Having let the parade pass it by, BlackBerry first tried to reinvent itself. That went over like a lead balloon. Now, with its customers and prospects dwindling, BlackBerry is backtracking, trying to restore the things people used to love about its products. Among them are a handful of physical buttons and a trackpad, which it's bringing back in the Q20, an upcoming BB 10 smartphone.
BlackBerry has announced new handsets and services
aimed at moving the company forward as it tries to recover from a
lackluster 2013.
At the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, CEO John Chen debuted two new phones -- the Q20 and the low-cost Z3.The Q20 offers the classic BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard and experience on BlackBerry 10. It features BlackBerry's physical Menu, Back, Send, and End buttons along with a trackpad. Last year's Q10 had the QWERTY keyboard, but neither the navigation buttons nor trackpad.
The company apparently received many complaints from customers who missed those elements of the BlackBerry experience.
"I want these customers to know that we heard them, and this new smartphone will be for them," said Chen.
The Q20 has a 3.5-inch touchscreen -- the largest display on a QWERTY BlackBerry smartphone -- a large battery, and a design including "premium materials" intended for reliability and durability.
It will be released in the second half of the year, with availability and pricing announced closer to launch.
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