Revive The Phone With A Keyboard

[Jojo202]

So you're saying it's going to be similar to a Blackberry with a full keyboard, but better than a Blackberry.

   Most people in the jewish world looking for a kosher phone will not take a phone with a full scale keyboard the same size as a Blackberry.
   Even better, why would I take your phone over a Blackberry?

I agree with most of your sentiment, but really everyone WOULD take a blackberry except that they don't make them anymore, they are hard to find, and mostly unreliable in terms of providers/network coverage.. Also by now, any old style blackberry doesn't look smartphoneish at all so by now it would probably be adopted quite easily...

[aygart]

   Even better, why would I take your phone over a Blackberry?

I agree with most of your sentiment, but really everyone WOULD take a blackberry except that they don't make them anymore, they are hard to find, and mostly unreliable in terms of providers/network coverage..

   Most people in the jewish world looking for a kosher phone will not take a phone with a full scale keyboard the same size as a Blackberry.

  But let me tell you I was always uncomfortable using it when I was in an environment which didn't want people to have a smartphone, I always felt that a phone that size with a full keyboard and every app, was like a smartphone.
  It was actually one of the 1st smartphones introduced into the market.

[AsherO]

  It was actually one of the 1st smartphones introduced into the market.

lol, you're reminding me of a debate I had with @Mordy in the nascent days of DDF about whether the BlackBerry is considered a smartphone or not

but blackberrys are not smartphones

a BlackBerry is considered a smartphone.

[MoYS]

There was a phone not too long that was the same style as blackberry, in terms of keyboard, but was not a smartphone in any way (as opposed to a regular blackberry). It was pretty standard to see it in non-smartphone settings and nobody gave a second look. i personally find the slide keyboards easier (im still using a 3g sprint side phone) but they break around every 2 years in my experience.

Another point is that i feel the market for flip phones, even though they want a full keyboard, do not want the other possible features discussed above like email and spotify, even google maps. It seems like software is less of challenge than hardware, so maybe make two options, if that is possible, to access different markets.

One more point is that i think there should be a poll with all the different options, to get a better idea of popular opinion

[myi]

lol, you're reminding me of a debate I had with @Mordy in the nascent days of DDF about whether the BlackBerry is considered a smartphone or not

Welcome to the club.
 After having it for 7 years. Let me tell you it's a full fledged smartphone.
  Anyone that tells you otherwise obviously has yet to use one.

 I'm not going to disagree, sometimes it's a pain to use being that the browser and apps are not quite fit to be used on that device. (Not every app).

[AsherO]

Welcome to the club.
 After having it for 7 years. Let me tell you it's a full fledged smartphone.

I was close to 7 years on the BB when I wrote that post in '08

I'm not going to disagree, sometimes it's a pain to use being that the browser and apps are not quite fit to be used on that device. (Not every app).

The issue is that the internet (even mobile sites) and apps have evolved and BB stagnated (especially the legacy BB OS).

[Kosher_Cellutions]

Thanks for the feedback keep them coming while I continue to do my research with our ODM partners. On the software side of things we can do pretty much whatever we want.

[AsherO]

On the software side of things we can do pretty much whatever we want.

But there are costs involved, especially if you have to design/create custom apps for each service (e.g. Spotify, Waze etc.) adapted to the device.

[MoYS]

But there are costs involved, especially if you have to design/create custom apps for each service (e.g. Spotify, Waze etc.) adapted to the device.

Especially true seeing as the market gets slimmer and slimmer the less 'kosher' the phone is. While i personally would like spotify on my phone, it seems like an added cost which will be damaging to the overall product from a sellers perspective.

[ExGingi]

Thank You so very much for taking up our plight!

-No button lag on that awesome qwerty keyboard
-dedicated Voice Dictation Button (cloud based)
-Decent Camera WITH GEOTAGGING
~Backup pictures to Google photos
-Sync Contacts with google
-Optional Email and SMS
-Optional Hotspot
-Spotify (unofficial is ok) support
-Rugged
-VoLTE and WiFi Calling for ALL carriers (including T-Mobile)
-Band 3 LTE for Israel
-Waze, Google Maps, Moovit, Walking directions
-consider making the middle button of the D- pad double as touchpad (like blackberry Bold and Samsung on T-Mobile)
-Mouse pointer for apps with a dedicated button.
(The buttons for Mouse and Voice Access can be officially for something else but easily re- assignable in settings?)
-Apps: Spotify, Maps, Google Photos, Weather, etc)
-A slide phone will definitely see wider adoption but if impossible a Blackeberry- style should be OK. From my inquires it would be possible to get LG to manufacture a batch of Cosmos or any old phone with a 4g modem just very expensive. May save on R&D to use existing designs.

Thank YOU!!!

I second almost every word said here.

Here are my additional 2 cents:
1. I personally preferred the Palm Treo keyboard to the BB keyboard. My biggest problem with both is the lack of a dedicated dial pad. Maybe a design similar to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_U750_Alias_2 but where a regular flip reveals a dial pad, whereas a horizonal flip open reveal a good qwerty keyboard.

2. A good balance needs to be struck with the screen to be large enough to be functional for things like navigation yet small enough for a flip phone.

Alternatively, why not consider something based on the Jio Phone 2?

[shabbosabba]

Especially true seeing as the market gets slimmer and slimmer the less 'kosher' the phone is. While i personally would like spotify on my phone, it seems like an added cost which will be damaging to the overall product from a sellers perspective.

Agreed. For that price I could just go filter a smartphone. Although, seems like some people are looking for a smartphone with a actual keyboard. However, I think that most people are looking for a kosher phone. Therefore, having certain apps would be detrimental to the phone and not a added benefit.

[MoYS]

Agreed. For that price I could just go filter a smartphone. Although, seems like some people are looking for a smartphone with a actual keyboard. However, I think that most people are looking for a kosher phone. Therefore, having certain apps would be detrimental to the phone and not a added benefit.

I think before the discussion moves into which apps, it should be if there should be apps.
(unless making two software models, and being able to justify the costs of the non-'kosher' one)

[ExGingi]

Agreed. For that price I could just go filter a smartphone. Although, seems like some people are looking for a smartphone with a actual keyboard. However, I think that most people are looking for a kosher phone. Therefore, having certain apps would be detrimental to the phone and not a added benefit.

Being able to make alternative voice calls (WhatsApp, Telegram) would be a great feature, but I don't know if that's possible (especially using WhatsApp) since those are proprietary platforms. I would imagine that if it had no other app, just plain old calling and texting + synching with Google Contacts + full multilingual keyboard, and the ability to make WhatsApp calls, it could be a major hit globally.

[MoYS]

................ it could be a major hit globally.

Just curious, do you really feel there is a global market for such a product.
If so why is ddf (@Kosher_Cellutions) the first to do something, besides for the obvious 

[ExGingi]

Just curious, do you really feel there is a global market for such a product.
If so why is ddf (@Kosher_Cellutions) the first to do something, besides for the obvious 

Well, I was thinking mostly about EY, but I can imagine that there's a market for non-smartphones that can benefit from the ability to communicate over alternative networks/platforms other than the traditional phone providers.