source : The Verge
"A full QWERTY keyboard and physical navigation keys round out the Classic's throwback design"
BlackBerry today announced the BlackBerry Classic, making official the smartphone that CEO John Chen has teased for the better part of a year.
The Classic has a throwback look, as its name alludes, with a full
QWERTY physical keyboard, physical navigation keys, and a nearly
indistinguishable design from BlackBerry smartphones from years ago,
such as the Bold. The Classic is significantly smaller than the Passport,
which BlackBerry launched earlier this year, and is actually possible
to use in one hand, unlike the gargantuan Passport. BlackBerry says this
phone will appeal to those looking for the traditional BlackBerry
experience that made those devices so popular so many years ago.
The Classic has a square, 720 x 720 pixel, 3.5-inch touchscreen
perched above the keyboard and navigation keys. It's a bit smaller than
the 4.5-inch screen on the Passport, and much smaller than the average
smartphone's display, but it makes it possible to use the Classic in one
hand and still have the physical QWERTY keyboard. The phone is powered
by an aging dual-core Qualcomm processor from 2012 paired with 2GB of
RAM. That likely won't cut it for modern mobile gaming, but it should be
fine for plowing through thousands of emails a day, which is what
BlackBerry expects Classic users to do. There's an 8-megapixel camera on
the back of the phone, with a 2-megapixel unit on the front.
The Classic runs BlackBerry 10, which offers productivity tools like
the Hub, Assistant, and Blend. It also can run Android apps, which are
accessible through the Amazon Appstore that's preloaded on the device.
BlackBerry diehards will be happy to know that the BrickBreaker game is also available on the Classic and can be played like it was on older BlackBerry smartphones.
The Classic is a very specific device for a very specific smartphone user
Appropriately, BlackBerry announced the Classic in the heart of New
York's Financial District, an area of the country where BlackBerry
smartphones are still a fairly common sight. Perhaps even more so than
the Passport, the Classic isn't a device that's going to appeal to the
mainstream smartphone consumer, but rather it's for people who like
BlackBerry devices and aren't looking to browse the web or play a lot of
games on their phones. BlackBerry hasn't been on the minds of consumers
for years, so now the company is doubling down on its core business
users, and the Classic looks like the strongest play for that field yet.
BlackBerry says the Classic is available starting today "through
local carriers around the world," and AT&T and Verizon have
confirmed they will sell the device in 2015, though carrier pricing has
yet to be announced. The Classic is also available unlocked through
BlackBerry and Amazon's online stores for $449.
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