BlackBerry unveiled a pair of new smartphones at Mobile World Congress. The first of the two, Z3 (aka Jakarta), is the result of BlackBerry’s co-operation with Foxconn. This unit has a z10-like all-touchscreen form factor and is heading to Indonesia, where interested users will be able to buy it starting from April for some $200. The Z3 lacks LTE connectivity support though that could be changed in some updated model released later in the year. It has a 5-inch screen while running BlackBerry 10.2.1 out of box.
The other phone Canadians announced is the Q20 or BlackBerry Classic, featuring classic trackpad, function keys and a big (for a QWERTY phone) 3.5-inch screen. In addition, it should have a bigger battery, making sure users can rely on it all day long (and then some). The release date is set at some point in the second half of the year.
Little is known about internals of the two phones; we would guess the Z3 is pretty much on par with the Z10, specs wise; whereas the Q20 may (or may not) have an improved hardware, faster processor included. Hopefully we’ll get these details soon.
In the other BlackBerry news, the company has also unveiled a new version of its Mobile Device Management system, BES 12, which will be able to manage all devices with just the one system. Moreover, the company unveiled Enterprise BBM Suite (BBM Protected), and has signed new clients as BES customers – Daimler AG and Airbus Group.