[Akbar Hashmi]

BlackBerry Quietly Announces Its First Phablet — But Z30 Could Be Its Last Big Phone | TechCrunch
could their last phone(phablet) before they sell off the company

[montsa007]

A comment on their post
"Oh look Tech Crunch posted about a brand that isn't Apple (but somehow still managed to mention Apple in the process)"

LOLed on that, but honestly, BB is losing its grip @ 700 mph.

[12Danny123]

A comment on their post
"Oh look Tech Crunch posted about a brand that isn't Apple (but somehow still managed to mention Apple in the process)"

LOLed on that, but honestly, BB is losing its grip @ 700 mph.

lol. Agreed. But I find it odd they announce a phone so quietly. I guess they don't want the media in their event room. But the specs are pretty lame. I suspect the upcoming Nokia Lumia 15xx, 9xxx and probably 8xx phones to trump this

[snowmutt]

I really, really, really like BB10. I think it is a great OS. Enjoyed playing with it a ton, think I would love to own one.

Me, and about 300 other people.

The quiet release, the lack of release dates and locations, and the lack of enthusiasm behindthis device pretty much sums up BlackBerry as a company right now. I am so glad we have WP. I would be so depressed if all we had was Andriod and iOS, two "hunt and peck" grid style OS's. At least there is an option. Will look at BB10 the way I remember WebOS: A gesture based UI that deserved way better then the companies that owned them.

[montsa007]

lol. Agreed. But I find it odd they announce a phone so quietly. I guess they don't want the media in their event room. But the specs are pretty lame. I suspect the upcoming Nokia Lumia 15xx, 9xxx and probably 8xx phones to trump this

Seriously?
I think an "Asha" model will own any BB phone.

BB is a good company, but they are not interested in adapting to the current scenarios, and when a company thinks it can go a long way that way, its heading for a pit.

[RJ Priest]

Sounds like it's only launching in the UK and Middle East. I think it was announced at 4am eastern time. They were clearly not targeting the North American market at this time. Unable to launch globally, it looks like this device is initially targeting the last BB "strongholds".

Maybe there will be another launch announcement for North America, although, considering that the device is a "catch up", rather than a next gen device, I don't expect a grand presentation. Probably just a quiet press release when it hits our carriers in the next few months.

[Laura Knotek]

The news of this release got overshadowed by the news of the layoffs of 40% of BlackBerry employees by the end of the year.

[montsa007]

The news of this release got overshadowed by the news of the layoffs of 40% of BlackBerry employees by the end of the year.

My reaction.

[Laura Knotek]

I really, really, really like BB10. I think it is a great OS. Enjoyed playing with it a ton, think I would love to own one.

Me, and about 300 other people.

The quiet release, the lack of release dates and locations, and the lack of enthusiasm behindthis device pretty much sums up BlackBerry as a company right now. I am so glad we have WP. I would be so depressed if all we had was Andriod and iOS, two "hunt and peck" grid style OS's. At least there is an option. Will look at BB10 the way I remember WebOS: A gesture based UI that deserved way better then the companies that owned them.

I played with a Z10 at a store when it first was available. I found the UI clunky and difficult to navigate. I'm not new to smartphones, and I used BB from 2009-2012. If I had trouble, I'd imagine other people would have trouble too.

I've played with Android devices in stores, and I had no trouble figuring out the UI or the gestures. Same with iOS. BB10 is the only smartphone OS that was not intuitive to me.