We have written umpteen times in our blogs that had BlackBerry and Nokia adopted Android eco-system in their phones earlier when Android phones were catching up the speed then the scenario of Android smartphone market would have been different. But that was not to be! Nokia is finished and Canada based BlackBerry is struggling a lot.
To revive its fortunes, BlackBerry had launched The Priv in the month of October and which went on sale in November last year in US, Canada and in other countries is getting mixed response. This phone was launched in India at massive price of Rs. 62,990, and will be available from 30th January.
The USP of BlackBerry Priv is productivity, security and privacy features which BlackBerry devices are known for. The slicing on the cake is that you can now run all the Google apps on this device. The other highlight of this phone is that it has a dual-curved screen, touch and physical keyboards. This phone enables you to choose between a virtual keyboard or a physical keyboard for speed and accuracy.
BlackBerry Priv features a 5.4-inch immersive dual-curve OLED display with a resolution of 2560×1440, with pixel density of 540 PPI – 4x the amount of pixels of a standard HDTV. Along the screen’s curved edge is the Productivity Tab that provides an “at a glance” view of the most pertinent info from BlackBerry Hub, Calendar, Task, and Contacts.
The Priv is driven by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808, Hexa-Core, 64 bit processor paired with 3GB RAM, 32 GB of onboard storage and support for micro SD cards up to 2TB. The Priv is packed with a 3410 mAh battery.
The Priv is equipped with an 18MP rear camera of Schneider-Kreuznach and has many features, which are commonly found in DSLR cameras, as claimed by the company. It also houses a 2 megapixel front camera. This is a single SIM phone and supports 4G LTE networks.
BlackBerry Priv comes with powerful speakers and a three-microphone system that delivers a high-quality listening experience. BlackBerry Natural Sound Technology is built in to adapt Wi-Fi and cellular call sound depending upon phone position and background noise, automatically adjusting volume so users don’t have to face any problem in listening to incoming calls.
The Priv was designed with security at its core, building on BlackBerry’s legacy of security and keeping private its customers’ data. This phone incorporates exclusive DTEK BlackBerry app for Android which monitors and reports on application access to the microphone, camera, location and personal information, enabling users to be confident that their personal data is being kept private. Users can know at a glance when their privacy could be at risk so they can take action to improve it.
BlackBerry Priv has sleek design and whether its touch-sensitive keys that allows users to swipe, scroll and set up shortcuts will be able to woo its former die-hard loyalists to start using this device at whopping Rs. 63,000 is anybody’s guess. Even the popular brand of flagship phones running on Android struggle a lot at this price point in India.
