Why a BlackBerry needs a keyboard - head of China’s TCL talks up new smartphone at CES 2017 tech show
With a QWERTY keyboard that maker TCL’s Nicolas Zibell says is ‘tactile and with some new innovations’, and a leather back, latest BlackBerry Android offering certainly stands out from its metallic-slab smartphone rivals
Real keyboards don’t belong on smartphones. Smartphones should be metallic, as slippery as a soap bar and, above all, they should all look identical. If that’s the case, then the next BlackBerry phone breaks a lot of the rules.
“A keyboard is essential to a BlackBerry,” says Nicolas Zibell, chief executive of China-based TCL Communication at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017 in Las Vegas during a sneak preview of his company’s upcoming BlackBerry-branded phone.
Possibly called the Press, the Mercury or the DTEK70 if the internet is to be believed (though destined to be unnamed until its official launch in late February), the keyboard and soft leather back of the device give it an unusual look. What it certainly doesn’t look like is a black piece of glass, which immediately makes it a one of a kind in the copycat smartphone market.
“Part of our strategy to revive the BlackBerry brand is to come back with a keyboard, but one that has meaning,” says Zibell, confirming that the TCL-made device will go on sale early in the second quarter of 2017 for a “good value” price in markets including Hong Kong, Europe and North America.
Those who hate typing on phone touch screens – and there are plenty about – will love the old-fashioned hardware on this BlackBerry.
