Blackberry’s sinking product lineup has come back to the surface, thanks to a life jacket called Android. The company has announced a new product at Barcelona, which will look to revive an era when buttons on a cellphone were more than just a couple. Say hello to the new Blackberry KeyOne. Within its candy bar form, the KeyOne combines a 433 PPI, (1620 x 1080) 4.5-inch, scratch resistant touchscreen, sitting above a touch sensitive keyboard. A fingerprint sensor has been embedded into the space bar and the device comes pre-loaded with Blackberry Security Software. It has been priced at $549 (Approx Rs. 36,500). However, expect that to drop down a little whenever manufacturing starts in India.
It’s aluminium body measures 149.3 mm x 72.5 mm x 9.4 mm and weighs 180 gms. Running Android 7.1 Nougat out-of-the-box, the Blackberry KeyOne is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, 2.0 GHz, octa-core SoC, which is backed by an Adreno 506 GPU, 3GB RAM and 32GB ROM (expandble up to 2 TB via a microSD card).
The phone’s USP is the keyboard, where each key can be programmed to instantly bring up contacts and apps which are used more often. It also supports predictive texting, and allows for words to be flicked on to the screen as one types. The keypad also doubles up as a touch pad, and allows gestures to scroll through webpages or emails.
Optics include a rear facing, 12MP Sony IMX378 sensor, auto-focus large pixel camera which supports 4K video recording at 30 fps, and comes with Phase Detect Auto Focus (PDAF), Fast focus lock, HDR, f2.0, Dual Tone LED Flash, 4x digital zoom and Multi-Frame Low Light Enhancement. The front camera is an 8MP lens that gets Fixed-Focus, f2.2, 1.125um pixel size, 84˚ wide angle/field of view lens, Image & video stabilisation, 1080p HD video recording at 30 fps, Light-up LCD Flash, Wide Selfie Mode (also known as Selfie Panorama) and Multi-Frame Low Light Enhancement.
Sensors on the Blackberry KeyOne include an Accelerometer, Magnetometer, Gyroscope, Proximity sensor, and an ambient light sensor. Connectivity options include USB Type-C, NFC, Bluetooth 4.2, FM Radio, GPS, WiFi and 4G LTE. it comes loaded with a range of Blackberry and Android applications and is powered by a 3505 mAh, non-removable battery with support for Quick Charge, which refills half the battery’s power within 36 minutes of charging. The device will be available globally starting April 2017.
