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The BlackBerry PRIV is BlackBerry’s first Android phone and it will be available in Singapore from 12th December 2015.

The recommended retail price for the BlackBerry PRIV is S$1,098 and it will be available for purchase from Singtel, M1, StarHub and other BlackBerry authorized partners.

I am pretty impressed with the BlackBerry PRIV. The build is solid and it is extremely thin at 9.4mm. The screen is gorgeous as well. Featuring a 5.4″ dual-curve OLED screen at 2560×1440 (540ppi) with Corning Gorilla Glass 4.

It is powered by Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop) and BlackBerry keeps it as close to stock Android as possible. Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) will be available for upgrade before first quarter 2016.

The battery is gigantic as well. The 3,410mAh non-removable Lithium Ion battery will give you about 22.5 hours of battery life. Because it is using Qualcomm 8992 Snapdragon 808 processor, it is compatible with Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 technology as well.

The slide-out keyboard is another plus point to the PRIV. The keyboard is the same as the one found in the BlackBerry Passport. Despite it being small in size, it is pretty accurate when I typed on it. The keyboard itself is a capacitive keyboard which means you can swipe on the keys to scroll up/down/left/right.

If you are waiting for an Android phone with a physical keyboard, the BlackBerry PRIV is the one you should be looking for.

Specifications

• Dimensions (H x W x D): 147 mm (184mm open) x 77.2mm x 9.4mm
• Weight: 192g
• Display: 5.4″, 2560×1440, 540ppi, 16:9, Corning Gorilla Glass 4
• Keyboard: On screen BlackBerry Keyboard, Slide out touch-enabled 4-row physical keyboard
• OS: Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
• Memory: 3GB
• Storage: 32GB Flash
• Expandable Storage: microSD up to 2TB
• Processor: Qualcomm 8992 Snapdragon 808 Hexa-Core, 64bit
• GPU: Adreno 418, 600MHz
• Battery: 3,410mAh non-removable Lithium Ion battery (22.5 hours), Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0
• Camera (Rear): 18MP auto-focus, OIS, 6-element f2.2 lens, Back Side Illumination (BSI2) Stacked Sensor, Dual LED Flash, 1080p video recording at 60fps
• Camera (Front): 2MP, OIS, f2.8, 1.75um pixel size, 720p HD video recording
• Wi-Fi: 802.11a/c 5GHz, 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz, 802.11a/n 5GHz, 4G Mobile Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, 2×2 MIMO
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.1 Low Energy (LE) and EDR, NFC
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Activity Monitor, Altimeter, Ambient light, Gyroscope, Magnetometer, Proximity, Time of Flight (ToF)
• GPS: Assisted, Autonomous and Simultaneous GPS, Support for User Plane and Control Plane GPS, GLONASS Support
• Network: FD-LTE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 20, 25, 28, 29, 30 (2100/1900/1800/1700/850/2600/900/700/700/700/800/1900/700/700/2300 MHz), TD-LTE 38, 40, 41 (2600/2300/2500 MHz), HSPA+ 1, 2, 4, 5/6, 8 (2100/1900/1700/850/900 MHz), Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• SIM: Nano SIM

Security Features

• Advanced Privacy Controls – The exclusive DTEK by BlackBerry app for Android monitors and reports on application access to the microphone, camera, location and personal information, enabling users to be confident that their personal data is being kept private. Users can know at a glance when their privacy could be at risk so they can take action to improve it.
• Secure Hardware – BlackBerry’s hardware root of trust, a unique manufacturing process, injects cryptographic keys into the device hardware, providing a secure foundation for the entire platform.
• >Verified Boot and Secure Bootchain – Keys have been embedded to verify every layer of the device from hardware to OS to applications in order to make sure they haven’t been tampered with. Additionally, thousands of modifications were made to harden the Linux kernel with numerous patches and configuration changes to improve security.
• Fully supported on BlackBerry’s EMM Solution – PRIV can be integrated with our leading EMM solution, BES 12, which offers cross-platform management of PRIV and other devices; providing a full end to end security solution and secure collaboration applications for business users like Secusuite for secure voice and WatchDox for secure file sharing.

Other Features

• Full Android App and Ecosystem Experience – PRIV brings incredible new features to the Android platform and gives users full access to over one million applications: whether it’s Instagram, Spotify, Uber or BBM, you’ll find it on Google Play.
• Best of Both Keyboards – offers the freedom to choose between a virtual keyboard or a physical keyboard for speed and accuracy.
• Tough and Beautiful Screen – A stunning 5.4-inch immersive dual-curve OLED display offers plenty of room to work or play with rich colors, deep black levels and less power consumption. At a resolution of 2560×1440, it sports an incredible pixel density of 540 PPI – 4x the amount of pixels of a standard HDTV. Along the screen’s curved edge is the Productivity Tab that provides an “at a glance” view of the most pertinent info from BlackBerry Hub, Calendar, Task, and Contacts.
• Full-day Battery Life – PRIV has a 3410 mAh battery with enough power to work up to 22.5 straight hours of mixed usage.
• State-of-the-Art Camera – Engineered to deliver professional looking photos with minimal effort, an 18MP camera, certified by Schneider-Kreuznach, integrates technologies commonly found in DSLR cameras.
• Powerful Performance and Expandable Storage – PRIV is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, a premium-tier chipset designed to offer consumers a superior and compelling user experience along with peace of mind with Qualcomm SecureMSM technology and Qualcomm Snapdragon StudioAccess content protection. Plus, with 32 GB of onboard storage and support for micro SD cards up to 2TB, the new PRIV gives users the flexibility to add affordable and hot-swappable storage to download, install, capture and share as their needs evolve.
• BlackBerry Natural Sound – PRIV comes with powerful speakers and a three-microphone system that delivers a high-quality listening experience. BlackBerry Natural Sound Technology is built in to adapt Wi-Fi and cellular call sound depending upon phone position and background noise, automatically adjusting volume so users don’t have to.
• Android for Work – PRIV comes ready for work. Android for Work support allows for fast, simple and secure integration with the enterprise environment. Seamless integration with Google Play for Work enables easy access to IT-managed apps.