BlackBerry Aurora is now official; CEO John Chen videos congratulatory message

by Alan Friedman / Mar 09, 2017, 9:08 AM

The BlackBerry Aurora is now official

BlackBerry officially unveiled the BlackBerry Aurora this morning, introducing a touch only handset that is going to be made and sold in Indonesia. It is the first 'Berry to be produced under a licensing deal that BlackBerry signed with BB Merah Putih last September. The Aurora features a 5.5-inch display sporting a 720 x 1280 (HD) resolution. Powering the device is the Snapdragon 425 chipset carrying a quad-core CPU, and the Adreno 308 GPU.

Surprisingly, the Aurora comes with 4GB of RAM inside, along with 32GB of native storage. A 13MP camera adorns the back of the phone, while an 8MP front-facing camera snaps selfies and handles video chats. Keeping the lights on is a 3000mAh battery, and Android 7.0 is pre-installed. The Aurora is the first BlackBerry to ship with Dual SIM capabilities.

The phone has been available for pre-orders since the beginning of the month, and reservations for the phone will be accepted up to March 12th. The BlackBerry Aurora is priced at the equivalent of $260 USD.

"We are very excited and enthusiastic about the opportunity to launch the BlackBerry Aurora in Indonesia. The BlackBerry Aurora is not only the first BlackBerry-branded device to ever be produced in Indonesia, but it is the first BlackBerry device in the world to be equipped with dual-SIM functionality. This new device is designed specifically to fulfill the needs of Indonesian customers with full entertainment features packaged in a premium device that also delivers the productivity, privacy and security that the BlackBerry brand delivers."-Stanly Widjaja, Vice President, BB Merah Putih

BlackBerry CEO John Chen couldn't be in Indonesia for the announcement, so he sent a video message congratulating his Indonesian partners on the unveiling of the Aurora. You can watch Chen's message by clicking on the video below.

source: BlackBerry

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10 Comments

1. WPX00

Posts: 511; Member since: Aug 15, 2015

IDR 3499999 is too expensive for a quad core phone. I can get a Galaxy J7 Prime with a Full HD/octa core or an Oppo F1S with HD/octa for that price.

posted on Mar 09, 2017, 9:10 AM 2

4. rinzimpulse

Posts: 12; Member since: Jan 16, 2017

& you can get 2 Redmi 3s prime (which is better than those 2) with the same price

posted on Mar 09, 2017, 9:33 AM 2

10. ibend

Posts: 6747; Member since: Sep 30, 2014

or Mi5, lol..

posted on Mar 09, 2017, 6:17 PM 0

3. tokuzumi

Posts: 1957; Member since: Aug 27, 2009

Wish they would have used a better GPU. The SD801 used the Adreno 330, and that's from 3 years ago. Seems like it couldn't have been really any difference in price to bump up the GPU to a higher model. Maybe there's more to meets the eye than just the numbers game.

posted on Mar 09, 2017, 9:14 AM 0

5. meanestgenius

Posts: 22426; Member since: May 28, 2014

Still want to see real life performance of this handset.

posted on Mar 09, 2017, 9:57 AM 0

6. kerginaldo17 unregistered

Blackberry made the same mistake as Nokia. When bankruptcy knocked on the door, ran for Android.

posted on Mar 09, 2017, 1:45 PM 0

7. meanestgenius

Actually, neither we're going bankrupt when they decided to make Android handsets. And Nokia went to Windows first, then Android.

posted on Mar 09, 2017, 1:50 PM 0

8. Mxyzptlk unregistered

I agree. I'm not going to slam and attack your comment for expressing your "opinion."

posted on Mar 09, 2017, 4:27 PM 0

9. meanestgenius

Lol, challenging someone's falsehoods in a comment isn't attacking them. The things I said in my response are verifiable facts. Having an "opinion" doesn't automatically mean that what you're saying is correct, and it doesn't disqualify you from being challenged and corrected. If you don't like it, get off the Internet.

posted on Mar 09, 2017, 4:37 PM 0

11. uzimafioso

Posts: 469; Member since: Jul 15, 2014

Remember how you used to criticize Moto XPE? Then you bought one... Then you fell in love with it. Then you cried a river cause of the lack of 7.0.1? :)