CES 2017: TCL teases upcoming BlackBerry Press with QWERTY keyboard

The forthcoming BlackBerry smartphone with the QWERTY keyboard has been teased ahead of its global launch at CES 2017.

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BlackBerry “Mercury” is rumoured to come with a 4.5-inch display and a physical keyboard.

BlackBerry’s next smartphone with a physical keyboard is all set to be launched at CES 2017. TCL is hosting an event on January 4 at Las Vegas, which will be tomorrow late night according to India time. The phone has been teased on Twitter by Steve Cistulli, president of TCL Communication in North America, ahead of its official unveiling. In the video, one can see a quick look of a smartphone having a physical keyboard.

Cistulli’s tweet reveals that the upcoming smartphone could be named BlackBerry Press, earlier thought to be the BlackBerry Mercury. The device was earlier said to be made by BlackBerry, but it looks like TCL will be manufacturing the smartphone, just like the DTEK50 and DTEK60.

The new BlackBerry “Mercury” is rumoured to come with a 4.5-inch display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, 4GB of RAM, an 18MP rear-facing camera, 8MP front-facing camera, and will be powered by a 3,400 mAh battery.

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TCL has signed a licensing deal with BlackBerry in December to design, manufacture and distribute BlackBerry-brand smartphones, with major focus on Indonesia, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The licensing deal was announced last year after BlackBerry said that it would no longer be designing and manufacturing its own smartphones.

The Chinese smartphone company in late December has said that it “will unveil an evolutionary first in the mobile industry,” at the forthcoming CES trade show in January.

Also read: CES 2017: Smartphones to virtual reality, here’s what to expect at the tech show

“We’ll unveil more news at CES around our plans, showcasing the legacy of the BlackBerry smartphone brand, while also giving a glimpse into what new BlackBerry smartphones will offer as part of our bold new brand portfolio within TCT,” said Steve Cistulli, President and General Manager for TCL Communication (TCT).

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BlackBerry’s last smartphone with a physical keyboard was the Priv, which wasn’t a huge hit. Now all eyes are on the BlackBerry Mercury, which is likely to have a few similarities with the Priv in terms of design.

We should be getting all the details about BlackBerry Mercury aka Press at CES this week.

Anuj Bhatia

Anuj Bhatia is a personal technology writer at indianexpress.com who has been covering smartphones, personal computers, gaming, apps, and lifestyle tech actively since 2011. He specialises in writing longer-form feature articles and explainers on trending tech topics. His unique interests encompass delving into vintage tech, retro gaming and composing in-depth narratives on the intersection of history, technology, and popular culture. He covers major international tech conferences and product launches from the world's biggest and most valuable tech brands including Apple, Google and others. At the same time, he also extensively covers indie, home-grown tech startups. Prior to joining The Indian Express in late 2016, he served as a senior tech writer at My Mobile magazine and previously held roles as a reviewer and tech writer at Gizbot. Anuj holds a postgraduate degree from Banaras Hindu University. You can find Anuj on Linkedin. Email: anuj.bhatia@indianexpress.com ... Read More

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