Later this year BlackBerry plans to launch a smartphone with a touchscreen display and a slide-out keyboard that hides behind the screen when you’re not using it.

This would hardly be the company’s first slider… but it would be the first model to run the modern BlackBerry 10 operating system. And that’s not the only thing that’s unusual about the new phone.

blackberry slider

It also has a display that’s curved on the left and right edges, much like the new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.

BlackBerry hasn’t said when the new phone will launch or even what it will be called. But unlike the touch-only BlackBerry Leap which the company introduced at Mobile World Congress this week, the upcoming slider seems like a phone that will manage to stand out from the competition.

If there are two things BlackBerry is known for, it’s the company’s enterprise-friendly software and its hardware keyboards. Samsung, Apple, and other phone makers have been making headway in the enterprise space and BlackBerry has even started to bring some of its own software including BlackBerry Messenger to other platforms.

But fans of hardware keyboards don’t have a lot of options in the Android or iOS space, so phones like last year’s BlackBerry Passport and BlackBerry Classic as well as this upcoming slider could help BlackBerry hang onto keyboard die-hards.

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8 replies on “BlackBerry to launch phone with slide-out keyboard, curved display”

  1. Shame about the portrait orientation of the keyboard (wasn’t too fond of that on my Palm Pre wither, though it sure beat the numeric keypad from my last dumbphone). But who’d have thought that in 2015, thanks to Google and Samsung increasingly locking down their products (really? your big “new” features in the S6 are removing the replaceable battery and storage?) I’d see an article about a new Blackberry and not just laugh and immediately close it.

  2. BB you should not have wasted time with the Leap and insted invested the time and capital to get this one out first!

  3. If it’s a horizontal QWERTY slider then I’m interested. Although, I need to do research on how BlackBerry 10 is.

    1. BB10.3.1 is great, really it’s FINALLY at the level it should have been when launched. I have a Z10 and now with 10.3.1 it’s like a new phone – very responsive, very productive and just fun to use.

      Crazy that it and the Z30 are now being retired for the Leap though. I think the Leap is ugly. Oh and this slider will be a vertical slider only, they won’t have a horizontal slider (or I’d want to buy it too). I think the curved screen gimmick on this phone though will be it’s Achilles Heel. People drop stuff and screens break. With a curved glass, it’s going to be way harder to manufacture and thus, more expensive to replace. Also, screen protectors do NOT stick well on curved surfaces…pulling it out of a holster or case too often and you’ll get lift areas on the creases…you wait.

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