Sad news for die-hard Blackberry fans. The company has no plans to launch a new phone with a Blackberry OS in 2016. Instead the smartphones that will be launched this year will be powered by Android OS. John Chen, the CEO of Blackberry said at CES 2016 that the company is looking forward to launch two possible smartphones, if not at least one smartphone this year that will run on Android OS.
Blackberry launched Blackberry Priv, a $699 Android smartphone last year. Priv runs on Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop) OS, is powered by Qualcomm MSM8992 Snapdragon 808 processor and a 3 GB Ram with an internal storage of 32 GB. The device sports a stunning 18 MP Primary Camera and a 2 MP Secondary camera.
Priv has good reviews so far as the common Android issues like hanging during multitasking are not observed in the device. And maybe that’s why Mr. Chen is hoping the Priv to restore the brand name and existing damages of the company in the smartphone world. And therefore, Priv is expected to get released in additional 31 countries by the first quarter of this year. As far as the reports are concerned, the CEO is so optimistic about generating revenues this year through Android.
The support for Blackberry will however continue to exist. The company is also focused on software updates for BB10, with version 10.3.3 slated for early 2016 release and 10.3.4 for later this year. A new Blackberry OS is certainly on the cards, but the CEO declined to comment on the plans of launching it as the company is currently focused on a profitable year ahead through Android.
However, this is a good news for those of you who are bored of using the Android OS again and again in handsets of Samsung, LG etc.
Source: CNET
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Stay tuned for more updates from CES 2016