The modern world of smartphones tend to favor full touchscreen models with extremely slim bezels a whole lot more compared to QWERTY models, but with the recent introduction of two new BlackBerry devices running on the BlackBerry 10 operating system, perhaps BlackBerry (previously known as RIM) is looking into the future by filing for two patents that would help hide the keys within a phone’s main body. Just how does that work? Well, look at the image above and you will have a better idea, as it more or less resembles concertinas in practice.
The concepts will pivot the relevant keys into place the moment you pull out a retractable segment of the device in order to begin typing. BlackBerry claims that this idea might just work out for both conventional smartphones in addition to the less practical design that sees keys located on opposite sides of a display, just like how the LG Doubleplay works. Will such slim phones with a keyboard built-in be part of the future? Who knows, it might just be way ahead of its time at the moment.
Filed in . Read more about BlackBerry, BlackBerry 10 and Patent.