Before Android smartphones swept the mobile device market and broke the quality level of phones to the point of being in comparison with Apple phones, BlackBerry was that brand that seemed to have served us what we felt was the best we could get at that time. It was ranked as one of the great, if not the best, mobile devices a few years ago.
In Africa, people were overly interested in Blackberry devices. The love the African market had for the brand was adorable and high. Suddenly, a scorching sun dried the waters and rendered the Blackberry pool empty to be long forgotten. Can this change? Can Blackberry come back from its slumber?
Well! Everyone didn’t think the brand was asleep, but rather dead. Although we live in a world where nothing really dies, so yeah! Maybe it’s a slumber, but can the brand really come out of its slumber?
In 2016, TLC saw it as relevant as an investment to manufacture two BlackBerry branded phones. We can say it was a success to produce, but not much of a success to compete with the other trending brands that probably sent Blackberry into a pit.
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In February, TLC gave up on the task, and this month, they stopped selling the devices.
This might be terrible news for the brand, but is it the end of Blackberry? No! No! No!
In fact, you might want to brace yourself for their next device. It is coming out early in the first quarter of 2021. How do we know this? OnwardMobility; a mobile security company, signed an agreement to create the new Blackberry Smartphones.
The deal had the combination of OnwardMobility, FIH Mobile, and Blackberry. Together, they are determined to make this work.
The terms of the agreement state that FIH Mobile will produce and engineer the device, Blackberry to provide enterprise and government level security technologies, while OnwardMobility plans to sell the Smartphone that would be set to be launched and ready to sell in North America and Europe. For other continents, another manufacturing partner may be chosen.
What features do we expect to see?
While it’s too early to state what features the incoming 2021 Blackberry phone will possess, OnwardMobility stated only a few things that might be worth the lookout for.
Do you miss the physical Qwerty keyboards? If you do, the new Blackberry will be released with their regular keyboards, maybe a little change in style, but, the qwerty keyboards will be physical.
The phone will also possess the Android operating system (Android 11, maybe), and will support the 5G network.
The top features above all currently known are
- The best antivirus in a phone is going to be your steady mobile viral protector.
- They will also come with top USB drives that are going to be the best secure drives intended to protect your data.
- There is a belief the phone might be quite affordable and will come with fingerprint scanners.
The 2021 Blackberry Smartphone is really focused on providing world-class-leading security for its users. With an Android operating system, we expect a top OS to come with it in 2021 to keep them up to date and competitive.
Blackberry Key 2, the last Blackberry released, possesses some average and good features; Android 8.0, Octa-core, 6GB RAM, with either a 64GB or 128GB storage. It also had a fingerprint sensor, an accelerometer, gyro, compass, and proximity.
The 3500mAh battery capacity was still very average and could be tagged as below average by certain people that are accustomed to battery capacity above that. Dual 12MP rear cameras and NFC are present.
With some advancement compared to their last smartphone, we might be expecting a worthwhile, really cool device. Would it still be great enough to compete with top quality brands? We hope so. We expect a major comeback, something we usually get in the Champions League, or rather an upset. Our fingers are crossed.