Countdown to the official release of BlackBerry Q20 started when the Canadian phone maker CEO John Chen announced last November 13 that the said device, also known as BlackBerry Classic, was already available for pre-order. The much-awaited BlackBerry device, will finally have its official launch on December 17 in New York, Frankfurt and Singapore simultaneously. The device will be initially available in the U.S. priced at $449, and U.K. having a price of £349. According to the listing in the online store, shipping starts in mid-December.
Moreover, as revealed by CEO Chen during the conference, it will only be available in GSM version meantime, which denotes it will not work on Verizon, Sprint of US Cellular. There has been no contract signing with a carrier involved as well.
BlackBerry Classic is expected to sell even better than the the high-end BlackBerry Passport, as it brings back the physical navigation keys and trackpad just like its forerunners. It takes back the "belt," just above the QWERTY keyboard, because users of the Q10 were looking for this feature. The keyboard stretches from edge to edge along the bottom of the phone which makes the typing experience way better as the keyboard is now easier to use. It has a 3.5 inch screen that will also be square, with 720 x 720 pixels screen resolution and a 582 ppi pixel density. It gives a wide display of 60 characters, making the webpage viewing pleasurable and reading documents much easier. It has a dual core processor at 1.5 GHz with a 2GB RAM, and a long lasting 2,525 mAh battery. It can now support NFC and 4G LTE. It is rumored to be running Blackberry 10.3 OS, supposedly an unreleased OS. Furthermore, the new Blackberry Classic is believed to be the thinnest handset Blackberry has ever produced having a dimension of 130 x 72 x 9mm.
Meanwhile, below is an excerpt from CEO Chen's open letter to all those who miss BlackBerry and long for its comeback:
"To our loyal (current and former) BlackBerry users:
BlackBerry is driven by an urgent, obsessive focus on what matters: you. When we lose sight of what you want and you need, we lose you....
You don't reinvent yourself every day; you take what you learned yesterday and sharpen it today. You drive change - often on your terms, but sometimes not. That you keep going regardless is what distinguishes you as a grown-up. You're in it for the long haul.
So is BlackBerry. The things you remember about BlackBerry that made you better are better than ever with BlackBerry Classic. BlackBerry Classic is for you, as is everything we do every day.
We are committed to earning your business - or earning it back, if that's the case."
Are you excited for BlackBerry Classic's arrival? Keep visiting Franchise Herald for more updates on the device.
