14 DAY TRIAL // The rumors regarding BlackBerry's first smartphone powered by Android operating system continue to pour in.
It's only been a couple of days since the last report claiming the company's BlackBerry Slider will run Android OS, and now it looks like another report refutes that idea completely.
The folks over at N4BB have learned that BlackBerry Slider will not be an Android-powered smartphone, or at least not the first to be launched on the market.
Instead, the Canadian company is already working on an Android device internally known as BlackBerry Prague. The Prague is a low-end, all-touch smartphone that will be launched in emerging markets (India, Indonesia, many other countries too).
It will feature the same form factor as the BlackBerry Z3, but other than that we don't have any other info on the smartphone's specs sheet.
We also don't know what version of Android the smartphone will be running, but if we are to guess, it will probably be Lollipop and certainly not Android M, especially if the Prague will be launched on the market this year.
And according to N4BB, the BlackBerry Prague will indeed be launched this year. In fact, we won't have to wait too long for the smartphone to be unveiled since the report claims it will be released in August.
There might be two Android phones in the works, not one
The cited source also reports that BlackBerry might have two Android smartphones in the works, but they only have knowledge about the Prague for the moment. Obviously, this doesn't mean that the second device doesn't exist.
It's also worth mentioning that the reasoning behind a BlackBerry smartphone powered by Android is the need of capturing as much market share as possible, especially in the emerging markets.
It's common fact that low-end smartphones have a very low profit margin, but BlackBerry wants to use Android as the catalyst behind its smartphone growth in these emerging markets where Google's OS seems to be the king.
BlackBerry might use its partnership with Foxconn to build its low-end Android smartphones, which will probably keep the profit margins reasonable.
Since we're just a few months away from the BlackBerry Prague official reveal, we expect more details on the phone to emerge online very soon, so stay tuned for more on the matter.