BlackBerry, or should we say TCL, is going to make an appearance at a pre-MWC event, which is basically going to be a follow-up from its showcasing at CES 2017 earlier this month. The companies offered a sneak peek at the latest smartphone, reportedly called BlackBerry Mercury, at the event, but refused to share details of the device, leaving a trail of mysteries and secrets.
That's going to change soon as BlackBerry is formally going to launch the unnamed smartphone on February 25, shortly before the global smartphone showcasing event MWC commences in Barcelona, Spain. TCL is finally expected to answer all the questions about the smartphone's specs, features, price and availability at its upcoming event.
BlackBerry Mobile tweeted a teaser on Twitter, showing the Mercury smartphone in a short video clip and mentioned the date 25.02.2017 along with hashtagged MWC2017. It doesn't get more official than that.
So far, details about BlackBerry are limited. The company said that the new phone is focused on "security, productivity and reliability." At CES, TCL also gave hands-on experience of the device, confirming the design of the phone. BlackBerry Mercury will feature the iconic QWERTY keyboard and run Android OS out-of-the-box.
The handset is made out of metal and rubberized material and looks quite similar to the Passport. A fingerprint sensor is embedded into the space bar of the keyboard and a USB Type-C port takes care of charging.
While the internal specs remain a mystery, rumours suggest that the phone will feature a Snapdragon 625 CPU, 3GB RAM, 18MP rear-facing camera and an 8MP front snapper. The smartphone is of great significance to BlackBerry as it is going to be the "last phone designed and engineered in-house by BlackBerry."
We'll know more about the smartphone once launched on February 25. Stay tuned for updates.
