BlackBerry unveils budget-minded Q5 qwerty smartphone

Shawn Knight

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upbeat blackberry blackberry q5 smartphone

BlackBerry is once again on the offensive as the company unveiled a new smartphone at the annual BlackBerry Live conference in Orlando, Florida. The budget-minded Q5 handset is designed with emerging markets in mind and is expected to go on sale sometime this summer, although not in the US.

Details are scarce at this hour but we do know that the Q5 is a QWERTY smartphone that features a 3.1-inch display that runs BlackBerry 10, the third phone from the Canadian handset maker to run this new operating system. It will be available in black, white, red and pink when it launches. No word yet on how much the Q5 will sell for, however.

In related BlackBerry news, CEO Thorsten Heins revealed the BlackBerry Q10 will launch with US carriers starting early next month. Following the announcement, Verizon tweeted they will deliver the handset in June while Sprint said it would be available in late summer.

BlackBerry Z10 owners will receive update 10.1 later this month. That handset, the first to run the company’s new operating system, launched back in February. Despite the delay, however, Heins was upbeat about the outlook of BlackBerry moving forward.

He said that in one year, his team has brought the company to a profitable quarter and that the most successful launch year for BlackBerry is well underway. Heins noted it hasn’t been an easy journey but they have reached solid ground with the company.

Finally, Heins revealed there are now 120,000 apps available for handsets running BB10 software. It’s a far cry from other app stores but hey, you’ve got to start somewhere.

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"Most successful launch year"? What does that even mean? It obviously doesn't refer to sales or user adoption. BB did much better when the first Curve debuted.
 
I've never been a big fan of Blackberry (formerly RIM), but the Z10 and Q5 have had some of the best and innovative designs at least, and if I were to choose a phone purely on the aesthetics of the phone, then Blackberry would be fighting for first place alongside the HTC One.
 
I think they look nice. I tend to like a phone with a physical keyboard. My last feature phone was a Samsung that featured a physical keyboard & enjoyed using it. I've never been comfortable tapping on a piece of glass.
 
I think they look nice. I tend to like a phone with a physical keyboard. My last feature phone was a Samsung that featured a physical keyboard & enjoyed using it. I've never been comfortable tapping on a piece of glass.

Using an iPod Touch for 3-4 years I've much got used to the tapping on a touchscreen phone, but I like being able to text without looking, as if gaming, in school or even just having a conversation I don't have to divert a lot of brainpower to the act, and in a conversation it avoids being rude, so I have to agree with you. :)
 
I think Blackberry's problem is the lack of large displays (QWERTY models). I am looking at pictures of the Q10 and my friend Blackberry Bold 9930 (or whatever it is called) right now and the problem is the wasted display space. They fit in the BB logo + the Verizon logo on the front... If the bezels were be expanded further and the Verizon logo was moved to the back, then you have yourself a good phone.
 
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Same phone?
 
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