BlackBerry UK confirms via a Tweet that the new BlackBerry Priv is now available to buy from the company's own website.
The BlackBerry Priv is the company's first Android-powered smartphone, which BlackBerry launched in September this year. The handset was made available in the U.S. in early November.
The slider phone has top-end specs that can attract many smartphone enthusiasts, who are looking for a secure Android device. The mobile phone features a 5.4-inch AMOLED display with 1440 x 2560 pixels resolution and 541ppi.
Under the hood is a hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor clocked at 1.8GHz and 3GB of RAM. The Priv has 32GB of internal storage with the option to expand the memory to 2TB with a microSD card.
The BlackBerry smartphone is equipped with an 18MP rear-facing and a 2MP front-facing camera. The Priv includes 3,410mAh battery that offers up to 23.9 hours of talk time and up to 17.6 days of standby time.
The Priv comes running on Android 5.1 Lollipop straight out of the box. Google has already launched its latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system (OS) and many smartphones have already started receiving a software update. BlackBerry Priv customers will hope that the handset gets the new OS at the earliest so that they can enjoy latest features of Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
Many smartphone enthusiasts across the world will want to use the first Android-powered BlackBerry device. BlackBerry has confirmed via a tweet that the handset is now available in the UK.
Great news for the UK! #PRIV is now available to buy at #ShopBlackBerry. Click for details https://t.co/4RY3iI5ToM pic.twitter.com/vkX98d1EDU
— BlackBerry (@BlackBerry) November 23, 2015
The unlocked mobile phone is available directly via BlackBerry at a price tag of £559.00 or $843 (inclusive of VAT).
CarPhoneWarehouse, a retailer in the UK, is also selling the BlackBerry Priv. Customers can get the new BlackBerry phone for £559.99 or $845 without contract and also on a pay-monthly plan with a starting tariff of £49 or $74 per month.
BlackBerry has lost a major chunk of its market share to rivals such as Apple, Samsung, LG, HTC and more. The company will hope that the BlackBerry Priv is able to entice more and more customers and turn the tides in favor of the Canadian company once again.
If BlackBerry Priv is successful, then the company may be tempted to launch more Android handsets in the near term.
