Porsche finds top gear with BlackBerry design RIM gave BlackBerry a lap of honour this week, announcing the speedy arrival of a smartphone crafted collaboratively with Porsche Design. The BlackBerry P'9981, officially unveiled in Dubai today, rocks up looking rather edgy, with a brushed stainless steel casing and leather back panel. Porsche Design BlackBerry P'9981 The …
For people that need to type something more than inane facebook and twitter updates a real keyboard is the only way to go. I can touch type on a blackberry with very few mistakes and very good speed. Touchscreens have their advantages but typing efficiency is definitely not one of them. I have many touchscreen phones and none come close to real keyboards.
I love Porsche Design's work - I own one of their pens, again in brushed steel and black leather. A Porsche Design phone would be pretty groovy, but not a Blackberry. I think the only user interface with the panache for this is the METRO UI - I could imagine the Porsche font, fluid and fast interface and steel-coloured live tiles fitting in nicely with the overall design ethos.
I think I'll wait until that happens. But this is the way phones will go I think - designer brands doing for mobiles what they have already done for pens, wallets and watches. That designer cachet would easily outdo other phones like those from Apple, who I just can't see marrying up with such high-class design studios.
No accounting for taste, eh Jim? I'd argue that Porsche design are merely a boutique shop that appeals to Jeremy Clarkson wannabes and for all the form over function nonsense that is mentioned over Apple kit, this is a real example of that. But, and this is a big one, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and if this is your taste then enjoy! Bear that in mind though when you next criticize Apple for being nothing but 'shiney shiney' or just about fashion.
I take it you don't own a single Porsche Design product then. They are not just form, they are function too. My Porsche pen is both gorgeous and very well made, I'm expecting it to last the rest of my life and to hand it down to my step-son.
Your assertion that such a product could only appeal to "Jeremy Clarkson wannabes" appears born out of some kind of bizarre jealousy complex.
Regarding Apple kit, in my opinion, while they look shiny and all, they don't, IMHO, provide the combination of form and function that I look for in a phone. Neither, in this case, does this Porsche Blackberry. Which is why, as I stated, I'm not going to buy it.
Now don't let me detain you from your work a moment longer.
No Jim, I don't. Not a single item. Why? Overprice boutique crap. Like I said, no accounting for taste, but you are welcome to yours.
"Your assertion that such a product could only appeal to "Jeremy Clarkson wannabes" appears born out of some kind of bizarre jealousy complex." I curious to know, jealous of what exactly? Being a middle class fuckwit that wouldn't know taste if it smacked me in the face with a wet fish? No.
Not ideal. There is design which encompasses the function, appearance, manufacture and recycling of a product (amongst other considerations), and then there is the practice of just tarting up the look of a product.
Blackberry seem to have enough devotees to suggest that their keyboard is an example of the former, but restyling doesn't usually result in an iconic product like an Opinal knife, a Landrover Defender or a MK II Walkman.
...except for the hideous giant PORSCHE DESIGN logo.
which is the same mistake that every single one of these 'high end' 'luxury' phones has made - they all slapped whatever 'luxury' brand they were cross-promoting with all over the case in hideous, large letters.
Compare: if you buy an Armani suit for five grand, does it have ARMANI written in block capitals across the lapel? No it bloody well doesn't. Why do they think it's a good idea on a phone?
I really don't like Porsche design and I'm not a fan of Blackberry's. But I really like the look of this. I haven't got $2000 to waste on a phone, mind, but if I happened to win the lottery some time soon I could see myself stumping up for one of these - even if the keyboard does look like a pig to use.
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