After being made available to only select regions on the second half of of 2017, the Blackberry KEYone Black Edition is finally available in the United States as well.
When the original version of the KEYone came out, the model sported silver-colored metal accents on its chassis. Some users might easily confuse the special version with the Space Black version of the smartphone, but the Black Edition is a limited-release handset that came with upgraded hardware.
Overall, the company confirmed during the 2018 Mobile World Congress that the regular version was well-received by consumers. This led the company to decide to make the limited version available through online retailers like Amazon for its U.S. customers.
Key Differences From The Regular Model
The regular KEYone was previously being offered by several wireless carriers and was available at several retailers. On the other hand, the Space Black version was apparently an exclusive offering from AT&T. Both of these versions of the handset are equipped with a 3 GB RAM.
The default storage size for the two versions is 32 GB. At first glance, the Space Black model looks exactly like the Black Edition. A slightly upgraded hardware gives the Black Edition however as it comes with a 64-GB flash memory.
Furthermore, the Black Edition also has a RAM bumped up to 4 GB. What presumably made it desirable other than its higher specs was the absence of bloatware and carrier branding, which is common among devices that are exclusively sold by network providers.
Availability And Detailed Features
For those interested to grab the Blackberry KEYone Black Edition, it is currently available for purchase from Best Buy and Amazon for $569.99. The company abandoned its Blackberry OS in favor of Android after financial reports consistently showed a decline in profits. The first Blackberry model that ran on Google's platform was the Priv. Unfortunately, the phone's expensive price discouraged consumers and led to poor sales.
The KEYone struck a better balance with its premium build quality and familiar form factor. The physical keyboard apparently functions as an optional touch-sensitive pad. Longtime Blackberry users reportedly felt at home with its keyboard layout, while Android users quickly adapted to its innovative interface.
Key Hardware Information
A 4.5-inch IPS LCD touchscreen with a 1620 x 1080 display resolution immediately sits on top of the physical keyboard/touchpad hybrid of the Blackberry KEYone Black Edition. A Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC with a 4 GB RAM handles its processing requirements.
Its rear-facing camera is a 12-megapixel unit with a Sony IMX378 sensor, while the front-mounted imaging sensor is an 8-megapixel module. Its generous 64 GB internal memory is expandable via a microSD card that can accommodate up to 256 GB variants.
The 3,505mAh rechargeable battery with Quick Charge 3.0 technology is built-in and the device runs on Android 7.1 Nougat by default.
