We all have our own reasons for sticking with BlackBerry, and one that we hear time and again is the indispensable keyboard. A lot of converts to other platforms brush it aside, saying keyboards are overrated and out-of-style, but then a story like this pops up and reconfirms just how much we rely on those smooth QWERTY keys.

Richard Lee is a professional English footballer currently playing for Brentford as goalkeeper. There came a point in his career where he considered quitting altogether, but instead he chose to fight for his place on the team and ended up writing a book about the challenges he faced. What's unique about Richard's book, is that all 50,000 words were written on his BlackBerry Bold. In a recent interview, Richard revealed that he actually started out writing a blog for his website, but before long was 10,000 words in and had a lot more to say. You can read an excerpt from the interview after the break, where Richard goes into further detail about why he wrote the book on his BlackBerry, and why he chose that over a different type of phone. (Spoiler: It's the keyboard!)

This isn't the first time a book has been written on a BlackBerry. CrackBerry member Jessica Meigs wrote a novel on her BlackBerry as well, and even paid tribute to Kevin in the story, naming a virus after him. You can find out more about Jessica and her zombie horror series The Becoming on her blog, becomingzombies.com.

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* Update from Kevin: This is DEFINITELY one of the older pre-dakota prototypes (ie. magnum). Don't expect to be buying this exact device anytime soon (errr.. never). But something nicer and updated is in the works! *

We've been hearing the codename "Dakota" for a while now. The Bold 9000 sized, 3G, Touchscreen device with a full QWERTY keyboard that is also rumored to be using a "Liquid Lens" designed for high quality images. And now the above pic appears on Twitter followed by a second, clearer shot. showing off it's trackball / trackpad-less form factor.

Is it a Dakota? Or is it more likely that this is a Magnum prototype? Or some other prototype that got left in the trash can? Magnum was the predecessor to the Dakota, whose design was scrapped and then transitioned into Dakota. No OS details were mentioned from @cellguru, so it remains unknown if there is even an OS loaded onto it, which makes it a little difficult to say with 100% certainty what device it actually is. We were under the impression that Magnum didn't have a trackpad while Dakota did, plus the actual look and styling of this device seems a tad bit older than that of the latest generation of BlackBerry Smartphones. If it is Magnum, then hopefully we'll see some Dakota soon and that'll clarify the situation. That's all we have for now. Feel free to speculate in the comments. Hopefully some more details will turn up soon. In the meantime, what do you all think of the concept? Liking the notion of a BlackBerry that's half touchscreen, half physical keyboard?