BlackBerry Mobile has announced that the Black Edition of the BlackBerry KEYone will be coming to Canada later this month.
This latest BlackBerry iteration from TCL will be available carrier unlocked via Ingram Micro dealer partners such as Amazon.ca, Walmart.ca, Staples.ca and others for an SRP of $799 CAD.
Exact date of availability will vary by channel, but customers in Canada should expect to be able to purchase this all-new BlackBerry KEYone beginning as soon as next week.
“This has been an exciting year as we’ve introduced our reimagined BlackBerry smartphone to fans and customers here in North America, with overall market demand exceeding our expectations for the year,” said, Steve Cistulli, President and General Manager for TCL Communication, North America.
“With introduction of BlackBerry KEYone Black Edition, we’re able to directly respond to our fans in Canada who have asked for additional styling and performance options within the BlackBerry KEYone lineup.”
Alex Thurber, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Mobility Solutions, BlackBerry added,
“The demand and excitement for the BlackBerry KEYone across the globe has been fantastic,”
“We congratulate TCL Communications for bringing to market their second device so quickly, and know it will provide the performance and trusted security people expect from the BlackBerry brand.”
Out of the box, the BlackBerry KEYone Black Edition runs Android 7.1 – giving users access to the entire Google Play store and apps – and will receive Google security patch updates. It comes loaded with BlackBerry Hub, bringing all your messages into one consolidated place; including emails, texts and messages from any social media account. Another benefit of BlackBerry Hub, is the ability to manage multiple email accounts without switching between apps, with support for Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook, Microsoft Exchange accounts, and many other IMAP and POP3 email providers.
At the core of this updated BlackBerry smartphone is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 mobile platform with the Qualcomm AdrenoTM 506 GPU. This means BlackBerry KEYone users will enjoy long battery life thanks to more efficient battery usage and fast LTE speeds for super-fast file sharing.
It includes Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 technology, making it possible for the 3505 mAh battery on the KEYone – the largest ever in a BlackBerry device, to receive up to 50 percent charge in roughly 36 minutes. And for when you only have a few moments to grab a fast charge, BlackBerry’s Boost can turbo charge your battery to get you the most charge with the limited time you have.
Coming to the camera, there is a 12MP rear camera with f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, and dual tone LED flash. For selfies, there is an 8MP front camera with 1.12 µm pixel size. Both the cameras can record videos at a maximum of Full HD resolution. The power button, volume rocker, and the SIM card are placed on the right edge of the device.
On the left edge is the BlackBerry Convenience Key that can be customized for different operations. In between the display and QWERTY keyboard are the three capacitive navigation buttons for back, home, and multi-tasking (from left to right).
Connectivity options include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, GPS, 3.5mm Audio port, and USB Type-C port. With the NFC and fingerprint sensor, the KeyOne can be used for making payments using the Android Pay.
BlackBerry KEYone Black Edition Specs
(Changes from original KEYone in Bold)
| Operating system | Android 7.1 Nougat |
| Colour | All Black |
| Display | 4.5-inch, 1620×1080 IPS LCD 434ppi 3:2 Aspect Ratio |
| Processor | Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 625 Octa-Core 2.0 GHz 64-bit Adreno 506 650MHz GPU |
| RAM | 4GB |
| Storage | 64GB |
| Expandable | microSD up to 2TB |
| Rear Camera | 12MP (1.55 micron) f/2.0 PDAF dual-tone LED flash HDR 4K 30fps |
| Front Camera | 8MP f/2.2 1.12-micron pixels Selfie flash 1080p/30 video |
| Battery | 3505 mAh non-removable |
| Charging | Quick Charge 3.0 USB-C |
| Water resistance | No |
| Security | DTEK security suite FIPS 140-2 Full Disk Encryption Android For Work Google Play for Work |
| SIM | Single SIM |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11ac 5GHz Bluetooth 4.2 LE NFC GPS GLONASS NFC FM Radio |
| Canada, LATAM, APAC, US V1 | LTE1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 28, 29, 30 TDD LTE: 38, 39, 40, 41 |
| US V2 | LTE: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30 TDD LTE: 41 CDMA BC 0,1,10 |
| UK | LTE: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 17, 20, 28 TDD LTE: 38, 40 |
| Dimensions | 149.3 mm x 72.5 mm x 9.4 mm |
| Weight | 180 grams |
