Verizon Says BlackBerry Priv 'Coming Soon'

Not long ago, an image of the BlackBerry Priv slider smartphone running under Verizon Wireless network emerged out of nowhere. Now, the Big Red carrier has officially tweeted saying the Android-powered new BlackBerry handset is “coming soon” to the U.S.

Verizon has not updated the exact BlackBerry Priv release date yet. Earlier rumors, on the other hand, pointed to a 2016 release. But then, the new official tweet says the device could be released shortly and hence, it is safe to assume that the release date could be anytime in November or December 2015. According to Tech Times, the carrier might target the upcoming holiday shopping season. However, Verizon has not listed out the possible data plans or price of the device.

On the other hand, the BlackBerry Priv started selling under AT&T network from Nov. 6 onwards. Plus, the device can also be purchased from the official BlackBerry store and New York-based retailer named B&H photo for $699, without a contract.

Moving on to key BlackBerry Priv specs, the phone comes with a 5.4-inch display, aided by 1,440 x 2,560 pixels screen resolution. This combination translates to a pixel density of a good-enough 441 ppi. The handset boasts a slider physical QWERTY keyboard and dual-curved-edge display, similar to the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and Galaxy S6 Edge+.

The Priv runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop OS straight out of the box. But then, the device is upgradable to Android 6.0 Marshmallow. When it comes to memory configuration, there is a solid 32 GB of built-in storage space and microSD card slot for further expansion of up to 2 TB.

An octa-core (Qualcomm Snapdragon 808) SoC clocked at 1.8 GHz powers the device, while Adreno 418 takes care of the graphics side of things. The entire configuration is backed by 3 GB of RAM.

Here, readers can check out the official tweet from Verizon confirming the BlackBerry Priv: