Slider phones have been out of fashion for quite a few years now, but that didn’t stop a few Blackberry fans to imagine how Passport would look like in this form factor.
Blackberry Passport already looks very peculiar, being nothing alike anything made by this company or its competitors. The square screen is said to display more content, and the 1:1 ratio is meant to improve productivity. With its odd looks, it’s uncertain if businessmen will like it (that’s definitely the public that Blackberry is targeting with Passport). A group of fans of the company took this smartphone to the extreme, by designing it as a slider.
Blackberry Strong, as they named this concept, brings the square display upfront, while the QWERTY keyboard lies hidden in the back. The authors of the concept probably would have wanted the Milan project, a Blackberry 10 slider phone, not to be canceled, as it was.
Sliders had all sorts of problems with the sliding mechanism, fact that determined most smartphone manufacturers to abandon this form factor. Dirt could get in an block it, or if you had really bad luck, the strip that connected the display to the keyboard could malfunction, leaving you with an unusable phone. If anything, it’s better to attach a QWERTY keyboard case to your smartphone, than to have to throw it away entirely. Speaking of cases and protection, attaching a case to a slider phone is a difficult task, and leaving it unprotected is not a desirable thing, either.
As to the reaction people have when seeing this concept, most commenters seem to have mixed feelings. Some don’t like it, but admit that there might be niche market out there for a slider Blackberry Strong, while others say from the start that they like the concept.
When the keyboard is not visible, Blackberry Strong looks like a device you could take notes on. That means that the concept could be even more functional if it had a stylus added to it. The slightly smaller size, at least when compared to Passport, would make Strong more maneuverable, not to mention that it would fit better in pockets and bags. Maybe Blackberry will pick up this concept and turn it into a reality, but I’m not sure who would buy it.
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