BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s much-awaited smartphone KEYone is set to go on sale in North America on May 31, 2017. The Android powered smartphone will be available in either a GSM-tuned version for AT&T and T-Mobile or CDMA powered for Verizon customers. Pricing starts at $550 at both Amazon and Best Buy stores.
Canadian customers will be able to purchase the device either in in-stores or online, the likes of Bell, Bell MTS, Rogers, SaskTel and TELUS having confirmed its availability. Carrier variants will start at C$200 on a two-year contract with unlocked versions going for C$720.
“This is an extremely exciting and humbling moment as we introduce a new BlackBerry smartphone to customers here in the U.S. with the launch of our BlackBerry KEYone. The KEYone is unlike any other smartphone available to consumers today, offering a premium communication experience, ensuring that our customers enjoy the security, long battery life and great functionality that have made BlackBerry mobile devices so iconic,” said Steve Cistulli, President, and General Manager, TCL.
KEYone Features
KEYone is not your typical high-end smartphone when compared to iPhone and Samsung Galaxies. However, its demand will come down to how much people want a QWERTY physical keyboard which the Canadian company and TCL are using as a key selling point in addition to some fine high-end features.
The Android-powered smartphone comes with a 4.5-inch screen packing 1620 x 1080 screen resolution. While many may argue the screen size is small the same allows the device to pack a physical keyboard as well as camera set up and speaker.
Powering the smartphone is Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor at the back of 3GB worth of RAM. Battery power stands at 3,505 mAh which should guarantee above average battery life. The rear camera packs 12 megapixels with the front facing standing at 8 megapixels. KEYone comes with 32GB worth of internal memory and will run on Android 7.1 Nougat.
It awaits to be seen if KEYone will revive old feelings about the QWERTY keyboard, especially on the DTEK series failing to live up to the hype.
BlackBerry stock was down by 4.5% in Tuesday trading session ending the day at $10.61 a share.
