BlackBerry may be down, but they’re definitely not out. Since being appointed CEO in November 2013, John Chen has been on a mission to evaluate BlackBerry’s successes and its failures. In doing so, the team has made strides in building compelling hardware to help push its BlackBerry 10 operating system further into the enterprise, but that doesn’t remove them entirely from the consumer market and this week at Mobile World Congress in Spain, BlackBerry announced a few new things that are pretty exciting for those loyal to the CrackBerry.
BlackBerry Leap
The biggest announcement made was the unveiling of the BlackBerry Leap. According to BlackBerry, the Leap is an affordable all-touch smartphone in a modern and powerful design. The phone is aimed at career builders and companies who value security and privacy.
The Leap packs a 5-inch HD display (720p, 294 PPI), 8-megapixel rear camera, 16GB of expandable storage, and 25 hours of battery life. The device will be priced at $275 USD (presumably off-contract) and should be available around April starting in Europe with the United States and other markets following soon after.
BlackBerry 10 Slider
Reminiscent of the BlackBerry Torch, the company announced an all new slider-type phone running BlackBerry 10. The device has yet to be formally named by the company and details surrounding the device’s specs are scant, but we can tell you that it’ll have a massive curved display and a slide-out keyboard. The company says the device was designed in partnership with Porsche. It is designed in all black with no accents or keys.
BlackBerry says this device will be available this year, but no specific availability was given. Given the size of display and the mystique surrounding the device, we can assume this will be one of BlackBerry’s flagship devices and a more appropriate event will be held later in the year to announce the rest of the phone’s features.
The company said this handset will be available in 2015, but it did not give a more specific timeline.
New Classic Colors
BlackBerry also announced that they’ll be shipping new color variants of its BlackBerry Classic smartphone. Later this month, the company will ship a pearl white Classic. In April, they’ll begin shipping blue and bronze versions as well. Carrier availability wasn’t announced, but we can assume that BlackBerry will at least be selling the devices contract free on their website.
