One of the more unique features of older BlackBerry devices like the BlackBerry Bold 9900 is that it came with a track embedded into the center button. It was a clever design as it allowed users to quickly scroll through websites, photos, messages, and emails at a flick of their finger/thumb, almost like how you would scroll on a touchscreen phone.According to the rumors, BlackBerry would be reintroducing the trackpad and sure enough they have. The Canadian company has recently announced the BlackBerry Q20, an upcoming smartphone that will feature the “tool belt”, which is basically a row of buttons and the trackpad positioned above the keyboard on the phone.
The BlackBerry Q20 will be a hark back to the good old days of BlackBerry and will sport hard buttons for the Menu, Back, Send, and End functions, as well as an integrated trackpad. According to BlackBerry’s CEO, John Chen, apparently the trackpad has been one of the features BlackBerry users have been asking for. “In my first 90 days on the job, I consistently heard from our ardent BlackBerry customers that the hard buttons and trackpad are an essential part of the BlackBerry QWERTY experience, that made their BlackBerry smartphone their go-to productivity tool. I want these customers to know that we heard them, and this new smartphone will be for them.”
The full specs of the BlackBerry Q20 remain unknown but so far what we do know is that it will be crafted from premium materials, which BlackBerry believes will help with reliability and durability, along with a large battery for prolonged usage. We have no idea what the BlackBerry Q20 looks like but BlackBerry promises that the phone will be available in the second half of 2014, so presumably more information will be revealed before then.
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