The end of the BlackBerry is not imminent. As the business phone giant’s fans wait with bated breath for a decision about ending manufacture of the phone, it has gone ahead and launched yet another Android phone, in the mid range segment. With the announcement of BlackBerry Neon, its second Android phone, any BB lover would only be more than willing to buy the same. The tech giant, known for its firm, steady array of secure business phones, saw a significant downfall in its marketshare in the last few years. Now, with Android for an OS, who wouldn’t want to see what the BB experts are willing to offer?
Many consumers are worried about their privacy being at risk. This is evident from the new breed of smartphones coming up with fingerprint sensors. BlackBerry, known for its data security, has pitched the BlackBerry Neon as the world’s most secure Android smartphone. This device is said to be packed with security features, and gives users control over protecting data including photos, financial information and confidential documents.
BlackBerry at first ventured into the Android market with ‘Priv.’ Although late to the party, the company knew how to handle it in style. The device has a slide out QWERTY keyboard, a 3 GB RAM and 32 GB memory, great battery endurance rating, and sold at a price of $700. While most mobile phone users got used to swiping and a touch-based keyboard, there is a small crowd that is still devoted to a physical keyboard, and they all hail the BB’s keyboard.
Why should users buy BlackBerry’s Android phone?
With BlackBerry Neon, (DTEK 50), BB has done away with its signature keyboard. The specs are considerably good too. With Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 617 processor, 3GB RAM and a 5.2-inch display, a Full HD resolution, it seems to have it all for $299.
It is lighter than Priv, and affordable. With the now almost standard options of 16GB onboard storage, 13 megapixel rear camera, 8 megapixel front camera, the company is trying to make a mark among Android users. The phone also supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0, which is now seen as a mandatory feature in all smartphones. This enables users to charge from 0% to 60% in 30 minutes.
Says Geeky Ranjit, a tech blogger, “Neon is essentially a re-branded Alcatel Idol 4 with BlackBerry customisation and software layer. I do like the additional customisation and security layers that BlackBerry has added. It might appeal to security minded users particularly in business.”
“I still don’t like the fact that it skips on the fingerprint scanner which is now very common on most of the other android phones.”
Ranjit said, “It can gain some user base in India and it would depend if Blackberry is aggressive with the pricing and it might appeal to some users who are a bit more security conscious.”
“The Blackberry Priv was also a nice phone, but was over priced and build quality was not great for the price,” he added.
When we asked about its market in India, Ramesh, a gadget reviewer from C4ETech said, “BlackBerry is as dead as a doornail.”
Earlier reports
In June 2016, it was reported that the company sold just 5 lakh phones globally in the first fiscal quarter — down from six lakh in the previous quarter — reporting a $670 million loss which is its biggest loss in over two years. The news did not hamper it from trying to come back to form.
In March 2016, WhatsApp and Facebook decided to discontinue support of their application programming interfaces (APIs) for BlackBerry. “We fought back to work with WhatsApp and Facebook to change their minds, but at this time, their decision stands,” said an executive from BB.
Much earlier, in 2011, Google dropped Gmail support for BlackBerry users. But with new models in business, will the company be able to stand among the top 10, as it used to before? Only time will tell.
Though BlackBerry had its own messenger BBM much before WhatsApp, the porting of the app to android proved to be a failure because of poor timing when it was launched.
India could be a force to bring BB back on top, owing to Neon’s features and price range. Neon has just been announced this month and is expected to release August 8, 2016 worldwide. But Indians will have to wait a while longer till the phone reaches our markets.
[SOURCE:- THE HINDU]
