14 DAY TRIAL // BlackBerry’s first Android device is no longer a fabled gadget. The Canadian company just confirmed it as the BlackBerry Priv during its Q2 financial results conference call.
And a few short hours afterwards, we could spot the BlackBerry Prev in a hands-on video, showcased by none other than the company’s CEO John Chen (as seen at BNN Canada). Well, sort of, because he clearly didn’t have a good idea of what was up with the Android slider.
He tried showing the new BlackBerry Priv in action, but it was pretty obvious he wasn’t very familiar with the new device. For instance, he kept saying that the Priv “runs Google” instead of Android. He also had trouble running Chrome on the handset, which means the unit he was showing hadn’t even been set up and probably came straight off the assembly line. Pretty amateurish for a company of the size of BlackBerry.
But in the end, it wasn’t all for naught. The official did reveal that Priv’s sliding QWERTY keyboard was capacitive, and as in the case of the Passport, users would be able to use it for gestures without actually pressing the keys per se.
BlackBerry Priv stands for privacy
Chen also highlights that the BlackBerry Priv has been built to be privacy-focused, so we can expect the slider to be one of the most secure Android devices out there, which will certainly hit a soft spot with a lot of mobile enthusiasts.
Even if Chen didn’t talk about the specs of the device, thanks to the rumor mill we already know most of them. According to the information at our disposal, the BlackBerry Priv is bound to make a debut with a 5.4-inch capacitive touchscreen display that offers support for QHD resolution (2560 x 1440 pixels).
On the inside, the slider is expected to come equipped with a hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor, like the LG G4 and soon-to-be-launched Nexus 5X.
The phone will take advantage of 3GB of RAM and an unknown quantity of built-in storage (the good news is that it will be expandable via microSD card slot). Priv will also enjoy the services of an 18MP photo snapper with autofocus, LED flash and video recording capabilities. It also appears that the phone will ship with a bunch of Microsoft apps pre-installed, including Skype and Bing.