Here's BlackBerry's Water-Resistant Motion
TCL, the company that has licensed the BlackBerry brand for smartphone development, appears to be working on a new handset that was recently leaked online.
Credit: Evan Blass
Serial leaker Evan Blass on Thursday (Oct. 5) published images of what he said is a new BlackBerry smartphone to be known as the BlackBerry Motion. The image appears to be a press rendering, suggesting it could be inching closer to release.
The BlackBerry Motion takes a more traditional approach in its design, complete with a big bezel above and below the screen, allowing for a physical home button. It also has a headphone jack, which is conspicuously absent from market leaders like Apple's iPhones and Google's new Pixel 2 handsets.
Aside from that, the design appears to be rather flat and rectangular, with sharp edges all around. There are four buttons on the right side for volume, power, and another feature.
Of course, like recent BlackBerry devices, the Motion is expected to run on Android, and will likely support Google Assistant. Since this is a BlackBerry device, however, look for it to come with some of that company's software, including BBM, as well as robuts security features that business users will appreciate.
MORE: BlackBerry KeyOne Review: In Praise of the Keyboard
Perhaps most importantly to old-school BlackBerry owners, the Motion in the image shows no physical keyboard, suggesting virtual keys will be the norm going forward.
TCL has only recently begun its work with BlackBerry and Android, but the company has already done a relatively impressive job of rebuilding the ailing brand. The company's KeyOne, for instance, was generally highly regarded in the industry, and it earned high marks from us.
However, there are still several question marks surrounding the Motion and there's no telling now what kinds of components the smartphone might offer when it finally makes an appearance.
TCL is expected to launch BlackBerry Motion this month, though, so we won't need to wait long to see what it has planned.
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