If you were a fan of the BlackBerry that took the mobile phone industry by storm in the beginning of the 2010’s there’s good news. It’s coming back fully equipped with that same qwerty keyboard that originally made it famous.
According to Gizmodo UK, the Chinese company TCL will produce the new phones, which doesn’t officially have a name yet nor a release date.
BlackBerry returns (again) with QWERTY Android phone with no name https://t.co/ZUsQmJSPQm pic.twitter.com/HoU84XXULe
— Gizmodo UK (@GizmodoUK) January 5, 2017
What is known is aside from the qwerty keyboard the phone will more than likely feature a finger print sensor on the space bar, USB-C charging and run on the Android 7.0 or Nougat software according to Gizmodo UK.
Originally a favorite among those who couldn’t step away from their email inbox you have to wonder if TCL is wasting their time on another BlackBerry with basically the same qwerty keyboard? It’s not like we’re going to re-live some nostalgic device from decades ago that’s packed full of upgrades that’ll swing with today’s modern user. BlackBerry hit its peak less than four years ago and has been in a tailspin ever since. Sure the Android operating system will help drive sales but are people really going to opt for an old school keyboard that doesn’t move with the screen?
Personally I can see this crashing and burning yet again as Apple and other Android based companies continue to spurn our newer devices.