BlackBerry’s CEO has publically confirmed that the firm, which is getting out of the hardware game, will produce one more smartphone in-house – and it’s going to have a physical keyboard.
Speaking to Bloomberg TV, BlackBerry CEO John Chen said that previous promises of a ‘last dance’ BlackBerry handset would be honoured, despite the firm announcing back in September that it was going to cease manufacturing its own devices.
“We have one keyboard phone I promised people. It’s coming,” he told interviewer Emily Chang.
It’s hardly a major revelation. Rumours of a final, keyboard-sporting BlackBerry phone having been doing the rounds for a while, but at least now we know it’s not all been idle speculation.
According to the gossip mill, the device will be an Android handset – potentially even shipping with Android 7.0 Nougat – and feature an octa-core Qualcomm chipset, 3GB of RAM, a 4.5-inch Full HD display, a 3,200mAh battery, and an 18-megapixel primary camera.
Thought to be being developed under the codename ‘Mercury’, speculation points to the phone being unveiled in Q1 2017 – about 10 years after the company was at the height of its powers.
Given the various events of the last year, partying like it’s 2006 sounds pretty damn good to us.
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Will you buy BlackBerry’s final handset for old time’s sake? Share your finest member berries in the comments below.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
