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BlackBerry unveils all-touch Leap at USD 275 price tag

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blackberryleap-03389

In order to regain the lost ground in the smartphone market, tech giant BlackBerry has launched an all-touch LTE device with an attractive price tag.

Blackberry’s new device, named Leap, was launched on Tuesday at an event in Barcelona, which is witnessing the biggest tech event called Mobile World Congress.

Like its rivals, BlackBerry is also focusing on the mid-range smartphones with the price tag of nearly USD 300 or less in a bid to woo the customers.

According to the company, Leap will be running at BlackBerry 10 Operating System and will come at the cost of USD 275 unlocked. The new device will go on sale in April.

The new smartphone comes with a 5-inch, 720 x 1280 pixel screen display, powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor from a less powerful chip, Qualcomm.  The brand new Leap includes a rear camera of 8-megapixel and a 2-megapixel front camera. It’s supported by 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of integrated storage that is expandable by up to 128 GB with the installation of a microSD card.

This 170 grams phone measures 144 x 72.8 x 9.5 millimeters. Experts say it’s quite heavier than any regular phone with 5-inch screen.  One of the features that may disappoint users is its battery which is unfortunately non-removable. The device has a 2,800 mAh capacity.

The specifications of Leap don’t match the rival Android-based smartphones. Hence, Blackberry’s chances remain grim amid tough competition.

 

Blackberry, Boeing join hands for self-destructing spy phone

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It’s nearly a year now that we have heard about Boeing been busy in working on an understandably confidential smartphone project. Reports suggest that it would be a self-destructing phone for spies, which is dubbed as the Boeing Black.

And now we have come to know that BlackBerry is assisting Boeing in its smartphone project. Their association may sound weird to many as the proposed Boeing Black runs on Android. Again, it’s all very secretive.

During an earnings call on Friday, BlackBerry chairman and chief executive officer John Chen said, “Boeing is collaborating with BlackBerry to provide a secure mobile solution for Android devices utilizing our BES 12 platform.”

When asked about more details of the project, Chen said, “That’s all they allow me to say.”

He, however, said that Boeing has offered some details about the project on its website.

The experts say whatever the partnership terms and conditions involve, this is certainly an exciting development for BlackBerry, which is struggling a lot with the drop in its sales in the past.

BlackBerry’s willingness to work with Android is a good sign for the company as it clearly requires to work with something new in order the retain its customers and woo the new ones.

The partnership between the two clearly showcases a push by the second largest defense contractor of the US into software development as sales drop for its military hardware amid budget cuts by Pentagon. Meanwhile, BlackBerry also largely gains a new and sustainable technique to grab its hold on to the government base as commercial sales decline.

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