Maybe the last Smartphone from the company that created the genre - Blackberry Priv

[Thomas E. S. Richter]

The latest BlackBerry Smartphone specs are out, not as impressive as many of the latests flaagship phones, but the maturity and expertise of the BlackBerry Company may have a chance to win over Android users this time.

More information about the specs can be found in the Crackberry website: http://crackberry.com/official-blackberry-priv-listings-pop-detailed-specs-and-price

The phone release date is set to November 16 and will cost arround 800 dolars.
with its 3140mAh battery, BlackBerry said the phone can hold up to 22,5 hours per charge and it's one of the most secure Android implementations yet.

[Deletive]

800 is almost 1.1k in canada nty

[ThatOneRussian]

S6 Edge with a keyboard

[Imabigmac]

Not sure what Blackberry was trying to do with this phone, they already tried the keyboard/touch combo with the Torch line up and that didn't go well. It wasn't even the phone that people said "its great but the OS sucks" it was the phone that people said sucked to use. 

 

The best blackberry if you didn't want a keyboard was the z10/30, if that phone was a secure android device it could have been pretty successful. 

[dizmo]

Eh, the website aside from price just reiterated what we already know from the pre-order page.

 

The price is going to sink this ship. I know a lot of people that were interested in this phone, but none of them will shell out that kind of coin.

Yes, the phone is absolutely packed with hardware. But come on guys. Lower the prices. Cell phones are getting a little ridiculous.

It's like OEM's think we don't notice them hiking prices far faster than inflation demands.

 

I was really considering buying one, but there's no way in hell I'm buying it for that.

 

 

800 is almost 1.1k in canada nty

$949 CDN. Right where I figured it'd be.

It's actually cheaper to buy it from Great Britain at $799 after conversion..

 

Not sure what Blackberry was trying to do with this phone, they already tried the keyboard/touch combo with the Torch line up and that didn't go well. It wasn't even the phone that people said "its great but the OS sucks" it was the phone that people said sucked to use. 

 

The best blackberry if you didn't want a keyboard was the z10/30, if that phone was a secure android device it could have been pretty successful. 

The Torch started out great but the hardware sucked. This won't have the same issues.

Really? The Z line was horrid. I hated both the 10 and the 30. They just didn't compete against what was already out.

[Bouzoo]

S6 Edge with a keyboard

 

If you want to put it like that, it's a G4, but this phone is not about specs, it's about security, and this is where both the S6 and G4 , and actually every other smartphone fail when compared to priv. So it's not just a flagship with keyboard. 

 

http://blogs.blackberry.com/2015/10/priv-is-for-private-how-blackberry-secures-the-android-platform/

[Imabigmac]

The Torch started out great but the hardware sucked. This won't have the same issues.

Really? The Z line was horrid. I hated both the 10 and the 30. They just didn't compete against what was already out.

I really think out of all blackberries the Z series had the most potential, but they weren't the greatest and had some dumb features - but the makings were all there but they was far from perfect. I guess I should have specified that. Yes it was not inventive in any real way, and would have been even less so if it ran android, however if they had have been improved slightly plus the addition of android it would stood a much greater chance of keeping long time blackberry users. My example would be the lock screen swiping gesture, but all it needed was a double tap and it would have been one of the best wakings on a device, as it brings you to a notification centre.  

[TheMcSame]

Meh, as much as I like my big screens on phones, that physical keyboard is just a turn off. It's useful in theory, but it looks too small to be of any convenience at all.

 

Also, if I'm paying $800 for a phone, I expect decent battery life. 22.5 hours isn't bad, but it isn't great either, I'd rather pay less and take an Xperia Z5 with better battery life...

[TopWargamer]

@Thomas E. S. Richter

 

Pretty please add in the specs. It just makes it easier for people. Also the Priv doesn't cost $800; it starts at $750.

 

Now with that out of the way, I think Blackberry has made a huge mistake. Don't get me wrong, the Priv looks FANTASTIC, and the spec sheet is impressive as well, but my goodness, when your company is on the brink of going out of business you can't start charging people $750 for a smartphone... Sure we wanted BB to make an Android phone, but quite frankly they're fools for pricing it that high. I would have suggested to tone down the specs a bit and aim for a starting price of $400.

 

Seriously, this is what Motorola did, and the new Moto X phones are some of the most anticipated and exciting smartphones to come out this year. They pack a huge punch and won't break the bank. Honestly, I can't see BB surviving in the Android market now unless they lower the price substantially. They're going up against players who can afford to charge that much for a phone and not have many people buy it. People like Samsung, LG, etc. make excellent phones that are quite frankly pricey, but they can afford to do that. They're allowed to risk that high starting price, because they have the money to do it. BB is directly competing against them, and they're going to lose. Even less expensive phones such as the Moto X Style/Pure, OnePlus Two, and the new Nexus phones provide a much better price to performance ratio than the Priv, and arguably a better or almost better experience. They cost almost half as much as well. Almost half!

 

Trust me, I would LOVE to be wrong about all of this, and if I am, good. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Blackberry is a fool for charging this much for a smartphone that they expect to resurrect them.

[Eroda]

i agree with that could have left everything the same but put a 5" 1080P screen and lower quality  camera and knocked some dollars off, also the black berry keyboard is like the main selling point for me. i have never liked the touch keyboards on any device ive used the BB pearl and Curve were by far a better experience for me

[AlTech]

Well TBH we have too many smart phone makers.

 

So I don't really care too much.

[Thorium19]

I really hope this works out, as I love the look of it and would happily buy one, if it wasn't for the extortionate £580 price on it and the fact I have my Z3.

[dizmo]

I really think out of all blackberries the Z series had the most potential, but they weren't the greatest and had some dumb features - but the makings were all there but they was far from perfect. I guess I should have specified that. Yes it was not inventive in any real way, and would have been even less so if it ran android, however if they had have been improved slightly plus the addition of android it would stood a much greater chance of keeping long time blackberry users. My example would be the lock screen swiping gesture, but all it needed was a double tap and it would have been one of the best wakings on a device, as it brings you to a notification centre.  

Yeah. I just remember comparing my Optimus G to my friends Z10. He had a 720p screen, I had 1080p. He had a 4.2" screen, I had a 4.7" screen yet the phones were the same size. 13mp vs 8mp. Etc, etc.

 

 

Meh, as much as I like my big screens on phones, that physical keyboard is just a turn off. It's useful in theory, but it looks too small to be of any convenience at all.

 

Also, if I'm paying $800 for a phone, I expect decent battery life. 22.5 hours isn't bad, but it isn't great either, I'd rather pay less and take an Xperia Z5 with better battery life...

The Z5 really isn't that much cheaper. It's easier hardware to manufacture, so obviously there's going to be a slight increase in price over a simple slab of metal and glass.

22.5h is just an internal rating, it'll likely fare better than the Z5 since it doesn't use the 810.

Have you ever used it? No. Have you ever used the Torch? Unlikely. It's considerably smaller, yet the keyboard was a breeze to use. Don't slight it until you've tried it.

 

 

Now with that out of the way, I think Blackberry has made a huge mistake. Don't get me wrong, the Priv looks FANTASTIC, and the spec sheet is impressive as well, but my goodness, when your company is on the brink of going out of business you can't start charging people $750 for a smartphone... Sure we wanted BB to make an Android phone, but quite frankly they're fools for pricing it that high. I would have suggested to tone down the specs a bit and aim for a starting price of $400.

 

Seriously, this is what Motorola did, and the new Moto X phones are some of the most anticipated and exciting smartphones to come out this year. They pack a huge punch and won't break the bank. Honestly, I can't see BB surviving in the Android market now unless they lower the price substantially. They're going up against players who can afford to charge that much for a phone and not have many people buy it. People like Samsung, LG, etc. make excellent phones that are quite frankly pricey, but they can afford to do that. They're allowed to risk that high starting price, because they have the money to do it. BB is directly competing against them, and they're going to lose. Even less expensive phones such as the Moto X Style/Pure, OnePlus Two, and the new Nexus phones provide a much better price to performance ratio than the Priv, and arguably a better or almost better experience. They cost almost half as much as well. Almost half!

 

Trust me, I would LOVE to be wrong about all of this, and if I am, good. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Blackberry is a fool for charging this much for a smartphone that they expect to resurrect them.

The only thing I can possibly think of for the price justification is that they're going after corporate accounts where the cost really isn't much of a factor. I think it's more of a Hail Mary; if it works, and people mass purchase, it'll be a huge influx of cash into the business. If not, they give up and move on to something else. That's likely why if you sign up for updates, there's a checkbox that says "I plan to purchase 10 or more devices on behalf of my company". Blackberry, for a huge majority of it's life was never meant for the average consumer.

 

Samsung has insane sales. That's why they can afford to price their devices high. Also, they use carrier subsidies for the most part to make their devices desirable, as well as employee incentives to sell them. They're also heavily into R&D, so they need as much revenue as they can get. I think if we saw these larger companies sales drop too far, we'd see advances slow down quite considerably. When you're bringing something to market and you're the only one I think it'd be the wrong move to price yourself too low. Don't forget, Nexus devices are likely even now partially subsidized by Google.

I agree the price is a high, but I think $699 would have made sense. Still not low, but when you're offering security, the only physical keyboard on the market, etc it's a smart move to price accordingly.

 

I think Chen's statement saying if this phone doesn't succeed Blackberry will exit the hardware market was childish. It's like the fat kid no one picks for soccer saying "ok guys, if I'm not picked first then I'm not going to play anymore!".

Well yeah. Sorry chubby, but there's a reason no one picks you first. Move along.

 

Well TBH we have too many smart phone makers.

 

So I don't really care too much.

You don't like choice?

[Whiskers]

Disappointing, at least so far. The price is too steep and as someone who owns a BlackBerry 10 device right now the Priv is a bit of a downgrade in functionality, if anything. Having complete access to all Android apps is nice and all but I value having a stable, secure and responsive OS more than I do having all the apps in the world at my disposal.

 

I'm sticking with my Z30 for quite a while yet.

[PCBjon]

I'm hoping they come out with an updated BB Passport.

[imthewalrus]

repost: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/469145-official-video-of-blackberry%E2%80%99s-android-priv-phone/