Americans can now preorder The Priv, one of BlackBerry’s strangest creations (and it’s made some weird stuff), for $US700. $US700! That puts BlackBerry’s latest in direct competition with some of the best smartphones you can buy.
That’s not to say you’re not getting some great stuff for the money. The Priv comes with a Snapdragon 808 processor, a 5.4-inch Galaxy S6 Edge-esque curved display, a monstrous 3410mAh battery, and its most distinctive feature — a slide-out physical keyboard.
The price doesn’t completely diminish my excitement for a BlackBerry phone running Android, but it certainly doesn’t help. To be honest, it all seems a bit like déjà vu. When Blackberry’s Passport launched at $US600, it felt just a bit too expensive and Blackberry agreed, knocking the price down $US100 a few months later. With the Priv coming in at $US700, I’m anticipating a similar feeling.
But BlackBerry has long aimed for the business-y, enterprise-y, “I wear a suit every day” types — and those people tend to have a lot of discretionary income. I was just hoping this phone could be something for everyone, but we won’t know for sure until we get our hands on one.
BlackBerry’s website says the phones will start shipping November 6. No word yet on if it will be made available in Australia.