Can this BlackBerry win the heart of Android fans?
BlackBerry is set to announce a new smartphone at CES 2017. TCL, the Chinese company with exclusive rights to manufacturing BlackBerry-branded handsets, has put out a new teaser video that confirms the new smartphone to feature a QWERTY keyboard. The BlackBerry Mercury has been rumoured to bring back the iconic QWERTY keyboard.
TCL has already announced that it will be bringing a breakthrough BlackBerry handset at CES, and it could be named DTEK70. The silver lining among BlackBerry handsets for decades has been the QWERTY keyboard, and TCL is aiming to revive BlackBerry by focusing on that very virtue. The rumoured BlackBerry Mercury is expected to be a candybar device, with a 4.63-inch display having an unusual resolution of 1620×1080 pixels.
imPRESSively designed. distinctly different. #BlackBerryMobile#CES2017 pic.twitter.com/MGvvGXOtvi
— Steve Cistulli (@SteveCistulli) January 3, 2017
The smartphone is rumoured to be powered by the Snapdragon 625 SoC, and Android Central notes that the device will come only with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. The BlackBerry Mercury is also expected to be the first smartphone from the Canadian company to run Android 7.0 Nougat.
BlackBerry already has a few Android smartphones commercially available, but hasn't really detailed about its Nougat upgrade plans despite promising the same at the India launch of BB DTEK50 and DTEK60. The new BlackBerry phone is also expected to focus on its own DTEK security suite, and BlackBerry Hub integrations.
With significant advancements in the virtual typing experience in the past, it is unclear how TCL will pitch the QWERTY keyboard as an essential feature. There are some who would still prefer physical keyboards, but not many may really consider it crucial while buying phones.
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