Canadian mobile phone manufacturer BlackBerry has launched its 'KEYone' Limited Edition Black smartphone in India for Rs 39,990. The device, which features the physical QWERTY keyboard in continuation with the touch screen, will be available exclusively on Amazon India from August 8.
According to company, the KEYone is especially designed for the Indian market, keeping in mind the customers’ requirements such as dual SIM. The device offers the world's most secure Android smartphone experience combined with unrivalled productivity.
"We would like to congratulate our partner, Optiemus Infracom, on the launch of the BlackBerry KEYone Limited Edition Black. We have worked closely with Optiemus to ensure that the BlackBerry experience and security are built into every layer of the device," Alex Thurber, Senior Vice President, General Manager, Mobility Solutions at BlackBerry, said.
Display
'KEYone' sports a 4.5-inch display with a resolution of 1620 x 1080 pixels with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 on top. Fingerprint sensor has been placed on the space bar. This is the first ever BlackBerry with dual SIM support in India. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 625 chip powers the smartphone.
With the device, the users can create up to 52 customised shortcuts with its touch-enabled keyboard. The device offers 4GB RAM, 64GB internal storage and supports expandable storage up to 2TB via microSD card slot.
Powered by the highly powerful and efficient Octa-Core Snapdragon 625 processor with Adreno 506 graphics, the device can run all apps and games without missing a beat.
Physical QWERTY
The USP of this device is its full-scale physical QWERTY. Unlike the Priv (company’s last QWERTY handset), the KEYone features the physical keyboard in continuation with the touch screen.
The QWERTY, just like it was in the Priv, supports touch-gestures like scrolling and Flick Typing for predictive texting. The space bar, meanwhile, gets a new fingerprint scanner up-top. The phone also comes with touch-based navigation keys.
Camera and battery
The 'KEYone Black limited' edition features the biggest ever non-removable battery in a BlackBerry device -- 3503mAh with boost-charging technology that supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0, said to charge the smartphone from 0 to 50 per cent in just 30 minutes.
'KEYone' features 12MP primary camera with Phase Detection Auto Focus, f/2.0 aperture and dual-LED flash. The device supports 4K video recording as well.
On the back, the KEYone sports a rugged material on top of metal. The BlackBerry logo graces the middle while a huge camera module with a dual-LED flash next to it, sits at the top.
Android 7.1.1 Nougat
There is also an 8MP camera with flash for selfies. It runs the latest Android 7.1.1 Nougat OS with the latest security update.
'KEYone' was introduced at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona in February this year. Optiemus Infracom owns the rights to manufacture and sell BlackBerry branded smartphones in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
