BlackBerry announces KEYone, with Pixel’s camera sensor

Starting with the design, BlackBerry went with a pretty minimal but cluttery look, if you will, as the combination of sensors and the physical keyboard make the front look busy while the rear looks like your typical BB-branded handset.

The Waterloo, Ont. -based firm played a role in developing the KEYone, named for the return of the QWERTY keyboard that other smartphone designers have mostly long retired.

The BlackBerry KeyOne is priced at $549 in the USA, €599 in Europe, and £499 in the UK.

The device, which is produced by Chinese-manufacturer TCL and was formerly known as the Mercury, is distinctly BlackBerry. And what screams that there is a new smartphone on the way more than an official product video?

The earlier launched TCL made Blackberry smartphones are just the rebranded variants of the Alcatel smartphones.

Despite running Google’s OS, though, the KeyOne retains plenty of BlackBerry’s own software features.

The KEYone is a phone created with hardcore fans of Blackberry in mind. The KEYone has an aluminum casing with a textured back panel. The 4.5-inch LCD has a 3:2 aspect ratio and resolution of 1620 x 1080, meaning it’s as sharp as it needs to be. But, let’s have them below in a small list in case you are interested to find more about the Blackberry Mercury / KEYone. The device’s Smart Keyboard responds to touch gestures mimicking the heritage of the BlackBerry trackpad making web browsing, reading emails and writing messages with flick typing a much smoother and intuitive experience.

The BlackBerry KEYOne’s keys can trigger shortcuts.You can also assign shortcuts to each letter key, for example pressing “M” to launch your email program. And there’s more! According to the company the fingerprint sensor is integrated into the keyboard. The interface is very similar to that of stock Android, albeit a few Blackberry additions that target organization, security and productivity.

That physical keyboard is a BlackBerry trademark. Everyone like to use Blackberry for its secure and encryption it provides.

The USP of the BlackBerry KEYone, as largely expected, is its full-scale physical QWERTY. While it’s not the most high-end device around, its specs should be enough to handle most anything you throw at it, and it’s great to see that it’s coming preloaded with Android 7.1, which is now only available on Nexus and Pixel phones.

The KEYone is a distinct and gorgeous device.

The BlackBerry KEYone is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 625 chipset, clocked at 2.0 GHz and coupled with a 64-bit Adreno 605 GPU. With the 625 SoC in sync, the KeyOne should unquestionably be able to generate an impressive battery life. It’s the kind of feature that should come in handy when you’ve got 15 minutes or less to boost your battery power.

“We are proud to be working with TCL on the BlackBerry KEYone”, said Enrico Salvatori, senior vice president and president, Qualcomm EMEA. What they don’t mention as frequently is that this is within the context of doing these things well as a BlackBerry, which really does limit the KeyOne’s marketability, yet simultaneously constitutes its biggest strength. The rear camera can record 4K videos. With a large pixel size (1.55μm) and Phase Detect Auto Focus, moments captured on the BlackBerry KEYone will be ultra crisp and clear. Up front, there’s an 8MP front-facing camera with a f/2.2 aperture.

Stay tuned to GizBot for more updates! “Selling significant volumes of smartphones will be a challenge for TCL, because BlackBerry’s sales unit volumes in recent years have addressed other audiences”, Fogg explained. This means that it does not only serve the objective of typing, it can also be used as a trackpad. Quick Charge is a trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated.