemistry, that is. Might find the phone after.
16:10 Another big announcement from Thorsten is impending!
16:11 “We’ve created a new positiion at BlackBerry. A Global Creative Director!
16:12 It’s Alicia Keys.
10 minutes until Alicia Keys tweets how much she loves the BlackBerry Z10 from her iPhone
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T.C. Sottek (@LaughingStoic) January 30, 201316:15 Thorsten Heins is officially freakishly tall. Either that or all his employees are diminutive.
16:16 Alicia wants to “bridge the gap between the work phone and the play phone”.
16:17 Her job is to persuade Neil Gaiman to use BB10. There’s a video on it.
"Armed only with their bare fists, Alicia Keys will face Wil.I.Am. In a Hunger Games-style fight to the death." -Thorsten Heins
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Mike Isaac (@MikeIsaac) January 30, 2013#NameChanger! RT @KaylaZerby: Alicia Keys named global creative director for @BlackBerry. Changes her name to Alicia QWERTY Keys.
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Charlie Kindel (@ckindel) January 30, 201316:20 It seems Alicia is starting in the office on Monday. Nice few days off.
16:20 Thorsten’s wrapping things up, so I will too. Thanks for joining us!
16:21 The press get a Q&A session, but I get to go and eat some crisps now. I’ll be getting some hands-on time tomorrow.
16:21 See you next time!
Motorola (re)build on the RAZR line with MAXX, Droid 4 and purpleness
Sorry for the lack of posts but the start of a term doesn’t mix well with CES for a teenage blogger. We will get through the big stuff this week but it may take time!
At CES, Motorola announced 3 new devices based on the RAZR, a phone that is officially as old as Digixav. While it seems unlikely that they will ever hit the UK as none are featured on the Motorola website, it gives us an excuse to look at the phone that narrowly lost out on our Best Design Award. Despite it’s godawful screen that somehow manages to look bad in adverts.
On the left, we have the RAZR MAXX. As the name suggests, this is a RAZR that is fatter and equipped with a bigger and better battery of 3300mAh. This gives you (supposedly) 21 hours of talk-time and 6 hours of LTE video streaming. It is 8.99mm thick and is otherwise a bog-standard RAZR. This is coming soon for $299 with a 2 year plan.
In the middle, we have the purple RAZR. It is a RAZR. It’s purple. Along with the cut-price white and black models, this will be $199 on contract.
On the right, we have the Droid 4. It’s like a 4 inch RAZR with a sliding QWERTY keyboard and 4.6mm thicker. It’s what the Droid 3 should have been. Like how the heavily delayed and redesigned Bionic is a fat RAZR. The Bionic is like the RAZR MAXX, but with a worse battery. Pricing is currently unannounced but it’ll probably be $249.
All of these phones are Verizon exclusives in the USA and have ‘4G’ LTE, the same internals as each other, splash-resistant nanocoating and Motoblur as a skin. If you are in America and feel the need for Android, forget these and get a Galaxy Nexus. Or get a Windows Phone on AT&T. Made by Nokia.
Nokia World keynote liveblog
Tomorrow morning at 9am, the ExCeL centre in London will open its doors and play host to Nokia World. We know from Microsoft’s Andy Lees that Nokia’s long awaited Windows Phone handsets (plural!) will be unveiled. We have seen the teasers showing an N9 body, multicoloured tiles and a Windows soft key. We have seen leaks of the Sea Ray and Sabre. Hell, today we even saw more of these devices with the names Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 and maybe even 900. The Mangoes are coming, and Henry and I am liveblogging here so click past the break to see the fruits of Elop’s labour.
P.S. There might also be some QWERTY Symbian action, so it might not all be good!
