TCL teases BlackBerry KEYone news for next week, reveals retail packaging

Further details surrounding the official release of the TCL-made BlackBerry KEYone could be announced next week.

According to a tweet sent by Steve Cistulli, President and general manager of TCL North America, the company will have “some more KEY news coming your way next week.”

Some more KEY news coming your way next week… Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/TXWuzmxxZF

— Steve Cistulli (@SteveCistulli) April 21, 2017

The KEYone was announced at Mobile World Congress this year and was supposed to be available to Canadians late April. However, John Chen, BlackBerry’s CEO stated during the company’s quarterly conference call that the Android-powered QWERTY device will ship in May.

“TCL announced at Mobile World Congress which is the physical keyboard on an Android, that one is not going to be slated to ship until probably the May timeframe. I think the first manufacturing production run is at the end of April. So the product looks pretty good, but the worldwide availability is going to be later than May,” said Chen during the call.

Specs

BlackBerry KEYone

BlackBerry Priv

BlackBerry DTEK60

BlackBerry DTEK50

Display

4.5-inch IPS LCD display, 1620x1080 pixels, 3:2 aspect ratio

5.4-inch (2560x1440 Quad HD resolution, 540PPI)

5.5-inch (2560x1440 Quad HD resolution, 534PPI)

5.2-inch (1920x1080 resolution Quad HD resolution, 424PPI)

Processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 625

Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 Hexa-Core, 64 bit Adreno 418, 600MHz GPU

Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 64-bit Quad-Core (MSM8996 with 64 bit Quad-Core 2+2 Kryo 2.15GHz / 1.6GHz) Adreno 530, 624MHz GPU

Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 Oct-Core, 64-bit (MSM8952 with 64 bit Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 + Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53) Adreno 405, 550MHz GPU

RAM

3GB of RAM

3GB

4GB

3GB

Storage

32GB (expandable up to 256GB)

32GB

32GB

16GB

Dimensions

149.1 x 72.4 x 9.4 mm

147 x 77.2 x 9.4 mm

153.9 x 75.4 x 7 mm

147 x 72.5 x 7.4 mm

Weight

180 grams

192g

165g

135g

Rear Facing Camera

12MP camera (f2.0, 1.55um) phase detection autofocus

18MP auto-focus camera, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), 4k Video Recording at 30 fps, 1080p HD video recording at 60 fps

21MP auto-focus, 4K video recording at 30 fps, 720p HD video recording at 120 fps

13MP auto-focus, 1080p HD video recording at 30 fps

Front Facing Camera

8MP (f/2.2, 1.125um)

2MP Fixed-Focus, f2.8, Image & video stabilization, 720p HD video recording

8MP Fixed-Focus, f2.2, 1080p HD video recording at 30 fps, Selfie Flash

8MP Fixed-Focus, f2.2, 1080p HD video recording at 30 fps, Selfie Flash

OS

Android 7.1 Nougat

Android OS, v5.1.1 (Lollipop), upgradable to v6.0.1 (Marshmallow)

Android OS, v6.0 (Marshmallow)

Android OS, v6.0 (Marshmallow)

Battery

3,505mAh

3410mAh non-removable

3000 mAh 4.4V non-removable Lithium Ion battery QC3.0 Enabled

2610 mAh 4.4V non-removable Lithium Ion battery QC2.0 Enabled

Network Connectivity

GSM/ HSPA/ LTE

Bands: LTE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 28, 29, 30 | TDD LTE: 38, 39, 40, 41 | Canada, LATAM, APAC

Bands: LTE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 28, 29, 30 | TDD LTE: 38, 39, 40, 41 | Canada, LATAM, APAC

Bands: LTE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 28, 29, 30 | TDD LTE: 38, 39, 40, 41 | Canada, LATAM, APAC

Sensors

Front-facing fingerprint sensor, Accelerometer, Magnetometer, Gyroscope, Proximity, Ambient Light

Accelerometer, Proximity, Ambient light

Fingerprint Sensor, Accelerometer, Magnetometer, Gyroscope, Proximity, Ambient light, Hall Effect

Accelerometer, Magnetometer, Gyroscope, Proximity, Ambient light, Hall Effect

SIM Type

nano SIM

nano SIM

nano SIM

nano SIM

Launch Date

February 25, 2017

November 6, 2015

October 25, 2016

August 26, 2016

Misc

Colour: Black, SIlver

BBM, BlackBerry Camera, BlackBerry Keyboard, DTEK by BlackBerry, Touch-enabled physical QWERTY keyboard

BBM, BlackBerry Camera, BlackBerry Keyboard, DTEK by BlackBerry

BBM, BlackBerry Camera, BlackBerry Keyboard, DTEK by BlackBerry

During MWC, TCL noted the BlackBerry KEYone will retail for $549 USD, which is about $720 CAD.