Best Buy is now taking pre-orders for the BlackBerry KEY2; phone launches July 13th

Big box retailer Best Buy has started accepting pre-orders today for the BlackBerry KEY2. Both the Black and Silver versions are priced at $649.99. The phone is compatible with GSM carriers such as T-Mobile and AT&T. It will also work on Cricket Wireless, Tracfone, Net10, H2O, AT&T Prepaid and Simple Mobile. In fact, if you buy the phone, SIM kit and a refill card for Simple Mobile, AT&T Prepaid and Cricket, you will get a $50 discount taking the price of the handset down to $599.99.

The BlackBerry KEY2 carries a 4.5-inch LCD display carrying a 1080 x 1620 resolution. That works out to an aspect ratio of 3:2. The Snapdragon 660 Mobile Platform is under the hood, equipped with an octa-core CPU running at a clock speed of 2.2GHz, and the Adreno 512 GPU. 6GB of RAM is inside along with 64GB of native storage.

For the first time in the long history of BlackBerry, the phone features a dual camera setup in back. The primary snapper weighs in at 12MP with an aperture of f/1.8, and the second camera is also 12MP, but with an aperture of f/2.6. The front-facing selfie shooter is 8MP. Keeping the lights on is a 3500mAh battery, and Android 8.1 Oreo is pre-installed. BlackBerry gave the keys on the physical QWERTY 20% more room, and the new Speed Key offers 52 customizable short cuts to favorite apps.

The BlackBerry KEY2 will be released in the U.S. on July 13th.

source: BestBuy (1), (2)