TCL vows to keep BlackBerry alive

At least one manufacturer thinks a business-focused Android has prospects in 2017. Chinese consumer electronics giant TCL allowed journalists to fondle the next BlackBerry at CES this week, under strict conditions. The device wasn't given a name or release date, and no specifications were released. That must wait for a formal …

[seven of five]

Finally:

Finally a device running Android with which I can reply to an email in utter comfort and precision - without even having to look at the keyboard due to tactile feedback of proper keys -, at the same time allowing me to use the very same device to split a users skull for commenting "Blackberry? Didn´t know they still exist!", without interrupting my typing.

The Q10 just isn´t up to this due to its plastic case.

[bpfh]

Re: Finally:

Are you talking about the Blackberry Priv ? :)

[macjules]

Re: Finally:

Agreed.

"In the desert you can remember your name

'Cause there ain't no iPhone for to give you no pain"

[Hans 1]

Nice, I just want a secure device, I do not care about physical keyboards, portrait or landscape displays ... I would also like said device to have loads of storage, like, when I stick a 128Gb microsd into one, I want the OS to use that as storage where one can install apps, not just store photos/videos/music, no, it is NOT the dev who decides where I put my apps, it is my phone, I decide FFS.

The thing I hate about android is just that, combined with lousy internal storage in terms of capacity and brain-dead storage management, tell me, how many more copies of that app do you need to store on the device, why is ONE NOT ENOUGH ???

[Dabooka]

4/10

Not sweary enough, overuse of commas and utilising 'like' as punctuation (itself sandwiched by aforementioned commas).

Must try harder.

[Doctor Syntax]

"secured" Androids

How secure is "secured" Android?

[A. Coatsworth]

My thoughts exactly... I'm not sure what will be needed to consider Android secure, but it will have to be a HUGE change.

And, after the news of spyware being loaded into the phones of big-name Chinese manufacturers, who in his right mind would trust any of them?

[Anonymous Coward]

More than current is still an improvement

No smartphone will ever be truly secure, they are simply doing too much and software development as a discipline is simply not up to the task (unless someone writes a smartphone OS in Ada from formally verified specs - which might provide 2017 level software features by 2030 for $150K per phone)

Simply getting the patches to the phone in a timely manner will mean it is an improvement over 98% of other Android phones, solving Android's #1 security issue. How is that not a major step forward, even if you think it isn't a big enough step to be called "secured"?

[Herby]

How secure??

I guess we will find out when a presidential New York Mayor candidate gets their devices hacked.

Generally we will never know if a device is "secure" since it is likely that the "high security" devices (if hacked) will be done so by people (in three letter agencies) who can actually keep secrets.

[Anonymous Coward]

"secured" Android

@Doctor Syntax:

How secure is iOS? Windows? The answer: depends on how fast any known holes are being patched. Since Blackberry committed itself to release updates just days or sometimes hours after Google releases them, I'd say a Blackberry-branded Android device is pretty secure compared to what else is out there. There's DTEK which does a decent job at keeping you posted on what data is going where. Not a defense barrier per se, it just makes you think about what you do.

@Hans 1:

Last Android version you ever ran was 5.x I presume?

http://www.howtogeek.com/114667/how-to-install-android-apps-to-the-sd-card-by-default-move-almost-any-app-to-the-sd-card/

[patrickstar]

Re: "secured" Android

Depends on your threat model. If it actually includes targeted attacks, your biggest worry is probably unknown vulnerabilities.

Which by the way all current major smartphone (and desktop) OSes utterly fail, although with desktop systems you generally have more possibilities for stuff like custom intrusion detection and exploit mitigations.

[Anonymous Coward]

"That allowed the user to operate the device with one hand, something that in the post-phablet era is no longer deemed essential."

'no longer deemed essential' by WHO?? Has anyone actually asked? I say this having recently been struggling to operate my new DTEK-50 with my left hand on the move while carrying stuff with my right hand. The portrait form factor is such that you can't quite reach the Android 'minimise apps' button on the bottom right of the screen in order to switch between running apps.

[Jim84]

Key travel

At least it looks like it might be able to have more key travel than the priv. Is it going to suffer from tiny keys only being as wide as regular smartphones though?

Also that God someone is keeping QWERTY keyboards alive.

[m0rt]

Finally. This is the blackberry android I have been waiting for.

2 Day battery life and the same touch sensitivity on the keyboard as the Passport (very useful for scrolling, postioning cursor) would be really nice. Replaceable battery would be incredible - but I won't hold out my hopes for that.

[Fihart]

What's not to like ?

Android preferable to iPhone or the older BB systems. QWERTY keyboard (as my brother says, typing on iPhone is like elephant dancing on pinhead, with similar chances of errors).

Hopefully price and distribution won't shoot this BB in the foot.

[Jonathan 27]

Yeah...

They should call if the BlackBerry Bold (Some Number). Nostalgia is about all the BlackBerry name is good for these days.

[A. Coatsworth]

What's in a name?

Designed and built by some Chinese manufacturer, using an OS created by Big Brother itself (with some alleged "hardening" provided by the manufacturer)... Will slapping the name "Blackberry' at the back of the handset deliver us from evil?

Much like the new so-called "Nokias", I have zero confidence in these zombified BBs