The BlackBerry Classic Smartphone has been launched by Blackberry, with the device billed as a no-nonsense smartphone for people who appreciate the speed and accuracy of a physical QWERTY keyboard.
The Blackberry Classic boasts 3x faster browser, 60% more screen space and 50% longer battery life when compared with the BlackBerry Bold 9900. Users will also gain a greater variety of apps through BlackBerry World and the Amazon Appstore.
"We listened closely to our customers’ feedback to ensure we are delivering the technologies to power them through their day – and that feedback led directly to the development of BlackBerry Classic," said John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO at BlackBerry.
"BlackBerry Classic is the powerful communications tool that many BlackBerry Bold and Curve users have been waiting for. It’s the secure device that feels familiar in their hands, with the added performance and agility they need to be competitive in today’s busy world."
Running on the BlackBerry 10.3.1 OS, the device introduces Blackberry’s first digital assistant – hoping to replicate the success of Apple’s Siri and Nokia’s Cortana. The company claims that Blackberry Assistant is the only smartphone assistant on the market today that can access both personal and work content in your work perimeter.
BlackBerry Assistant intelligently determines how to respond to you based on how you interact with it – if you type, it responds silently, if you speak, it speaks back.
The Blackberry OS is renowned for its security, with the Blackberry Classic private by default, protecting users with encrypted email, web browsing and BBM.
"This device underscores our commitment to helping BlackBerry users be at their most productive and respond to the demands of business from anywhere, at any time," said Chen.
"By bringing back the trusted functionalities, incorporating our latest operating system and building a speedier browser, our users can feel confident they are using the best communications tool out there."
