BlackBerry launched the PRIV, its first Android smartphone, in November of 2015 through AT&T.
BlackBerry’s first move into the Android space shipped with some capable hardware in a unique form factor with a slide out keybaord. The PRIV runs Android 5.1 and boasts a 5.4-inch Gorilla Glass 4 display, an 18MP back shooter, a 3410 mAh battery, and 32GB storage expandable to 2TB with microSD.
Last year, BlackBerry launched its very first Android smartphone. It was perhaps a sign that the company thought it needed a more widely adopted platform to have a chance of survival, or perhaps just that Android was finally secure enough to consider making hardware for. Either way, the first Google-powered BlackBerry is here at last. But it hasn’t exactly been widely available. Only shoppers in Canada, Germany, the US and the UK could get hold of one. Until today.
As the new year rolls in, BlackBerry has announced that it’s expanding availability to new countries. Now, consumers in Italy, Spain and the Netherlands can all order the BlackBerry PRIV for the first time. ShopBlackBerry sites in those countries have now been updated to include the Android-powered portait-slider.
We’re yet to see how big an impact the PRIV has had on BlackBerry’s fortunes. Over the past few years, the manufacturer has struggle to maintain relevance in a market saturated by low-end and feature-rich smartphones. Granted, those who have always enjoyed the BlackBerry OS still purchased newer devices like the Classic and Passport, but regular consumers saw no reason to continue buying them when iPhones and cheap Android devices could seemingly do more, and had many more apps available.
We’ll get a clearer picture of the PRIV’s performance over the coming quarters. Early indications are that it’s sold enough, and pleased enough customers that BlackBerry is already considering launching another Android phone with a different form factor at some point this year.
The BlackBerry PRIV has officially been on the market now for a couple of months, and is seen by many as the device which will make or break the Canadian smartphone-maker. While the first ever Android-powered BlackBerry has been available from AT&T and Verizon for a little while now, the US’ #3 carrier T-Mobile, is yet to start selling the device through its own official retail chains. That could all be about to change according to a leaked roadmap obtained by PhoneArena.
The calendar details retail launches and events T-Mobile staff need to be aware of and prepare for. The January roadmap clearly indicates that employees should be preparing for a ‘BlackBerry Venice Launch’ on January 26.
Having dealt with leaks from T-Mobile like this a lot in the past, I can say it certainly looks like the genuine article, and there’s little to suggest it’s not legitimate. But with every leak comes the usual note of caution. Plans can — and often do — change. T-Mo has been known to change things up because of leaks, or because they’re simply not ready when they thought they would be.
With T-Mobile’s recent comments on BlackBerry, it’s clear the company has a lot of time for the former smartphone giant and plans to offer its products. Following a very public fallout, the two firms finally made up when the carrier officially started selling the BlackBerry Classic a few months back. Now it seems T-Mo is willing to offer more of the manufacturer’s wares on its store shelves.
BlackBerry announced this morning that it’s pushing the first major software update to its new Android customers. The recently launched BlackBerry PRIV update weighs in at around 475MB and features a number of improvements as well as the regular security update promised by the company. Anyone who purchased their PRIV unlocked through ShopBlackberry will start to see the software update from today, while carrier-purchased PRIVs will receive the software from December 7th…
The BlackBerry PRIV has drawn both positive and negative opinions since it was officially announced earlier this fall. In fact, one could argue that there’s not a single tech enthusiast anywhere who remains completely indifferent on the first Android-powered phone from Waterloo. You’ll either love it or hate it, and it’s either the device that will save BlackBerry or a desperate last-gasp attempt at survival which confirms that it’s dead. Ask John Legere, T-Mobile‘s outspoken CEO, and he’ll tell you the company is on its way back up…
Just a short while after the oft-rumored BlackBerry Priv was made official, it appears the company is already readying its second-ever Android phone. CrackBerry today has shared images of what it claims is the BlackBerry Vienna, an Android device with an always-accessible physical keyboard.
Everyone is curious to get a glimpse of what it’s like using the first Android-powered BlackBerry. Thankfully, by downloading BlackBerry’s launcher and other custom software, you can find out, without spending several hundred dollars on a phone…
Update: The device appears to have sold out already as the Amazon listing now shows the it as unavailable.
BlackBerry’s venture into the Android marketplace has gradually been making its way into the United States via carrier stores and websites, but now the device has become available in an unlocked fashion via Amazon. The device is available on Amazon now, with free Prime shipping, for the standard $699 price tag.
Buying the Priv via Amazon offers several incentives, including free two-day shipping and, in some states, a tax-free purchase. The $699 sticker price, however, doesn’t offer any discounts over how much you’d get the device for from other retailers like AT&T, although the model sold on Amazon is unlocked.
Specifications of BlackBerry’s first Android device include Android 5.1, a 5.4-inch Gorilla Glass 4 display plus a slide-out physical keyboard, an 18MP back shooter, a 3410 mAh battery, and 32GB storage expandable to 2TB with the microSD card slot. The Priv also. of course, features a DTEK app from BlackBerry that keeps an eye on the security level of your device.
You can read our review of the BlackBerry Priv here. By no means is the device perfect, but for those who want a physical keyboards its one of the very, very few devices to offer one. Head over to Amazon to purchase the Priv now.
Meet the Blackberry Priv. And in case you’re curious, that stands for “Privilege of Privacy” thanks to its super strength data encryption. What makes this phone unique though comes from a couple of places. First off, it’s a BlackBerry phone running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and second, that physical keyboard. But before you instantly dismiss this new smartphone, let’s take a look under the hood…
Verizon has confirmed through its official Twitter handle that the BlackBerry PRIV is heading to its store shelves soon. The Portrait-slider doesn’t have a specific release date or price on VZW yet, but you can sign up to register for updates on Verizon’s store page.
[tweet https://twitter.com/VerizonNews/status/662727973351526400 align=’center’]
Verizon is the second big carrier to officially offer the PRIV for sale. It’s biggest competitor, AT&T started selling the device yesterday, getting a jump start on ‘Big Red’. It’s too early to tell how well the launch is going for the once smartphone king from Waterloo, but early reaction from tech fans has been positive.
The PRIV features a large 5.4-inch dual-curved Quad HD AMOLED display, and a hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor paired with 3GB RAM. It has 32GB of storage as standard (expandable up to 2TB), 18MP OIS-equipped camera, 4k video recording and a 2MP front facing camera. It also features the trademark physical keyboard and costs a princely $699 from BlackBerry’s online store. It’s hard to imagine that Verizon will offer it any cheaper.
BlackBerry‘s long-awaited entry in to the Android market is finally here, albeit with an already-outdated version of Google’s operating system. BlackBerry PRIV goes on sale today and runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop out of the box. Having already committed to Google’s monthly security fixes, BlackBerry has also confirmed that Marshmallow will be pushed to the new devices in 2016.
Speaking to Android Central, BlackBerry’s Global Director of Device Portfolio Planning, Gareth Hurn said that plans were to push Android 6.0 Marshmallow to the PRIV “sometime in the new year“. While those quoted words don’t give us a specific time-frame to aim for, AC’s Richard Devine was left with the impression that it would be sooner rather than later. More importantly, he was left with the clear thought that BlackBerry is serious about this foray in to the world of Android phones.
With the phone finally available for sale, it’ll be really interesting to see how the general consumer market accepts it. Will previous BlackBerry-loyalists jump onboard again now that the hardware is matched by relevant software? Or will it be the same physical QWERTY-addicted current users who use it as an excuse to jump to Android?
In the US, you can order the BlackBerry PRIV from ShopBlackBerry.com or from AT&T. In the UK, you can order on contract from Carphone Warehouse, or order direct from BlackBerry.
It seems an age has passed since the day John Chen, BlackBerry’s chief, said they’d only make an Android phone if they could make it secure. The BlackBerry PRIV is official, and is already available to pre-order. The physical QWERTY-equipped slider is the first BlackBerry to run Android and has several key features built in to ensuring that it stays secure. Security is built in to its hardware and its software. It’s no surprise then to read that the company is committed to keeping up with Google’s monthly security updates…
Blackberry’s first Android-powered smartphone, the PRIV, is coming to the United States this Friday on November 6 through AT&T. The carrier revealed that it will be the first in the US to carry the privacy and productivity focused BlackBerry. AT&T will offer the BlackBerry PRIV both online and in stores at the end of the week from $249.99 on a traditional two-year contract or from $24.67/month on a financing plan.
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BlackBerry’s PRIV handset is getting a lot of attention, and there’s many reasons for that. The most obvious is that it’s a slider phone — something that we haven’t seen on Android for quite a while. BlackBerry was known for their sliders and holding onto the physical keyboard when the rest of the industry moved on, and now they’re bringing that back in a secure package that seems to be more than decent. Many won’t bat an eye, but there are others who might notice some of its unique features.
To highlight those features and hopefully catch those potential customers, BlackBerry has uploaded a video demonstrating what the PRIV has to offer: it’s physical keyboard, BlackBerry Hub, Pop-up widgets, its curved 5.4-inch screen, and more:
The PRIV is also bringing a lot to the table for those more interested in getting great specifications. The phone has a 5.4-inch, 2560 x 1440 resolution AMOLED display at 540ppi, a Snapdragon 808 hexa-core processor, 3 GB RAM, and 32 GB of expandable storage. You’ll find an 18-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front camera, dual-LED flash, and a 3,410 mAh battery. Sadly, though, it looks like the phone is going to launch with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop.
You can pre-order the BlackBerry PRIV from the company’s website.
The BlackBerry PRIV is officially on its way after months of leaks, but despite announcing that it is coming, BlackBerry hasn’t been forthcoming about the device’s full features or spec list. Still, thanks to some recent leaks and launch of its pre-order page, we have a good idea of what to expect. The latest leak — posted to CrackBerry’s forums — shows off the purpose of the PRIV’s curved screen edges…
Ahead of the device’s release, BlackBerry today has released the Priv’s stock Android apps to the Google Play Store. The apps mostly all feature tweaks on BlackBerry’s end to give the Priv the feeling of a true BlackBerry device, but just running Android.
BlackBerry today has pushed the BlackBerry Camera, BlackBerry Launcher, BlackBerry Keyboard, and BlackBerry Services apps to the Play Store, as well as MicrosoftexFAT and DTEK. The keyboard app, for instance, includes the classic floating word suggestions that BlackBerry introduced with BB10. As you’d expect, most of these apps aren’t compatible with non-BlackBerry Priv devices, so they’re not incredibly useful at this point in time.
BlackBerry pushing its apps to the Play Store means that it will be able to quickly provide updates to its individual apps rather than having to push an entire over-the-air software update to the device to update one app. Other Android manufacturers like HTC and Motorola have also taken a similar approach.
You can view all of BlackBerry’s apps that are available on the Play Store via this link.
UPDATE: BlackBerry has pulled the US pre-order page from its online store, suggesting someone pushed the ‘go’ button a little too soon.
After launching a pre-registration page for its Android slider and subsequently starting UK pre-orders, BlackBerry today has started accepting pre-orders for the Priv in the United States. First noted by Droid-Life, the pre-orders will begin shipping on November 16th, 10 days later than pre-orders in the UK will ship.
BlackBerry has long been (and likely will be for a while) one of the most secure communication platforms on earth. There’s a reason top government bodies, financial institutes and corporations still hand BlackBerry phones out to employees. Virtually everything about the phones is secure; from hardware and device management, to software and communications. With BES12 (BlackBerry Enterprise Services), the company also worked hard to bring similar protection to Android. This development was the groundwork which lead the company to launch its very first Android smartphone, the PRIV…
BlackBerry already made the PRIV official last month, and then followed up with some of the first official images of the device posted to its blog. Not much of what the company has said up to this point though has been new, though. Even the official images it published a couple weeks ago were pretty much the same as the ones we saw four months ago.
And this new video follows in the same vein as that theme. We’ve already seen an in-depth hands-on video with the phone, we’ve seen its specs leaked what feels like a dozen times, pre-registration for the phone opened up a couple of days ago, and just earlier today pre-orders for the phone went live in the UK. I guess it’s just a pretty marketing clip…
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BlackBerry recently launched a site to give interested customers the chance to register for updates on the BlackBerry PRIV’s arrival. The QWERTY-equipped Android slider has been drawing a lot of attention for itself over recent weeks and months. Today, one retailer in the UK has exclusively opened pre-orders for the device.
Sadly, there’s no option to buy the phone SIM-free and unlocked, but Carphone Warehouse will sell it to customers on a new contract or on upgrade. Pricing starts at £49 per month for those wanting to pay nothing up front for the phone. For that plan on Vodafone, subscribers will get unlimited calls and texts plus 2GB of 4G LTE data. As far as I can see, the cheapest overall way to get the phone is on O2. By paying £79.99 up-front for the PRIV, you can get unlimited minutes and texts, plus 1GB of 4G data for £32.50 per month. You can view all the available tariff options here.
Carphone Warehouse lists the smartphone’s specifications as follows:
Interestingly, despite being available to order from a third-party retailer, BlackBerry hasn’t yet opened up pre-orders from its own online store. As far as we know, the phone isn’t available to pre-order in any other region. However, if that changes, we’ll update the post with more regional information. It’s not strange for the UK to be among the first countries to get a BlackBerry phone. In years gone by, BlackBerry has opted to launch first in the UK, sometimes even before its home country of Canada.
BlackBerry this evening has launched a pre-registration page for its oft-rumored Android slider the Priv. The registration page is merely an effort on the company’s part to gauge interest in the device before officially revealing it, but the webpage does offer up some confirmation when it comes to the specs we can expect the device to feature.
Few handsets have had the pre-release attention attained by the BlackBerry PRIV. With official (and somewhat less official) leaks dating all the way back to February, it’s safe to say we’ve been expecting this phone for a long time. It was initially teased by BlackBerry as a QWERTY-equipped slider which many assumed would be just another BlackBerry OS-powered smartphone. But that isn’t the case. The manufacturer confirmed recently that the PRIV would be a secure Android phone, and that it’ll be released soon…
One of the most hotly-anticipated handsets of this year was finally made official recently, although little was said about its internal specs. All we know (officially) is that the BlackBerry PRIV will be an Android smartphone, and it will be a portrait slider with a physical QWERTY keyboard with “flagship specs”. Apart from a couple of official press renders, and a bungled hands-on demo by the chief, BlackBerry hasn’t been keen too share all the details with us yet.
A new leak from N4BB suggests strongly that early rumors of a focus on camera performance are accurate. The 18MP camera on the back purportedly features Schneider-Kreuznach optics and can record in 4K resolution at 30fps. It can also film 1080p at 720p at both 30fps and 60fps.
Although we don’t know exactly what processor is inside the PRIV, the leak suggests that it will be a 64-bit processor. There have been rumors previously stating that it will be the Snapdragon 808 hexa-core chip, the same processor found in the LG G4, Moto X Pure and LG Nexus 5X. BlackBerry then seemingly among the many manufacturers keen to avoid the overheating Snapdragon 810.
Previous leaks showed that the software would be a customized version of Android, keeping many stock elements but adding some of BlackBerry’s own popular tools and features like the notification Hub. Another piece of software being installed is a program called BlackBerry Safeguard which shows you how secure your BlackBerry PRIV is. In it, users can manage what information apps have access to and how they’re using it, and gives you warnings if there are settings you can change to make your device more secure.
We’ve heard before that PRIV = Privacy and Privilege. Security is a big focus for BlackBerry and its enterprise services are among some of the most-trusted on the planet. In the past, BlackBerry’s chief did state that they’d only release an Android phone if they could make it secure. It seems then that it has, and that BlackBerry Safeguard is just one of the ways which the company will secure the Google-powered device.
As device launches go, the BlackBerry PRIV’s announcement has been anything but ordinary. The first teaser was at BlackBerry’s press event at MWC in February, at which point it was assumed this would just another BlackBerry 10 OS device, albeit one with a slide-out keyboard. We then learned through multiple leaks and rumors that it would be, in fact, an Android phone.
BlackBerry’s upcoming PRIV handset isn’t this year’s best kept secret. From briefly showing off the phone’s hardware at MWC back in June, to announcing its name and availability in a recent earnings press release, the Canadian tech company seemingly isn’t too concerned with the device’s secrecy. Before the announcement was made last week, we’d already seen several unofficial leaks, both photographic and video.
Last Friday, John Chen gave an BNN’s Amber Kanwar an official first look at the Android-powered BlackBerry PRIV…