Posted on 06/19/2025 10:01:59 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam
Once the king of smartphones, the BlackBerry is making a nostalgic comeback as Gen Z embraces retro tech for digital detoxes and vintage vibes.
Before the iPhone, the BlackBerry was the “it” phone. At its peak in the early 2000s, BlackBerry commanded over 50% of the U.S. and 20% of the global smartphone market. But times changed. Physical keyboards gave way to touchscreens, and eventually, BlackBerry discontinued support for its classic phones in 2022.
But this isn’t where the story ends.
The 2000s have since made a comeback. As The New York Times recently reported, “Everything Millennial Is Cool Again.” Adding to that list, I’m happy to report, is the humble BlackBerry.
(Excerpt) Read more at fastcompany.com ...
That’s cool. Will have to check for that. After BB, I’m a fan of Motorola.
My thumbs are waaay too big to use something like that................
I hope Verizon will offer this.
My main issue related to virtual keyboards. If I had had a tactile keyboard, autocorrect wouldn’t have kicked in.
I’m a confident typist (often tested at 110 WPM w/o errors) as long as I can feel keys. Slip-sliding around a piece of glass is ridiculous.
Just reached over and got mine that looks similar to yours...then the back cover came off. Can’t make it click back in. Darn. Front says MEGAPIXEL. I think the battery has bulged a little.
Funny you mention that. I also sold hi fi to make my way through college. Worked for Opus 2 in Memphis, TN and then for various entities on the West coast in northern California. There was a lot of cool gear around back then. I’ve got stories...
Just reached over and got mine that looks similar to yours...then the back cover came off. Can’t make it click back in. Darn. Front says MEGAPIXEL. I think the battery has bulged a little.
I absolutely hate trying to enter text messages on a smart phone. I prefer keyboards. The Blackberry was an excellent idea.
“I want to get a flip phone”
Samsung and Motorola have flip phones, but they open to a smart phone. Almost got one but reviews were bad; the crease in the middle want stable. It cracked and peeled.
Jitterbug?
Wow, what a mess! Sorry to hear you are losing photos.
My keyboard is broken and I have to send in my Mac for repair (hint: Do not spill your morning cereal with milk and sugar on your keyboard). I found out that iCloud is not a real backup of your machine. It saves documents, but doesn’t really save your photos and it doesn’t save your apps. So I am buying a 2 TB external drive to do a complete “image” of my machine so I can restore it. What a pain in the neck!
Actually there are tactile keyboards for iPhones so autocorrect would still work.
But, I get what you're saying. That you don't make those errors on a real keyboard.
I, on the other hand err constantly. So I have to proofread.
I do have some large-capacity external drives. I wish there were a way to have everything saved there in real time. Maybe there is but I’m just not aware of it.
That would the PC; not the cell phone.
I never liked the Blackberry.
I liked the Nokia 9300.
I still have my lilac Blackberry Curve. When support was ended, it bricked. I had pulled everything off of it long ago, but still, I was heartbroken. Man, I miss those days.
It even had a pull-out keypad with actual buttons.
I have an old Nokia E72 in my drawer. It needs a battery, I think.
Even if these old devices don’t connect to cellular you can use them for surfing the internet, alarm clocks, calendars, contacts. flashlights. I always take one when I travel. Saves battery on netsurfing if you can connect to the internet.
That looks cool! Never saw it before. I really like the trackball which the BB Classic also had. (Wasn’t on the Priv.)
It was really nice. It sported a plug in SD card, ordinary headphone jack, and even an accessory port for serial or parallel ports.
Still waiting for the comeback of rotary phones.
—
I’m waiting for ring up phones, you know the ones with the crank handle and the operator on the other end at her switch board?
Yes, those are great! (except for the operators always listening in).
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