BlackBerry’s first Android phone is (almost) here. The Priv is now on pre-registration on BlackBerry’s website, but there’s not a lot of information about the device’s specs and features. Well, that is, until now.

British mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse has started taking pre-orders and has revealed a lot about the Priv’s innards. According to the online retailer, BlackBerry’s Android phone will have a 5.4-inch QHD display with a Snapdragon 808 chipset featuring a quad-core processor and an Adreno 418 GPU.

There’s an 18MP camera on the back from Sony with dual-LED flash and Schneider-Kreuznach optics, and is capable of recording 4K videos. The Priv will run on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with of course some of BlackBerry’s own apps incorporated.

Connect with The Techie Lifestyle on your favorite social networking sites
    

BlackBerry (yes, they’re still at it) has recently concluded its keynote at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona where it announced its latest handset – the BlackBerry Leap.

The Leap has a 5-inch HD display with a screen density of 294ppi and goes with a Snapdragon S4 Plus chip with a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. There’s also an 8MP autofocus camera at the back with LED flash and is capable of recording Full HD videos at 30 frames per second.

The phone will be available starting next month for $275 off contract. The Canadian phone maker also announced several new color options for its Classic handset including blue, bronze and white on top of the base color black.

What a Surprise! Ron just pulled out a dual-curved, all-touch display with a Keyboard - yes a slider device! #MWC15 pic.twitter.com/8VaPUZHo3j
— BlackBerry (@BlackBerry) March 3, 2015

Now, before you dismiss the company’s efforts this year, the company did show one last model that actually made a lot of people interested. Dubbed as the “Slider”, the phone was shown at the last part of the keynote and serves as teaser for future generation BB devices.

Connect with The Techie Lifestyle on your favorite social networking sites
    

Remember the BlackBerry Classic that CEO John Chen showed to the public back in June? Well, the phone is now officially available worldwide. Yes, we know that the handset was already revealed a few months ago, but back then all we know was that it has a 3.5-inch display a keyboard and an optical track pad. This time around, the Canadian company has revealed the full specs sheet of the device.

The Classic’s 3.5-inch display will have touch input, 720p resolution and will be protected by a layer of Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3. Under the hood, there’s a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.

There’s also an 8MP camera at the back with LED flash while a 2MP snapper sits at the front of the device. As for the keyboard, the Classic will sport the signature four-row QWERTY keyboard with a traditional control deck and a trackpad.

The BlackBerry Classic runs on BlackBerry 10.3 OS and will support native Android apps via the Amazon App store. The phone is available contract-free for $449.

Connect with The Techie Lifestyle on your favorite social networking sites
     

People say its better late than never. And this is probably what BlackBerry said to said when it announced today its own virtual assistant, dubbed as the BlackBerry Assistant.

The new functionality will be part of BB OS 10.3 and much like Google’s Now, Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana will be voice activated. And just like its competitors, the BB Assistant will allow users to launch apps, set reminders, change phone settings and send messages and social network updates.

Other than the features mentioned above, the BB Assistant doesn’t look it has anything extra to offer. Nonetheless, it should make the remaining BlackBerry handset owners want to hold on to their devices a bit longer.

Connect with The Techie Lifestyle on your favorite social networking sites
     

BlackBerry’s financial report for the previous quarter is now out and it’s a mix of good and bad news. First with the bad news, the Canadian phone-maker’s revenue for the 2015 fiscal year was down by $10 million from $976 million in the previous quarter with a loss of $0.11 per share.

The good news is that the company remains to be optimistic and is releasing three new handsets for this fiscal year. In fact, the phone maker has already announced the first of the trio – the BlackBerry Z3 back in April by making it available for pre-order in Indonesia.

Today, the Z3 is joined by two new handsets that were introduced by none other than BlackBerry’s CEO John Chen.

On one end is the BlackBerry Classic, which is primed as the successor of the Q10 smartphone from last year. The phone will have a physical QWERTY keyboard, a 3.5-inch display and an optical track pad.

But the most interesting announcement from the Canadian company would have to be the BlackBerry Passport. The device is unlike any other handset the manufacturer has released in the past with a 4.5-inch display with a 1440 x 1440-pixel resolution.

This gives the phone a wide profile that makes it stand out from other smartphones in the market. The phone will also have a three-row capacitive keyboard which reportedly doubles as a track pad. Other notable specs of the Passport include a quad-core processor, 3GB of RAM, an Adreno 330 GPU and a 3450mAh battery.

Connect with The Techie Lifestyle on your favorite social networking sites
     

After a not so successful run with BB OS 10 and a short-lived hype from a cross-platform BBM, BlackBerry is trying to stick to one of the things it does best – enterprise solutions. Today, the company announced a new version of BBM that’s designed for businesses and government offices that require a secure means of communication.

The app is called BBM Protected and currently works with devices running on BB OS 6.0 and above or BB OS 10 devices in regulated mode. Part of BlackBerry’s eBBM (enterprise) solutions, BBM Protected offers businesses with peace of mind knowing that their communication lines are covered with a thick layer of protection.

BBM Protected uses a new layer of encryption to the existing BBM security model with both sender and recipient having a unique encryption key that makes it difficult for hackers to decrypt an entire conversation. Moreover, the app allows users from different BB Enterprise services to send messages securely.

As mentioned above the app will only work for BlackBerry handset users. So those using BBM on Android and iOS may have to wait a bit more for the version of BBM Protected to reach their handsets.

Connect with The Techie Lifestyle on your favorite social networking sites
     

Back in February at the Mobile World Congress, Canadian manufacturer BlackBerry showcased one of its current projects intended for developing markets – the BlackBerry Z3. Codenamed Jakarta, the smartphone was designed specifically for emerging markets and is now available for pre-order in (as the name suggests) Indonesia.

The phone boasts mid-range specs in contrast to today’s average smartphone including a 1.2GHz dual-core processor on a Snapdragon 200 chipset, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB of expandable storage, and an Adreno 305 GPU. BlackBerry has incorporated a 5MP camera at the back and a 1.1MP camera at the front, which is capable of capturing 720p videos.

The Z3 will run on BlackBerry’s BB OS 10.2.1 and will be powered by a 2500mAh battery. There will also be a limited edition “Jakarta” edition which bears the city’s name on its back and celebrates the Canadian manufacturer’s first smartphone built for the Indonesian market.

There’s no word yet if BlackBerry will offer the hone outside Indonesia, but pricing should start at $190 when it becomes available sometime in mid-May.

Connect with The Techie Lifestyle on your favorite social networking sites