After the recent TCL ownership, BlackBerry has made an announcement on the release of its upcoming smartphone, dubbed as "Mercury," which should carry the company's signature physical QWERTY keyboard. The handset is expected to be unveiled on the Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona.
BlackBerry revealed its new handset through its official BlackBerry Mobile Twitter handle, indicating the device's Feb. 25 launch date, Indian Express reported. Furthermore, the said post previewed a GIF image that shows the physical design of the upcoming Mercury smartphone.
Together with the announcement, TCL President Steve Cistulli also joined the hype over the BlackBerry Mercury smartphone by releasing a teaser tweet for the MWC in February. Cistulli wrote, "Bringing something distinctly different to #MWC2017 #BlackBerryMobile."
Back at the CES 2017 trade show, BlackBerry has already treated the media with the first-hand look at the Mercury's physical design, while missing few details on the handset's price, availability, and hardware specs.
According to the 22-second showcasing of the Mercury smartphone, the phone will have an aluminum casing on the edges, alongside black antenna bands and a USB Type-C port located at the bottom. The two speaker modules sits at the bottom and the power button along with the volume rockers are placed on the right side of the device. The new design still follows BlackBerry's classic design and style.
Meanwhile, previous rumors on the BlackBerry Mercury suggest a 4.2-inch touchscreen placed on the phone's face, while retaining its physical QWERTY keyboard, allowing users to type out messages and emails, Express.co.uk has learned.
In terms of its hardware, the handset is rumored to feature an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC alongside 3GB of RAM. It will house a 3,200 mAh battery powered by USB-C and an 18-megapixel camera. On the software front, the Mercury will run Android 7.0 Nougat, with BlackBerry's own security suite and productivity tools.
To recall, TCL has signed a deal with BlackBerry that gave it the right to design, manufacture and distribute smartphones under the BlackBerry brand across the world. The new BlackBerry phone will serve as TCL's third handset co-manufactured with the Canadian company, following the previous DTEK50 and DTEK60 devices.