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BlackBerry's upcoming 'Classic' smartphone looks like this
BlackBerry had no part in the torrent of mobile news that erupted at last week's IFA tradeshow, but new leaked images remind us the company's got a fresh batch of smartphones in its pipeline, too. Originating from the Weibo account of a reseller who occasionally gets hold of prototype devices, the pictures reportedly show the upcoming BlackBerry Classic (aka Q20), due to launch sometime in November. Announced at Mobile World Congress earlier this year but kept away from the cameras, the Classic appears to be significantly bigger and squarer than its predecessor, and brings back the physical navigation keys and trackpad of handsets past.
BlackBerry announces the Classic with physical keyboard and trackpad, coming later this year
As part of BlackBerry's festivities at Mobile World Congress, CEO John Chen announced a pair of new devices. In addition to the Z3 (Jakarta), Chen also stated that a new QWERTY device called the Classic (aka Q20) is in the works, and will be coming out sometime later this year alongside an update to BES12. We don't know much about the device at this point, but Chen tells us that it'll feature the "tool belt," which means you can expect to see the traditional BlackBerry trackpad and function keys frequently seen on the company's older smartphones. We also know that the handset will come with a 3.5-inch touchscreen, a little bigger than the one we found on the Q10, but the Classic will retain the Q10's top-tier fretted keyboard. The company hasn't gone into specifics, but has also mentioned that we'll see the device come with a "large battery," for even longer life than the current generation of devices. The Classic/Q20 will launch in the second half of the year, just as soon as the team can, you know, decide upon a name.
