Rogers starts taking pre-orders for the BlackBerry Classic

Canadian carrier Rogers has started accepting pre-orders for the BlackBerry Classic. This is the handset for BlackBerry fans who want old-school hardware mixed with today's BlackBerry 10.3 OS. The phone features the highly-regarded BlackBerry physical QWERTY keyboard. It also includes an optical trackpad, and function keys.

Even though Rogers' website shows that it is taking reservations for the phone, there is no price listed for it. Basically, you are keeping your place in line for when the carrier is ready to release the model. That is not how BlackBerry itself is handling pre-orders.  On Thursday, we told you that BlackBerry's own online store had started taking pre-orders for the phone, priced at $449.

With the BlackBerry Passport and the BlackBerry Classic, the manufacturer now has a model available for two different types of smartphone users. The Passport is the perfect accessory for the businessman on the go. With the wider screen, documents can be easily read and edited, and the Passport has the power to help you take your job on the road. The BlackBerry Classic is designed for those who are constantly sending and receiving email and texts. The physical QWERTY makes it easy to respond to messages of all types, while the trackpad and the function keys allow for quicker navigation of the phone.

The BlackBerry Classic is expected to be released on December 17th, making it a very tough sell for the holidays. Most consumers don't want to have to worry about whether the gifts they order will arrive to them on time to be put under the tree for Christmas.

via: Crackberry