BlackBerry continues to be a struggling company

Jun 21, 2015 09:43 GMT  ·  By

In recent days, we have seen a wide variety of rumors concerning upcoming BlackBerry handsets surface online. It appears that the Canadian company is avidly trying to get back in the game and is willing to resort to a few new tricks to make sure its efforts are noticed.

We've told you that the company has a new Porsche Design model coming out, which leaked as the Oslo smartphone, and we’ve also told you about the Prague and Venice handsets.

What’s particularly interesting about these two models is that they are rumored to be coming out on the market with Android OS on board out of the box. Something which would constitute a first for the company.

Rumors of a BlackBerry phone running on Android have been circling the internet since like forever, but until now, the company has failed to produce anything along these lines.

And if you think about it for a second, it does make a lot of sense for BlackBerry to start adopting an OS that gets more consumer traction.

BlackBerry continues to have the lowest market share of all four major operating systems, and although the launch of the BlackBerry Passport has spiced things up for the company, a few months after its launch event things are starting to get dull once again.

BlackBerry seems to be willing to experiment

The introduction of BlackBerry 10, the company’s revamped operating system which was designed especially to compete with Android and iOS, was also another step forward for the phone maker. But even so, the manufacturer is gravely trailing behind giants of the industry like Apple or Samsung.

BlackBerry can’t be accused of not trying, though. The first “modern” touchscreen-style smartphone, BlackBerry Z10, and the BlackBerry Q10 are proof of that. But despite all these efforts to stay relevant, the company kept struggling in shallow waters.

So I just wonder whether an Android-powered BlackBerry would actually do any good. Woes have been pretty deep for the company, and recently word on the street claimed that Microsoft, Lenovo and Xiaomi were looking into buying BlackBerry.

This is indeed a very possible scenario and it already happened in the past to other once-glorious phone makers like Nokia, which succumbed to the savage competition in the mobile ecosystem.

Likewise, competition in the Android world is extremely stiff. Samsung has just unleashed its beastly Galaxy S6, and the Chinese manufacturers are also at it pretty strongly.

What would make an Android BlackBerry truly special?

Therefore, in order to make it into this fiercely competitive market, BlackBerry would have to come up with a really unique Android handset. Strapping its renowned physical QWERTY keyboard to this hypothetical model might be the first step.

And there might be another scenario as well - the BlackBerry Venice. This particular phone was briefly showcased at MWC 2015 during an event hosted by the company.

The BlackBerry Slider might run Android
The BlackBerry Slider might run Android
The Venice boasts a sliding form factor that hides the keyboard behind the display until it is needed. The phone is rumored to arrive with a Snapdragon 808 chipset under the hood, 3GB of RAM, 18MP snapper on the back, and a 5.4-inch QHD display (2,560 x 1,440 pixel resolution).

However, I do think that most BlackBerry fans have a deep appreciation for the physical keyboard, so if the Canadian company decides to launch an Android phone into the wild, its first model (at least) should probably come out with the iconic keyboard attached. A BlackBerry 10 launcher might also be appreciated, not to mention BlackBerry security.

With all these factors combined, BlackBerry might actually have a viable model to put on the market. I’m a bit skeptical such a phone will go on to become a hit, but it will certainly see decent sales figures.

Would you buy an Android BlackBerry?

BlackBerry might launch an Android handset (2 Images)

The mythical BerryDroid might exist after all
The BlackBerry Slider might run Android
Open gallery