BB TK 3.0 Discovery

The designs set forth including names (Ten Thousand (TK*)(3), Titan*, Victory*, Discovery*, SmartSense*, QuickLaunch*, Auto-Spot*), details mentioned, operational functionality and technical specifications are of those from Guy Bridges of www.DigitalHomeBoy.ca and are used for conceptual design purposes. Designs (including images and icons), companies, company logos, and products mentioned are credited in the Blogroll (see link above and links to the right). Mentions and usages of actual companies, company names, company logos, and products have been used respectively. I am in no way associated and/or affiliated with Research In Motion (RIM) (though I really really want to work with them…still) or with any of the companies mentioned below and throughout.

On a last note:
THIS IS A CONCEPT DESIGN. THIS IS NOT A REAL PHONE!
Please read the full description before commenting here or on Twitter @digitalhomeboy

Thanks for checking out the BlackBerry TK Discovery {concept}.This is Love! ^DHB

Say hello to the BlackBerry TK Discovery. Re.Discover the Smartphone. A BlackBerry 10 Dream Concept.

When thinking BlackBerry today there is only one thing that comes to mind – well for me anyways – BlackBerry 10, from device to it’s new OS. What will both look like already? During BlackBerry World and Jam in early May this year attendees and blog reading followers like myself got to see snippets of a dev-stage OS10 to come. Seemingly still in its early stages it did give us a glimpse to the direction RIM is heading and I must say it is a great direction indeed. Since the World and Jam event numerous leaked documents have appeared and while being taken with a grain of salt it does go on to tell us somewhat more of what to possibly expect.

Like the millions watching from a far, I’m still wondering what the heck is RIM going to put out to the crowding competitive market. Will it look good and work like we all want it to? Rather than sit on my butt, speculate, and wonder, I decided to take another approach to a BlackBerry 10 mobile concept. From previews, samples, and leaks I have come up with my own version of the BlackBerry OS10 fitted on my latest TK design series, the TK Discovery.

Despite already knowing to date that the device design and manufacturing have been completed it doesn’t mean that designers or dreamers like myself can’t dream a little and put forth our visual thoughts. Who knows, maybe it may influence or be accepted in the near future and RIM just turns around and hires me! (fingers crossed) 

Interesting article (as always) from Al Sacco (@ASacco) from CIO – Mobile WorkHorse “If Only RIM’s New BlackBerrys Looked Like This…” Click here - Definitely worth reading!

While I have fancied and sported a number of devices from BlackBerry to others I have never quite been satisfied with a mobile and its experience until getting the BlackBerry Bold 9900. Though its 2.8″ screen felt like a setback to the competing mobile space its keyboard had me at hello. To answer this in April I announced the design of the BlackBerry TK Victory (also known as TK2 Victory) {concept} with a sizable 3.5″ screen that kept the amazing keyboard of the 9900. I brought the height to 119mm and kept the same width of 66mm. With the mobile market moving at its rapid pace a 3.5″ screen with keyboard will have its limitations in a demanding and competitive market and to the progress of a great OS experience as well as to application development. Apple’s iPhone has been sporting the 3.5″ screen since ’07, but they too have been rumoured to have increased to a 4″ screen to answer to competition.

So in response to a case where bigger might be better, I decided to design a full touchscreen device that uses the same innovation found in the BlackBerry PlayBook. The PlayBook is awesome, especially its size, but every which way I tried it just does not fit in my pants pocket. I wanted to bring that kind of experience and more with me all the time (and please don’t comment that I could do so with the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha).

Using the same gesturing innovation brought a lot to the table on a whole. This meant a new approach to interacting and navigation. This meant that we could have a device with no front-facing buttons that would receive the wear and tear or touch-sensitive keys (haptic) that are so sensitive to the touch. This meant that when we wipe the surface there won’t be dirt trapping grooves. This means the end of pocket and butt dialling.

On deciding a size that would appeal to the many I measured 131mm to be the ideal height with the favoured 66mm width that houses a 4.3″ curved Corning Gorilla Glass 2 screen bringing a beautiful smooth aesthetic look and hold while giving the whole edge-to-edge display experience. With a depth of 9.1mm it’s thin, but not as thin to the un-welcomed 8.5mm approach of the TK Victory.

Included on the TK Discovery, a single Power/Lock button located top center with the bottom housing the dual speakers, 3.5 jack, the microUSB and microHDMI port with the right side home to the Volume. The removal of the Play/Pause button was removed as the majority of interaction would be done on the screen.

The “Wonder Material” as Graphene has been nicked-named is a composite of Graphite with properties being applied to a number of applications from water proofing (superhydropolic), rust protection, silicon replacement, batteries from electrical cars to ships back down to a small radios to even Nuclear Power (Nuclear Power has positive side to it). While Graphene continues it’s studies under the microscope in China to Manchester I believe it could play a major role in our daily lives from the products we rely on to get us through the day. To learn more about Graphene, here’s the Wiki on it!

Interestingly enough, the tech blog Engadget has been on top of it to some degree. Here’s some interesting articles: Engadget – Graphene

Already knowing that the homescreen will have the similar home tiles it didn’t make too much sense to attempt to change it as it looks great and works for the most part. I did however make the tiles smaller for widget add-ons. I didn’t see the need to have four large tiles so making it smaller could make room for two more with the widgets going to another screen.

Through our brief sampled views I have heard many ask how will users access the rest of the apps. I couldn’t imagine all apps having a tile so with the elimination of buttons and haptic keys I think a virtual control bar with soft keys works best. Like the PlayBook, when in an app, you would slide-up from the bottom to minimise and access other applications. As with the same form of interaction in doing so brings immediate access to the control bar. Call access is always present with the BB Menu icon now accessing Applications, with the 6 square icon giving you access to 12 customisable Convenience applications.

In maturing the look for the better I have only made some minor changes. All Accounts function brings all accounts to be viewed under one window. Selecting an account gives a user better control and filtering options to see messages from a particular account rather than opening up Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn for an example to see all your messages independently. To the bottom the bar presents the most common used mail functions and changes accordingly to what account you are in. So in using Twitter for an example, the bar would change to Compose, Reply, Reply All, Retweet, and Quote Tweet with Menu options that will allow more. The Cascades flow didn’t makes sense to change as it is a highly anticipated built-in feature I am eager to [ab]use.

If you are guessing who those names are I’ll make it easy for you. Here’s the Wiki on them!

Wikipedia

Dieter Rams	James Dyson
Thorsten Heins	Jacob Jensen
Neil Poulton	Jonathan Ive
Naoto Fukasawa	Marcel Wanders
Sydney Jay Mead	Steve Jobs

BlackBerry Messenger or BBM…some of us swear by it because it it just that good. Correction – it’s awesome! In the revamped look it continues on the darker tone look again giving it a matured and clean feel. Some leaked reports also indicated the darker tone may save battery, I personally just prefer the dark look. It now includes Video Chat!

[Text : Even the amateur will feel like a professional. Combining the 12-megapixel resolution and a lens with a f/2.1 aperture  will mean the world to you when those moments are captured. Featuring a custom-fitted crystal optics lends with a 5x zoom, an illuminating LED flash sensor, auto-focus, stabilisation + motion blur, colour correction, focus detection, and the new Scalados Timeline lens that let's you take control.]

After thought…
On a side note: it sucks that John A again beat me to posting a render/concept of BlackBerry 10. You will notice some similarities as we both are clearly on the same creative wavelength to our design, wants, and needs. I’d say he did a bang up job except I will disagree on those hard edges. Though I do fancy the military vibe it gives off! Motorola who? Check out the original post from CrackBerry

What is Graphene? Click here for some 101

In short, Graphene is an allotrope of carbon. It is one atom thick and forms a densely packed two-dimensional honeycomb look – think of chicken wire mesh, at the atomic level. Graphene is essentially an isolated plane of graphite and many sheets of graphene stacked together form crystalline or flake graphite. Interestingly, if you stack 3 million sheets of graphene on top of each other it would yield a crystal of graphite only 1 millimeter thick. Graphene is ~200 times stronger than steel – so much so that a sheet of graphene as thin as plastic wrap could hold up an elephant.

Along with its powerful state of flexibility, strength, and durability the Graphene application also wields with it superhydropolic water resistance properties. A tight fixture on build not only avoids that mischievous and unwanted pocket-lint, but full protection from dust and the immersion of water from 15cm to 1m making this BlackBerry the first IP-67 certified. (click here for the IP chart).

On a general note, a touch screen based phone will look like many as only so much can be done and it will be said that it looks like this and that mobile (i.e. iPhone, go ahead…I’m prepared for the comments).

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