BlackBerry KEY2 LE with QWERTY keyboard announced at IFA 2018

The KEY2 remembered whereas you tend to recharge your telephone, and reminded you to plod it in when you happen to looked to have confidence forgotten. A £200 price drop for a phone that is aesthetically very similar is a potentially clever move from TCL.

TCL Communications, the company that now holds the rights to brand BlackBerry, has launched a cheaper version of its KEY2 flagship phone dubbed as BlackBerry KEY2 LE. The physical keyboard features the same changes that were made to the KEY2 (20% larger keys than the ones on the BlackBerry KEYone).

This gaming-centric mid-ranger comes with a 6.3-inch full HD display, Kirin 970 chip, 6GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, 16MP+2MP rear cameras, 16MP front camera and a 3,750mAh battery. For imaging, this smartphone bestows a 13MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash and a 5MP selfie camera. Powering the phone is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 636 processor which is paired with Adreno 509 GPU for rendering graphics. It retains most of the BlackBerry-specific features like seen in its more powerful sibling but falls short when it comes to specifications.

The phone will be available in U.S.in September.

Another feature lets users download two versions of the same app, which could be useful if someone is running a social media account for their business and wants to keep that separate from their personal one. The battery’s shrunk from 3,500mAh to 3,000mAh and the Type-C port at bottom will only deliver USB 2.0 spec data transfer speeds. Android 8.1 Oreo runs out of the box with some preinstalled Blackberry apps for security.

The Blackberry Key2 LE has been launched at a starting price of $399 which is considerably lower than its elder sibling, the Key2 which is priced at $649.

The Key2 LE is meant to build off the success of the Key2 and broaden BlackBerry’s appeal by acting as an entry point for new customers and markets. As that group is rather thoroughly represented in the comment section of all my KEY2 videos, that point resonated with me. With the cheaper version of its premium handset, TCL will be hoping to expand its market reach.

The expected announcement of BlackBerry Evolve and BlackBerry Evolve X will come on the heels of the earlier this month.

As decent as the BlackBerry Key 2 is, it’s really not worth spending $650 on when there are better phones like the OnePlus 6 that cost less.

Also new is the option to use the convenience key as a Google Assistant button; one tap to trigger, press and hold to use as a walkie-talkie or double tap to go straight to Google Lens.

IT analysts told eWEEK they think TCL Communication is making a smart move by offering a cheaper device with fewer features compared to the original KEY2 model.

It also has Firefox as the browser, which allows for truly anonymous browsing.