Blackberry unveils an Android smartphone with iconic physical keyboard

Blackberry has officially unveiled KeyONE, android-powered smartphone with the iconic physical keyboard, at Mobile World Congress 2017.

MWC 2017 has finally kicked off at Barcelona, Spain, where renowned smartphone brands and technology companies will display their products. BlackBerry smartphones are manufactured, marketed and sold under a brand licensing agreement with TCL Communication. KeyONE, previously rumored to be called “Mercury”, has a distinct design with both touch and “physically” type functionality.

Specifications

4.5” scratch-resistant display, Strong aluminum frame, soft textured back
1620 x 1080 IPS LCD, 24-bit colour depth
8MP front camera with flash, Wide Selfie Mode (also known as Selfie Panorama)
12MP auto-focus large pixel rear camera
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Octa-Core 2.0 GHz, 64-bit Adreno 506, 650MHz GPU
3 GB RAM, 32 GB Flash
Expandable memory via hot swappable microSD memory card (Up to 2TB)
3505 mAh (typical) 4.4V non-removable Lithium-Ion battery QC3.0 Enabled 50% charge in 36 minutes
4K video recording at 30 fps
4x digital zoom
Access to over a million apps on Google Play
Fingerprint Sensor
BlackBerry Security software
Touchscreen, with touch sensitive and smart QWERTY keyboard
Volume Up/Down, Lock (for Power On/Off)
Android OS Nougat 7.1
Price $549

Blackberry was once a popular mobile phone brand but then it lost its appeal when Android and iOS devices came and ruled the smartphone market. BlackBerry’s share of the global smartphone market was almost 0% in 2016, according to a report published by Gartner. Let’s see how far KeyONE helps Blackberry regain its market share.

The device will be available from April 2017 and will be priced at €599 in Europe, £499 in the UK, and $549 in the US. The details about availability can be found here.