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'BlackBerry' movie trailer lets you relive the smartphone's chaotic (and Canadian) early days
Chock full of Canadian actors, Canadian phones, and Canada jokes
Biopics usually follow the true stories of individuals — think leaders like MLK Jr. or Gandhi, or musical legends like Johnny Cash or Elvis Presley. Lately, though, Hollywood seems obsessed with another kind of story, showcasing the history behind brands like Air Jordan, Tetris, and Flamin' Hot Cheetos. The BlackBerry movie, first announced last summer, seems destined to fill this niche, and after a screening at SXSW last night, we're finally getting our first look at the film's official trailer.
A BlackBerry movie is happening, charting the rise and fall of the phone manufacturer
The BlackBerry movie's Bold crew hopes it'll be a Pearl that causes a Storm at the box office
It wasn’t all that long ago that BlackBerry was the go-to name in mobile phones. The company owned over 40% of the market in the US just over 10 years ago, and it had a 20% share of the global market. That’s no longer the case, as the company failed to innovate in the face of the evolving Android and iOS platforms.
It was just over a month ago that OnwardMobility, the small Austin-based company saddled with the weight of resurrecting the BlackBerry smartphone brand after many years and many failed attempts, said that its delayed 5G BlackBerry was still happening. "While we encountered various delays that prevented us from shipping in 2021," the blog post read, "we will be providing more regular updates starting this month that will clarify and answer many of your questions about the ultra-secure 5G enterprise smartphone (still with a keyboard!) we’re bringing to market." The blog post is titled, "Contrary to popular belief, we are not dead."
BlackBerry's 'legacy' mobile patents just sold for a staggering $600 million
New company isn't saying how much trolling it'll do with them
BlackBerry has sold its remaining cache of mobile-related patents to a consortium of companies under the name Catapult IP Innovations Inc. for a princely sum of $600 million. The company largely exited the mobile business in 2017 after failing to turn its Priv slider — and a pivot to Android — into a sustainable source of revenue. After shutting down its legacy BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10 services in early January, it is now ridding itself of the last vestiges of what made it a mobile powerhouse between 1998 and 2011, when it dominated the market with its keyboard-first smartphones.
It's all too easy to get caught up in the hype surrounding new phones. Maybe you're excited for Google's Pixel 6 and its Whitechapel chip, or you're dying to get your hands on Samsung's latest stylus-friendly foldable. Regardless of your personal preference, there are all sorts of devices ready to launch over the next few months. But forget all of them — they're old news. We know what you're really looking for: keyboards, 5G, and one of the hottest brands from the 2000s. That's right, folks — another BlackBerry phone is still in the works.
A new BlackBerry phone with 5G and a hardware keyboard is set to launch next year
The brand name has been picked from the vine by yet another licensee
BlackBerry phones experienced a resurgence in 2016 when TCL became the exclusive global hardware manufacturer for its devices. The KeyOne and Key2 were solid options for customers crazy for physical keyboards, and it was satisfying to see the historic brand sticking around. Earlier this year brought some dire news for the future of the brand, as TCL ended the partnership entirely. Now it looks like BlackBerry is sprouting from the ground once more with a new 5G device from a new partner.
When BlackBerry finally made the move away from proprietary software and jumped aboard the Android train, the Priv was the only phone it produced by itself before teaming up with Chinese manufacturer TCL in 2016. That partnership has now come to an end, as TCL has announced that it will no longer make phones with BlackBerry branding.
The advent of the smartphone as the personal computing device of choice is still relatively recent — only in the last half-decade or so have people begun to consider smartphones to be their primary computer. That being said, smartphones actually have a long and illustrious history — if they were human beings, some would be old enough to vote and nearly old enough to legally drink. To remind us of this, popular data-visualization YouTube channel 'Data is Beautiful' charted the rise and fall of popular smartphone OSes in the last two decades into a nail-biting video.
The BlackBerry Key2 came out last year, giving hardware keyboard stalwarts something to get excited about. The phone is getting a bit long in the tooth, but now there's a very slightly upgraded version. That's not really the important part, though. What's important is that it's red. It looks pretty nice.The Blackberry Key2 Red Edition sports 128GB of storage twice as much the last one. There's still a microSD card slot, too. The rest of the specs are the same with a Snapdragon 660, 6GB of RAM, and a 4.5-inch 1080p display. It is, unfortunately, still running Android 8.1 Oreo.[EMBED_TWITTER]https://twitter.com/BBMobile/status/1119254668893413376[/EMBED_TWITTER]This phone has a dark red finish on the sides and front but the same black rubberized back as the old Key2. The Red Edition launched in China last month, but now it's available in the US at Amazon and Best Buy. You'll pay a slight premium over the existing Key2, which is already spendy. The red Key2 can be yours for $699.99.Buy: Amazon, Best Buy
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- Following the above news, BlackBerry is opening BBM Enterprise (BBMe) to all end users with an Android app available now. Service will be free for the first year, then $2.49 for six months.
The end of an era approaches — the consumer-facing version of the once esteemed BlackBerry Messenger will be shutting down on May 31, 2019. This announcement came from a short blog post from Emtek (who handles BBM), with the title "Time to Say Goodbye." Somber news, indeed.
Winter sucks for shopping. At least, it does if you're doing it in the traditional sense: driving out in the snow, fighting for parking, and watching the sun set before you're even half done. It's enough to drive someone to ditch the brick-and-mortar life and commit to an online retail existence. As luck would have it, we've spotted a bunch of good deals from some of our favorite online stores, ready to save you a buck or two on mobile tech.
About a year ago, Google announced the Android Enterprise Recommended program. It includes a list of Android devices that are ideal for business use and comply with certain guidelines (running a recent version of Android, supporting zero-touch enrollment, etc.). For companies looking to deploy a large number of phones, Google also now has a set of recommended Enterprise Mobility Management providers.
BlackBerry has a niche, and it's not giving it up any time soon. If you want a phone with a keyboard, you'll probably buy one of the TCL-built BlackBerry devices like the new KEY2. However, that phone is pretty spendy at $650. If you don't mind making a few sacrifices in your quest for a keyboard, Best Buy is having a KEYone fire sale.
Earlier this month, we shared images of TCL's upcoming BlackBerry device, the Key2 LE. It appeared to be a slightly cheaper version of the Key2 that was released earlier this year, and now the phone has been officially announced.
TCL launched the BlackBerry Key2 earlier this year as its second keyboarded phone under the Blackberry brand. This phone made several improvements over the KeyOne with a faster processor, more RAM, a dual camera, and more. However, that also meant a $100 increase in price. If that's too rich for your blood and you absolutely need a physical keyboard, then the rumored Key2 LE is what you want. It's not official, but we've got new details on this upcoming phone. Most of the specs are just a small step down from the flagship Key2, but the keyboard design looks different.
India has one of the most competitive smartphone markets in the world. Thanks to companies like Xiaomi, you can get a great Android phone for the equivalent of $150-200. Optiemus Infracom is the exclusive BlackBerry licensee in India, and an upcoming BlackBerry device from the company leaked earlier this year.
The BlackBerry KEY2, much like its predecessor, is an odd phone. It doesn't look like most other Android devices out there, with its hardware keyboard and square-ish 3:2 screen. We had a lot of little issues with the phone when reviewing it, but if this unusual form factor really speaks to you, it's easy to overlook a lot of those foibles. What was trickier to live with was the $650 price tag. Thankfully, it's looking like we're about to get a more affordable alternative, as some newly published FCC docs reveal the BlackBerry KEY2 LE.
The BlackBerry KEYone launched a year ago with Android Nougat, and today it still runs Android Nougat. Oh sure, there have been regular security patches over the months, but the lack of an OS update after more than six months of Oreo availability is embarrassing. TCL is taking the first step toward making the OTA happen, though. There's an Oreo beta for the KEYone, but you need an invite.
The BlackBerry KEY2 is a phone unstuck in time, marrying modern silicon and software with a look that recalls handsets from a good decade before its release. Models like the Priv and last year's KEYone have been fighting the good fight for physical hardware keyboards long after the rest of the world has moved on.
The days of phones with hardware keyboards might be mostly behind us, but there is a steadfast bunch that sticks to their desire for increased tactile feedback, and BlackBerry continues to oblige their interests. The much-anticipated KEY2 is one way the thumb-board warriors can get their fix without resorting to antique hardware, and they'll be glad to know their clicky-keyed savior is coming to the US on July 13th. For the impatient, presales open early on June 29th.