BlackBerry is back in the game. How many times have you heard this same line over the past couple of years? We are sure plenty of times. Initially all the hopes were pinned on the new BB OS 10 with the Z10 and Q10, when that did not work, BlackBerry was keen on going back to its roots with the BlackBerry Passport and a Classic QWERTY version which did not take off either. BlackBerry also flirted with some devices in mid tier segment, but all this only pushed BlackBerry down on the ladder of market share.
It looks like BlackBerry is all set to play its trump card now with their upcoming flagship called BlackBerry Venice. The device was leaked out on the internet and clearly runs Android for those who are interested in the OS of the phone. However, this is not the usual Android version that we have seen, say on the likes of Nexus or OnePlus devices, but a forked Android version with elements from BlackBerry OS 10, which would make the whole experience really interesting. The device will have a 5.4 inch display with a QWERTY keyboard that is a slide out.
This is the first Blackberry device with a slideout keyboard since the days of BlackBerry Torch and we are not entirely sure how well will the form factor go down with even the most die hard Blackberry fans given the size of the display alone is really massive.
The phone will feature Snapdragon 808 SoC out of the box with 3 GB of RAM. The shots of the device that have surfaced, show the phone to have a SIM and a Micro SD card slot on the top. It is also interesting to note that there are what look like speaker holes at the bottom chin of the smartphone that looks to be a front facing speaker. The phone also seems to have metal chassis and a 18 MP rear camera with OIS on board alongside dual LED flash. The Venice features the power button on the left and the volume rockers on the right along with the mute button. The phone is expected to launch on all the four major carriers of the United States around the holiday season, towards the end of the year.
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