The Blackberry Priv is essentially a done-deal apparently, with UK based retailer Carphone Warehouse listing the phone for pre-order for £49 per month.
The phone can be pre-ordered, in black only, but no release date has been announced as yet. Carphone Warehouse is claiming exclusivity in the UK apparently and will be at the High Street Store.
There’s a pre-order page, which includes the hard specs for the phone in a little more detail than we saw on the official blackberry page. The Priv will of course feature a curved 5.4″ display similar to the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge series of phones.
Blackberry Priv Specs:
- 5.4″ QHD (2560×1440) resolution AMOLED display (540ppi)
- 1.8GHz dual core + 1.44GHz quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor
- 3GB RAM
- 32GB on-board storage with microSD Card support up to 2TB
- 18MP Schneider-Kreuznach certified rear camera with Dual LED Flash
- 2MP Front facing camera
- Quad band 4G
- Built-in speaker
- Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with DTEK by Blackberry
- 147(184 opened)x 77.2 x 9.4 mm @ 192grams
- 3410 mAh battery
The phone comes with a hands-on video from Carphone Warehouse, and is discussed in a bit more detail on their ‘Lowdown’ site. The video discusses the specs and touches on the software which is obviously Android, but runs Blackberry’s privacy focused software ‘DTEK’ which is described as a ‘warning system app to provide you with the power of privacy’.
An interesting tidbit from the video shows that you can use a soft keyboard if you choose not to extend the physical keyboard.
No official announcement has been made by Blackberry at this time, but with pre-orders being taken in the UK, it appears that the phone may be going world-wide, meaning we may have the phone show up here at some stage.
Wonder how robust the key board slider circuitry is..
I loved my G1 keyboard, I could feel the keys, and would never have to look at it when typing.
Having said that, it was a big keyboard, because it was landscape, and the phone had a small screen, so the virtual keyboard was horrible.
So, will this portrait keyboard feel as big as an improvement over the virtual one. I don’t think so. So, would I use it. I honestly don’t know.
Damn… I would definitely like to see some reviews of this phone! I’ve already pre-ordered my Z5 from Sony, but I long for the days of a physical keyboard again!
Why do you think s physical keyboard may be better? I’m so used to soft keyboards now I’m not so sure. Is it because of less errors?
Yes, definitely less errors. I’ve hated auto-correct ever since touchscreens were enabled. I’d rather be in full control with what I type because it’s still around 80-90% accurate for me using Flow on SwiftKey.
Also, way way way faster with the physical tactile response.
I have no idea whether a real keyboard would be better or worse than a virtual one now.