I’ve been arguing in the past that BlackBerry’s best bet is to launch an Asus Padfone-like device, one that would allow users to dock their (BlackBerry) phone into a tablet shell and get a bigger screen experience. Or they could go one step further and launch a laptop shell, providing for a full-blown computer experience.
Meanwhile, they’ve announce the BlackBerry Blend, alongside the Passport business phablet. Said service will also work on the BlackBerry Porsche Design P’9983, allowing users to display content from their BlackBerrys, such as conversations, calendars, files, contacts and more. However, this service comes with a caveat, I would say.
While I like the idea of putting the phone at the center, I don’t think BlackBerry is doing the right thing. Instead of providing a different experience that is optimized for bigger screens — when compatible BlackBerry phone is connected to the TV or monitor — they are allowing access from other devices, including those running iOS and Android, as well as PCs and Macs.
Sure, that’s the step in right direction, but I doubt it will help BlackBerry move more of its phones. The solution I’m proposing is what Canonical is trying to do with its Ubuntu Mobile platform. Simply dock a BlackBerry phone and turn it into a full blown computer.
The Canadian company has a powerful platform (QNX), which is as resource friendly as possible. In contrast, Android, iOS and Windows Phone are power- and hardware-hungry operating systems. The BlackBerry Z10 uses what we would consider dated hardware, but it runs things smoothly. Put the same hardware in an Android phone and you get an entry-level device.
So I do like the BlackBerry Blend; I just think Canadians should finally launch that laptop shell that would put their devices in a different league, while making its products that much more interesting. Hopefully, this is just a start for the Blend and soon enough we’ll be talking more about it.
While we wait for something like that, I’m trying to get the Passport review unit and review it extensively. Can’t wait to try that thing out. 😉