MWC 2017: BlackBerry ‘Mercury’ called KeyOne, official page goes ‘live’ early

The BlackBerry Mercury is called the BlackBerry KeyOne as the official page for the smartphone went live a bit early, and was spotted online

By: Tech Desk

Updated: February 26, 2017 06:04 PM IST

4 min read

MWC 2017: BlackBerry Mercury will be the last phone designed and engineered in-house by BlackBerry.

Update: Looks like the BlackBerry Mercury is called the BlackBerry KeyOne as the official page for the smartphone went live a bit early, and was spotted online by websites like 9to5Google, PhoneArena, which have put out detailed specifications and screenshots of the upcoming product page. BlackBerry KeyOne will feature 4.5-inch display with 1620x1080p resolution, a Snapdragon 625 processor as was expected, along with 3GB RAM, 32GB storage. It will run Android 7.1 Nougat, and feature a 12MP rear and 8MP front camera. It will have Type-C USB charging and 3505 mAh battery.

Sure BlackBerry Mercury was showcased during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month, but the company didn’t reveal too many details about the smartphone. At its pre-MWC event in Barcelona today, BlackBerry will lift the curtain from the “Mercury”, which is the codename for now. BlackBerry has confirmed that the Mercury smartphone will be unveiled at 7:00pm (11:30pm IST) in Barcelona at MWC 2017. CrackBerry will be live streaming the entire event.

“Mercury” resembles a typical BlackBerry-made phone, in terms of look and feel. As expected from BlackBerry, the phone includes a full physical QWERTY keyboard. Although the keyboard won’t slide out like it did with the Priv, the keys are capacitive, and they’re backlit. Apparently, the space bar will act as a fingerprint scanner.

While the physical aspect of the Mercury is known for long, the company didn’t confirm the official specifications. BlackBerry Mercury is expected to come with a 4.5-inch (1080p) display and 4:3 aspect ratio. In terms of processor, BlackBerry Mercury will sport Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 625 chipset and 3GB of RAM. It might get an 18-megapixel rear-facing camera, similar to the one found on the BlackBerry Priv. The device is likely to get an 8-megapixel front-facing camera.

Read our live updates here: MWC 2017 BlackBerry live updates: BlackBerry KeyOne full specs revealed ahead of launch

The smartphone will have a 3.5mm headphone jack and USB Type-C port, while battery capacity might be 3,400mAh. The Mercury will be BlackBerry’s first smartphone to run Android Nougat, Google’s latest mobile OS. This phone will also get BlackBerry’s marque applications and security features.

What else is making news:

Also read: MWC 2017: How to watch Nokia, BlackBerry, LG, Samsung, and Motorola events live

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In case you’re not aware, the Mercury will be the last phone designed and engineered in-house by BlackBerry. TCL, the parent company of Alcatel, will actually manufacture the phone. The Chinese company took over the licence to produce BlackBerry-branded handsets, after the Canadian smartphone marker decided to stop making its own hardware.

BlackBerry’s first devices under the new association with TCL were the DTEK50 and DTEK60, which are rebranded Alcatel smartphones. The phones were announced later last year.

TCL has a bold plan to build a strong portfolio of Blackberry-branded devices, and the Mercury is the first step to bring back the lost mojo. Probably, later today, the price, specifications and release date will be shared for the first time. It would be interesting if BlackBerry plans some kind of surprise up its sleeve. A tablet? We’ll all find out together in just a few hours from now.

Stay tuned, we’ll have a live blog up with all the details on BlackBerry as well.

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