Was almost pure android, incredibly secure. Blackberry got it right, then bailed.
You cannot re-invent a brand in a bit more than a year. They should have expected years to see significant adoption.
Worse, the people who trusted Blackberry, often didn't want a Chinese company making their hardware.
Sad really.
An example, I was on a plane. Guy next to me, a Canadian, had never heard of or seen the Priv, and had a Samsung.
When he saw me scrolling a webpage up and down with the touchpad/hardware keyboard, use it for gestures, then type with swipe completion via the hardware keyboard, and keep a full screen, he immediately wanted one.
I had to tell him the last security update was 2 months ago, and it looked like the end of line.
How many people didn't even know? I wonder that, to this day.
Further to that, phone purchase cycles are often 3 or 4 years. They gave it no chance IMO.
iPhone happened 2007, Android, 2008. Their “people love our software never hardware” self deception had completely wiped positive brand values by that point, along with trust from the market towards mobile hardware keyboard, because BB engaged anyone getting close to their level of sophistication in the technology, rendering competitors’ implementations inconsistent and lackluster as the result.
I still don’t fully understand serial suicides in phone market 2007-2012, it was strange times. Lots of companies were politely asked to finish their free lunch session and most decided to burn their retirement instead of accepting it.
Even better is the effect this has on battery life. The screen is the biggest battery drain on nearly every phone, and so having a little less means my phone lasts all weekend on a single charge. Because I don't watch video on my phone (or read the bottom half of the screen) anyways, there's really no drawback for me to "losing" a third of my screen, only benefits
The Priv had a slide out hardware keyboard, the optimal solution IMO. Full size screen on the device, hardware keyboard too.
I know what you mean, but the keyone didn't lose 1/2 its screen, to lose something, you have to have it first. If it lost 1/2 its screen, it would end up with 1/4 of phone's length with usable screen.
Agree with all you said about software keyboards.
I did run into someone using it though, and when I asked him how he liked it, he said it was great. The keyboard was more important to him than anything else.
