New BlackBerry Android Smartphone 'Priv' Priced around $630, According to Leaks

By Paula Dela Cruz, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, October 13, 2015

BlackBerry will soon launch its first Android-powered smartphone, "Priv," and according to leaks, its price will be quite high.

According to Phone Arena, a well-known Chinese tipster called "Leaksfly" revealed the pricing of the BlackBerry Priv in the micro-blogging site, Weibo. Leaksfly said that the new BlackBerry smartphone will come with a 3999 CNY price tag, which is about $630.

The price tag leak from Leaksfly just came out after John Chen, BlackBerry's CEO, announced that the Android-powered Blackberry will have a "high-end price tag." "We'll make the phone financially affordable to get, whether that's by installments or something else," Chen said during the Code/Mobile Conference, as noted by GSM Arena.

According to Boy Genius Report, the new BlackBerry Priv, which was introduced last September, offers the flexibility of Android devices, and the security and productivity that BlackBerry is known for. Priv is said to come with a 5.4-inch HD display, and 3 GB RAM. The device is also said to come with an 18-megapixel rear camera, and a 5-megapixel front camera. The website also added that Priv will be powered by a 1.8 GHz Snapdragon 808 processor, and will have 32 GB internal memory.

derStandard, who was able to test a pre-production BlackBerry Priv unit hands on, said that the new device will run on Android 5.1 or Lollipop. The report compared the display with the LG G4, and said it is "on par." derStandard also said that the keyboard is sturdy, but the gap in between the body of the device and the keyboard "tends to accumulate dust and dirt." Another downside that the website mentioned about the device is that back of the Blackberry Priv "feels very rubbery and far from premium."

Changes might still happen in between now until the release of the BlackBerry Priv, so BlackBerry fans can be assured that improvements are still going to be made until Priv is finalized. As of now, BlackBerry has not yet confirmed the official release date of the Priv, but many speculate it will be around the first quarter of 2016.