The DTEK60, BlackBerry's next flagship phone, comes as no surprise for most, since the Android-powered smartphone has gotten its generous share of leaks of late, revealing many notable details ahead of the release.
We've now known the insides of this device, and we now know what it looks like, so what's left is its imminent release, which, according to major retailers in Canada and the United States, could be Oct. 25.
The retailers mentioned were reported to enable the placeholder listings briefly on their websites, but since the device hasn't been officially unveiled yet, preorders were out of the question. Even B&H, which put a black 32 GB BlackBerry DTEK60 for preorder at $499.99, has since taken down its listing.
This is not the first time that the BlackBerry DTEK60 has made a fleeting cameo online. The company itself accidentally published the device's full specifications, confirming the rumors to be pretty spot-on.
Next week, the smartphone is expected to inch closer to its debut, and by then, preorders could finally open up, much to the delight of BlackBerry's fans who have been waiting for the successor to the DTEK50.
MediaMarkt, a major retailer in Germany, has confirmed that the phone will be available starting Oct. 25 for €600, or about $660. In the United States, the DTEK60 was spotted with a much lower price tag.
It's uncertain if the rumored Oct. 25 release is the device's actual launch, or the device's preorder availability, shipping at later date.
The BlackBerry DTEK60 is the company's third smartphone to run Android, following the Priv and the DTEK50. It comes with a custom Android UI that features BlackBerry's customizable gesture controls and the Intelligent Touch keyboard. It'll come with the "Convenience Key," a programmable button on the device for shortcuts.
The smartphone rocks a 5.5-inch QHD display with 534 ppi. It's powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC with 4 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage. On the back of the device is a 21-megapixel shooter that supports 4K recording. On the front is an 8-megapixel shooter and a fingerprint sensor. It comes with 32 GB of internal storage, 3 GB of RAM and a 3,000 mAh battery to power it all.
It's no secret that the once-dominant phone manufacturer has struggled to keep up with its contemporaries. Touch screens have been the standard for many years now, and that spells quite a difficult fate for BlackBerry, which specializes on premium phones that rock QWERTY keyboards. It recently stopped manufacturing and designing its own phones, focusing on software instead. The company said that the DTEK60 rears them upward, staying afloat long enough to compete with smartphone heavy hitters Apple, Samsung and many others.
Expect due coverage when the BlackBerry DTEK60 hits on Oct. 25.
