A new BlackBerry device has just surfaced on Geekbench and, no, this is not the DTEK60. The device is dubbed "Mercury" and looks to be the successor to the BlackBerry Priv, if only for the fact that it will sport a physical QWERTY keyboard.
So how did it fare?
The answer to that question is a bit of a mixed bag because the device appears to be running Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, which places it snugly within the midrange category. However, it sports 3 GB of RAM, and this particular specification seems quite impressive for a midlevel phone.
In the single-core test, Mercury posted scores that range from 903 to 913. It got a maximum score of 5072 in the multi-core category. These figures will not really tell us much about the device because it is largely about the processor's performance.
However, the Geekbench test revealed a number of other things that seem to corroborate some of the rumors floating about this mysterious device. There is, for example, the claim that it will ship with Android Nougat. The device information contained in the Geekbench results showed that Mercury's operating system is indeed Android 7.0.
Now the validity of the leaked Geekbench test was elevated a notch higher when it revealed one critical entry: BBB100-1. This refers to the model's name, which is aligned with an emerging naming convention for BlackBerry hardware. The format change will be seen first in DTEK60, which is reportedly called BBA100-1. Mercury's hardware tag will immediately follow in the new convention.
Aside from the Geekbench information, there are also other sources that report on the Mercury. Slashgear just got told that the device will have a 4.7-inch display with 3:2 aspect ratio.
With the new Mercury device, it is increasingly confusing to read BlackBerry's announced plans. Tech Times previously reported that the company declared it would no longer make its own hardware.
Now, the market is being inundated with news of potential BlackBerry phones. Certainly, the entire business could be exasperating but it is also encouraging to the demoralized spirit of BlackBerry fans.
To be fair, the Canadian company did not entirely rule out selling other manufacturer's phones. Maybe this new Mercury is merely sourced from another party.
Also, Mercury has been floated as early as June, so we will just have to wait and see. You can certainly expect us to watch for new developments diligently. We will post updates promptly as they come.
