I was playing with Midjourney, the AI/photo generation service and I asked it to show me what a Samsung S23 would look like with a “BlackBerry” keyboard.
That did confuse it initially. Some of the first versions of the photos literally included some beautifully rendered blackberries (and strawberries) next to devices.
I iterated a few times and… here’s the winning design:
At a glance – from far away – this looks like something I’d like to use.
I still really do miss the physical BlackBerry Bold keyboard. I think it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had on a mobile phone. Connect that to an ultra-modern Samsung S23 and I wonder if it would be a compelling experience – for me?
Or would I just get constantly annoyed by the small screen? Probably.
But then, maybe this device is a foldable one – you just fold it open to get a dual-screen experience, right? 😉
As an intellectually wistful experience, I think it’s a good one (“do you remember the good old days?”) but I think it’s also a fascinating experience seeing how some of these generative AI tools are performing nowadays.
It’s only when you look closely at the photo that you begin to recognise how… yeah… limited it is. There’s no qwerty at all. The Samsung logo is sort-of there in the middle of the device. It looks like there’s also a small barcode at the top of the display too.
But I do like how it’s created a unique keyboard spacebar. In my mind that’s also a cursor for the screen and it’s a thumb pad for biometric identification. And.. and…
Ok back to the real world.