BlackBerry has given everyone a surprise by launching a super-secure budget Android phone yesterday. The company announced their new model BlackBerry DTEK50 (horrible name!) on the blog. Releasing in limited markets the phone is priced at $299.
Last year, BlackBerry launched BlackBerry Priv as their first Android phone. Despite the generally positive reviews the phone failed to attract the consumers. Now in a bid to take another shot at selling Android phones the company has taken the mid-range path.
The phone itself looks like a re branded version of Alcatel Idol 4. The design and the specifications are very similar to what Alcatel sells.
It has a 5.2-inch full HD scratch resistant display. The phone is running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor with 3 GB of RAM. Internal memory is a disappointing 16 GB. Although it supports expansion through SD card up to 2 TB.
The rear camera of the phone is 13 MP with PDAF (Phase Detection Autofocus) while the front camera is 8 MP. It has the battery capacity of 2610 mAh.
BlackBerry has concentrated on software a lot. While the phone will be launching with Android Marshmallow 6.0 the company has added neat little tweaks in the phone. It has smart BlackBerry keyboard, Gestures, Quick Actions, The BlackBerry Convenience Key for launching the apps and more.
The company has even committed to the monthly security update release which is sourced from Google. This is a great step since recently Motorola denied to commit to the monthly Android security updates for their newest smartphones Moto Z and Moto Z Force.
The phone is initially launching in the U.S., Canada, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and The Netherlands. Shipping will start from 9 August.
The company's phone revenue was down by 17% last year. The reason being the failure of a costly bet like Priv. This time the company has played it safe by launching a mid-range phone by design sourced from TCL.