None of the licensees for the BlackBerry Mobile brand announced a new smartphone this year. Not TCL, not Optiemus Infracom, and definitely not BB Merah Putih. One can say the brand is dead once again. However, while no new phones were announced, the older ones got software updates albeit security patches. For example, the 2017 BlackBerry Motion got September 2019’s security patch back in October. Now there are reports that the KEY2 is getting November’s security patch.
The news comes from China and it says the changelog doesn’t bring any new features other than the security patch. So the BlackBerry KEY2 is still stuck on Android 8.1 Oreo which is quite sad.
While there is no confirmation of a new BlackBerry phone in development, one thing we are sure of is that there won’t be a 5G BlackBerry phone anytime soon according to a TCL executive. Stefan Streit who is the general manager of marketing said back in October that they have no plans to launch a 5G BlackBerry phone. Apparently, he doesn’t see the need for the technology on a device that isn’t considered as an entertainment phone. This is not completely ruling out a 5G BlackBerry phone but it just isn’t currently in their plans.
The BlackBerry KEY2 was announced in June 2018. It has a 4.5-inch screen with a 1080 x 1620 resolution that sits above a physical QWERTY keyboard. The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 660 and has 6GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of expandable storage. There are dual 12MP cameras on the rear while an 8MP camera sits in front for selfies and video calls. The phone also has a 3500mAh battery with support for Quick Charge 3.0, a front-mounted fingerprint scanner, NFC, and an audio jack.
TCL is currently focusing on its own brand. It launched the TCL Plex in September and there is a possibility it will announce another TCL-banded phone next year. So for now, one can say the BlackBerry Mobile brand has taken a backseat.
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(Via)
