Last week BlackBerry Mobile pinned a tweet that simply states "An Icon Reborn" with the date of June 7, 2018 at 10AM listed underneath, as well as "New York" and "BlackBerry KEY2". By all accounts, it appears that BlackBerry is not finished with making phones.
TCL Communications had previously announced two new BlackBerry phones to be released in 2018, the GSM unlocked BlackBerry Motion in the United States and the BlackBerry KEYone Bronze Edition for select international markets. The initial KEYone phone had mild success in the United States since its 2017 release, which apparently was enough for BlackBerry to gear up for a brand new phone this year.
I've always had a affinity for BlackBerry phones, my BlackBerry Q20 SQC100-3 being one of my all-time favorites. While the PRIV and DTEK60 were eventual failures, the release of the KEYone was a bit of a revival for the brand. Plus, TCL dropped the BlackBerry operating system and switched to Android with the KEYone, which gave it a much fresher aroma.
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So now we have BlackBerry teasing a new phone and suddenly, the company doesn't seem like it's slipping into irrelevancy. The rumors are swirling, albeit with tepid volume, around the tech world bowl. Pocket-Lint has a good roundup of the rumored specs of the new BlackBerry KEY2, most of which seems to be pretty valid.
If the rumors are valid, the BlackBerry KEY2 will be a pretty standard phone in the operational sense. Dual-band WiFi running Android Oreo and benchmarking results that indicate an eight-core Snapdragon 660 processor with 6GB RAM. We can also expect some power in that battery, as BlackBerry has focused on creating phones that don't die after four hours of Candy Crush. Slashleaks also released an image that is allegedly the KEY2 itself, though TCL hasn't confirmed a damn thing.
The image clearly shows dual rear cameras and a more streamlined keyboard than the KEYone. The rest of the phone looks like the square, physical specimen we've come to expect from the BlackBerry design team. There is a programmable button on the side and unlike certain Apple products, a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top. One of my favorite characteristics of this phone is the material itself, which appears to be made for one-handed gripping and not slipperly like glass.
While I'm mostly content with my sturdy CAT S41, the BlackBerry KEY2 would definately be my second choice if I had to get a new phone this year. In the fast past world of mobile communications that we live in, there is something a physical keyboard offers that just can't be duplicated by virtual keyboards. There is a connection to the device that just makes you feel stronger about that idiotic text message you are about to send.
On June 7th in New York, BlackBerry will reach up to the mobile phone vine and pull down something delicious and glistening with the morning dew of new mobile tech. While the KEY2 most likely won't come close to competing with the Apple iPhone X or even the Google Pixel 2, it will continue to carve out its own niche market of true phone fruit connoisseurs. The physical keyboard, the lasting battery and the speed of the Snapdragon processor all will come together in a delicious smoothie of awesomeness called the BlackBerry KEY2.
