While the 5.4-inch QWERTY slider has been already been demoed on several occasions, here is BlackBerry’s official hands-on of the upcoming Android-powered Priv smartphone.
In the video, BlackBerry briefly shows off its Hub app, which is transposed from BlackBerry 10 devices like the Passport. Presumably, while the app will ship with separate Messenger and Gmail apps from Google, the BlackBerry Hub will be a single place for all one’s communications, including SMS and MMS, email, Facebook, Twitter, and more.
We already know many of the Priv’s specs, confirmed today thanks to a Carphone Warehouse listing. The device has a 5.4-inch dual-curved QHD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, a 3,410mAh battery, 18 megapixel camera with dual flash, and a 5 megapixel front-facing camera, running a modified version of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with added security features.
BlackBerry recently started taking pre-reservations for the Priv, which is expected to be available in November across several Canadian carriers. In the video above the Priv is using a Rogers SIM card, so it was presumably filmed at the company’s Waterloo headquarters.
BlackBerry CEO John Chen recently said that the Priv will be priced on the “high-end,” but it will “make the phone financially affordable to get.”
