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My phone is an ereader now

(www.davepagurek.com)
327 points wonger_ | 12 comments | 31 Aug 25 02:58 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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jbstack ◴[31 Aug 25 08:51 UTC] No.45081590[source]▶
The keyboard is a huge negative for me. Why would I want a significant chunk of my screen space taken up by a keyboard on a device that I'm aiming to use primarily for reading?
replies(4): >>45081920 #>>45081933 #>>45081983 #>>45082228 #
1. wkat4242 ◴[31 Aug 25 09:55 UTC] No.45081920[source]▶
I guess it aims at the blackberry passport types. There's a lot of people still missing that one
replies(2): >>45081957 #>>45083619 #
2. afandian ◴[31 Aug 25 10:04 UTC] No.45081957[source]▶
We exist and have been unhappy with our iPhones ever since our BlackBerries died. Seriously. This thing makes me feel so clumsy.
replies(1): >>45081988 #
3. wkat4242 ◴[31 Aug 25 10:11 UTC] No.45081988[source]▶
Yeah I think I would have liked one too. It's just that when the passport came out, blackberry OS was already on its way out so I didn't buy it
replies(1): >>45081997 #
4. afandian ◴[31 Aug 25 10:13 UTC] No.45081997{3}[source]▶
You missed out! The Passport was an excellent phone. Great hardware and the OS was nice. And the KeyOne (android) was probably my favourite phone ever.
replies(1): >>45082302 #
5. swores ◴[31 Aug 25 11:16 UTC] No.45082302{4}[source]▶
Had you used any BlackBerry phones before it? In my opinion the Passport was considerably better than other BlackBerry phones from the couple of years before it, but it was so much worse than the older BlackBerries were (at least in the context of what was available at the time) so much better that people who had used BBs for years found the Passport frustratingly bad in comparison.
replies(4): >>45082806 #>>45083237 #>>45083685 #>>45084312 #
6. afandian ◴[31 Aug 25 12:57 UTC] No.45082806{5}[source]▶
Not seriously no. I had an HTC Desire Z before that (exceptional hardware design with a snap open landscape keyboard).

The Passport keyboard had an ortholinear shape. Together with the overall form factor, I can see how people may have found it a bit form over function. But I loved it.

replies(1): >>45090197 #
7. rchaud ◴[31 Aug 25 14:06 UTC] No.45083237{5}[source]▶
Yep, I had several Blackberrys and hated the Passport's weird, ramrod-straight 3 rows of keys. Much less ergonomic to type on than the slightly curved 4-row setup on the Bold 9000 (2008), which they never reproduced on future models.
8. wowczarek ◴[31 Aug 25 14:54 UTC] No.45083619[source]▶
It amazes me (and that's on the account of me getting older) how people not immediately associate it with the a BB phone. I remember complaining at how BlackBerry 10 took away lots of usability tricks and keyboard shortcuts the classic BlackBerry OS had, and also how laughable it was that the original iPhone didn't even support copying and pasting on release. Oh how things have changed.
9. wowczarek ◴[31 Aug 25 15:00 UTC] No.45083685{5}[source]▶
Many people swear by the Passport, but the BB Classic in easily topped it my opinion. The best phone keyboard ever made and the phone itself could serve as a blunt weapon if it came to it.
replies(1): >>45084286 #
10. afandian ◴[31 Aug 25 16:13 UTC] No.45084286{6}[source]▶
You can argue many of these points either way. But, objectively, the Passport had a robust stainless steel frame, which was exposed at the edges.
11. ipcress_file ◴[31 Aug 25 16:15 UTC] No.45084312{5}[source]▶
Hi there, I had several BlackBerry phones, including a Passport SE.

For productivity apps, nothing compared with the Bold 9900. So snappy and minimalistic. The memos, calendar, messaging and the like were great.

As far as BB10 devices go, the Passport had the screen real estate, but the Q10 was way more pocketable. So I found the Passport awkward to deal with when on the move. I still have all of them. Who knows what to do with functional old tech?

12. wkat4242 ◴[01 Sep 25 06:58 UTC] No.45090197{6}[source]▶
Hmm I had the HTC Touch Pro 2 and it was the worst phone I ever had in my life. It was given me by work, I didn't pick it. It ran a customised version of Windows CE with a lot of super fake glossy overlays that slowed it down to an absolute crawl, and the keyboard was so tough and heavy that it was a nightmare to use. It was really a piece of shit. It also had a really horrible resistive touch screen (one of those with a plastic layer over it)

Maybe they made good stuff too but that put me off HTC forever.