Here's what we know about the new BlackBerry Mercury
BlackBerry fans who desperately miss the physical keyboard we all grew so fond of years ago, today's your lucky day.
TCL Communications has pre-announced the BlackBerry Mercury, a touchscreen Android smartphone with BlackBerry's keyboard at the bottom. TCL Communication president and GM in North America, Steve Cistulli posted a teaser video of the device on Twitter.
Looks nice, right?
CES 2017
In December, BlackBerry and TCL Communications agreed on a licensing deal in which TCL will design, manufacture, sell, and support all future BlackBerry handsets.
The "Mercury" moniker likely won't end up being the device's official name, with more details expected from TCL at Mobile World Congress in February.
CNET's Roger Cheng sat down with TCL Communications in Las Vegas during the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show, and went hands on with the upcoming device. TCL was short on information about the phone, but keen to talk about its approach to bringing back the BlackBerry brand -- starting with business users.
Here's what we do know about the Mercury:
- The keyboard pulls double-duty as a trackpad
- There's a fingerprint reader
- It has a USB-C port
- It runs Android, with BlackBerry's software suite in tow
Really, that's it -- at least until February.
CNET has a gallery of hands on images that give you a better idea of the overall look and feel of the phone. You can view the gallery here.