LouiV over at bbleaks.com seems to have got his hands on two snapshots of the rumored BlackBerry slider prototype, or Storm3. This doesn’t confirm anything for sure, but it definitely shows that RIM is working on a slider phone. I don’t quite know what to think of this just yet. When I saw the post about there being a vertical sliding BlackBerry I just laughed at the idea. RIM falling in line behind Palm took me by surprise. I like BlackBerry’s Storm series, and I love BlackBerry’s keyboards, but I’m not quite sure that these mesh well. From what I can tell in the picture, the device is huge! The 9500 series is large and heavy to begin with, adding a keyboard will only make it bigger, and heavier.
Hit the link for other picture.
via: BBLeaks
I don’t know whether I like the way RIM is headed with this device. It’s neither innovative or practical. Either way, this is only a leaked photo. Nothing is official just yet. Sound off your thoughts in the comments below! Click here for the original post.
I want one…
this needs to come to tmobile with uma i would buy this in a heart beat!
This form is one of the things I actually liked about the Pre. Hopefully RIM puts a rock solid slide mechanism in there…
On the face of it, it may seem like a direct play for Palm market share, but what will we really be interested in are the touchscreen capabilities, and overall OS improvements (many many to be made to the blackberry OS, Looking at you browser).
RIM is known for build quality, and effective simplicity. But they have to be able to compete with the more aesthetically pleasing OS’s more vigorously. Flash support will, however, will help leveling the playing field.
I would so buy this. I want the bigger screen but I also want a real keyboard. I don’t care how big/bulky it is, I am carrying a 8800 right now!