Do these pictures show off the QWERTY equipped BlackBerry Mercury?

The last two BlackBerry handsets, both powered by Android, are the DTEK50 and the DTEK 60. The pair are named after the BlackBerry DTEK Android security app that debuted on the BlackBerry Priv. The DTEK 50 is a re-branded, modified version of the Alcatel Idol 4. The DTEK60 is based on the TCL 950, a phone that was unveiled by Alcatel parent TCL in September.

The next new 'Berry will supposedly have the name BlackBerry Mercury. It is rumored to be the last BlackBerry handset with a physical QWERTY keyboard to be developed in-house. Images said to show off this device surfaced today on weibo. The pictures, if legit, suggest that the phone will strongly resemble the BlackBerry Passport.

Less square than the Passport, the form factor resembles a traditional looking smartphone with a QWERTY that borrows generously from the Passport. And while we can't be sure that the images of the phone are real, we do believe that what is real is the demand by the BlackBerry faithful for another Android powered model sporting a physical keyboard.

Back in October, the BlackBerry Mercury appeared on Geekbench with the model number BBB100-1. A Snapdragon 625 chipset powered the phone, which carried an octa-core SoC with a 2.02GHz clock speed for the test. 3GB of RAM was inside along with 32GB of internal storage. A 4.5-inch screen (same size as the display on the Passport) featured a resolution of 720 x 1280. Keeping the lights on was a 3400mAh battery. An 18MP camera was found on back with a 8MP front-facing shooter. Android 7.0 was pre-installed.

We do recommend that this story be taken with a grain or two of salt.


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source: weibo via Crackberry