BlackBerry New Form -Twist Flip Keyboard Coming? Patent Shows BlackBerry Twister

What do you get when you mix a BlackBerry Torch with a landscape slider like the Droid 2, a Transformer robot and a Samsung Alias twist? A new form factor for BlackBerry smartphones.

A patent filed by RIM, shows the the development of BlackBerry with a keybord that transforms from a number phone pad to a landscape QWERTY keyboard by twisting and flipping it around. We're wondering what it would be called a BlackBerry Transformer? BlackBerry Twister? BlackBerry Limbo (like the dance under the pole). BlackBerry Striker? BlackBerry Flipper? (BackFlip is already taken for an Android phone) BlackBerry MultiKey? BlackBerry CrossOver?

The patent filing, says,

"Handheld electronic devices, such as smartphones, cellular telephones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) can provide a variety of different functions in a small package. For some functions, however, such as text entry for messaging and email it may be desirable to provide a specific type of interface, such as an alphabetic keypad, which typically would have a landscape orientation (as opposed to a portrait orientation). For other functions, however, it may be more convenient for the handheld electronic device to have a different orientation. For example, when holding a handheld electronic device during a telephone call it may be more convenient for the device to not exceed a selected width so that it is easily held by the user. Thus, opposing design goals (e.g. narrow width to facilitate holding, and relatively wide alphabetic keypad to facilitate text entry) may exist when developing such a multi-functional device."

The BlackBerry Torch was RIM's first foray into portrait slider phones. The BlackBerry Storm and BlackBerry Storm 2 were touchscreen editions.

Although the BlackBerry Torch received good reviews, BlackBery fanatics loved it, but when reviewers compared it to the other high-end smartphones out, it got a "too late now."

The BlackBerry Torch was launched last week and online retailers have already reduced the price greatly. Both Amazon Wireless Beta and Wirefly
are selling the BlackBerry Torch at a special introductory price (too
low to show close to the big "C" discount) for a new contracts or
renews and upgrades.

Even with a zippy Buddy Holly song and business people on roller coasters, Ad Age suggested that BlackBerry has an uphill battle against the big screen stars.