The last smartphone designed and engineered by BlackBerry has been launched at this year’s MWC (Mobile World Congress). The smartphone called “KEYone” comes with a smart keyboard and will be available to buy in April. The smartphone bears a price tag of $549 (approx Rs. 37,000) in the United States, GBP 499 (approx Rs. 41,500) in the United Kingdom, and EUR 599 (approx Rs. 42,200) in Europe.
To recall, BlackBerry announced last year in September that it will not be making any smartphone on its own and will be focusing on its software business instead. To know more about the announcement, visit here.
The new BlackBerry KEYone sports a 4.5-inch FHD (1620×1080 pixels) IPS LCD display and comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection. Its aluminum frame makes the smartphone more durable. It is powered by a 2GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC paired with Adreno 506 GPU. It comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB internal storage which can be expanded further up to 2TB via microSD card.
The highlight of the smartphone is its smart keyboard that sports a fingerprint sensor on the space button. The keyboard can respond to touch gestures making web browsing, reading, and writing with flick typing a much easier and interesting. You can also assign shortcuts to keys to access applications quickly such as pressing/ long-pressing “I” to access Inbox, “B” to access browser, or “M” to access Maps.
BlackBerry KEYone features 12MP auto focus large 1.55-micron pixels rear camera with Sony IMX378 sensor, PDAF (phase detection auto focus), dual tone LED flash and supports 4K recording and face detection. It also sports 8MP front facing camera with fixed focus, f/2.2 aperture, 84-degree wide angle lens, image and video stabilization, and light-up LCD flash.
It’s a single SIM smartphone packed with 3050mAh battery capable of providing one day backup. It also comes with support for Qualcomm QuickCharge 3.0 fast charging technology that gives 50 percent charge in just 35-36 minutes. It runs Android 7.0 Nougat and comes pre-loaded with company’s productivity and optimization softwares such as DTEK security monitoring app and BlackBerry Hub.
It packs standard connectivity options like Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth v4.2, NFC, GPS, FM Radio, 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB Type-C port and supports 4G LTE. Sensors on board BlackBerry KEYone include- magnetometer, gyroscope, proximity, ambient light, and hall effect. “KEYone pairs the best of BlackBerry software and security with TCL’s commitment to delivering high-quality, reliable smartphones to markets around the world,” said the company.
