Blackberry, once a known name in handsets, now holds less than 1% of smartphone market. Problems with several governments regarding secure communication, lack of innovative designs, sub-par phone camera and mushroom growth of Android left Blackberry way behind in the race.
That might change with the new direction the company took. Blackberry is now coming out with a new smartphone, Venice, which will be powered by Android and would probably include iconic Blackberry softwares such as BB Messenger.
Design and Feature
The Venice has the traditional smartphone look; rectangular shape with sleek sides and touch-screen with high quality display. Charging port and probably speaker are at the bottom side of the phone. The greatest feature, however, is the sliding QWERTY keyboard. Blackberry has championed the making and use of physical keyboards that Android phones could not replicate and in last few years hardly any worthwhile Android device came with physical keyboard.
This makes not only the design attractive but also makes strong case for users who prefer QWERTY keyboard but couldn’t use it because of reliance on Android or iOS devices. This combination will be especially attractive to them as well as for Blackberry users who have either switched to Android or considering to in near future.
Rumors
There have been plenty of rumors regarding features of the phone. Leaked images show possibility of a high quality back camera, 18 Megapixel, with a 5 Megapixel front camera. It will be a major step away from previous design policy of the company where only sub-par camera was included in the phone.
The screen is estimated to be 5.4 inch QHD display, mostly found in flagship handsets, and it will be Super AMOLED. The processor was assumed to be the fastest available, but latest rumors say Snapdragon 808 is part of the package and not Snapdragon 810. It may not be the most powerful processor but it is still strong. RAM is said to be 3 GB, putting the phone at par with LG G4.
Customized Blackberry softwares are expected to be part of the handset. BB Messenger, released for non-Blackberry handsets some time ago, would be included as well as Calendar, Contacts and Assistant.
Worth buying?
So far there has been no information about its pricing. The design of the phone looks great and in no way lower in quality compared to major brands in the world. The QWERTY keyboard is a major plus point, especially in combination with Android OS, which would make life much easier for those who prefer physical keyboard rather than touch-baed.
If the pricing is right and no major bug plague the phone, Venice would definitely be a great phone to buy.
