Blackberry first unveiled the Q20 last February, one year after Research In Motion (RIM) announced to officially change its name to the device that the company is most famous for. The Q20, or Blackberry Classic, has that traditional BlackBerry design, and it is available for pre-order now. BlackBerry expects the Classic to ship in mid-December, with some official launch event being scheduled for the 17th of December.
The BlackBerry Classic runs BlackBerry's 10.3.1 software. In addition to the user being able to download applications from the BlackBerry World app store, the user can also download Android applications as well. Unfortunately, users can only download Android applications available on the Amazon App Store, instead of the usual ones on the Google Play store available for Android phone users.
According to CNET, the BlackBerry Classic is a 4G phone that runs on specialized LTE bands. It is not compatible with CDMA networks that include Verizon, Sprint, and US Cellular, but it works with GSM Carriers. It has a dual-core 1.5GHz processor with 2 GB of storage space along with a microSD card for up to 16 GB of extra storage.
The Classic has a 720p high definition touchscreen with a pixel density of 291 per inch. The main camera is 8 Megapixels, which is the same as the camera on the iPhone 6. The Camera also includes features like auto focus, Geo Tagging, as well as video recording in 1080p.
The BlackBerry Q20 has a physical QWERTY keyboard that has practically been completely replaced by a touchscreen on other smartphones like the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S series. Above the keyboard are the trackpad controls as well as the menu button, go back a step, and the start and end phone call buttons.
According to the BlackBerry shop website, the BlackBerry Classic is actually the result of the company listening to its customers to see what phone that they would want. The end result was something that "builds upon the extremely successful and iconic BlackBerry heritage". The Classic does look like what most people would think about if they were told to think of a BlackBerry, and there was a time before the iPhone when these BlackBerry mobile devices ruled the budding mobile device market.
If you are wanting to get a hold of the BlackBerry Classic, you can pre-order right now and anticipate delivery sometime around mid-December. The price is £350 in the UK and $450 in the US.
