BlackBerry has announced its latest smartphone named as KEY2 at an event in New York. BlackBerry KEY2 is the first BlackBerry smartphone to sport a dual camera setup. Also, the KEY2 comes with BlackBerry’s signature QWERTY keypad that houses shortcut keys to launch apps.
The latest BlackBerry smartphone comes with a textured diamond patterned back panel embedded on to a Series 7 aluminum alloy frame. Other highlights the KEY2 features are Snapdragon 660 SoC with 6GB of RAM, Android 8.1 Oreo, and 3360mAh battery. The smartphone is currently available in North America and European markets.
BlackBerry KEY2 Specifications
Starting with the design, the KEY2 has a 4-row QWERTY physical backlit keyboard with touch gestures, flick typing, up to 52 customizable shortcuts support. The phone also has a fingerprint sensor built into the spacebar just like the KEYone. Moreover, it has a new dedicated ‘Speed key’ that lets you launch apps by pressing it and the letter assigned to the app.
Coming to the display, it packs a 4.5-inch (1620 x 1080 pixels) 3:2 display with 433 PPI and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Powering the phone is an octa-core Snapdragon 660 processor with Adreno 512 GPU, and coupled with 6GB RAM, 64GB or 128GB internal storage which is expandable up to 2TB.
Camera wise, it sports a 12MP primary rear camera with dual-tone LED Flash, f/1.8 aperture, 1.14µm pixel size, 79.3-degree wide-angle lens, and Dual PDAF alongside a 12MP secondary rear camera with f/2.6 aperture, 1.0µm pixel size, and 50-degree lens. There is an 8MP front-facing camera.
The Hybrid dual SIM phone runs Android 8.1 Oreo. It also sports a 3.5mm audio jack, HD audio, FM Radio, Dual microphones as well. Connectivity options include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4 & 5 GHz), Bluetooth 5 LE, GPS / GLONASS, NFC, USB 3.0 Type-C. It packs a 3360mAh battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 support.
Price and availability
BlackBerry KEY2 price starts at $649 (Rs. 43,520 approx.) in the US and €649 (Rs. 51,200 approx.) in Europe. The phone comes in Black and Silver colors and will begin shipping globally starting this month.
The BlackBerry KEY2 is also expected to be launched in India as its predecessor had made its way to the country last year. BlackBerry KeyONE was priced at Rs 39,990 at the time of launch, so the KEY2 is also expected to come with a similar price tag.
