Slider handset will ship on Nov. 6.
By Raif Karerat
BlackBerry is throwing its hat back into the ring in a bid to reinvigorate its fortunes and began taking pre-orders Friday for its first ever Android-based smartphone, a slider handset called the Priv.
The phone, which hybridizes a touch screen and mechanical keyboard, carries a price tag of $699 and will ship on Nov. 6, according to Computerworld.
The smartphone boasts a 5.4-in. display, is curved on both sides and slides out to provide a physical keyboard. It also features a powerful 3,410 mAh battery, an 18-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front camera, and a MicroSD slot to provide up to 2TB of storage.
The Priv houses a Qualcomm 8992 processor with 64-bit, dual core and quad-core capabilities. In addition to the 2TB of external storage, it has 32GB of native flash capability.
Initially, the phone won’t have Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), which is the latest release, but will instead run Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop).
The moniker Priv is a nod to the notions of “privilege” and “privacy,” according to a blog post made by BlackBerry CEO John Chen.
“Your privacy is your privilege,” Chen wrote. “What’s unique about our Android phone is that we are collaborating with Google to bring the best of BlackBerry security and productivity to the Android ecosystem.”
While Blackberry has been a stalwart of business telecommunications for years, the company has recently struggled to keep up with competitors such as Apple and Samsung.
“BlackBerry is a new company. We have new life. And we plan to continue to surprise our customers and the industry. [Priv] is just the latest move along that path,” Chen wrote.
Blackberry’s latest quarterly earnings indicated a 33 percent jump in licensing revenue despite revenues falling to $490 million, down $916 million from last year.