BlackBerry has unveiled what is touted as its last in-house designed and developed smartphone, the KEYone. The smartphone is everything that iconic BlackBerry brand has stood for years. This includes a QWERTY keyboard and a host of security-focused features along with modern touch such as fingerprint scanner and USB Type-C port. The smartphone is priced at $549, which is approximately Rs 36,500, and goes on sale in select markets in April.
The BlackBerry KEYone appears to be a continuation to the BlackBerry Priv smartphone with a similar design though without the slider keyboard. The KEYone has a metallic frame as well as a soft textured back for easier grip. If you are still into the physical keyboard, BlackBerry has stepped up the game with what it calls ‘smart keyboard’ which allows you to program each key to bring up contacts or apps you most often use, for an example you can press B to open the browser.
You can also slide your fingers across the keyboard to navigate between homescreens and down webpages doing away with the need of an actual trackpad. You can also swipe to scroll webpages or emails. BlackBerry has also included the fingerprint scanner into the physical keyboard and as you might have predicted, the space bar doubles up as the fingerprint reader.
And as we saw in the DTEK-series, BlackBerry has continued to bake security features in the Android operating system. Running on the latest Android 7.1 Nougat out-of-the-box, the smartphone comes with BBM, BlackBerry Hub and DTEK software, which monitors OS and apps and keeps users informed about their privacy status. The software is also able to alert users when someone is using their device without their knowledge. Just like the DTEK phones, the KEYone will also get monthly Android security patches.
ALSO READ: BlackBerry Priv Android Phone Launched In India Priced At Rs. 62,990: Specifications And Features
BlackBerry KEYone specifications and features
The BlackBerry KEYone has a 4.5-inch 1620 x 1080 IPS LCD display with aspect ratio of 3:2 and pixel density 433ppi. The smartphone runs Android 7.1 and is powered by Qualcomm’s 2.5GHz Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor with Adreno 560 and 650MHz GPU along with 3GB of RAM.
The smartphone comes with 32GB built-in storage and supports up to 2TB storage via microSD. For photography enthusiasts, the smartphone has 12-megapixel rear camera with autofocus, PDAF, f/2.0, EIS, 4K video recording at 30 fps and dual tone LED flash. It is the same Sony IMX378 sensor that Google has used on Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones. It sports an 8-megapixel front facing camera featuring f2.2, 1.125um pixel size and 84-degree wide angle/field of view lens.
Connectivity options include 4G, VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2 Low Energy, NFC, 3.5mm audio jack and USB Type-C port. It is powered by a 3,505 mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 support.
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