Blackberry is officially taking pre-order for the Blackberry Priv, the company's first Android-based smartphone. Blackberry Priv was first announced last month. The phone features a touchscreen, slide-out keyboard, and Blackberry's security software.
Currently, the pre-order of Blackberry Priv is only available for the US, UK, and Canada for $699, £559, and CA$899.
According to Arstechnica, the shipping of the phone will start on November 6 for the US and Canada, and in the UK the shipping will start on the second week of November.
Blackberry's decision to finally use Android platform for its new phone is likely due to the Android's highest popularity among smartphone users. The company is hopeful it might raise the company's sales.
Blackberry sales had been decreasing in recent years, prompting its CEO John Chen to declare that the company would retire if it isn't profitable in a year. The Priv's success or failure will be crucial for the company's future.
Venturebeat reported that Chen intends to marry BB10 OS with Android in the future to give its devices enterprise-level security and software within an Android user experience.
The Blackberry Priv comes with 18-megapixel main camera with the video resolutions of 2160p/30 frame per second. The secondary selfie camera is 2 megapixel.
The phone offers 5.4-inch QHD display with 2560x1440 resolution and 544 PPI density with 16,777,216 Colors.
It has Android 5.1.1 Lollipop operating system with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor. The phone also has 3GB of RAM with 32GB of expandable storage.
The Priv has 3,410 mAH battery and supports for Qualcomm's Quick Charge 2.0.
On Techvibes, Blackberry said that Priv has the authentic Blackberry keyboard, legendary security, streamlined communications and productivity combined with the wide world of Google Play store apps.
The phone packaged in an ultra-thin and ergonomically perfect design with Smartslide technology's hidden keyboard.
However, the handset will only work nicely with AT&T and T-Mobile's network.
Blackberry will also launch other Android based phones. The Blackberry Venice is said to be launched latter this year with the handset is expected to feature a QHD display, Snapdragon 808 CPU and 3GB of RAM, as well as Android at its core.
Other Blackberry's Android phone will be known as BlackBerry Passport 2 and will be available in the second quarter of 2016. It will have a Snapdragon 801 chipset, with four Krait 400 cores, running at 2.26 GHz, alongside 3GB of RAM, Adreno 330 GPU and 32GB of expandable storage.
The rear camera will use a 13-megapixel sensor while the front-facing one will use 2 megapixels.
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