grinthock.com – A World Of Opinionation

Where did the innovation go at RIM?

Posted on August 17th, 2008 by grinthock.
Categories: Department of WTF, Department of rant services., RIM.

Many of my friends got “RIM Jobs” back in the 90’s.  I even remember one of them showing up at my place with this little black box…  He said it was the “Blackberry” something that you couldn’t even get yet.  It was the internet in your pocket, email and basic web.

It was a cold winter when I first visited the RIM campus, and saw the “Blackberry 950″ pictured above, it was small, pager sized, but innovative.

Specifically when we talk about innovation

- Mobitex Radio built in

- Small Form Factor

- Innovative Power Management

- Almost impossible to destroy

- Back end technology that made push email ACTUALLY WORK.

This device ran for up to 3 weeks on a single AA battery.  Yes, that’s right – 1 single 2500MAH battery would run this device for an entire week.   Part of this magic came from the innovative charging system.  The AA actually charged an onboard lithium battery, and then the handheld ran off the lithium battery in order to provide the 3V required for the unit, and a stable power supply.

Power management was something RIM spent significant time developing, they wanted a device that was reliable and ran for a long time on a standard battery.  Significant feat when you consider the device contained an 800mhz Mobitex cellular modem inside, 386 CPU, screen and ram.

One of the first handhelds of it’s time, again looking at power management a magnetic read switch turns off the display a soon as it hits the holster, a feature found in all of the RIM handhelds even today.

Form factor was key, we have all heard about the RIM vs Handspring lawsuit related to “a hand-held electronic device with a keyboard optimised for use with the thumbs.” an innovative keyboard design that worked well, provided tactile feedback, was compact but still useable, even by someone with large hands.  The form factor was the best part, to this day I wish my handheld was that small again,  give me something 950 sized, full screen, and have it split it two with a slide out keyboard.

Eventually the 957 (above) was launched, and while everyone wanted the big screen, people like myself stayed with the 950, the size was simply better, many people said they wanted the smaller size .

The 7250 (and others in the same formfactor) became quite popular, with those who longed for a device that wouldn’t cut into your side when you sat down, but still significantly larger than the Blackberry 950.  Sure these are now telephones, but the 950 formfactor could have been saved.

I think if you go back and look at some of the innovative cool things the Blackberry 950 was, you will notice some of the new ones are simply not.

This photo (above) recently posted at engadget outlined someone who apparently dropped the new blackberry “BOLD” and as you can see cracked the device.    Yet another innovation from RIM down the toilet, this is far cry from the “flying” blackberry 950 that i’ve seen fall 6 ft onto concrete, bounce 3 times down a flight of stairs, and not even have a scratch.  They knew that they had to put a bezel on the device that stopped the screen from hitting the ground,weigh the device so it lands a certain way, when it falls it lands on a certain side.

New devices are horrible, I have the “Blackberry Curve” (pictured below)

While I like this handheld, I fear it will die the same death as many of my previous blackberries, one drop and it’s time for a new device.  So I have purchased an OtterBox Defender for the Curve..

With the case above, I think my curve is closer to as durable as my Blackberry 950, but  still not there.  The size of the 950 simply won’t allow that, especially with that massive huge screen that isn’t bezelled.  I like the Otterbox, and if you end up at this article during a google search, YES, the Otterbox is great, I have one for iPhone, and the Curve, and a dozen of my friends have OtterBox’s for their Curve – we all love it and have nothing bad to say.

So what’s wrong RIM?  Batteries that don’t last, devices that hardly last a day, no durability, where’s the innovation?  It’s time to get back to your roots and build us something NEW, INNOVATIVE and GREAT.  Give me the feeling I had when I saw the 950 again, oh and Bold and the upcoming Thunder, sorry, but that’s not good enough.

Rim brought us push email in the 90’s, and that same technology is STILL in use today, and still works.   ActiveSync does not even come close to as reliable, fast and clean as the Blackberry email push system, which integrates with each step of the network.

Until something cool comes along — I’ll be here waiting…

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