Optiemus Infracom, the company in India that licenses BlackBerry software and develops BlackBerry-branded handsets has started sending out media invites for an event on August 1, with the tag line, “Do More Different.”
While there is no mention of what the event is for, it is presumed to be the launch of the BlackBerry KEYone in the country.
It is expected to be the the upcoming enhanced Black Edition that should hit China very shortly and will be first dual SIM BlackBerry device in India.
Optiemus will also manufacture, design and sell future handsets neighbouring countries including Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Out of the box, the device 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 | Dual 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 |
