The BlackBerry Priv got a price reduction on a number of carriers in Canada.
BlackBerry announced the Priv in October 2015 and released the handset in November. The device is the first Android-powered smartphone ever launched by the Canadian company. The mobile phone has top-notch features and it also has a premium price tag attached to it.
However, customers who want to snag the BlackBerry offering can get a discount if they purchase it from Canadian carriers Bell and Sasktel.
The device is on offer from Bell at $299.99 on a two-year contract. The mobile phone is also available on Bell without a contract for $799.99.
Sasktel customers can also get the Priv for $299.99 on a two-year contract. However, the carrier's website suggests that the Priv is currently out of stock online.
BlackBerry has listed the price of the unlocked Priv as $899. Other carriers have not slashed the price of the Priv. Rogers is still offering the handset for $399.99 and TELUS for $410 on a two-year contract.
The Priv has a 5.4-inch AMOLED display with 1,440 x 2,560 pixel resolution and 541 ppi. The slider handset is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor and 3 GB of RAM.
The BlackBerry device includes 32 GB of on-board storage but customers can expand the memory up to 200 GB. A 3,410 mAh battery provides juice to the Priv.
The smartphone is equipped with an 18-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2-megapixel selfie camera.
The mobile phone comes running on Android 5.1 Lollipop preinstalled. Google has already released its latest mobile operating system - Android 6.0 Marshmallow - and it has made its way to Nexus and non-Nexus devices. Customers will hope that BlackBerry releases a software update for the Priv as soon as possible.
Priv owners have access to all the apps that are available on the Google Play Store.
"With BlackBerry's patented keyboard and the full complement of applications found in Google Play, this device expands our cross-platform strategy and gives end users the best in security, privacy and productivity, with no compromises on applications," said John Chen, the CEO of BlackBerry.
The Priv has attracted many smartphone enthusiasts who had waited long to use an Android-powered BlackBerry device. The Canadian company had lost a major chunk of its mobile phone market share to rivals such as Apple, Samsung, LG and more. With Priv, BlackBerry will want to capture some of its market share.
A previous report pointed out that the BlackBerry Priv was sold out on Amazon soon after it was released, which suggests that smartphone lovers have been waiting for the device.
