BlackBerry Priv
BlackBerry is on the ropes. Once the darling of the smartphone world, these days the company has been long displaced by upstarts like Apple and Google. The new BlackBerry Priv won't change that, but it's aimed at bringing the BlackBerry brand back into the limelight. And for BlackBerry apostates and the physical keyboard-curious, it'll have to. Dalliances with the Amazon app store's subset of the Android ecosystem failed to light a fire for BlackBerry, so there's a chance this might be the last gasp for the storied smartphone manufacturer.
He said this was not yet a proof of principle that scientists could indeed reconstruct the human brain, which contains 85 billion or more neurons, but that it was a first step.
Cori Bargmann, co-director of the new Kavli Neural Systems Institute at Rockefeller University, who has been intimately involved with the Brain Initiative, also a long-term research program, said the report represented an “amazing tour de force” in its accumulation of data.
But, she said, the “simulations are in their infancy,” and therefore what this means for the larger goals of reconstructing a whole brain is unclear. “They built a 747, and it’s taxiing around the runway,” she said. “I haven’t seen it fly yet, but it’s promising.”
The reconstruction that Dr. Markram envisions is a research tool that would digitally encode some characteristics of neurons and their connections that are common to all brains. It is not the futuristic dream of uploading a human personality to a computer.
To build a digital version of the portion of rat brain, researchers did not record the details of every single cell. They used the data from some cells to inform what the whole would look like. Then they simulated certain kinds of brain activity and found that the reconstruction acted like the living tissue. All the data for the reconstruction will be available for other scientists.
The report, published in Cell, a scientific journal, is one of the longest neuroscience reports ever, and several neuroscientists declined to comment before publication because of the time required to evaluate it fully.
Cori Bargmann, co-director of the new Kavli Neural Systems Institute at Rockefeller University, who has been intimately involved with the Brain Initiative, also a long-term research program, said the report represented an “amazing tour de force” in its accumulation of data.
But, she said, the “simulations are in their infancy,” and therefore what this means for the larger goals of reconstructing a whole brain is unclear. “They built a 747, and it’s taxiing around the runway,” she said. “I haven’t seen it fly yet, but it’s promising.”
The reconstruction that Dr. Markram envisions is a research tool that would digitally encode some characteristics of neurons and their connections that are common to all brains. It is not the futuristic dream of uploading a human personality to a computer.
To build a digital version of the portion of rat brain, researchers did not record the details of every single cell. They used the data from some cells to inform what the whole would look like. Then they simulated certain kinds of brain activity and found that the reconstruction acted like the living tissue. All the data for the reconstruction will be available for other scientists.
The report, published in Cell, a scientific journal, is one of the longest neuroscience reports ever, and several neuroscientists declined to comment before publication because of the time required to evaluate it fully.
Design
- 5.4-inch AMOLED display, 2,560x1,440 pixel resolution
- 5.7 (7.2 when open) by 3.04 by 0.37 inches (147/184 when open by 77.2 by 9.4 mm)
- 540 pixels per inch
- 6.77 ounces (192 grams)
OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration.
Some would say it's the 5.4-inch screen. Coated in Corning Gorilla Glass 4, it has a relatively high pixel density paired with a 1440p resolution, leaving text sharp and crisp and images looking attractive. Others might call out the signature professional BlackBerry styling. Whenever I handle a BlackBerry phone I get the distinct impression that stuff is about to get done.
Most would make an obvious nod to the keyboard itself. It's vintage BlackBerry style, backlit with a layout identical to the BlackBerry Classic. This keyboard feels a bit narrower than BlackBerry's previous efforts. Because it's a slider, the keys can't roam right up to the edge of the frame. I have fairly large hands, which means my thumbs can get a little tangled once I get up to speed while I'm typing.
I imagine spending a lot of time with the Priv's keyboard will make typing faster, and it only took a few hours before I was touch-typing with minimal effort. But I can also touch-type fairly capably on myMotorola Nexus 6, and I find I'm actually faster there (and on the Priv's touchscreen) than I am with the keyboard (with generous assistance from autocorrect, of course). It boils down to familiarity. Beyond the occasional review, my day-to-day phone experience revolves around touchscreens. I suspect it's the same for most of us.
Software and apps
- Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
- BlackBerry Hub
- Gesture controls
- BlackBerry's DTEK security software
Before you shed tears for the end of an era, take note that an Android-powered BlackBerry means access to the Google Play Store, and all of the apps therein. A lack of apps has been BlackBerry's Achilles heel for years, so this is already a great step.
But tales persist of Android malware and data leeched off of phones and over to unscrupulous foes, and BlackBerry is well aware of Android's less than savory security reputation. The company has pledged to keep the Priv secure, and will encrypt the files and sensitive information on the Priv -- anything that's encrypted never leaves your device.
BlackBerry has also committed to rolling out monthly security updates as Google discovers and addresses vulnerabilities. In cases where a vulnerability can't wait for a monthly update, BlackBerry will also be able to roll out hotfixes directly to the Priv -- the company has pledged to work with carriers on delivering updates, but also has the ability to circumvent them, and directly patch the Priv if necessary. On the enterprise level, you can turn to BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) to manage software and security deployments.
BlackBerry has also added a few light touches to the Android operating system. While I generally prefer the stock Android experience, I like the extras added here.
Widgets when you want themTurn on pop up widgets, and an ellipsis will show up under the icons of any apps with widgets. Swipe up on the icon, and the widget will show up in a temporary overlay on your screen. It'll behave like a normal widget, and then disappear when you're done with it. You're still free to use normal widgets, of course. But I find that apps like Google Keep are handy to have around, but don't necessarily need to take over an entire homescreen. This feature is a neat compromise.