TK Discovery – The Ultimate BlackBerry 10 Smartphone
When the upcoming BlackBerry 10 was first announced, every BlackBerry user and enthusiast became aware that not only were we going to see an amazing new OS platform but we were going to see a whole new range of BlackBerry smartphones, which would bring BlackBerry smartphones into line (and beyond) with existing high-end smartphones.
That led to a lot of designers creating what, they conceived, the ultimate BlackBerry 10 smartphone should look like. Of course the varying design concepts ranged from the mundane to the truly amazing. We even recently managed to see a design concept of a BlackBerry running Windows 8.
One design concept that caught everybody’s imagination and fell into the amazing category was the TK2 Victory by Guy Bridges, aka The DigitalHomeBoy. Guy has been hard at work improving his design concept and has now produced the TK Discovery and if you thought the TK2 had the wow factor, the TK Discovery is just phenomenal.
Without further ado, lets have a look at it.
I decided to design a full touchscreen device that uses the same innovation found in the BlackBerry PlayBook. The PlayBook is awesome, especially its size, but every which way I tried it just does not fit in my pants pocket. I wanted to bring that kind of experience and more with me all the time.
Using the same gesturing innovation brought a lot to the table on a whole. This meant a new approach to interacting and navigation. This meant that we could have a device with no front-facing buttons that would receive the wear and tear or touch-sensitive keys (haptic) that are so sensitive to the touch. This meant that when we wipe the surface there won’t be dirt trapping grooves. This means the end of pocket and butt dialling.
On deciding a size that would appeal to the many I measured 131mm to be the ideal height with the favoured 66mm width that houses a 4.3? curved Corning Gorilla Glass 2 screen bringing a beautiful smooth aesthetic look and hold while giving the whole edge-to-edge display experience.
Included on the TK Discovery, a single Power/Lock button located top center with the bottom housing the dual speakers, 3.5 jack, the microUSB and microHDMI port with the right side home to the Volume. The removal of the Play/Pause button was removed as the majority of interaction would be done on the screen
GRAPHENE
The “Wonder Material” as Graphene has been nicked-named is a composite of Graphite with properties being applied to a number of applications from water proofing (superhydropolic), rust protection, silicon replacement, batteries from electrical cars to ships back down to a small radios to even Nuclear Power (Nuclear Power has positive side to it). While Graphene continues it’s studies under the microscope in China to Manchester I believe it could play a major role in our daily lives from the products we rely on to get us through the day.
HOME SCREEN
Already knowing that the homescreen will have the similar home tiles it didn’t make too much sense to attempt to change it as it looks great and works for the most part.
Through the brief sampled views I have heard many ask how will users access the rest of the apps. I couldn’t imagine all apps having a tile so with the elimination of buttons and haptic keys I think a virtual control bar with soft keys works best.
Like the PlayBook, when in an app, you would slide-up from the bottom to minimise and access other applications. As with the same form of interaction in doing so brings immediate access to the control bar. Call access is always present with the BB Menu icon now accessing Applications, with the 6 square icon giving you access to 12 customisable Convenience applications.
MESSAGES
All Accounts function brings all accounts to be viewed under one window. Selecting an account gives a user better control and filtering options to see messages from a particular account rather than opening up Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn for an example to see all your messages independently.
To the bottom the bar presents the most common used mail functions and changes accordingly to what account you are in. So in using Twitter for an example, the bar would change to Compose, Reply, Reply All, Retweet, and Quote Tweet with Menu options that will allow more. The Cascades flow didn’t makes sense to change as it is a highly anticipated built-in feature I am eager to [ab]use.
BLACKBERRY MESSENGER (BBM)
BlackBerry Messenger or BBM…some of us swear by it because it it just that good. Correction – it’s awesome! In the revamped look it continues on the darker tone look again giving it a matured and clean feel. Some leaked reports also indicated the darker tone may save battery, I personally just prefer the dark look. It now includes Video Chat!
CAMERA
Even the amateur will feel like a professional. Combining the 12-megapixel resolution and a lens with a f/2.1 aperture will mean the world to you when those moments are captured. Featuring a custom-fitted crystal optics lends with a 5x zoom, an illuminating LED flash sensor, auto-focus, stabilisation + motion blur, colour correction, focus detection and the new Scalados Timeline lens that let’s you take control. It’s a time machine, but for your camera.
TK DISCOVERY Vs TK VICTORY
TK Discovery Specifications
| Features Overview |
| • World Phone • Dual-band GSM/CDMA | HSDPA & HSUPA | LTE | Network Support • Phone | Video Calling • Voice Dial | Voice Memo • Email | BBM | Organiser (Calendar, Memo, Task) • Predictive text input | Text messaging | Instant messaging • Browser | Adobe Flash 10.X support (Update: Flash 11.X+) | HTML 5 • Weather application integration • Social Networking integration • BlackBerry App World | Google Play integration • Front-facing and Rear cameras | Skype • HD Cameras & HD Video recording • Bluetooth v4.0 • Wi-Fi 802.11g/n | Wi-Fi 802.11ac | Wi-Fi Media controller • BlackBerry Wireless Media Server integration • Hotspot Notification • DLNA Certified® with auto-synchronisation • Tethered modem support • GPS with A-GPS Support • Digital compass with GPS software calibration • NFC Built-in | ISIS software | IrisAccess Platform | HID Global software • e-Wallet functionality • Media: Pictures | Music Player | Video Player • Swipe navigational control • Universal Search functionality • Security and encryption software government certified • Remote locate/lock/wipe with BlackBerry Protect • Passcode protection • Proximity sensor for auto turn-off • Single key device Lock/Power • 32GB Samsung Flash memory with sharing & partitioning encryption • Expandable memory (Up to 64GB microSDHC) • Memory Management Software built-in |
Dimensions & Weight
| Length | 5.15 in /131 mm |
| Width | 2.60 in / 66 mm |
| Depth | 0.36 in / 9.1 mm |
| Weight | 4.23 oz / 120 grams (with battery) |
Wireless Networks & Data
| 2G Network | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 CDMA 800 / 1900 |
|
| 3G Network | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 HSPDA 900 / 2100 CDMA2000. 1xEV-DO |
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| 4G Network | LTE 800 / 1800 / 2600 | |
| GPRS | Class 33 | |
| EDGE | Class 33 | |
| Speed | HSDPA, 45 Mbps; HSUPA, 8 Mbps | |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi Direct 802.11ac 5GHz dual-band 802.11n/ac Wi-Fi Wi-Fi Calling (Carrier-dependent) Wi-Fi (Auto-Spot) Hotspot + Notification Alert Wi-Fi Media controller WPA / WPA2 Personal and Enterprise DLNA Certified® Cisco CCX certified Support for UMA (Carrier-dependent) |
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| Bluetooth | Bluetooth® v4.1 + HS (AMP full support) Bluetooth® Stereo Audio (A2DP/AVCRP), DUN Mono/Stereo Headset, Hands free, Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP) and Serial Port Profile |
Operating System
| Version | BlackBerry 10 |
| Features | New homescreen changes, tile application access, widgets, multiple screens, vertical scrolling with elastic effect, control bar, swipe interactivity from top, sides, and bottom, new layout, smarter UI, simpler UX, cascade animations, swipe menus, more user customisations, virtual and programmable keys, tighter application integration, memory management |
CPU
| Series | Tegra 3 (Kal-El) Kal-El series |
| Processor | NVIDIA Tegra 3 Quad-core 2.2GHz Kal-El ARM Cortex MPCore with vSMP |
| Features | 230 GPU with hyper-graphics acceleration for UI, browsers, games and navigation 26 nm HPM with asynchronous symmetric multiprocessing (aSMP) to run each CPU core at its own independent clock and voltage (based on workload) Integrated Icera Multi-mode quad-core baseband chipset with full support for 4G/3G WWAN interfaces, including LTE, CDMA, GSM and UMTS Integrated Connectivity with WLAN, GPS, Bluetooth 5x CPU Performance 80% Lower power consumption |
Display
| Type | Corning® Gorilla® Glass 2 TFT Capacitive touchscreen LCD, 16M colours |
| Size | 4.3? High-resolution HQVGA 1280 x 720 pixels (~360 ppi pixel density) |
| Features | Nanosys LED backlighting enhancement, oleophobic coating, multi-touch input method |
| Sensors | Proximity sensor for auto turn-off Accelerometer with lock three-axis Gyro compass barometer |
| Message Alerts | Within notifications bar, scalable message window live on screen, font size & choice (user selectable) |
Data Input, Dedicated & Navigation
| Input | Corning® Lotus® Glass TFT Capacitive touchscreen LCD Volume/Rocker keys Lock/Power Key |
| Lock | Lock: Press once to lock/sleep |
| Power | Power: Press and hold for 2 sec. a) Restart b) Power Off c) Full Power Off d) Airplane Mode |
| Features | Intuitive long and short menus options Swipe Select navigational control Customisable home navigation control Multiple screens custimisation option Software-based Phone key Software-based Convenience key |
Notifications & Ringtones
| LED | Front: 2 LED indicators (customisable) Rear: BlackBerry logo: Illuminates when face down |
| Alert types | Vibrate, tone; MP3, WAV ringtones |
| Profile | Profile Setting Notifications (customisable) 50 Pre-loaded business and 50 themed Polyphonic ringtones Audio format for ringtones: MIDI, MP3, M4A, WMA, AMR-NB, AAC-LC/AAC+/eAAC+ |
Sound: Voice Input & Output
| Input | Active noise cancellation with dedicated microphone Integrated Hands-free Speakerphone Hands-free headset capable Bluetooth headset capable Wi-fi Calling Support (Carrier-dependent) |
| Output | Dual speaker (relocated to the side of device) Standard 3.5mm stereo headset capable |
| Misc | Rating for hearing aid: M3/T3 |
Media PlayerFormat Support
| Audio Support | MIDI, MP3, M4A, WMA, AMR-NB, AAC-LC/AAC+/eAAC+ |
| Video Support | MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile (MP4), H.263, AVI, MOV, WMV, 3Gp |
Camera & Video Recording
| Primary | 12 MP (4000 x 3000 pixels), Carl Zeiss Crystal optics, Optical sensor, autofocus, dual LED Xenon Illuminating flash (user configurable to one) |
| Secondary | Camera 1: 8 MP (3264×2448 pixels – Options to change to 3 & 5 MP), Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus Camera 2: Measures distance and ambiance |
| Features | (Primary) 1.2” sensor size, ND filter, up to 5x loseless digital zoom, autofocus, touch-select focus face and smile detection, image stabilisation + motion blur reduction, colour correction, Timeline lens |
| Video | Primary: 1080p HD @30fps, 5x loseless digital zoom, dual LED Xenon light, video stabilization, simultaneous HD video and image recording Secondary: 720p QVGA@24fps video recording |
Battery
| Battery | Standard battery, 1950 mAh Lithium-Ion |
| Stand-by | ~372 h (2G) / Up to 610 h (3G) |
| Talk time | ~10 h (2G) / Up to 8 h 30 min (3G) |
| Music playback | Up to 45 hours (continuous) |
| SAR US | 0.57 W/kg (head), 0.86 W/kg (body) |
| SAR EU | 0.37 W/kg (head), 0.87 W/kg (body) |
Credits
- Research in Motion – BlackBerry name and logo
- Rogers – Rogers Wireless Canada (name of carrier)
- DC – Superman and Batman logo and character names Lois Lane and Smallville
- Scalado
- Ashley Greene – photos
- Rapid Berry – RapidBerry.net
- Evernote
- Wallpapers: Credit to the respective creatives Source: CrispMeMag
- TK2 Victory – DigitalHomeBoy
Congrats to Guy on another fantastic design.
Doesn’t it make you look even more eager for BlackBerry 10
Now this is what I call a phone. I’m crossing my fingers and toes that the new blackberries will resemble something like this.
Great job.
Superb!
Fantastic. If the real BlackBerry 10 phones are half as good I will be happy.
This is just awesome. I loved the victory phone but this takes it one step beyond.
Where do we buy one (kidding
)