Here’s everything we know about the Blackberry KeyTwo
Blackberry is always at the top of its game when it sticks to what it knows best — security-focused phones with QWERTY keyboards. The Blackberry KeyOne was a return to form for the company, which had otherwise had a quiet few years, so it makes sense that Blackberry would be planning a sequel to its latest keyboarded wonder. Here’s everything we know so far about the Blackberry KeyTwo.
Release and availability
The Blackberry KeyTwo will launch in New York City on June 7, 2018. HMD has yet to announce any other launch events around the world
In terms of availability, we believe the Blackberry KeyTwo will be available globally. We don’t know which carriers will sell the KeyTwo, but last year’s KeyOne was available on Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T.
Design
So what exactly should we expect of the upcoming Blackberry KeyTwo in terms of design. Well, if the leaked image above is correct, the KeyTwo will share a lot in common with last year’s KeyOne.
The newest image seems to line up with older leaks suggesting little has changed between the KeyOne and the KeyTwo in terms of design. Some parts of the design have been tightened up — the top bezel that we weren’t keen on in the KeyOne has been shrunk and made less prominent, and the screen now has a gentle curve. However, little else has changed. That’s not a bad thing; the KeyOne had a unique look, and we like the idea that Blackberry might keep the same sort of style.
The renders show the QWERTY keyboard at the bottom of the phone, and it seems that the fingerprint-scanning space bar has returned. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top (yes!), and a USB-C connection at the bottom. Renders of the back show a dual-camera system — Blackberry’s first — as well as the rubberized back panel we saw on the KeyOne. These renders seem like fairly safe bets, and we’re willing to bet they’re probably not far off the final design.
Specs
Blackberry’s phones have traditionally been lower-powered than most of the competition, and the current rumors about the KeyTwo suggest that won’t be changing. According to TechGenYZ, the KeyTwo will come with the lower-powered Snapdragon 660 (compared to the latest Snapdragon 845 we expect to see in most 2018 flagships), but will be paired with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM, and 64GB of onboard storage. The large amount of RAM should assist the phone in handling multiple tasks at the same time — which meets expectations for a phone intended for enterprise users.
With this being 2018, we fully expect that the phone will launch with Android 8.0 Oreo, but it’s possible that the KeyTwo could launch with Android 7.0 Nougat and a promise of updates. No other Blackberry phone has received the Oreo update, making it possible that Blackberry simply hasn’t caught up yet.
Name
The next Blackberry flagship will be called the Blackberry KeyTwo. HMD confirmed the name on its upcoming launch invitation. While there were rumors about how the name would be stylized, it appears that HMD is going with Blackberry Key2.
Updated on May 11: Added launch date.
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Published at Fri, 11 May 2018 19:44:58 +0000
