this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2025
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What's special about Blackberry keyboards that every early slider phone didn't have?
I would love to have something like my HTC G1 again with modern hardware and screen.
The article is absolute trash for not mentioning this. "Their iconic keyboards..." is the closest it gets to describing them.
Thankfully, there is a link to the patent at the end.
Basically a detachable keyboard of transparent material as a display overlay, providing tactile feedback while the LCD allows for backlit and customizable key labels. I don't remember seeing a practical implementation of this IRL or in media but I might be too young for that.
That sounds pretty rad. I'm almost 40 and haven't ever seen this either. Perhaps it was just the coke addicted business tycoons of the 1980s and '90s that got to experience this tech.
Even after they stopped producing phones, they could have made a killing licensing the patent to phone case manufacturers.
So changeable keys on a touchscreen, but with physical buttons on top. Sign me up!
Wow really I never saw that before, sounds crazy.
The build quality and tactile feedback were much better. I never owned a BB but the keyboards were definitely something that I envied.
The only one I ever had experience with was the Blackberry Touch that my wife had. It was a total piece of junk and I think she went through 2 or 3 during the warranty period. This was after their heyday, though, when they were trying to jump on the smartphone bandwagon.
Was that the one where the entire screen moved when you pressed it?
Yes like a shitty car infotainment touchscreen from 2008.
Oh god
It’s hard to explain. The keyboards they built just felt and worked better. They clicked just right, they had the shape right. Once they licensed out production like their Android branded phones it wasn’t as good.
There was a device called Typo that copied their keyboard exactly but attached to iPhone that was good but they must have really copied BB because they got sued into smithereens.
I'm guessing OP means the build quality, as defined by the mechanical and material standards that are needed to recreate the keyboard.
I want the Palm Pre form factor back. Sooo satisfying to slide that thing open or snapping it closed.
Keyboard was ok but not as good as the BB, IMO.
Maybe the layout or that little nipple that could work as a mouse.
The first Android phone had the nipple, so must be the layout or something.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Dream