In an event held in New York last week, TCL officially announced the BlackBerry Key2. The announcement revealed some of details we are yet to get about the device, and you are definitely going to see the whole of them right in this post. Though there have been leaks of this device in the past, read on and see the official BlackBerry Key2 specifications, features, price and global release date.
BlackBerry Key2 Features
The BlackBerry Key2 is actually the continuation of the Keyone is almost all features. It retains the same squarish form factor that is highlighted by an iconic physical keyboard and a 3:2 aspect ratio display. It has a dual camera at the back, the first in a BlackBerry device.
Also read: Samsung Galaxy J3 (2018) Specifications, Price and Release Date
The BlackBerry Key2 has a dual camera setup, comprising of a 12MP main camera with a regular f/1.28um, and a telephoto f/2.6, 1.28um that is used for optical zooming as well as portrait shots with defocused backgrounds. it has a 4.5 inch 1080 x 1620 pixel IPS LCD display, and a Snapdragon 66 chipset. The processor is paired with a 6GB of RAM.
Looking at the design, the BlackBerry Key2 has a series 7 aluminium frame (which comes in either black or silver) and a soft-touch back with a diamond pattern finish.
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The keyboard height of the BlackBerry Key2 has been increased by 20%, which the manufacturer claims will increase comfort and typing accuracy. The keys came with a new mate finish and have been arranged in a new fret pattern to optimize spacing. A fingerprint scanner is still embedded into the space key. The device also came with a new speed key that enables shortcuts that can take you to any app at any time, help you to call a favourite contact, or access functions.
Also read: Samsung Galaxy J7 (2018) Specifications, Price and Release Date
The BlackBerry Key2 brings back the flick typing feature. Flick typing uses predictive text that learns your typing over time, and shows suggestions that you can flick and text. The keyboard of the BlackBerry Key2 can also be used as trackpad to scroll through the UI.
BlackBerry has promised monthly security updates for the Key2 as well as at last one major OS update – that means the Key2 will be updated up to Android P, at the very least.
BlackBerry Key2 Specifications
NETWORK | |
| Technology | GSM / HSPA / LTE |
| 2G bands | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2 (BBF100-6 model only) |
| 3G bands | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 |
| 4G bands | LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 19(800), 20(800), 26(850), 28(700), 32(1500), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500) – EU, Africa, AU (BBF100-1) |
| LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 14(700), 17(700), 20(800), 28(700), 29(700), 30(2300), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500), 66(1700/2100) – Canada, US, LATAM (BBF100-2) | |
| LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 19(800), 20(800), 26(850), 28(700), 32(1500), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500) – ME, APAC, India (BBF100-6) | |
| LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 20(800), 26(850), 28(700), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500) – China (BBF100-4) | |
| Speed | HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (3CA) Cat11 600/75 Mbps |
| GPRS | Yes |
| EDGE | Yes |
LAUNCH | |
| Announced | 2018, June |
| Status | Coming soon. Exp. release 2018, June |
BODY | |
| Dimensions | 151.4 x 71.8 x 8.5 mm (5.96 x 2.83 x 0.33 in) |
| Weight | 168 g (5.93 oz) |
| Keyboard | QWERTY |
| Build | Aluminum frame (7000 series), plastic back |
| SIM | Single SIM (Nano-SIM) or Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) – BBF100-6 only |
| – Capacitive touch 4-row BlackBerry keyboard | |
DISPLAY | |
| Type | IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
| Size | 4.5 inches, 60.0 cm2 (~55.2% screen-to-body ratio) |
| Resolution | 1080 x 1620 pixels, 3:2 ratio (~434 ppi density) |
| Multitouch | Yes |
| Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
PLATFORM | |
| OS | Android 8.1 (Oreo) |
| Chipset | Qualcomm SDM660 Snapdragon 660 |
| CPU | Octa-core (4×2.2 GHz Kryo 260 & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 260) |
| GPU | Adreno 512 |
MEMORY | |
| Card slot | microSD, up to 256 GB |
| Internal | 64/128 GB, 6 GB RAM |
CAMERA | |
| Primary | Dual: 12 MP (f/1.8, 1/2.3″, 1.55µm, DP PDAF) + 12 MP (f/2.6, 1.0µm, PDAF), phase detection autofocus, dual-LED dual-tone flash |
| Features | Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama |
| Video | 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps |
| Secondary | 8 MP (f/2.0, 1.12µm), 1080p |
SOUND | |
| Alert types | Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones |
| Loudspeaker | Yes |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes |
| – Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic | |
COMMS | |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot |
| Bluetooth | 5.0, A2DP, LE, EDR |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS2 |
| NFC | Yes |
| Radio | FM radio |
| USB | 3.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go |
FEATURES | |
| Sensors | Fingerprint (front-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Messaging | SMS, MMS, Email, Push Email, IM, BBM |
| Browser | HTML5 |
| – Fast battery charging: 50% in 36 min (Quick Charge 3.0) – MP3/WAV/eAAC+/FlAC player – DivX/Xvid/MP4/H.265 player – Photo/video editor – Document viewer | |
BATTERY | |
| Non-removable Li-Ion 3500 mAh battery | |
MISC | |
| Colours | Black, Silver |
| SAR EU | 0.72 W/kg (head) 1.68 W/kg (body) |
| Price | About 650 EUR |
BlackBerry Key2 Release Date
The BlackBerry Key2 will be released and go on sale globally in this month of June 2018. Its availability in the United States of America, Nigeria, United Kingdom, and major counties in Europe will come up this June.
Update on June 21
BlackBerry has officially announced the availability of the BlackBerry Key2 in Canada. In a press release, the company said the device will be available to pre-order in the Canadian market starting from June 21, with launch set for July 6 2018.
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BlackBerry Key2 Price
The BlackBerry Key2 price will start at £579 in the United Kingdom, $649 in the United States, €649 across Europe, and within the range of N230,000 in Nigeria.
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