BlackBerry is back with 'the world's most secure Android smartphone' — Here’s what it can do
It’s the Canadian company’s first follow-up to last year’s BlackBerry Priv, and further solidifies its shift toward embracing Google’s mobile OS.
Let’s take a closer look at what the once-dominant phone maker has on the way.
Physically, the DTEK50 is a rebranded version of another midrange Android phone, the Alcatel Idol 4. That means it has a 5.2-inch, 1080p display...
A decent-but-not-great Snapdragon 617 processor, with 3GB of RAM...
There’s also 16GB of storage, which is upgradable through microSD.
A 13-megapixel rear camera, alongside an 8-megapixel front-facing one...
And a 2,610mAh battery that BlackBerry claims will last up to 17 hours with “mixed usage.”
It also borrows the Idol’s side-mounted “convenience key,” which you can customize to launch particular apps.
The Idol 4 isn’t out just yet, but last week I reviewed its stronger sibling, the Idol 4s, which features a similar design. Being able to open Chrome or the camera with that button was one of my favorite aspects of that device.
One thing I didn’t like was its slippery glass back, but BlackBerry appears to have replaced that with a more textured material.
There’s no physical keyboard, however.
As with the Priv, the DTEK50 runs a take on Android 6.0 Marshmallow that doesn’t look terribly different from the stock version, but adds a few BlackBerry-made modifications. Most of those are related to security, like the DTEK app.
That was on the Priv as well — essentially, it keeps an eye on your apps, tracks their permissions, and alerts you when something might have potential security concerns.
Beyond that, BlackBerry says it’ll tighten up the OS with additional security patches, full disk encryption, and an altered boot process, among other measures.
Traditional BlackBerry apps like the BlackBerry Hub inbox and BlackBerry's virtual keyboard are still there, too.
Reports late last month said that BlackBerry would release three new Android phones by the end of the year, so this appears to be the first.
While it’s hard to see a rebranded, awkwardly-named phone like this bringing BlackBerry back to general relevance — especially after the Priv largely flopped — that lower price could make it a more approachable entry-point for those curious about BlackBerry’s security features.
More pics...
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