The BlackBerry Dallas, internally dubbed the Oslo, has been approved in three countries: Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, says a report from CrackBerry. Details on the BlackBerry Oslo have already been leaked online, and the smartphone is being discussed in the press widely.
BlackBerry Venice the only phone that matters
There are good chances that in the weeks to come, BlackBerry will launch model number SQW100-4 and this Passport-inspired device. There are no confirmed specifications of the upcoming phone, but rumors suggest that the Dallas will have a 4.5-inch display similar to that of the Passport, a 2.2GHz Snapdragon processor, 13 MP and 2MP rear and front facing cameras respectively, 3GB of RAM, and a 3450 mAh battery. The Canadian company is expected to release the Dallas in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
However, the BlackBerry Venice is hogging all the limelight as it is said to run on Android. A BlackBerry slider phone running on Android could be an exciting bet, and some analysts believe it can make a way for the company to get back into the top smartphone manufacturer list in 2016. Not many details are out on the phone. The new slider phone from the company is expected to carry a QWERTY keypad beneath the display, which, although not very innovative, is definitely useful and could cater to the needs of business and power users.
Clearly, with a keyboard, the phone will not be as sleek as other smartphones, but a strong battery and the absence of bezels on the top, bottom or sides will be the selling points for the phone. Although the idea is definitely nice, it will be difficult to achieve as nowadays consumers want a front-facing camera.
Future of hardware business?
BlackBerry CEO John Chen has reaffirmed that the company is investing in two expensive projects: developing a proprietary platform and designing and selling phones until the phone segment no longer keeps losing money. BB10 devices are posting sluggish sales, just above 1 million per quarter with a cumulative total below 10 million, which is discouraging for two and a half years of efforts. Compared to BlackBerry, Xiaomi shipped 40 million smartphones in the first half of this year.
It is widely discussed that after BlackBerry launches an Android device, its BB10 platform will cease to exist. However, it is not going to happen anytime soon as the company can continue to use BB10 for higher end, higher performance devices even if the platform is in minimal investment mode.
