The Blackberry 5G is as highly hyped as it is inexplicably overdue – the restoration of the classy mobile brand, brought back by security company Onward Mobility, stirrings countless enthusiasm among Blackberry phone fans, but it’s definitely late.
Onward Mobility’s website says “Blackberry has decided to bring a new 5G BlackBerry Android smartphone with a physical keyboard, in the first half of 2021 in North America and Europe.”
Since we’re definitely not in the first half of 2022 any longer, this obviously didn’t go to plan, and now phone fans and Blackberry fans are fiddling their thumbs eagerly waiting for any actual news.
The Blackberry 5G may shortly fill the vacuum felt by Android power users who love the idea of physical keyboards for quick typing. It’s been so long since phone users have had their fingertips tapping away at the keys of something like the niche and rather than average BlackBerry Key2 which was launched in 2018 – or even more vague and typical F(x)tec Pro 1 which was launched a year later. You’d be struggling to find a keyboard phone that isn’t outdated today.
Thankfully for folks yearning regretfully for BlackBerry’s magnificence days, we will apparently get a chance to see a brand new BlackBerry phone with 5G connectivity in 2022.
This isn’t the first time Blackberry has renewal after the true developer sold their mobile copyrights away and mostly left smartphones behind in favour of smart car software and security tech. We first saw an attempt made by TCL, which took over the brand’s manufacturing in 2016 but dropped the partnership in 2020.
Rather than, creating a new mobile company OnwardMobility purchased the brand, and plans to work with Foxconn – maker of most popular gaming consoles, Nokia and Xiaomi phones, and some old BlackBerry models – to make a new BlackBerry. Here is what we all want to see from this upcoming new BlackBerry phone in terms of features and specifications.
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BlackBerry 5G 2022 release date and price
When OnwardMobility registered the BlackBerry brand, it declared in mid-2020 that it would launch a brand new phone in North American and European markets somewhere in the first half of 2022. It may also ship those phones in Asian markets, but probably later.
Recently in February, the CEO Peter Franklin said in an interview with Nikkei Asia that more information will be publicised within the next few months. In the meantime, we thought that the product may reveal soon as May 2022.
But clearly, that was not true, as May month already passed and we got no updates from this firm. We could more info regarding this phone soon, but the chipset shortage in the tech world might be the main reason we have to wait for a while.
In July 2022, OnwardMobility released a waitlist for updates on the upcoming 5G BlackBerry phone. That proposed launch is approaching, but the terminology used also proposed that we may have to wait a bit longer than usual, and time has reserved scuttling forwards with no update. At least this approves the phone is still happening, though.
Though we don’t have a price evaluation yet. The last BlackBerry flagship with a keyboard, the Key2, cost $649 with most of its Android predecessors falling into the similar mid-range pricing range. But this is being made by a brand new firm with dissimilar goals and target buyers, and Franklin said in the above interview that it would be a ‘global flagship device.’
In a recent press release, the firm also said that the phone would be manufactured under strict guidelines to ensure components, device and supply chain reliability. This would assist it to have top-level government security for enterprise professionals.
Meanwhile, it’s using an altered manufacturing procedure than most of the other phones, the new BlackBerry 5G could be costly to produce. We have also heard that it may have a high-quality camera that could compete with other flagship phones. Put together, we could see a higher-price BlackBery than its previous models.
News and product details
The brand new BlackBerry 5G 2022 phone is still hovering mostly under the radar. We may see more leaked renders or rumours with superior phones, but so far we only know what the BlackBerry company has told us.
No doubt we know it will have 5G support and run off of the Android OS, though we have no idea about this phone will come with an Android 11 or a previous release. We also know directly from OnwardMobility that the phone will be focused on consumers as well as enterprise markets.
The OnwardMobility CEO Peter Franklin told us that-
“More than half of the global population own smartphones today, so no doubt the market is huge,”. “What’s been missing, however, is the fully secure and productivity based smartphone that can fulfill the needs of enterprise users, government users and security-conscious consumers and that’s the breach we suppose to fill.”
Nikkei Asia also confirmed that the phone will have a top-notch camera, at least according to OnwardMobility. But overall, we have to wait and see the market respond after the launch of this flagship mobile phone.
BlackBerry 5G: what we want to see
As we have already mentioned we have no detailed idea of the design and specification of this upcoming phone. But according to old BlackBerry models and other keyboard phones of the past, we can predict or expect what our expectations are which will make this phone worth purchasing.
1. A QWERTY slider keyboard
We know that the Blackberry 5G 2021 will have a physical keyboard, but also that OnwardMobility and Foxconn will design it in a new way, rather than use the same old BlackBerry designs. Still, we don’t expect too many changes on this phone, so that it will demand old BlackBerry fans while purchasing a new one.
Individually, we would love to see the overall design like the one in the BlackBerry Priv, however only if it slides out length-wise instead of at the bottom.
Usually, the fixed keyboard model worked and looks great when phones were wider, but now a super-tall, narrow BlackBerry would make the keyboard too confined to easily type upon. And an always-visible keyboard may be preferable for old school users but, it may not be praised by the new buyers because of its bulky feelings.
A wide QWERTY keyboard that disappears when you need a traditional touchscreen experience could be precisely what a new BlackBerry phone needs.
2. At least all-day battery life
It’s true that most of the flagship phones struggle to last the whole day unless you are a casual user. For BlackBerry, it’s highly essential to bring this phone with a powerful battery that can last at least one day, as this is going to be an executive professional smartphone.
Despite some faults, the BlackBerry Key 2 regularly lasted 25 to 35 hours in our previous test. To achieve that level of performance BlackBerry 5G would likely to feature a 6000mAh battery and two days of battery life at a budget price range.
3. Keyboard shortcuts
Before the BlackBerry brand went on an interval, the newest phones had programmable shortcuts where users can easily open an app with a couple of rapid keystrokes. Users would definitely like to see that reappearance, paired with Google Assistant on Android 11.
The good thing will be users can automatically set the routines key to specific voice commands, like check out schedule, turning on your smartphone and many more. Just imagine how much use I will be when you could trigger those actions by just clicking a specific shortcut key on your BlackBerry phone.
We’ll also expect that the new BlackBerry 5G has countless specs to make sure it can run apps smoothly, have sufficient storage facility and other basic requirements. But the main this is the keyboard that needs to be sensational so that people will attract to this phone rather than other Android phones which are already available in the market.
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I LOVE my Blackberry phone and of course, none of the current phone carriers want to support the phone. They are using the excuse that they can no longer support at 3G phone. I have told them repeatedly that my Blackberry is a 4G but they said it would not work as of January 2023!! I do hope Blackberry makes their new phone available before then!! Us Blackberry lovers are desperate!!