RIM patent for vaguely different slider phone, new BlackBerries coming?

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I get a bit cheesed off with the number of technology patents being filed, with seemingly small variations on a similar theme.

Take the latest from Research In Motion, makers of the BlackBerry, which details a “Hybrid Portrait-Landscape Handheld Device With Trackball Navigation and Qwerty Hideaway Keyboard”.

Yes, indeed, we’ve all seen devices with keyboards that slide out from under the phone, but apparently this one is different because it’s got a trackball on it.

Woop!