Blackberry revealed that it was going to get another smartphone to the market that had the full QWERTY keyboard that many of the loyal fans know and love. The Blackberry Q20 was revealed earlier this year, but is expecting to launch next week as the Blackberry Classic. The “Classic” part of the name was added as an omage to the QWERTY keyboard and the typical “Blackberry” design that everyone remembers from back in the day. The device is expected to be released in Canada and the United States with a price tag that reads just $449.
There will be a launch party scheduled for three different locations, including Singapore, New York City and Frankfurt, to help get the ball rolling. Blackberry needs all of the help it can get right now as the market share for the company has been steadily falling year after year due to the fact that they seem unable to keep up with companies like Samsung, Apple, LG, HTC and Sony. The smartphone niche is packed full of upgraded smartphones that barely cost $300, so the Blackberry gets overlooked a lot.
The Blackberry Classic will support GSM mobile networks and that includes ATT and T-Mobile. According to reports, US Cellular, Verizon and Sprint have announced they would not be selling the smartphone at this time. That does not mean they will not add it to the mix of smartphones later, but for now consumers will have to skip it on those networks. The overall features are not that bad as a beginner smartphone. It is powered by a 1.5GHz processor from Qualcomm, includes 2GB of RAM and up to 128GB of internal memory with the microSD card slot.
While the display is measuring less than 4-inches in size, that is something that is comfortable for loyal Blackberry users. The resolution is square at 720×720, which is also unique to the Blackberry smartphone family. The company did release a couple of all touch screen display smartphones with 5-inch displays, but they also have not been able to gain the company any market share overall.
One of the bonus features on the Blackberry Classic is the 8MP camera on the back side of the device. It can take decent photos, as well as record video in 1080p resolution, which is nice. The front side camera is a smaller, 2MP option, but that will work perfectly for that selfie you take everyday. Blackberry is falling off the face of the mobile world slowly, but there is something to say about the company that does not stop trying!