BlackBerry Priv arriving soon on Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint
The Android-powered BlackBerry Priv is officially coming to Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint in the United States. While the phone isn’t totally new, the news revolves around an exclusivity deal with AT&T that has come to an end after just a few months. Despite a very rough few years for BlackBerry, perhaps the Priv has what it takes to keep BlackBerry’s ship just slightly above sea level for a little while longer.
Being the first BlackBerry to embrace Android — specifically Android 5.1 Lollipop, the Priv features a 5.4-inch touchscreen display with a vertical slide-out physical keyboard. (Yes, BlackBerry is still latching on to loyal physical keyboard users for dear life.) It also has an 18MP camera plus a pretty large 3,410 mAh battery and 3GB of RAM.
It continues to sell on AT&T for $249.99 with a two-year contract or $739.99 for full retail, both of which are fairly expensive. It’s likely that the other carriers will match this price, but specific pricing details haven’t been announced yet.
Neither has the release date by any carrier except T-Mobile. CEO John Legere confirmed today during BlackBerry’s press conference at CES that the Priv would arrive at T-Mobile on January 26.
It’s true! #BlackBerry #PRIV coming to @TMobile on 1/26. But not this version – this is special for me #IAmBatman 😉 https://t.co/n9jBXWvYnY
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) January 6, 2016
“We can make money in devices, and I think we’re close,” BlackBerry CEO John Chen told CNET at CES. Once BlackBerry dropped out of mainstream success when iPhone and Android took over, the business side started plummeting too. BlackBerry desperately needs a comeback on both fronts.