Hot off the patent drawer is a newly published patent from BlackBerry (although known as Research In Motion when filed back in Feb 2012) which shows a BlackBerry device featuring a physical keyboard which slides in and out the housing, however it’s described as a storable keyboard having angular orientations
It’s no doubt that some BlackBerry diehards still prefer the slider design BlackBerry. Personally, I’ve never really been a fan of it. However, this doesn’t stop BlackBerry from being granted a patent they filed back in Feb 2012 for what it appears to be a slider designed phone. This one, on the other hand, takes the concept a little further than just having to slide one half of the phone up to reveal the keyboard – the keyboard itself is stored underneath (or somewhat hidden, you may say) and what I’m presuming, once you push the bottom, the keyboard slides out. To further explain what exactly this means, here’s an extract taken from the documentation itself
A keyboard moves between a stored position in a housing and a deployed position. The keyboard automatically has a first angular orientation with respect to the housing when in the stored position and a second, different angular orientation with respect to the housing when in the deployed position. The first angular orientation can comprise a substantially parallel orientation between the stored keyboard and the housing. The second angular orientation can be an angle from about five degrees to about forty-five degrees between the deployed keyboard and the housing’s longitudinal axis. The apparatus can further include a tray. This tray slides in and out of the housing in order to move the keyboard between the stored position and the deployed position. One end of the keyboard can hingeably couple to the tray. The housing can include at least one slot to receive a keyboard post and guide movement of the tray.
Could this just be the rumoured BlackBerry Milan? The Z15? It’s anyone’s guess if it will ever come to life, but for now, it’s looking like a pretty intuitive design from BlackBerry.