Blackberry and a lot of other smartphone manufacturers don’t seem to get that a clamshell or slider or other well-protected cover phone means that they’ll be able to appeal to the women’s market much, much better.

The design point for too many of today’s smartphones seems to be the men’s shirt pocket or belt loop holster. Women who are dressed for work generally have neither of these or at least their clothes tend not to be designed to carry the weight.

Clamshell and slider phones are nice because you can throw them into a purse without worrying about buttons being pressed accidentally. Yes, you can get third party sleeper magnet covers but just try finding one that fits over an extended life battery and comes in a color other than black.

Nice to see at least they are considering it even if the first attempt is pretty ugly.

As for it possibly being the next Nextel phone, I highly doubt it. I don’t see the push to talk button on the side based on the BGR pictures, and I can’t recall a Nextel phone not having an external antenna.

The design, however, rivals that of the Sony Ericsson Z600, designed with flaws even my grandmother picked out. Thats saying a lot. With phones out there designed so well (like the Samsung u740 Double-Flip) its beyond me why they would choose a design that A) Looks like something I threw through my ex-girlfriends window and B) Is designed in a way that I would probably want to go back to my Blackberry 8700!

In a nutshell, as much of a flip-phone fan I am, and always have been, there is nothing about this one that speaks to me. I wouldn’t buy it and I’m sure phone enthusiasts such as myself would refrain from purchasing it as well.

But then again thats what I said about the Razr.