The BlackBerry Priv is a slider smartphone developed by BlackBerry Limited. Following a series of leaks, it was officially announced by BlackBerry CEO John Chen on September 25, 2015, with pre-orders opening on October 23, 2015 for a release on November 6, 2015.[1]
The Priv is the first BlackBerry-branded smartphone that does not run the company's proprietary BlackBerry OS or BlackBerry 10(BB10) platforms. Instead it runs a version of Android customized with features inspired by those on BlackBerry phones and with security enhancements. With its use of Android—a platform that has cannibalized BlackBerry's early dominance in the smartphone industry—the company sought to leverage access to the larger number of Android software available through the Google Play Store(as opposed to BlackBerry 10 devices, which were limited to native BB10 apps from BlackBerry World and Android apps from the third-party Amazon Appstore running in a compatibility subsystem), in combination with a physical keyboard and privacy-focused features.[2]
Specifications
The Priv features a 5.43 in (138 mm), 1440p AMOLED display, which is slightly curved around the horizontal sides of the device. The rear of the device is coated in a "glass weave" material.[23] The screen can be slid up to reveal a hardware keyboard; similarly to the BlackBerry Passport, the keyboard is touch-sensitive and can register sliding gestures across its keys for scrolling, text selection, and autocomplete suggestions.[24] The device's bezel also features dedicated camera and Convenience buttons. The Priv utilizes a hexa-core Snapdragon 808 system-on-chip with 3 GB of RAM, consisting of four low-power Cortex-A53 cores and two Cortex-A57 cores, and includes a non-removable 3420 mAh battery which BlackBerry claims can last for 22-and-a-half hours of "mixed use".[23] The Priv includes 32 GB of internal storage, with the option to expand the amount of available storage using a microSD card up to 2 TB in size. The device features an 18-megapixel rear-facing camera with phase detection autofocus and optical image stabilization, and a 2-megapixel front camera.[25]
The Priv ships with Android 5.1.1 "Lollipop", using a "stock" user experience customized with additional features and BlackBerry-developed apps. BlackBerry Hub (which originates from BlackBerry 10)[12] aggregates notifications and content from multiple sources and allows for granular management of messages and "snoozing" based off time, location or network availability. Hub can also be accessed alongside BlackBerry Search and Google Search options when swiping from the bottom of the screen.[24] The "Productivity Edge" feature allows a tab to be shown on either the left or right curve of the display, which can be dragged out to display an agenda screen. A progress bar can also be displayed on an edge when the device is charging.[26] An application's home screen widget can be made available from its respective shortcut icon by swiping, which displays the widget as a pop-up window.[27]
In addition to systemwide "under the hood" security enhancements, an app known as DTEK allows users to view a summary of their phone's level of security based on basic best practices such as whether or not beneficial screen locking or dangerous "developer mode" are enabled, and provide notifications when apps attempt to access sensitive information or permissions.[23] The Priv also integrates with the pre-existing Android for Work suite, which allows personal and work-oriented data on a device to be segregated (similarly to the BlackBerry Balance features on BB10
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