14 DAY TRIAL // We're less than a month away from some very important launch events announced by Microsoft and Google, which are expected to unveil new smartphones and new versions of their mobile platforms: Windows Phone and Android.
BlackBerry, on the other hand, hasn't yet confirmed any events of its own for the end of this year, but rumor has it that the Canadian company has a few surprises for its fans in the next couple of months.
Although BlackBerry hasn't openly admitted that it's working on an Android smartphone, a slider running Google's mobile platform leaked quite a few times by now.
The said device is called BlackBerry Venice, and as mentioned earlier, it features a slider form factor. Information about the phone's specs sheet appeared online many times in the last couple of months, but some pictures of the Venice popped up as well.
However, this is the first time that we're treated with a hands-on session starring BlackBerry's unannounced slider smartphone.
BlackBerry has found a way to make a secure Android smartphone
The folks over at Android Authority have more than a dozen images showing the BlackBerry Venice, along with some tips about its design and specs.
For example, the cited source claims the Venice will feature keyboard shortcuts that should make it easier for users to create quick tasks and do other operations faster.
We can also see in one of the pictures that the smartphone packs an 18-megapixel photo snapper, but some of the parts on the back side are blurred so there's no telling if BlackBerry added a fingerprint scanner as well.
According to the source that provided these pictures, the Venice will be powered by a hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor clocked at 1.8GHz coupled with 3GB of RAM.
BlackBerry Venice seems to be ready to launch sometime in November at all major carriers in the United States. A worldwide release is expected slightly later.
