Reports on the forthcoming arrival of the long-awaited BlackBerry Priv — suggesting that it runs Google's Android and is equipped with QWERTY keyboard — have been unfurling over the Internet. Customers seem to get to see more and more of it prior to its release, with the latest uploaded YouTube video showing off the slide-out QWERTY keyboard in action.
The uploaded video starts off by convincing viewers that what they are to witness is an updated Android smartphone touting a 5.4-inch screen. However, the video's latter part shifts its focus on the phone's QWERTY keyboard.
Specs-wise, the BlackBerry Priv houses a storage of 32GB (which is expandable to 2TB), a 3GB of memory, and 18MP rear shooter as well as a 1.8GHz processor.
Price and Release Date
BlackBerry has yet to reveal the release date and the price tag for its Priv. However, one retailer in the U.K., Carphone Warehouse, has already offered pre-registration for this Android-powered slider and is presently taking reservations for the smartphone.
What we have so far is that it is £49 a month, or around $75, and that shipping will commence on Nov. 6.
BB10 Software
It is worth noting that the company is not retiring its BB10 software. In fact, it is planning to roll out an update for it in March next year. Moreover, BlackBerry is reportedly incorporating some security functionalities of BB10 into the BlackBerry Priv.
BlackBerry May Quit Smartphone Business
Recently, we delved on the possibility that BlackBerry may give up its handset business if it will not meet its goal of selling five million phones every year.
“Sometime next year we have to make our device business profitable, otherwise I have to rethink what I do there,” John Chen, BlackBerry's CEO during the Code Mobile conference on Oct. 8. “My job is to make sure the value of the company is protected and increases... Even if I’m not in the handset business, getting into providing security for Android lets us provide solutions via software.”
To achieve this goal, BlackBerry is banking on Google's Android OS as well as the Priv's marquee feature — the smartslide QWERTY keyboard —which are seen as the phone's bestselling points.
Watch the latest BlackBerry Priv's video which already made the rounds on the Web.
