BlackBerry Priv, the Canadian smartphone manufacturer's first-ever Android-powered smartphone, has been launched in India today with a price tag of Rs. 62,990. The smartphone will be available in India from January 30 in Black colour from BlackBerry authorised resellers and stores as well as from Amazon.in e-retail store.
The BlackBerry Priv runs Android 5.1 Lollipop, but the company says that it will soon start seeding Android 6.0 Marshmallow update. It features a 5.4-inch curved edge AMOLED display with QHD resolution, a physical slide-up QWERTY keyboard with gestures, a 64-bit hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, and a microSD card slot.
The Priv comes equipped with an 18-megapixel rear-facing camera with a 1/2.4-inch sensor and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. The primary camera is accompanied by optically stabilised Schneider-Kreuznach lens with ƒ/2.2 aperture, phase-detection autofocus mechanism, dual-tone (dual-LED) flash, and 4K video recording.
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In terms of connectivity features, the BlackBerry Priv comes with a single SIM card slot, and can connect to 4G LTE as well as 3G and 2G networks in India. There's dual-band Wi-Fi ac/a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Bluetooth v4.1 (with L.E), GPS (with A-GPS and GLONASS), NFC, and microUSB v2.0 port (with USB OTG and SlimPort 4K). Yes, there's no dual-SIM card slot for those who were wondering about it.
Its 3,410 mAh battery is non-removable (some people might not like it), but it actually lasts quite long, at least when compared to some other flagship smartphones released last year. Moreover, it supports Qi and PMA-compatible wireless charging, and is compatible with Quick Charge 2.0 fast charging. Other features include a bunch of sensors like gyro-sensor, accelerometer, altimeter, electronic compass and proximity.
BlackBerry is focussing on long-time loyalists who don't want to miss out on popular apps and games, but still want the company's famous QWERTY keyboard. The company announced the Priv back in November 2015 in the US, and started rolling it out to other countries from the start of January 2016. Would you be interested in purchasing the BlackBerry Priv, or would you shell out the money for something like an Apple iPhone 6s or the Samsung Galaxy Note 5?
