Blackberry

Smartphone makes go through a lot of prototypes and not all of them see the light of day naturally. Some, however, reach a point where they're almost ready to come out of the woodwork, only to be pulled back in, never to be heard from again. One such prototype is the "Ontario", which would have been the partner in crime of the BlackBerry Passport. Seeing the near final prototype, however, we can see why the company shelved the idea until it was too late.

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The phoenix metaphor is overused in a tech world where brand recycling has become commonplace, so let's just call the BlackBerry KEYone a QWERTY comeback. You'd be forgiven for dismissing it for not one but two reasons, after all. First, for packing a physical keyboard in an age where more flexible, programable touchscreen interfaces are the status-quo. Second, for its attempt at resurrecting a nameplate that long ago lost its shine.

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The BlackBerry KEYone, first revealed at Mobile World Congress back in February, is certainly interesting as far as Android devices go. As you'd expect from BlackBerry, the handset has a physical keyboard, which is sure to get some heads turning. If one of those heads belongs to you, then you might be pleased to know that BlackBerry has finally announced a release date for the phone.

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Qualcomm just can't seem to catch a break. Which is probably the price to pay for being such a successful and high-profile company. While it is still in a tug of war with Apple, it has just announced its loss to BlackBerry in a different but eerily similar case. The two companies have announced that an arbitration panel is requiring Qualcomm to pay BlackBerry $814.9 million. All because BlackBerry says it has actually overpaid Qualcomm some patent royalties.

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With all the fuss and attention being showered on the Samsung Galaxy S8, it's almost too easy to forget that there are other flagship smartphones that have yet to launch as well. Take, for example, the BlackBerry KEYone, formerly known as "Mercury", perhaps the last QWERTY BlackBerry we will be seeing in a while. Initially promised to launch this month, the company has revealed they are pushing back the date by a good month. Officially, it's to better meet the unexpectedly high demand. It probably won't hurt either that it will be steering clear of the Galaxy S8's launch as well.

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Despite all the long-running jokes about the death of BlackBerry, the company still manages to live on, even releasing the occasional new smartphone. Or, more appropriately, new smartphones are shipping with the BlackBerry name on them. It turns out the company's decision to license its name, with TCL acquiring the exclusive rights to the brand late last year, was a good one business-wise, as they've reported higher than expected profits.

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It was just a few weeks ago that TCL and BlackBerry formally launched the first BlackBerry phone of the year, the QWERTY-bearing BlackBerry KEYone. Now the second BlackBerry of the year has also broken cover, but with less fuss and fanfare. The BlackBerry Aurora claims a few “firsts”, like the first BB phone with dual SIM support. But, for many BlackBerry fans, they will probably see the Aurora as the first BB in recent times that won’t be available to the global market.

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It may seem ironic at first brush that there might actually be more BlackBerry smartphones released after BlackBerry itself decided to stop making its own smartphones. That is, of course, also an expected consequence since the production of devices is no longer dependent on BlackBerry’s capabilities. The year may have kicked off with the BlackBerry KEYone, previously the “Mercury”, but 2017 may see at least 5 new BB phones launched. One from BB Merah Putih in Indonesia, might actually be closer to launch.

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I used to be a fan of QWERTY keyboards on smartphones, but as auto-correct for on-screen keyboards improved and devices slimmed down with a focus on touch, the charm of a physical 'board faded. BlackBerry wants to bring that back, though, with the BlackBerry KeyOne, a brand new smartphone that differentiates itself from the crowd with its physical thumbboard under a touchscreen. I spent some time trying the KeyOne out here at Mobile World Congress 2017.

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BlackBerry isn't dead, and the new BlackBerry KeyOne is aiming to underscore that, not least by giving physical keyboard lovers a new fix for their addiction. Unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2017 today, the smartphone previously known as the BlackBerry Mercury has a QWERTY keyboard underneath a 4.5-inch capacitive touchscreen. Like other recent BlackBerry devices, it runs Android rather than RIM's OS, though with some primarily security and productivity-minded tweaks.

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BlackBerry may have given up on making its own smartphones, but that doesn't mean you'll never see a new BlackBerry phone ever again. At least not yet. And no, we're not referring to the still to be formally announced BlackBerry "Mercury". This is, instead, about future BlackBerry-branded smartphones not made by BlackBerry itself. Instead, these will be made by Optiemus, a manufacturer in India, who will then be selling these devices mostly in India and a few of its neighboring countries.

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The BlackBerry “Mercury”, formal name still to be announced, is going to be an interesting smartphone for various reasons. And that might not include predicted sales numbers. What could be the last QWERTY phone in a long while, it is, to some extent, BlackBerry’s farewell to the smartphone-making biz. Now it seems that the TCL-made smartphone might have yet another interesting feature. According to leakster Roland Quandt, the Mercury’s rear camera will feature the exact same sensor on the top-rating Google Pixel.

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