BlackBerry Priv news: BlackBerry’s Android phone strikes a pose in new photo:-

Android fans who still desire a physical keyboard will have something to celebrate later this year, because after many rumors, BlackBerry has confirmed it’s working on an Android phone. It’s called the Priv, and here’s everything we know so far.

New images and impressions

Reddit user /u/imsorandom managed to get a close look at the BlackBerry Priv at the CISO Conference in Toronto on Thursday, posting three photos of the device and commenting on his first impressions. The photos show the front, back, and side of the phone with the keyboard.

In the thread, the poster claims that the BlackBerry Priv is thinner than Samsung’s Galaxy Note 5. That is impressive if true, considering the Note 5 is only 7.6mm thick, and the Priv has to compensate for the attached keyboard. The glass on the display is curved on the edges, similar to the Galaxy S6 or iPhone 6S. The slider mechanism is apparently very solid as well, and it weighs more than the Note 5.
Speaking to an official representative who let him try the device, the phone will apparently run “the latest and fastest from Qualcomm.” He also said it would be available on all carriers in Canada by the end of October, but gave no information on international launch dates.
Software on the BlackBerry Priv runs a lot like a Motorola device, near stock Android with additional programs. The Reddit user claims it’s as snappy as the Nexus 5 running Android Marshmallow, though it currently runs Lollipop. When the physical keyboard is pushed back, an on-screen keyboard is available for users. The poster remarked that the camera app was very slow to focus, but that may have been due to the low-light conditions at the event.

Official images and early specs

After officially announcing the BlackBerry Priv, the company acknowledged an outpouring of interest on its blog. It’s obvious that fans want more information, and while BlackBerry isn’t ready to divulge all the details of the Priv, the company did post three images of the phone to whet our appetites.

The images look very similar to previous leaked images, but we now know for sure what the Priv will look like. One thing to note that wasn’t always obvious in prior images is the button placement on the right side. The power button is placed between the volume up and down keys. This will likely add some confusion to current Android users.
It appears that BlackBerry is poised to take advantage of this new-found attention. The company plans on releasing more pictures, videos, and hardware specs in drips and drabs leading up to the official unveiling.
This came true at the Recode Mobile 2015 conference in October, at which CEO John Chen was interviewed on stage. One of the first questions asked was related to the Priv, and Chen replied by pulling one of the new phones out of his pocket. He went on to state the device has a 5-inch touchscreen, and a capacitive keyboard like the Passport, which slides out from the base of the phone.
Rather than talk about the remaining specs, Chen emphasised the importance of security, saying that by integrating Android with BlackBerry’s secure stack, it’s, “probably on the same level as Samsung’s Knox.” The Knox system has seen wide approval for use in the Enterprise world, and by the NSA and U.S. government.
Chen reiterated the Priv will launch later this year, and said the company’s in talks with carriers to offer the phone with a contract. Although he didn’t give an exact cost, he said the Priv will have a “high-end price,” so expect it to be equal or similar to the $600 Passport.

BlackBerry Priv quietly announced

In late September, inside the company’s second quarter financial results, BlackBerry confirmed it was making an Android smartphone called the BlackBerry Priv, and it’ll be on sale before the end of the year. The news came after a stream of rumors surrounding the device, and news that sales of its BlackBerry phones reached just 800,000, a third of that seen a year ago, and overall sales dropped by half at the same time.
CEO John Chen wrote in a statement that the company is “focused on making faster progress to achieve profitability in our handset business,” and this has resulted in the Priv, an Android smartphone. According to Chen, it will “combine the best of BlackBerry security and productivity with the expansive mobile application ecosystem available on the Android platform.”
The Priv will have a slider design, and support both Android for Work and BlackBerry’s BES12 platform, showing the firm is aiming it more towards business and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) users. It’s not abandoning BlackBerry 10, and will release version 10.3.3 in March next year.
We’re told more will be revealed in the coming weeks, and the device will be sold in stores and online before the end of the year.

Rumors started several months ago

A Blackberry phone with a codename of Venice leaked back in June, and was believed to be running Android. It was slated to arrive in November with the following specs: a 5.4-inch Quad-HD screen, a 1.8GHz 64-bit hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GB RAM, as well as an 18-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.
Related: Is BlackBerry making an Android phone?
The Venice was shown to have a slide-out physical keyboard, suggesting it was the mysterious slider device CEO John Chen teased at Mobile World Congress. Rumors said the display supposedly has dual-curved edges just like the Galaxy S6 Edge.
In mid-September, Baka Mobile released a hands on video with an alleged BlackBerry Venice evaluation unit. This video reveals a quick launcher to the BlackBerry Hub, Google services, and global searching for both the Web and phone data. The default Web search appears to be Google since the Google Search bar is active on the main screen.
The main interface looks very close to stock Android, but there is no question BlackBerry will add it’s own services into the mix.
We also get a fantastic look at the physical keyboard and the sliding mechanism. The keyboard itself is capacitive, meaning that you will be able to swipe it to scroll content on the main display. It looks really slick.
Content freaks will also be happy to know that a MicroSD slot is onboard as well. Unfortunately, we don’t know how large a card it will accept.
On top of the video, Android Authority released a few more pictures of the BlackBerry Venice. The pictures don’t reveal anything new other than they continue to confirm the existence of Android. However, we now know the model number, which is STV100-6.

Apparently more than a few people were sporting the BlackBerry Venice at the Toronto Film Festival in mid-September. This isn’t a surprise since the company’s headquarters is only 70 miles away. One fan was able to sneak up behind someone using the said device and capture it on camera.
Although not the greatest photo, it showed the Venice running Android. The app appearing on the display looks awfully similar to Google’s Messenger app. Take a look at the second image below, which shows the Messenger app side-by-side with the phone.

The first high-quality images of what could be the BlackBerry Venice slider appeared online in late August. They give further confirmation to what the keyboard looks like and the presence of Google apps. However, this is the first time we get to see the sliding mechanism from the back of the device. You will also notice that the rear camera will likely sport dual LED flash.

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Famous leaker Evan Blass posted two GIFs in mid- to late August of what could be the BlackBerry Venice. The first animation is a closeup of the physical keyboard and the rear 18-megapixel camera.

This second animation shows the keyboard sliding down. You will also see that many Google apps appear on the device indicating that it will be Google certified.

Following a variety of shadowy leaked images, a clear press-style image of what may be the BlackBerry Venice was posted on Twitter by Evan Blass in mid-August. The picture shows the phone with its slider section extended, revealing a physical keyboard. Above it, on the display, is what looks like Android.

In mid-August, Crackberry forum member Mikey_NNG posted an alleged image of the on-screen keyboard from the BlackBerry Venice. He claims to have played with the device for a few minutes and it was running Android Lollipop. The back button is more spaced out than on existing BlackBerry keyboards, indicating that it is indeed an Android. A curved edge display is also clearly visible.

BlackBerry_Venice_Slider_On-Screen_Keyboard

Alleged renders of the BlackBerry Venice were posted in early August by Crackberry, and they reveal an Android interface, a curved edge display, and an 18-megapixel camera. The first render shows what appears to be the BlackBerry Hub running on Android. The circular action button (pen icon) at the bottom center of the display complies with Android’s material design principles.

Android and Google Play?

A GIF posted by leaker Even Blass in late August reveals the BlackBerry Productivity Suite, which includes the BlackBerry Hub, contacts, and unified calendar apps. These apps are not presently available on Android, but the Material Design elements are a clear sign they were developed with Android in mind. They are likely to debut on the BlackBerry Venice.

Leaked photos of the Venice and possible marketing materials suggest the phone will have complete access to Google’s apps. Early on, the Chromecast icon appeared in the renders, for example. The latest picture of the phone shows a wide variety of Android apps that aren’t available for BlackBerry phones, including Google Maps, Hangouts, Google Calendar, and most importantly, Google Play.
In addition to the presentation slides posted by Crackberry — which also showed an image of the previously leaked 18-megapixel rear camera — another two slides were added to the collection by Evan Blass on his Twitter account, this time showing the phone with Google Play on the screen, and one referencing a content transfer app. In this slide, reference is made to an “Android BlackBerry device.”