BlackBerry-branded devices maker TCL showcased Mercury earlier this year at CES, but has remained very laconic about the latest keyboard-clad flagship since.
Mercury's full unveiling will fortunately occur at this year's Mobile World Congress late February in Barcelona, Spain. That's when the world will finally know what'll push off the placeholder name; what name will officially herald the latest BlackBerry handset, although it comes as no surprise if "Mercury" becomes a holdover.
BlackBerry Mercury To Have Google Pixel's Camera
Until that occurs, there's a brand-new rumor with Mercury, this time about the camera on its back panel, which reports say will feature the Sony IMX378 sensor, which is the same sensor used on Google's self-branded flagships, the Pixel and Pixel XL, touted by Google itself as the best camera on a smartphone — and critics agree.
If true, then the Mercury's rear camera should be configured similarly to the Pixel's at 12 megapixels, which also means that the Mercury will be able to record 4K video.
Meanwhile, the Mercury will sport cameras from both Omnivision and Samsung on the front, according to CrackBerry's report. Both cases if true pit the camera to be configured at 8 megapixels, which can also record video, but only at 1080p at 30 fps.
However, one shouldn't proceed to jump with excitement over Mercury's alleged camera features. It will still largely depend on the phone's software to truly deliver a Pixel-level — or better — camera performance that stands out. On a positive note, BlackBerry has shown improvement in its camera capabilities, scaling the camera up from the launch of the Priv over its latest DTEK60 smartphone.
BlackBerry Mercury Specs
Past leaks have suggested that the Mercury will have a 1,620 x 1,080 touchscreen, which is around 4.5-inch size. It's noticeably smaller, sure, but that's only because of the phone's physical QWERTY keyboard that doubles as a trackpad for easy scrolling inputs. It'll reportedly pack 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage, and run Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.
These specs, however, are still rumors, and anything spurned out of the rumor mill should be taken with caution, as it might end up disappointing a lot of people. The Mercury units at CES were merely preproduction units, and it stands to reason that the one to be unveiled at the MWC could lend itself to different configurations, both in terms of aesthetics and internal components.
Watch out for next month's MWC to get an official look at the Mercury. Whatever it ends up being, the BlackBerry name is still TCL's tall order to accomplish — the one responsible to make the brand relevant again. BlackBerry's smartphone lineup's market presence has waned over the years, partly because of general preference to touchscreens instead of physical QWERTY input methods, among other things, of course.
BlackBerry has now rerouted its focus to software, and TCL has taken charge of manufacturing phones under the BlackBerry branding when it inked a deal with the embattled company back in December.
TCL has since released three phones under the BlackBerry branding: the Priv, DTEK50, and DTEK60. Mercury will soon be added to the list.
Pumped for the BlackBerry Mercury? Do you think it'll reinvigorate the brand? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
