Blackberry was an iconic brand during the 2000s and hit its peak in 2011 when it was reported to have sold over 50 million units. Thinking of smashing that small keyboard with your thumbs on your BlackBerry phones still gives us goosebumps and, in many ways, feels like the first social network.
But all this changed with the release of the iPhone and Google’s Android platforms. Not being able to comprehend what this dou would mean to the mobile segment kicked BlackBerry out of the spotlight almost as fast as it entered the market.
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While we don’t expect another BlackBerry device to hit the market, we thought we’d take a trip down memory lane with the release of the BlackBerry movie and look at the phones and good times this iconic phone manufacturer gave us.
BlackBerry 850
We need to start with the Blackberry 850, released in 1999. It was a clamshell phone with a physical keyboard and a small monochrome display. The 850 was designed for business users and featured email, calendar, and contact management applications. It was also one of the first phones to support push email, allowing users to receive emails without checking their Inbox manually. The 850 was a commercial success and helped make Blackberry a recognizable brand in the smartphone market.
The BlackBerry 7290
The BlackBerry 7290 was the phone that cemented the smartphone design synonymous with BlackBerry and a full QWERTY keyboard. It was also one of the first smartphones to have a built-in camera. The BlackBerry 7290 was popular with business users because it was easy to use and had a long battery life.
BlackBerry Pearl
The BlackBerry Pearl was the company’s take on the phone with a smaller size and featured a trackball found in all other BlackBerry phones that followed. It had a hybrid “SureType” QWERTY keyboard, which allowed users to type quickly and accurately without looking at the keyboard. The BlackBerry Pearl was also one of the first smartphones to support 3G connectivity. It was a popular choice for business users and professionals, and it helped to make BlackBerry a household name.
The BlackBerry Pearl was discontinued in 2010. It is often seen as a symbol of the early days of the smartphone revolution.
BlackBerry Curve
The BlackBerry Curve is a line of smartphones first released in 2009. The Curve was designed to be a more affordable and user-friendly alternative to the BlackBerry Bold, and it quickly became one of the most popular BlackBerry models. The Curve features a QWERTY keyboard, an optical sensor instead of a trackball, a 3.5-inch touchscreen display, and various BlackBerry features, such as BlackBerry Messenger and BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The Curve has been released in several different models over the years, with each model offering a slightly different set of features.
BlackBerry Bold
The BlackBerry Bold was BlackBerry’s flagship product that was introduced in 2008 and became the most desired product from BlackBerry. The BlackBerry Bold was popular among business users because of its premium finishes, security features, and ability to handle multiple email accounts. It was also popular among BlackBerry fans because of its classic design and excellent keyboard.
BlackBerry introduced a touchscreen version of the phone called the BlackBerry Touch in 2010 with a 5-megapixel camera and it was well-received by critics, who praised its design, performance, and battery life.
The BlackBerry Bold line was discontinued in 2013.
BlackBerry Classic
The BlackBerry Classic was released in 2014 and tried to combine the physical keyboard of the golden age of BlackBerry with the modern BlackBerry 10 Operating System. It features a physical keyboard, a 3.5-inch touchscreen display, and a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor. Although the Classic was a solid phone, the smartphone market had heavily leaned on towards full-touch smartphones.
We’re sure that the new BlackBerry movie releasing today will touch on many of these models and hope it’s a letter of love to a brand that put the smart on a smartphone.
Were you a BlackBerry user? Tell us which model was your favourite in the comments below.
