BlackBerry's iconic keyboard patent has expired
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It seems to work terribly on iphones, even with Google's keyboard. (Source: one single iphone which was entirely uncooperative.)
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So for 20 years, it wasn't possible for anyone but BlackBerry to manufacture phones with the revolutionary technology of... checks notes... keyboards, and now that it is irrelevant to modern devices, is free for anyone to use.
Patents should be abolished.
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It's a spiritual journey.
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Can someone explain how something as generic as a keyboard can be a subject to patents?
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I have a Unihertz Titan and love it. I guess they skirted around the keyboard patent. https://www.unihertz.com/products/titan
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Checks notes, that's not what happened, no. Tons of phones had/have keyboards.
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TL:DR patents are important, but easily abused.
Yes, I'll try.
Patents can cover many aspects of design. Sometimes, these aspects are positive and deserve protection for the original inventors. Other times, the claims could be so obscure and 'thats obvious to anyone' that it's a waste to protect them - but (sometimes ignorant) patent attorneys fail to do their research and award patents anyway.
It could be that the keyboard being below the screen in that form factor was considered novel. It could be the trackball used in the centre. It could be the two combined, then attached to a phone. It could be the shaping and ergonomic aspect of the keyboard. It could be raises or detents to aid location of keys for fast typing on a handheld device.
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More like Research In Place than RIM
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Damn, I wish I'd thought of that back then.
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I'm in too many places where chatting to my phone wouldn't go over well.
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Ah that makes perfect sense. I'm alone for much of my day.
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I give you my permission to claim it as your own when you finally get that time machine working.
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I hope we see more keyboard phones. I'd buy an iPhone with a keyboard.
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Very nice, I didn't know this existed. Looks very blackberry-esque.
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I was a palm treo man myself. I was way faster after a year or two on those than I am after a decade of iPhone.
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Forgot about this one. I loved this phone back in the day. Remember when it would say
DROIDwhen you booted it up? -
Look up clicks keyboard. Might be the closest you'll get
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Yeah I've considered it. But it's just so loong.
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I never used T9 because of that. It never knew what I want to say.
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I miss phone keyboards so much. I wish I still had a slide out keyboard
