BlackBerry Concept Phone Imagines BB10 QWERTY Slider

By: l2adiant on 4:49 AM

It’s hard to discuss RIM nowadays without dwelling upon its uncertain future. Though we’ve seen leaked documents that give us a pretty clear view of where the company hopes to be headed over the next year or so, RIM’s also inundated by rumor after rumor that it will sell off key assets, partner-up with competitors, or otherwise make some sweeping change to its business model. Earlier this month, we looked at one-such possible outcome, with a render of a concept phone showing how a RIM-manufactured Windows Phone handset might look. Today, we’ve got another BlackBerry concept design to check out, but this time from a less controversial future, speculating upon what a BlackBerry 10 QWERTY slider might look like.
Maybe even more so than that Windows Phone design, this handset is all about maximizing screen space. When closed, that bezel is pretty darn narrow, though it’s still far from pushing any limits. Slid open, the design reveals a new-style angled keyboard, for which RIM received a patent earlier this year. Obviously, we don’t know if it really intends to introduce such a component in BB10 handsets, but if it were to take that route, we’ve got to say that it’s a pretty sharp design. Our only concern is what current RIM fans might think about a keyboard that seems so very flat.
So far, we’ve yet to hear of any RIM plans for a BB10 slider like this, though both a full-touch handset and a non-sliding QWERTY model are in the works.
Source: CrackBerry