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BlackBerry Leap Hands On Review, Photos and Video

BlackBerry Leap is now available in India for 21,490 INR. BlackBerry Classic and Passport were meant for BlackBerry loyalist who appreciate and prioritize an elaborate QWERTY keyboard, while Leap is a budget phone meant for younger audience who want a large touch screen BB10 smartphone. The Z3 and Z10 didn’t work wonders for the Canadian manufacturer, but still, BlackBerry still believes in full touch BB10 phones and is willing to experiment with Leap launched for a much lesser price. Let’s take a look.

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BlackBerry Leap Quick Specs

  • Display Size: 5 Inch with, 1280 x 720 HD resolution, 294 PPI
  • Processor: 1.5 GHz Dual core Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon S4 Plus
  • RAM: 2 GB
  • Software Version: BB10.3.1
  • Primary Camera: 8 MP, Full HD Videos
  • Secondary Camera: 2 MP, HD Videos
  • Internal Storage: 16 GB
  • External Storage: 128 GB
  • Battery: 2800 mAh battery Lithium Ion
  • Connectivity: 3G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP, aGPS, 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio

Design, Build and Display

BlackBerry leap is big if you read dimensions, but doesn’t feel inordinately chunky when held in hand. It feels rather solid and similar to BlackBerry Z10. The 2800 mAh battery inside adds some heft, but the weight is well balanced and manageable. The texture back cover and rounded edges, lend it a firm grip.

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The IPS LCD display on BlackBerry Leap is very good in quality. BlackBerry might have cut some corners for the low price tag, but it has sincerely included a good quality display, which is more important here as Leap is a full touch phone. BB10 allows you to adjust color temperature from settings.

Processor and RAM

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The processor used is 1.5 GHz Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon S4 Plus with 2 GB RAM and Adreno 305 GPU. The chipset sounds dated, and it is, but then again, it should be good enough to fire BB10.3 OS. In our initial time with the device, we didn’t experience any lag. The display and UI interactions felt very responsive, if not blazing fast.


Camera and Internal Storage

The rear camera used in BlackBerry Leap has an 8 MP sensor and you can shoot 720p and 1080p full HD videos. The front 2 MP camera also allow you to shoot 720p HD videos for good quality video calls. The camera app adds several image editing tools, filters, ability to click images while shooting videos and several camera modes, which we will explore in details when we get our review unit.

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Internal storage is 16 GB, out of which around 10 GB is available at user end. You can further use 128 GB external storage for full scale multimedia consumption.

User Interface and Battery

The user interface is BB10.3.1 OS which comes with a virtual keyboard. BlackBerry makes some of the finest QWERTY keyboards and its virtual keyboard also benefits from all that experience. Its intuitive and learns with time. You can download Android apps from Amazon app store, benefit from a personal assistant and enjoy all BlackBerry software features and security on BlackBerry Leap.

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Battery capacity is 2800 mAh. The battery is sealed inside and is not user replaceable. We will have to spend some more time with BlackBerry Leap to judge its battery backup.

BlackBerry Leap Photo Gallery

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Conclusion

BlackBerry Leap sounds a little out of place after BlackBerry Passport and BlackBerry Classic. BlackBerry believes more people will appreciate all touch bb10 phones if presented at lower price, but only time will affirm this. BlackBerry is a solidly build device with a gorgeous display and will be appealing to those enticed by BlackBerry brand.

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Deepak Singh

The Author spent a significant chunk of his formative years resisting technology. He now keeps an eye on where the world is heading to, and drives a passive pleasure from this indulgence. His passion to write, learn and improve drives him each day. When his day ends, he enjoys the pleasant languor and detoxifies with family. You can connect with him on and Twitter