Last summer, a company called Zinwa released some exciting news for BlackBerry fans. The Chinese tech firm was taking older models like the BlackBerry Q20 and upgrading the application processor (AP) from the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 application processor to the MediaTek Helio 99 AP. The phone's original 2GB of LPDDR2 RAM will be swapped out for 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM, and the 32GB of internal storage is getting pushed up to 256GB of UFS 2.x storage. The phone will sport a 50MP rear-facing camera and an 8MP front-facing camera. The device will support all global 4G LTE bands and NFC. The original 2515 mAh battery is replaced with a 3000 mAh cell.
The Q25 adds a new AP, RAM, Flash Storage, Batteries, Cameras and more to the BlackBerry Q20.
The biggest change is with the handset's operating system which uses Android 14 instead of BlackBerry 10. The revised version of the phone is called the Zinwa Q25 Pro (for the year 2025) and the pre-order price is $420. If you already own a BlackBerry Q20 and feel comfortable doing this yourself, you can pay $320 for the Zinwa Q25 Pro set which includes the new AP, the 12GB RAM, 256GB of flash storage, NFC, the mainboard, all-band LTE, and VoLTE.
The original parts of the BlackBerry Q20 being used in the Zinwa Q25 include:
Chassis-The exterior shell form factor of the BlackBerry Classic.
Keyboard- The physical QWERTY keyboard and the classic capacitive trackpad come from the original BlackBerry phone.
Display-The phone sports the original 3.5-inch, 720x720 resolution LCD screen.
Jacks/Indicators: The original 3.5mm headphone jack and LED notification light.
While shipping was originally supposed to take place in August, it is now four months later and the Zinwa website says that shipments will go out this month based on when orders were received. One major problem is that the company recently had to refund all orders from India, the world's second-largest smartphone market.
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The Zinwa Q25 being developed. | Image credit-Zinwa Technologies
Zinwa was not allowed to ship to the country because of India's strict regulations for importing mobile consumer electronics. These devices also have to have Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Certification. Being a non-factory built custom device, the Zinwa Q25 Pro could not get this certification. Additionally, India assesses a high import tax on devices of this nature.
Why Zinwa had to refund all orders from India
Besides having to cancel all orders from India, some customers are no longer willing to wait through any more delays and are backing out. That could be why, in bright red text, the website says that a $25 cancellation fee is in effect.
Did you cancel your Zinwa Q25 Pro order?
Yes. I couldn't wait any longer.
0%
No. I still want the phone.
0%
I never ordered the phone.
0%
One Redditor with the username ricxjowrote this sad tale about why he canceled his order: "Some people are seeing that they're not getting updates about their orders, even people that have more recent orders have their device shipped. I joined this project by getting a kit in august (2100's) but what I saw there are delays, delays and more delays. They started announcing the batches and the last one announced had order numbers close to mine. And then. "No more announcements."
Will the company move ahead with plans to upgrade popular 'Berry models like the Passport
He continued, "A couple of weeks later, having started to think about cancelling my order, I asked the status of my order, and they said that it was not shipped yet. So, I got tired of waiting more time because 4 months is too much waiting. They created the illusion that I'd get my kit soon, but due to the constant changes and delays, I couldn't wait anymore. Apart from that, my personal situation has got worse as time went by so I need more my money than the device itself. I had to prioritize."
Many others on Reddit wrote that they had to cancel because they simply could not wait any longer. At this point, we're not sure if these issues will dissuade Zinwa from going ahead with its plans to upgrade the BlackBerry Passport, and the BlackBerry KEYone. I would bet that many potential customers have been dissuaded by the entire situation.
Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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