Blackberry Priv : Announced
BlackBerry has taken a rather unusual approach to announcing its latest handset. It first confirmed that the Priv Android slider was real. Company CEO John Chen has taken things further, showing off the BlackBerry Priv on video to Business Network News in Canada, making it the device's first hands-on.
The video is rather candid and at least manages to escape the heavily scripted marketing approach that some may have taken, with the feel of something that was an on-the-spot decision. That's perhaps refreshing in some sense, although there's something of an awkward pause when Chen attempts to open the Chrome app, only to reveal that the handset hasn't been set-up, and then seems a little lost within this great wide world of "Google". A case of first night jitters, perhaps.
You can check out the specifications of the new BlackBerry Priv on GSMarena. Although they are unofficial at the moment. Chen confirms that "it has the latest Qualcomm specs, and the cameras and all that good stuff," which is reassuring to hear. What we learn, however, is that the keyboard supports the same sort of capacitive touch recognition as the BlackBerry Passport. That means you'll be able to run your fingers over the keyboard to navigate without having to touch the display. That's going to be great for correcting text and so on.
The BlackBerry CEO goes on to explain that "although everyone loves BlackBerry 10, there's not enough apps" something that this handset will resolve by offering the full Google play store of applications. Hopefully this is the start of something new for blackberry and an increase in sales for the first time in years.
