The PRIV, BlackBerry’s first Android phone hits the market
BLACKBERRY on Tuesday released its first-ever smartphone powered by Android.
The new BlackBerry — the PRIV– which offers the high level of security which the Canadian smartphone company is known for, is now commercially available from carriers in North America and online at ShopBlackBerry.com. Amazon, the world largest online retailer, stocks the new BlackBerry.
“Combining the best of BlackBerry’s productivity, security and privacy features with the wide world of Google Playª store apps, PRIV is the epitome of form and function. It has been engineered with the world’s finest technology and packaged in an ultra-thin device, including a dual-curved screen, touch and physical keyboards, state-of-the-art 18MP camera, and long-lasting battery, with unique tools that allow users to manage and control their privacy,” BlackBerry said in a press statement Tuesday.
“I have said many times that BlackBerry would not release an Android smartphone unless we could make it private and secure. I’m pleased to say that day has arrived,” said John Chen, executive chairman and CEO of BlackBerry. “With BlackBerry’s patented keyboard and the full complement of applications found in Google Play, this device expands our cross-platform strategy and gives end users the best in security, privacy and productivity, with no compromises on applications.”
PRIV was designed with security at its core, building on BlackBerry’s legacy of security and keeping private its customers’ data.
BlackBerry said security highlights include:
* Advanced Privacy Controls: The DTE by BlackBerry app for Android monitors and reports on application access to the microphone, camera, location and personal information, enabling users to be confident that their personal data is being kept private.
* Secure Hardware: BlackBerry’s hardware root of trust, a unique manufacturing process, injects cryptographic keys into the device hardware, providing a secure foundation for the entire platform.
* Verified Boot and Secure Bootchain: Keys have been embedded to verify every layer of the device from hardware to OS to applications in order to make sure they haven’t been tampered with.
* Fully supported on BlackBerry’s EMM Solution
The company said that as part of BlackBerry’s cross-platform strategy to provide a greater choice of secure solutions to its customers, users will see a seamless merging of key BlackBerry 10 productivity features like the BlackBerry Hub and BlackBerry Calendar into PRIV.
Additional key features include:
* Full Android App and Ecosystem Experience, bringing new features to the Android platform and giving users full access to more than one million applications.
* Best of both keyboards, offering the freedom to choose between a virtual or physical keyboard.
* A 5.4-inch immersive dual-curve OLED display that offers plenty of room to work or play with rich colors, deep black levels and less power consumption. At a resolution of 2560×1440, it sports an incredible pixel density of 540 PPI — four times the amount of pixels of a standard HDTV.
* The PRIV has a 3410 mAh battery with enough power to work up to 22.5 straight hours of mixed usage, and a state-of-the-art 18MP camera, which BlackBerry says can give professional looking photos with minimal effort.
* PRIV is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, designed to offer consumers a superior user experience. Plus, with 32 GB of onboard storage and support for micro SD cards up to 2TB, the PRIV gives users the flexibility to add storage to download, install, capture and share as their needs evolve.
In addition, BlackBerry said PRIV comes with powerful speakers and a three-microphone system that delivers a high-quality listening experience.