blackberry classic: a throwback smartphone with physical QWERTY keyboard

blackberry pulls a throwback with the classic QWERTY smartphone
all images courtesy of blackberry

blackberry has revisited the past by launching the blackberry classic, a smartphone built exclusively around the company’s trademark physical QWERTY keyboard. although the device looks familiar to the blackberry bold 9900 appearance, it now offers three times faster browser speed, 60 percent more screen space, 50 percent longer battery life and a greater variety of applications through blackberry world and the amazon appstore.

features of the blackberry classic include a qwerty keyboard and trackpad, a 1.5 ghz qualcomm snapdragon processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB of device storage (expandable up to 128GB), and a 2 megapixel front and 8 megapixel rear-facing camera with enhanced optics and upgraded imaging sensors. the phone is paired with a square 3.5-inch touch screen display boasting 294 dpi HD resolution and is offered with a large battery capacity and state-of-the-art ‘battery optimization software’.

video courtesy of blackberry

the blackberry classic comes preloaded with the blackberry 10.3.1 operating system, offering a fresh look that incorporates updated icons and an instant action bar so that each user’s most commonly accessed functions are placed in the center of their screen. with the new OS, users gain access to features including blackberry blend instant messaging and the canadian brand’s first digital assistant that can be used with voice and text commands to help users manage work and personal email, contacts, calendar and other native blackberry 10 applications.

blackberry assistant intelligently determines how to respond to you based on how you interact with it – if you type, it responds silently, if you speak, it speaks back and if you activate over bluetooth, it speaks back with additional context because it assumes you might not have access to the screen.