BlackBerry’s upcoming slider has us in a tizzy, and there’s a good reason why
We’re really excited about BlackBerry’s upcoming smartphone, the Priv, formly known as the Venice. We’re just as surprised as you are at that statement, and we swear we haven’t lost our minds. There’s a lot of things that we’re looking forward to when the Priv finally launches this year, and we think that you should be too. Here are five reasons why we’re excited about BlackBerry’s latest smartphone:
BlackBerry knows how to make solid, performing smartphones
While BlackBerry phones have always been a butt of dinosaur jokes in the tech world, there’s no denying that the company knows how to make good phones. Their weird, square Passport was a beautifully made phone even if it did sport an unusual square-like shape. While Nokia may hold the record for tough, almost indestructible phones in the past, BlackBerry is probably a close second – we’ve seen a many a BlackBerry Curve that looked like they went through war zones that still work. Our own BlackBerry Curve is still trucking, though for the sake of our sanity we’ve retired that phone to our cabinet and have decided to embrace the future that is Android. Speaking of which…
The Priv will run Android
A common sentiment even among the tech elite here in the PH is that they’ll gladly use a BlackBerry phone if it used Android as the OS. Well, that’s not going to be a problem with the Priv – from the countless leaks and videos, it looks like the phone will sport Android Lollipop out of the box, which is a godsend for both potential buyers and previous BlackBerry users that left the ecosystem but want to go back to a BlackBerry handset. Honestly, we feel that the Passport would have sold more if only they used Android as their OS.
It has a kick-ass keyboard
There’s something that only BlackBerry is able to do well, and that’s messaging. The company was built on the bedrock of messaging, gaining fame and popularity with their BBM service before iOS and Android caught up. BlackBerry’s able to consistently deliver an amazing messaging experience primarily through the keyboards that they put on their phones, and it looks like the Priv won’t be an exception. The slide-out mechanism may be a throwback to previous designs, but BlackBerry has found a way to enhance that experience even more because the keyboard also acts like a touchpad.
It’ll be more secure than regular Android phones
Aside from that awesome physical keyboard, BlackBerry needs an edge to differentiate their Priv from the thousands of other Android smartphones that are in the market today. It’s not far-fetched to say that the Priv will be more secure than your typical Android smartphone – BlackBerry has a wealth of experience in creating secure smartphones for businesses and governments – the US government has used BlackBerry phones for the longest time, and it’s so secure that even Barack Obama regularly used one, and famously said that “I am not allowed, for security reasons, to have an iPhone.” If the leader of the free world trusts his privacy to a BlackBerry, you can bet your ass that you can too.
It’s a beautiful and powerful smartphone
Obviously a smartphone like the Priv needs to be attractive to the eye to entice customers. That’s not an issue – the Priv has a curved display, much in the same vein as Samsung’s Galaxy S6 Edge, though the one in the Priv isn’t as pronounced as the one in Samsung’s offering. It’s also set to come with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 808 hexa-core processor, a QHD display, 3GB of RAM and an 18-megapixel rear camera with OIS.
Many see BlackBerry’s Priv as a last-ditch effort to win back customers. While that still remains to be seen, if BlackBerry is able to offer this thing at a relatively decent price, they may just have a winner on their hands. The Priv is slated to launch on November in the US.
Read more about the Priv here:
