BlackBerry Unveils an Android-Powered Phone with Security Features | Hacker News Reader

BlackBerry Unveils an Android-Powered Phone with Security Features

bits.blogs.nytimes.com

32 pointshappyscrappy24 comments

For years, I've believed that Blackberry missed the boat on mobile operating systems. They should have long since developed a really good Android handset leveraging their great keyboard and security expertise. It might have done well. Too bad for them that they only recognized this recently.

By the way, the NYTimes blog is unreadable on my iPad. Every time I try to scroll down, it jumps back to the top. I wish they'd stop with these mandatory mobile versions that are buggy and limited. Just the text, ma'am.

On my iPhone I don't get the scrolling bug you talk about (and don't recall ever having it on NYT pages), but I do have two options to fix it if it comes up - the reading mode where it strips everything but the content, and the "show me the desktop site" button that would presumably strip whatever the mobile site is doing that screws it up for you. Haven't owned an iPad for a few years though so don't know how different it might be.

The best bit about this news is that it will be an android phone with a physical keyboard. There have been no new ones for around 3 years.

My wife's number one request for a new phone was a physical keyboard. Since she can't buy one she has moved on to a Samsung Note. I told her about the phone and she says she would miss swipe typing to much. I wonder how many people actually want a physical keyboard with the added bulk?

The priv physical keyboard is touch captive and also supports swiping up for word completion

you might have just sold a Blackberry phone. You should ask for a commission.

It's 9.4mm at its thickest point. Will consumers really be turned off by a phone that's barely 1cm thicker than other flagships? Most smartphones I see in people's hands have a bulky case around them already.

As someone who went back to BlackBerry when BB10 was launched, I'm not sure I'd buy this phone - in my opinion the Android UX is just so ugly and I'm not convinced that the Blackberry hub will work as well on Android as it does on BB10 (the two things I love most about my phone).

My Z10 is now 2.5 years old and I'm considering replacing it with a brand new one. I'll take a look at the Priv but my thoughts are it's too expensive and won't be as effortless to use as it would have been if it was running BB10.

Definitely consider BlackBerry's Passport. It's a fantastic phone. Lots of screen real estate for reading e-books and spreadsheets. And it runs Android apps (using 1Mobile Market, Amazon App Store or a half dozen other portals).

It would be great if Blackberry launched an Android-based Passport. I'd get it without thinking twice.

have a look at the video: https://youtu.be/iZesbZ3CAJE

it looks pretty darned neat.

> I'm not convinced that the Blackberry hub will work as well on Android as it does on BB10

There is no technical no reason for it not to work, or work much better under QNX than it does under Android.

The same blackberry that handed over its encryption keys to most world governments?

Yes, and they decided to build on an OS that is known for its poor security track record and privacy invading features.

Even if by some miracle they will decide that they want to offer real security, they can't secure customers from the OS developer.

I bought a playbook a few years ago, and it bricked after draining the battery. Apparently this was a fatal design issue that affected all playbooks, it just won't charge again after reaching 0%. Suffice it to say it'll take a lot for me to buy into blackberry hardware again.

Still not seeing any technical details about if this is a native implementation of Android or virtualized with QNX. One of the key issues with their past approach was lack of any accessibility at the system API level. I wonder if they will be blocking or interfering with native Android app accessibility.

I'm pretty pumped for the phone and look forward to give it a spin. I'm not yet fully convinced though and hope they will be able to handle the OS Updates better than some of the other Android vendors. *Disclaimer: I run a german BlackBerry blog.

Exactly what I said they should focus on. Way, way too late though. Probably.

How will updates be handled? If we have to wait for carriers to pass along fixes for things like stagefright bugs, then this is dead in the water.

Getting updates right will be crucial.

what are stagefright bugs?

Some bugs get names and logos now:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagefright_%28bug%29

I think GP means bugs in things like system libraries, where you expect the OS vendor to be making the fix.

A Text message exploit affecting most Android based phones (http://www.androidcentral.com/stagefright)

Stagefright is the name of the native module in charge of playing media (and by the way that's an awesome name).

Since it is deeply embedded in the system, it is not possible to just push a Play Services update in order to update it.

These past months, several vulnerabilities have been revealed in that module. They allow privilege escalation & remote code execution.

The Nexus line (directly handled by Google) now receives very frequent security updates. Now, all the OEMs need to follow suit and also publish these updates for their own terminals.

http://blogs.blackberry.com/2015/11/managing-android-securit...

a bit full of themselves but it seems that they will follow the security updates.

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