This full QWERTY phone is the first CrackBerry exclusive in years!

Wow wow wow wow wow!

What you are looking for is both Date And (hopefully) the future reality. Before diving into the full details and story behind the Punkt MC01 Legend Smartphone physical qwerty keyboard, I need to set up the story first.

Just over a week ago, I named the Punkt MP02 mobile phone one of the 22 best tech things of 2022. If you’re not familiar with Punkt, they’re a Swiss tech company that’s been around for over a decade building iconic tech products. And if you’re not familiar with Punkt’s MP02, be sure to check this write-up, but the quick thing is, it’s a timeless designed phone that caters to a niche audience of individuals looking for a more streamlined phone experience. The MP02’s lack of a touchscreen and somewhat old-school T9 typing input duty YOU NEED TO USE YOUR PHONE LESS – Putting my SIM in the MP02 in 2022 provided the therapy I needed to start reducing my screen time and social scrolling addiction and getting my brain working again.

Ponkett saw my letter and apparently appreciated it and was awarded the Top 22 of 2022. Two days later the company reached out and asked for my mailing address and told me to contact them as soon as a “package” arrived.

That package landed at my door on Friday, and that’s when I opened it. And most importantly, my thumbs up, was blown away (figuratively). I was carrying a proper full QWERTY phone with physical buttons that looked and felt good Oh so true …and there was no BlackBerry logo at all.

Welcome Point MC01 legend

Following up with Punkt for details, I learned that they named the device the “MC01 Legend”. MC stands for laptop computer. The story behind the word legend It takes more discharge.

The MC01 Legend is a passport-sized phone that feels extremely comfortable in the hand, featuring a physical keyboard and a timeless design that reflects Punkt’s MP02 design language, or more specifically, its MP01 predecessor.

Digging deeper into Punkt’s history, it turns out that the MP01 and MP02 reflect the MC01’s design language, as Punkt, along with its famous design partner, Jasper Morrison, developed the MC01 concept in 2015 prior to the axle and launch of the MP01. (I’ll get into the details of this hub shortly.)

This is where the legend comes in. Speaking to Punkt founder Petter Neby, I learned that the MC01 has been on his mind for years and he still thinks about it daily. It’s a phone he desperately wants to market – both for himself and for all of us who crave a high-quality post-BlackBerry messaging phone delivered in a privacy-friendly package. Until he can do that, the MC01 remains, well… just a legend.

Improve BlackBerry Passport “at the business level” form factor

Using the prototype Punkt sent me, I can’t understand why the Legend never made it to market. As an object, it feels just right perfect in my hand. It feels just right missing the venerable BlackBerry Passport a bit. While many CrackBerry readers quite liked the “business level” look and feel of the BlackBerry Passport, I felt that ergonomics was always a bit off-putting; When holding it in your hands, the keyboard felt a little too low for your thumb to type comfortably given the dimensions and center of balance.

With the MC01 Legend’s slanted back angle, which thickens towards the top of the phone, it creates perfect balance and a resting place for your index fingers, with your thumb resting on the center of the keyboard. It’s a nice feeling. For anyone who wants a smart messaging phone with a physical keyboard and solid build quality, this phone is magic that has to happen.

The design is really timeless, and since it’s seven years old, it still looks great. With the initial intention behind this phone to run Android Marshmallow (Google’s latest Android OS at the time), the only thing dating by 2022 standards are the navigation buttons to the left of the Punkt logo, which can be thrown around thanks to BB10-like swipe gestures. Which has made its way to the latest versions of Android.

Neby also tells me there’s a “super-secure” version of the Legend hardware, with mechanical on/off sliders for the microphone, camera, and Bluetooth.

Why this phone He did not come to the market

My first question before learning the backstory of the MC01 Legend was, of course, “When can I buy it?”

The Legend is extremely comfortable in hand, with a full physical keyboard and timeless design.

As much as I loved the MP02 as a simple phone, I know I’ll like the MC01 Legend even more as an on-the-go messaging device. Obviously, the market for a phone like this will be much larger than the more niche MP02.

Punkt gave reasons why the company didn’t bring the phone to market in 2015 and why it didn’t Until nowand it boils down to two basic issues, one technical and the other philosophical, and they both relate to the same word: Android.

The two problems:

1. The technical challenge

Android does not play well with this screen size. With the (almost) vast majority of smartphones turned in portrait orientation, Android and Android apps by default couldn’t scale well to fit the screen size and ratio like the MC01 Legend could.

2. Philosophical position

Punkt is 100% against Google’s use of personal data. This specifically pertains to Android running Google Mobile Services, aka the version of Android that Google releases to phone manufacturers for a license that brings the Google Play App Store and other Google services to the operating system. When you accept the Terms and Conditions and use an Android phone with GMS, you are paying for the operating system with the data that Google collects about you. While most people might not care, Bonckt says it really is. The Company believes that, as an individual, you should own your own data and that privacy ownership of your data is your right and you should not have to give it up if you want to use a product.

While the technical challenge could be overcome with some effort and investment, Punkt came to the decision after much argument that it simply couldn’t put Android with GMS on any product that used the Punkt name and still feel good about it. This would be detrimental to the principles of the company upon which it was founded and lived by.

For these reasons, the project was put on hold, and Punkt pivoted to bring the MP01 to market with a goal In the end Getting the MC01 into the hands of users, too.

Enters interval And the avi

The MP02 is powered by a bespoke OS commissioned by Punkt, specifically for this device, known as Aphy 1. On a small phone with non-touch screen input, you can’t really get much insight into what Apostrophy is about, other than that it’s very secure and works well enough To operate the device and its basic features.

This is where the conversation with Punkt became more forward-looking and really interesting rather than just us talking about the history of the MC01 Legend.

Under the hood, Apostrophy is shaping up to be a company with much bigger ambitions. The release of Aphy in the MP02 marks some initial steps towards a full-fledged mobile operating system, known as Aphy OS.

Punkt truly believes we should own our data and is committed to user privacy.

While Punkt is a customer and early investor in Apostrophy, Apostrophy AG is a standalone company working to bring to market a new operating system that aims to be a viable alternative to Android with GMS. As carried over to me, the goal is to provide an OS experience where you can still do all the things you’d expect to do on a modern, full touch smartphone, with all the apps you could want, but delivered without any of the data-tracking and monetization ignorance that happens. When you accept the Google Terms of Service.

Apostrophy is a company based in Switzerland, that sets the stage for what this is all about. Europe has strict rules when it comes to privacy rights and data protection, and Switzerland is even stricter. In true Swiss fashion, Apostrophy aims to be neutral, in that it will provide a de facto iOS alternative where the user is put first, not their data. The company doesn’t view Android with GMS as a viable option for anyone who cares about privacy.

In many ways, our conversation about Apostrophy reminded me of the early days of BlackBerry, and Principles reminded me of many of the briefings I used to have with senior executives and product managers at Research In Motion (RIM).

put the The operating system horse before hardware shopping cart

When TCL released the BlackBerry KEYone and KEY2, a lot of BlackBerry enthusiasts bought them because of their love of the physical keyboard. However, many (maybe more) people do he did not do Buy it because the operating system was Google Android. Instead, these guys just kept hanging on to old BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10 devices with keyboards until they literally stopped working.

why? Because, like Punkt, they think Android sacrifices too much, and they don’t want Google to own all of their data. In other words, they want a BlackBerry-like commitment to privacy more than they want a physical keyboard.

Pankett told me that Apostrophy will start telling its story to the world once it’s ready to come out next year. In the meantime, you can sign up for updates on their website at Aphy.io.

Punkt plans to release a full touchscreen device running Aphy OS in 2023.

Punkt will also introduce me to the Apostrophy team, and I hope I can speak to someone and share more details soon. I’ve experimented with other mobile operating systems this year, including GrapheneOS and Lineage, so trying DeGoogle and exploring alternatives is really an area of ​​interest and a direction that I think will only grow.

Punkt aims to bring a fully touchscreen device to market running Aphy OS at the end of 2023, and the company expects it to be an operating system that other OEMs will eventually offer as well. From there, the company hopes to make the MC01 Legend a reality, once there’s an operating system they truly believe in.

After Onward Mobility crashed and burned this year and failed on its promise to bring a new BlackBerry to market, I don’t have much hope that we’ll see a BlackBerry phone again. I’m more optimistic that a company like Punkt, along with an OS like Apostrophy, might eventually deliver a keyboard phone we actually want.

Mine fingers thumbs up crossed!

Be sure to leave a comment with your thoughts on the MC01 Legend, share any questions you may have, or let me know if you’re interested in purchasing one of your own if/when it comes to market.