Hands On: BlackBerry Classic

plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose - The BlackBerry Classic takes us back to the future

Text and Photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

BlackBerry didn't just get the band together for a farewell tour for their diminishing but rabid fanbase. The company commited substantial manpower and engineering into bringing to life a modern BlackBerry smartphone that's replete with the familiar, reliable and almost quirky feature set that users loved four of five years ago.

There's great power in nostalgia. Just ask carmarkers like VW, Mini, Fiat and even Ford, which relentlessly and successfully peddle newfangled and modernized versions of their iconic and best-selling products from yesteryear.

At first glance, many might dismiss the BlackBerry Classic as the smartphone equivalent of a "New Beetle", a new product that's riding on the reputation and the popularity of BlackBerrys iconic Bold line but which has very little in common with its famous predecessor. The truth is, there's much more to the BlackBerry Classic than meets the eye.

Click to read more ...