Google's Android operating system has made its way to the BlackBerry Priv, a first for the Canadian smartphone maker.
Initially, BlackBerry has been hesitant in using other software other than their own. However, the BB10 OS has proved to be a downfall for the company.
Android has many app developers. BlackBerry's BB10 had little to no developers at all. Since there were no apps, users were not interested in buying their phones.
Now the BlackBerry Priv is bringing together the open-sourced goodness of Android and the security of BB's DTEK software. In terms of specs, the new phone does not disappoint.
The new smartphone features a 5.4-inch QHD display with a 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution, according to Biztekmojo. Similar to the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, it also has a curved edge screen.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 808 SoC will be powering the BlackBerry Priv along with 3GB of RAM. The chip is also powerful as it comes with a hexa-core processor: two 1.8GHz cores and four 1.44GHz cores.
The new phone's internal storage capacity is set at 32GB. Users can still use an external microSD card for up to a massive 2TB storage, according to Tech2.
Staying true to BB's design, the BlackBerry Priv allows the user to use the QWERTY slider and it can also be used as a trackpad. The user can also use the on-screen keyboard when the slider is not used.
Unfortunately, the phone only runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop out of the box, according to NDTV. BB has no updates yet on whether their new phone will receive the anticipated Android 6.0 Marshmallow update in the future.
Interested users in the United Kingdom can pre-order the phone through Carphone Warehouse. There are no updates yet on when the phone will be available for pre-order as well.
There are already a great number of Android-powered smartphones on the market. Can the BlackBerry Priv stand out from the rest?
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