BlackBerry had announced that it will stop designing and building smartphones and would rely on hardware partners for releasing new devices under BlackBerry brand. In December, it was official that TCL Communication will be handling all of the hardware elements of upcoming BlackBerry smartphones and BlackBerry will remain focused on software.
The company also announced that it will unveil new BlackBerry smartphone at CES 2017. Steve Cistulli, President and General Manager for TCL Communication, North America has shared couple of teaser videos of the upcoming BlackBerry smartphone.
imPRESSively designed. distinctly different. #BlackBerryMobile#CES2017 pic.twitter.com/MGvvGXOtvi
— Steve Cistulli (@SteveCistulli) January 3, 2017
One more look… #BlackBerryMobile #CES2017 pic.twitter.com/dSjVuMWd35
— Steve Cistulli (@SteveCistulli) January 4, 2017
Codenamed BlackBerry Mercury, the device press renders and live images have also been leaked online. As per the renders leaked, Mercury will be launched officially as BlackBerry DTEK70 and might be available in two colors - white and black.
Talking of design, the DTEK70 will carry forward BlackBerry's legacy of physical-QWERTY keyboard, which sits beneath its display. The device will run on Android 7.0 Nougat with BlackBerry security and software enhancements and is said to have fingerprint scanner integrated into its space bar.
On the specifications front, BlackBerry DTEK70 will feature a 4.63-inch display with 1620 x 1080 pixel resolution and 420ppi density. The device will be powered by octa-core Snapdragon 625 processor with Adreno 506 GPU and have 3GB of RAM. Other specs include 3400mAh battery and 32GB internal storage.
We will know more about the DTEK70 in couple of hours, as the BlackBerry CES event is scheduled to take place at 12:30AM IST January 5th (11AM PST January 4th).
To be updated...