Were you unimpressed by the BlackBerry DTEK phones that were put out by TCL thus far? We might have some good news for you then as TCL has brought out a prototype BlackBerry phone that the company has been working on since it first bought the BlackBerry brand.
Currently codenamed ‘Mercury’, this new BlackBerry phone feels more like a traditional BlackBerry phone as it comes with a Qwerty keyboard. Special mention needs to be made of the Qwerty keyboard as TCL claims that it also doubles as a touchpad. On top of that, a fingerprint sensor has been embedded into the space bar, meaning you’ll be able to unlock your phone placing it on top of the space bar. For the software side of things, the Mercury will run on Android 7.0 Nougat, and it will come preinstalled with BlackBerry Messenger, BlackBerry Hub as well as the DTEK app.
In short, the BlackBerry Mercury isn’t just another rebranded Alcatel phone. It is a standalone BlackBerry phone on its own, although whether or not the phone is any good remains to be seen. More details about the BlackBerry Mercury will be revealed at this year’s Mobile World Congress. Until then, we can only wait and hope that TCL’s first take on a proper BlackBerry phone is a good one.
Source: Android Authority, CrackBerry