BlackBerry Aurora running Android 7.0 Nougat has been officially announced in Indonesia. The smartphone is the first handset developed under BB Merah Putih's brand licensing agreement with BlackBerry. BlackBerry signed an exclusive deal with BB Merah Putih back in September 2016.
As far as specifications are concerned, BlackBerry Aurora is a mid-range device with a design similar to DTEK series. The smartphone features a 5.5-inch 720p HD display and is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 425 chipset. The smartphone comes with 4GB RAM and 32GB expandable storage.
"Indonesia boasts the world’s largest population of avid BlackBerry smartphone and BBM users. So it was natural that when we signed up partners to help us take BBM and smartphones to market," Alex Thurber, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Mobility Solutions for BlackBerry, said in a statement.
On the camera front, the BlackBerry Aurora is equipped with a 13MP rear camera, with phase detection autofocus and dual tone LED flash. There is also an 8MP front camera with LED flash for selfies. The smartphone houses a 3000mAh battery and uses microUSB port for charging. It is not clear whether the handset supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge technology.
The Aurora is the first BlackBerry-branded smartphone to offer dual-SIM support. The handset runs Android 7.0 Nougat based on BlackBerry's DTEK security suite and BlackBerry claims it to be the most secure version of Android ever. Under CEO John Chen, BlackBerry had stopped making phones in-house to focus on security software for mobile devices. The company has signed a similar brand-licensing deal with TCL Communication and Optiemus Infracom.
BlackBerry Aurora is priced at 3,499,000 IDR (around Rs 17,500) and is currently available for pre-order through various online e-commerce platforms. The smartphone will be available in gold, silver and black colour options.