Blackberry has just unveiled the Blackberry KEYone with physical QWERTY keyboard at the Mobile World Congress MWC 2017. KEYone is the same old Blackberry Mercury with model number DTEK70 that we have heard for a while. Also, keep in mind that Blackberry smartphones are now produced by TCL and not Blackberry itself which decided to keep themselves to developing the software only while getting rid of Hardware business. So KEYone comes from TCL.
The BlackBerry KEYone sports a 4.5 inch IPS LCD display with 1620 x 1080 resolution and a pixel density of 433 PPI and 3:2 aspect ratio. IN terms of build & design, it comes with an anodized aluminum frame with soft touch textured back. It is powered by Snapdragon 625 chipset with an Adreno 605 GPU and 3 GB RAM. In terms of camera, it comes with 12 MP camera with Sony’s IMX378 sensor (same sensor as Google Pixel) with 1.55μm pixel size, whereas on the front it features 8 MP front shooter with flash making it a great shooter for selfies.
It comes with Blackberry Smart Keyboard claimed as most advanced keyboard to date with shortcuts that can be customised for each key to instantly bring up contacts and apps you use most often. It includes flick typing to make predictive text faster with the ability to flick words onto your screen as you type. Touch navigation Responds to touch gestures like a trackpad, to quickly scroll through webpages or emails.
KEYone runs on Android Nougat 7.1 based operating system and includes BlackBerry Hub which brings messages, emails and social media accounts in one app. KEYone is backed by 3505 mAh battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 which can charge up to 50% battery in just 36 minutes.
Blackberry KEYone will be available globally in April at the price of €599/£499 GBP/$549 USD.
BlackBerry KEYone registration page have already gone live in the U.S. and Canada (U.S., Canada) )which asks interested consumers to sign-up to get first access to purchase the device. It asks details such as Name & email address and the carrier that the consumer is using. The page also asks if you are a previous Blackberry user or a new one.
Earlier:
Just few hours ahead of official launch, Blackberry had spilled the beans for Blackberry KEYone (Mercury) by listing it officially on its portal revealing all the specifications, design & build of the device including the name i.e KEYone for the Mercury (code name) smartphone, though listing was pulled out soon once it got discovered.
Here is the technical specifications of Blackberry KEYone (Mercury):
- Display : 4.5inch IPS LCD , 1620 x 1080 resolution (433 PPI)
- CPU : Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Octa-Core 2.0 GHz w/ 64-bit Adreno 506 GPU
- Storage : 32 GB + microSD card support up to 2TB
- RAM : 3 GB
- Camera : 12 MP auto-focus large pixel rear camera, Sony IMX 378 Sensor (same one in the Pixel) and 8 MP front shooter with flash
- Battery : 3505 mAh with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0
- OS : Android 7.1
