BlackBerry has a new phone codenamed Mercury it plans to release soon. The device which has the same physical keyboard + touch screen design like the BlackBerry Priv was privately unveiled at this year’s edition of CES, but won’t launch until next month at MWC.

Ever since news of the device surfaced there have been speculations of its internal specifications, none of which have been confirmed by BlackBerry. New details that have emerged are related to the camera. The info released by Roland Quandt (@rquandt), says the BlackBerry Mercury sports the same camera sensors present in the Google Pixel phones.

If you remember, the Pixel and Pixel XL sport a 12.3MP f/2.0 Sony IMX378 rear camera and results have shown that the Pixel and Pixel XL take fantastic pictures. The front facing camera on the Mercury according to @rquandt is an 8MP Samsung S5K4H8 or an OmniVision OV8856.

Even if the camera turns out to be the same, they might not produce the same results as the Pixels have software enhancements and ‘additional sensor hardware’.

READ MORE: TCL Gets License to Produce and Sell BlackBerry Phones Globally

The Blackberry Mercury is rumored to have a 4.5-inch display with a 1080 x 1680 resolution. There will be 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a Snapdragon 821 SoC. It will also have a 3400mAh battery and run a near-stock version of Android 7.0 out of the box.

These specs have actually not been confirmed by BlackBerry, so we advise you take them with a pinch of salt.

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Blackberry Mercury had popped into the scene a couple of months back, with leaked renders showing the design of the device. We didn’t get to see or hear anything about the specs of the Blackberry smartphone back then. Although we are still yet to get an official disclosure of the specification of the Blackberry flagship device, hands-on images of the device have surface at CES 2017 and we are bringing it to you thanks to Android Central.

It is likely that Blackberry will launch this as its last device before TCL takes the rein, having gotten license to produce and sell Blackberry phones globally. It’s not as if TCL is new to the Blackberry project, though. In actual fact, earlier Blackberry DTEK phones like the DTEK 50 and DTEK 60 were rebranded Alcatel Idol phones. TCL also owns the Alcatel brand.

A look at the images shows that the device code-named Mercury will indeed come with a QWERTY keyboard. So those who still cherish the physical keyboard will fall in love with this one. The design isn’t bad looking either, adopting a somewhat curved display and a thin build. While the edges are well chamfered at the bottom, it is sharp at the top. It has a rectangular shape which is long on the axis due to the physical keyboard but in its entirety, the device is smaller than a 5.5-inch device. The screen is even smaller, robbed off its size by the physical keyboard. Although Blackberry is yet to say the display size, earlier rumor places it at a meager 4.5 inches.

Despite the presence of a physical button, the display is a touchscreen one. There are three virtual capacitive keys at the bottom of the screen, one of which would be the home button. There is a fingerprint sensor embedded underneath the space bar button on the QWERTY keyboard and it is likely it holds other security features aside unlocking the device.

At the rear, the back is said to have a soft feel which very likely isn’t made from metal. The rear camera is tilted to the left top edge of the device with the dual-tone LED flash sitting by its side.

On the software terrain, the Blackberry Mercury runs Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box and will be Blackberry’s first device to do so when it is launched. Apart from that, nothing else is known about other software features the phone will come with as well as the hardware features we are to expect. Blackberry is also yet to disclose a launch date or pricing detail for the device but it is likely to drop around MWC 2017 which starts next month in Barcelona.

Read More: TCL Gets License to Produce & Sell Blackberry Phones Globally

Other features that can be spotted on the Blackberry Mercury hands-on images include a USB Type-C charging port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and what looks like a down-facing set of speakers. On the left side is the power button, while the volume rocker sits at the right side just above the convenience key.

As a recap, the Blackberry Mercury is rumored to launch powered by the Snapdragon 821 chipset and come with a 4.5-inch 1080 pixels display . The flagship is also expected to cram a large battery touted to last up to 2 days of regular usage.

(image source)

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Blackberry smartphones were once the cynosure of all eyes, a masterpiece that everyone just wanted to have. But all that is all gone now, as the company has been forced out of business by more innovative and dynamic competitors. Recently Blackberry announced it was selling its smartphone business arm to TCL – owner of the Alcatel brand.

However, before the announcement, Blackberry was already rumored to be working on a flagship device which will takeover from DTEK 60 as the next gen DTEK 70. The device is said to go by the codename – Mercury. Report has it that the Blackberry Mercury will be the last smartphone Blackberry will release by itself and it would come with full QWERTY keyboard.

Now, renders of the Blackberry Mercury have surfaced online, giving us a glimpse of the sleek device, cool QWERTY keyboard-sporting device that Blackberry has put together. The device sort of comes with a small display which falls around 4.5 inches. This is due to the presence of the physical QWERTY keyboard which took some part of where the screen should have been. So we’ll likely get a small screen flagship on this one. But then, the device is said to use an hyperbolic or curved display screen in order to enhance the looks and viewing experience.

Read More: TCL Gets License to Produce & Sell Blackberry Phones Globally

According to information at our disposal, the Blackberry Mercury will likely be powered by the flagship Snapdragon 821 processor and would cram a large battery which is expected to have a maximum life of 2 days. The device is yet to get an official confirmation, though, so we’ll wait for that.

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