BlackBerry Priv will cost £580 in UK
BlackBerry’s Priv handset is arriving sooner than we thought, and in fact pre-orders are now live with Carphone Warehouse.
And as expected, the company’s new smartphone, which runs Android rather than BlackBerry OS, is priced at the premium end of the spectrum. The SIM-free version will set you back £580, and is available in just the one color -- black.
BlackBerry Priv will be expensive
The rumor mill has put a price tag on the upcoming BlackBerry Priv handset, and this smartphone won’t be cheap.
That likely won’t come as a surprise though, given the noises that have already been made about this being a premium phone, and BlackBerry’s chief executive John Chen has even previously said that the device will have a top-end price tag.
Why the new 'Priv' phone might save BlackBerry’s handset business (but probably won’t)
BlackBerry’s recently announced "Priv" slider phone is a bit of an enigma. On the one hand, it appears to be a solid Android device with some innovative touches (capacitive keyboard) and a decent spec sheet. On the other hand, it comes bundled with a grab bag of features (BBM, BlackBerry Hub) that seem to have been lifted straight out of the company’s much maligned BB10 OS, in some cases without thought for how (or even if) they will integrate with Google’s user environment.
The net result is an awkward marriage of competing UX paradigms. For example, BlackBerry Hub, long a key selling point for BB10 devices, has been transplanted onto Android without consideration for what made it special in the first place -- namely, swipe gestures. BB10 users will attest to how the OS’ swipe-based interface makes working with these devices both practical and more efficient, especially when operating their phones with one hand. Over time, these users have come to master BB10’s myriad swipe combinations, allowing them to multitask at the frenetic pace most commonly associated with true "crackberry" addicts (think congressional staffers chasing their wards around Capitol Hill).
This is BlackBerry's first Android smartphone
If you were wondering how BlackBerry’s first Android phone, Venice, will behave in action, wonder no more.
First video footage of the smartphone has been released online, and on it we can see its sliding QWERTY keyboard in action. The keyboard can also be used as a touchpad by sliding your fingers across the keys. This interesting feature is not unique though, it was already seen on the BlackBerry Passport.
BlackBerry buys mobile security company Good Technology
BlackBerry has announced its purchase of Good Technology, a mobile security company. The deal was sealed with $425 million (£280 million) heading Good’s way. The Good Dynamics platform provides encryption, advanced data loss prevention and secure communication between applications.
But BlackBerry is already good at that, isn’t it? It is one of the safest, if not the safest smartphone out there, so what good can Good do (pun definitely intended)?
Pakistan bans BlackBerry services
Pakistan has decided to ban Blackberry’s Enterprise Services and its Internet and messaging service, the media reported on Monday.
Telecom operators in the country have been instructed by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to shut down Blackberry services by December.
BlackBerry partners with Google to make Android more secure for enterprise users
Hot on the heels of rumors of an Android-powered phone by BlackBerry, the Canadian smartphone manufacturer announces its partnership with Google to do something cool together. As part of the collaboration, BlackBerry -- known for its highly sophisticated and secure enterprise security suites -- will be working with Google to create a more enterprise-ready version of Android operating system.
The deal makes perfect sense for both of the companies. Google’s Android is the most popular mobile operating system on the planet. However, the infamous Edward Snowden revelations have affected Google's as well as other companies’ reputations. Moreover, Google has a long way to go to entice enterprise users to pick its operating system over others'. For BlackBerry, which once held a large market share but has lost most of it since, this partnership could help the company find a reliable revenue channel. But most importantly, enterprise users are the biggest winners here.
BlackBerry unveils CHACE, a new Internet of Things security initiative
BlackBerry has announced the launch of a new initiative called the BlackBerry Center for High Assurance Computing Excellence, or CHACE for short, which aims to further bolster security in the Internet of Things age.
The idea of CHACE is to reverse the current fail-then-patch approach to security, BlackBerry notes, with the development of security tools that offer a far better level of security protection than is now available -- a proactive approach to vulnerability prevention which is far more cost effective.
BlackBerry, Samsung and IBM join forces to create a secure tablet
BlackBerry, IBM and Samsung have all partnered to create a new enterprise tablet, named the Secutablet, in cooperation with BlackBerry’s subsidiary Secusmart.
The tablet is focused on the business sector, taking the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and fitting a ton of new software inside to make it accessible for business and government bodies.
BlackBerry will keep making smartphones -- unveils Leap mid-ranger, new slider
BlackBerry shipped an insignificant number of smartphones last year, but the Canadian maker is not giving up the fight yet. Today, at MWC 2015, it announced a new mid-range handset, called Leap, and revealed an upcoming slider phone, which CEO John Chen referred to as "The Slider".
Leap is clearly not designed for the typical BlackBerry aficionado, as the smartphone is an all-touchscreen affair, with no physical QWERTY keyboard in sight. Such designs have not helped BlackBerry woo consumers nor business clients so far. The Slider though is the more conservative of the two, looking at it from the perspective of BlackBerry fans.
AT&T: Oi, BlackBerry! Redesign the Passport for us. BlackBerry: yeah, OK!
A few months ago BlackBerry announced the Passport, and the keyword was square. A square screen in a decidedly square body, not to forget the physical keyboard, was a sure-fire way to stand out from the crowd; it's hip to be square after all. But for AT&T, the Passport was just a bit too square.
In fact such was the carrier's dislike of the squareness of the Passport that it asked BlackBerry to redesign the handset. And BlackBerry obliged, producing an AT&T exclusive version of the Passport complete with rounded corners that is more in keeping with the look of the BlackBerry Classic, it was revealed at CES 2015 today.
Rockstar Consortium sells patents for $900 million, ending Android lawsuits
The patent wars are cooling down. Rockstar Consortium's litigation against numerous Android handset manufacturers has come to an end after the group sold 4,000 patents to RPX Corp. The intellectual property risk mitigation company bought the patents for $900 million, ending lawsuits against HTC, LG and Samsung.
Apple, BlackBerry, Ericsson, Microsoft, and Sony formed Rockstar Consortium back in 2011 to purchase around 6,000 patents from the bankrupt Nortel Network Corp for $4.5 billion. 2,000 of the patents had previously been shared between the members of the consortium, and the remainder have now exchanged hands for less a quarter of the original sale price.
BlackBerry works with Boeing on secure, self-destructing smartphone
BlackBerry and Boeing are working together on a new super-secure smartphone. The announcement came at an earnings call at which BlackBerry CEO, John Chen, revealed scant details about the collaboration. What we do know is that the partnership is designed to create a secure device that can be used by US defense and homeland security workers.
Everybody's paranoid nowadays, but the defense sector is one that has a particular need for security. Boomberg reports that the phone is known as the Boeing Black, and it runs on top of BES -- a platform already known and trusted by many enterprise customers.
BlackBerry launches the Classic -- a smartphone with an old-school keyboard
BlackBerry is not a company that's afraid to do things a little differently, and this is something that's perfectly demonstrated by its latest release. Rather than eschewing the physical keyboard like most smartphones, the BlackBerry Classic embraces it. The square 720 x 720 screen is comparable to that of the BlackBerry Passport, but stands out from mainstream handsets due to its size -- just 3.5 inches -- and unusual aspect ratio.
The look of the handset might be a little dated, and the specs are also something of a blast from the past. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus dual-core processor, the phone has 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, an 8MP rear camera, and a 2MP front shooter. And it can be yours for $449 unlocked.
BlackBerry releases Passport in red, white
More than two months after it introduced Passport in black, BlackBerry today announces that its latest smartphone is now also available in red and white. The two new color options were introduced for pre-order in late-November, but are only just now shipping.
Both the red and white Passport are officially available from Amazon and BlackBerry's own online store. Both companies list the smartphone as being in stock; taking the Amazon route coupled with one-day shipping will get you a new Passport tomorrow, December 9.
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