U.S. carrier Verizon may have begun offering the BlackBerry Classic, but customers have another surprise in store for them: a non-camera variant of the smartphone.
On Thursday, Feb. 26, Verizon's variant of the BlackBerry Classic went up for pre-order on the network carrier's site, but the listing of a special non-camera variant of the new smartphone was unexpected.
The BlackBerry Classic Non Camera is likely targeted at people who are prohibited from using mobile phones that have a camera at work as part of company policies. Therefore, business users and employees who want a smartphone with nifty features and don't want to compromise on that account have the perfect answer in the BlackBerry Classic Non Camera.
The BlackBerry Classic Non Camera does not have both front-facing and rear-facing cameras unlike its BlackBerry Classic model. The rest of the features are all the same.
"The BlackBerry Classic Non Camera features a physical keyboard and familiar navigation keys, with the power of the BlackBerry 10 operating system," stated Verizon.
The BlackBerry Classic Non Camera sports a 3.5-inch HD LCD screen with 720 x 720 pixels resolution (294 ppi). The smartphone also touts a touchscreen with the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
Under the hood, the device houses a Qualcomm MSM 8960 processor, which is clocked at 1.5 GHz. The BlackBerry Classic Non Camera will have 2GB of RAM and 16GB of on-board memory. Users will have the option to expand the memory up to 128GB via a microSD card.
The new BlackBerry smartphone runs on the company's BlackBerry 10.3.1 OS. The BlackBerry Classic Non Camera does not have the 8MP primary camera found on sibling BlackBerry Classic. It, however, has the same 2,515 mAH battery that can support 17.2 hours of usage on GSM.
Since the BlackBerry Classic Non Camera has the camera missing, one would think that this smartphone would be priced cheaper than its sibling, but it is not. The BlackBerry Classic Non Camera and BlackBerry Classic are priced the same and cost $99.99 on a two-year contract with Verizon.
Purchasing the smartphone outright will cost $399.99. The BlackBerry Classic Non Camera can be pre-ordered on Verizon now. It will start shipping from Mar. 31.
