We do not remember the last time BlackBerry launched a phone
that killed the competition. The company kept repeating the same mistakes every
year, which led to a huge decline post-BBM era.
BlackBerry
launched its first Android device, after almost being forced to so as to stay
in the competition, called the Priv which
failed to make any impact in the smartphone industry. It was known for being
overpriced for the features it offered, even though the design was quite unique
and reminiscent of the older BlackBerrys.
The
Canadian manufacturer was now resorted to launching three Android-based
smartphones, hopefully by July itself. According to reports, the three
smartphones are set to be placed in the three key segments in the market right
now, to take on Samsung, LG and the major Chinese manufacturers.
The smartphones will be announced at the MobileBeat
2016 Conference to be held at San Francisco from 12th-13th July. It is one of the
conferences where there are talks by leaders and influential people, technology
keynotes, case studies and announcements.
Expected
features of the smartphones
BlackBerry
will be launching the three smartphones in the US and we hope they will be
subsequently available in India. The phones have been codenamed very uniquely –
Neon, Argon, and Mercury. The phones are expected to be made available to the
users in subsequent quarters.
Neon
It
is expected to be the first out of the three to be available to the users. The
phone will sport a 5.2-inch full-HD display, powered by a Snapdragon 617 chipset,
housing 3GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. A decently sized 2610 mAh
battery will be present in the phone.
The phone will not come with a physical keyboard, will support
QuickCharge 2.0 and sport 13MP camera with flash at the back and an 8MP camera
at the front. The smartphone will most probably be available on sale in a week
or two from official unveiling.
16GB
of internal storage should be now done away with, so if BlackBerry is offering
such low storage for its base model, it better be cheap.
Argon
The
larger of the two keyboard-less smartphones, Argon will come with a 5.5-inch
QHD touchscreen powered by Qualcomm 820 chipset, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of
internal memory. The phone will house a larger 3,000 mAh battery with
QuickCharge 3.0 for quick charging.
Argon
also has a 21MP shooter at the back along with an 8MP shooter on the front. The
phone reminds us of the Priv and it is also more like an upgrade to the Priv,
sans the physical keyboard. It will be available in the last quarter of 2016.
Mercury
This
phone will be the last installment from BlackBerry for the time being. The form
factor is expected to be different, with a large touch screen and a physical
keyboard below it. However, unlike Priv, the phone will not have a slider and
instead have a bar form factor, like the Passport.
Mercury
sports a 4.5-inch full HD display in a square-ish design like the Passport, and
houses a Snapdragon 625 chipset, coupled with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal
storage. The plus point of the smartphone is the large battery at 3400 mAh
supporting QuickCharge.
The
phone also has an 18MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera for selfies. Mercury
seems to be a revival of its flagship Passport phone, with a new operating
system. The phone will be available to consumers from Q1 2017.
Can
these three phones turn-around BlackBerry’s fate?
BlackBerry
recently reported a $670 million net loss, and while the company isn’t doing as
bad as it did in 2014, it still isn’t in a good shape.
No comments:
Post a Comment