We’ve been writing these stories for years, but they never change: phone owners wanting new software and waiting feverishly to hear when they’ll get it.

Well, as the headline suggests, the BlackBerry KeyOne is the latest phone to be upgraded to the newest version of Google OS - Android 8 Oreo, if you’re confused - thanks to an update from a Canadian network.

WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT ANDROID 8?

Android 8.0 Oreo is faster and more efficient, with boot times cut and battery-draining background activity restricted.

You’ll get picture-in-picture functionality for things like YouTube and Hangouts, and new notification dots for apps help you know what to look for.

There’s also the new Visual Core for the camera to let phones take better pics, and AR stickers too to overlay your life.

The update has been a long time coming - the KeyOne was launched in April 2017, on Android Nougat 7.1 - and with the imminent release of the BlackBerry Key2 we’d have expected this update to appear sooner rather than later (as the newer phone will launch with Android 8.1 out of the box).

The update was listed on Canadian carrier Rogers’ forums in the list of updates coming along for phones, stating that the KeyOne will be getting Android 8.0 (curiously not 8.1) and Wi-Fi calling… although the latter feature is just for Rogers’ customers.

Launch windows

Will the BlackBerry KeyOne Oreo update be launching around the world soon? It’s quite likely, given the Key2 is quite similar in design and function to the KeyOne so there must be some efficiencies in porting the platform over.

What it does do is highlight that, even after a decade of being on smartphones, Google’s OS upgrade path is still too slow - Android 8 was first seen on a smartphone in October 2017 (admittedly Google-created Pixel 2) and eight months on we’re still waiting for it to appear on many phones.

Still, if you’re a keyboard phone fan and made the jump to the BlackBerry KeyOne, you’ll very likely be enjoying the cheeky boost of Android Oreo soon.

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BlackBerry Mobile the division of TCL Communication that manufactures and markets BlackBerry-branded smartphones -- has followed last year's KEYone with a new model named, to no-one's great surprise, the KEY2. The 'iconic' QWERTY keyboard gets a revamp, there are dual cameras at the back for the first time, while privacy and security features -- traditionally a key selling point for BlackBerry devices -- are enhanced.

"We're really following a design philosophy that places a premium on productivity and convenience -- that shapes the decisions we make," said Gareth Hurn, global head of device portfolio for BlackBerry Mobile, at a pre-briefing in London last week. "We know, in the end, a BlackBerry isn't for everyone. But it is for someone who's confident enough to know what they want from their smartphone, and confident enough to be different," he added.

The KEY2's aluminum chassis is about a millimeter thinner than its predecessor (8.5mm vs 9.4mm) and the device is 12g lighter (168g vs 180g). Control keys are all on the right side -- volume rocker, textured power button and convenience key; combined with a new soft-touch diamond-pattern back and a Gorilla Glass-protected 4.5-inch touch-screen, the KEY2 looks as modern as any smartphone with a keyboard can. As well as traditional black, the new BlackBerry handset is available in silver.

The BlackBerry KEY2 is available in silver as well as black.

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The KEY2 will warn you when it thinks a battery recharge is due, based on your usage pattern.

Image: BlackBerry Mobile

The KEY2 runs Android 8.1 Oreo on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 660 chipset, with 6GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of internal storage. Unlike an increasing number of smartphones these days, the KEY2 offers storage expansion via MicroSD card -- and also, incidentally, has a 3.5mm audio jack. Elsewhere on the audio front, microphone placement has been optimised, with active noise cancelling for better call quality, and HD audio support for enhanced speakerphone playback.

Battery life was a plus point for the KEYone, and the KEY2 also packs a 3,500mAh battery with Qualcomm QuickCharge 3.0 support. "For the most demanding day you can imagine, you would never need to recharge this handset," said Gareth Hurn. "In fact, for most people, this will move into a second day," he added. Be that as it may, BlackBerry Mobile is also introducing a Smart Battery Experience that learns from your usage pattern and notifies you when it thinks you'll need a recharge to get through your upcoming schedule.

The KEY2 is the first BlackBerry smartphone with dual rear cameras -- 12MP sensors with f/1.8 (wide angle) and f/2.6 (telephoto) lenses. There are improvements to auto white balance, auto focus and image stabilisation, plus support for the now-obligatory portrait mode. The new Optical Superzoom feature translates to support for 2x optical and 4x digital zoom. The front camera is an 8MP unit, as on the KEYone.

The KEY2's redesigned keyboard has taller, better-spaced keys and a new Speed Key (bottom row, right) for invoking shortcuts within apps.

The physical keyboard is the defining feature of BlackBerry phones for most people, and the KEY2 has received a number of improvements, including 20 percent more key height, a more comfortable matte finish and enhanced fret design for better key spacing. The main innovation here is the new Speed Key, which lets you invoke customizable shortcuts from within any app, rather than having to return to the home screen -- a significant time-saver, according to BlackBerry Mobile. As before, the keypad works as a trackpad, supports flick typing with predictive text, and embeds a fingerprint reader in the spacebar.

Security and privacy -- another differentiator for BlackBerry handsets -- get a boost with a new Proactive Health Check feature in the DTEK app, which lets you scan the handset and get instant reports on vulnerabilities and security optimizations. The fingerprint- or password-protected Locker feature has been improved with private folders for documents and photos that won't be uploaded to the cloud, and a private browser -- Firefox Focus -- added.

The BlackBerry KEY2 will begin shipping worldwide in June, with prices starting at $649 in the US, £579 in the UK, €649 in Europe, and $829 in Canada. Look out for a full review on ZDNet shortly.

Specification comparison: BlackBerry KEYone versus KEY2

SOURCE BY ZDNet

We've heard bits of gossip and theory about another BlackBerry telephone called the Key2 and now it's (just about) official – BlackBerry has conveyed solicitations to a unique dispatch occasion in New York on June 7 and notices the Key2 by name. 

The telephone will be the follow-up to a year ago's BlackBerry KeyOne, which awed us with its console drove outline and programming security however which was something of a frustration as far as the execution in the engine and the various stuff an advanced telephone should deal with nowadays – like music and motion pictures. 

In the event that you have a craving for BlackBerry telephones of yesteryear, however, the Key2 dispatch should be worth paying special mind to. The slogan on the welcome is "a symbol reawakened", with the goal that beyond any doubt sounds like BlackBerry's great approach refreshed for the world in 2018. 

Classic BlackBerry 

In truth BlackBerry has been endeavoring to resuscitate its customary looking, physical console telephones to rival Samsung, Apple, Google and the rest throughout recent years – recollect the 2014 BlackBerry Classic? how about we trust they can get it only somewhat more right this time around. 

In light of what we've heard up until this point, we're expecting a double focal point camera on the back of the gadget, and obviously, an appropriate console that you can crush your digits into. We're trusting that there's sufficient oomph in the engine as well so it can stay aware of requesting assignments. 

We're currently not as much as a month from that dispatch date, so we should begin to hear more bits of gossip and holes dribble through in the not so distant future, however, we'll additionally present to all of you the official news as it's declared from New York. In a year that has been ruled by top-quality telephones, BlackBerry has its work slice out to keep up.

SOURCE BY TechRadar

The BlackBerry Motion close by the BlackBerry KeyOne. 

Another all-screen BlackBerry cell phone as been flaunted at an occasion in Dubai. 

The BlackBerry Motion handset includes a 5.5-inch HD show, 4GB of RAM, and a 4,000mAh battery with help for QuickCharge 3.0, as per CNET. 

BlackBerry cell phones are presently made, showcased, and sold under a brand authorizing concurrence with TCL Communication, maybe best known for its Alcatel line of spending plan inviting cell phones. 

The Motion is the second telephone from TCL and takes after the arrival of the KeyOne, an Android gadget with a physical console and huge battery, which was emphatically assessed by ZDNet. It's not clear when the Motion, which is propelling it the Middle East, will be all the more broadly accessible. BlackBerry Mobile had not reacted to a demand for more subtle elements when this story was distributed. 

BlackBerrys were for quite a while the cell phones of decision for business, specifically the models with a physical console that were abundantly cherished by officials. In any case, the organization couldn't stay aware of the opposition from Android and iOS, and a year ago said it would never again make telephones itself and would concentrate on programming. 

While BlackBerry is best known for cell phones with physical consoles, this isn't the main BlackBerry to discard the Qwerty; past all-screen BlackBerrys incorporate the BlackBerry Z10 from a couple of years back and the Z30, and the Priv and DTEK50 all the more as of late.

SOURCE

With its latest smartphones, the BlackBerry Classic and BlackBerry Passport, continued to draw in no emptor interest, BlackBerry's hardware business appears destined for the trash bin of history. nevertheless fans still hope for a few Hail Mary move from the once-dominant mobile device maker.

The latest straws for the BlackBerry trustworthy to know was a rumor last week reported  by Reuters that BlackBerry may adopt automaton for a replacement device to ship this fall. In response, BlackBerry's PR workers issued what is known as a nondenial denial, spoken communication it had been committed to its current BlackBerry ten OS however spoken communication nothing regarding future plans which may involve automaton. Nothing dominated in, nothing dominated out -- the automaton straws stay obtainable for the grasping.

[ the damaging delusions of the BlackBerry fan. | InfoWorld's Mobile Security Deep Dive. transfer it nowadays in your alternative of PDF or ePub editions! | sustain on key mobile developments and insights with the Mobile Computing report. ]

It's a facile resolution to counsel that a failing device maker adopt automaton rather than its own platform. keep in mind -- a handful years agone Nokia was told to try to to that attributable to Windows Phone's poor sales, and years before that Hewlett-Packard was told to try to to therefore attributable to its WebOS failure.

The rationale: automaton is widespread, therefore adopting automaton can create your devices widespread and have you ever once more earn the money.

BlackBerry in fact has been having a dalliance with automaton for years. once it initial declared BlackBerry OS ten in 2012, it secure the flexibility to run automaton apps. That promise unbroken ever-changing, and what was finally delivered could be a developer tool to port automaton apps to BlackBerry OS ten and, additional recently, the way to run hearth OS apps on BlackBerry ten. (Fire OS is Amazon.com's not terribly successful  fork of automaton.) This sort-of automaton compatibility has done nothing to assist BlackBerry sales.

One reason is that those hearth OS apps match poorly on the squat screens of the BlackBerry Classic and BlackBerry Passport, whose facet ratios square measure nonstandard. Moving to a real automaton OS would not solve that issue, although it might one-up the floodgates for users on app decisions.

Profits do not return simple with automaton

The notion that Android's quality ensures device sales and profits is solely not true. firms like Sony and LG have struggled for years in obtaining patrons for his or her automaton smartphones, and original leader HTC struggles to try to to therefore nowadays. Even Samsung, that is that the prime merchant of automaton devices, struggles to create cash from them.

Android is that the hottest mobile platform throughout the globe, however automaton devices square measure just about identical from manufacturer to manufacturer, therefore it's laborious to face out. Samsung has done therefore with its Note series and, off and on, with its Galaxy S series.

Others haven't been therefore lucky. And in several components of the globe, wherever individuals earn very little, a budget automaton devices that create nearly no profit dominate the market. Finally, there is China, wherever the govt has crooked the market to favor native suppliers like Xiaomi. BlackBerry cannot play in those markets.

That leaves the "stand out" risk in richer markets. One is thru distinctive hardware, another is thru its defense-level security.

BlackBerry users love keyboards; automaton users, not most

BlackBerry has many painting smartphone styles that perhaps would have broader charm running automaton. that basically means that its keyboard-centered styles, just like the Classic and Passport.

It's a straightforward leap to counsel that if BlackBerry offered Associate in Nursing automaton smartphone with its painting, beloved physical keyboard, it might own a powerful, remunerative niche. however once automaton manufacturers tried identical factor four or 5 years agone, their keyboard-equipped smartphones oversubscribed poorly. i have never seen one on the marketplace for many years currently.

Is a physical keyboard extremely the draw thereforeme suggest? i do not suppose so.

Maybe it's value a check to ascertain, however it is a risk as a result of it might signal to the market that BlackBerry ten is dead, regardless of however the corporate tries to spin the rollout of Associate in Nursing automaton device. If a keyboard-quipped automaton smartphone from BlackBerry flopped, i do not suppose the corporate will return to business as was common.

A safer check would be to license its keyboard to Associate in Nursing automaton device maker -- or, rather than killing the misprint add-on keyboard product to possess return up with a license deal to check the waters.

BlackBerry's security advantage is also laborious to duplicate in automaton

There's no question that BlackBerrys square measure the foremost secure smartphones obtainable. what's questionable: what percentage users really need that prime level of security. as long as BlackBerry sales currently comprise but one p.c of smartphone sales, and iPhones and a few automaton smartphones square measure currently rated as secure for giant swaths of state employees, it's laborious to ascertain high security as something however a distinct segment market.

Still, niche markets are often profitable, particularly with defense-type agencies willing to pay thousands of bucks on each bit of hardened instrumentality. The notion create plenty of sense.

Where the notion falls down is in execution. There square measure 2 aspects to the BlackBerry platform that allow it's therefore secure.

One is that the tight integration of custom BlackBerry hardware with the custom BlackBerry OS. solely Apple features a similar ability. The automaton OS is like Windows: it's to run on all kinds of hardware. the opposite is its system of network operations centers (NOCs) that secures the communications channel, not solely the device.

BlackBerry would have to be compelled to produce a custom version of automaton -- and maintain that fork with every new automaton version -- that was deeply tired into its hardware. BlackBerry has struggled for years to deliver computer code in any cheap schedule, habitually missing ship dates by months, then taking a year around to deliver on the initial guarantees through multiple updates. i do not see it having the ability to deliver a secure automaton version at an inexpensive enough pace to realize adoption.

It's also extremely laborious to try to to that form of deep OS modification. Similar efforts like Silent Circle's Blackphone and General Dynamics' secure automaton haven't gone terribly way. Silent Circle could be a startup with restricted resources, however GD could be a well-established contractor with boatloads of cash.

If BlackBerry might realize a secure automaton smartphone that equaled BlackBerry's current security levels and ran automaton apps well, it might guarantee a powerful niche during a market willing to pay. For BlackBerry to stay within the hardware business, that sounds like the simplest resolution.

Unfortunately, I doubt the company's ability to tug it off. I hope i am wrong.

Difficult choices on the far side the BlackBerry smartphone

All this suggests Associate in Nursing automaton strategy isn't any positive winner for BlackBerry, thanks to market, execution, and technological reasons. In fact, the chances square measure stacked against it, therefore automaton becomes a dangerous path if done naively or sloppily.

Of course, BlackBerry has different stay-in-business choices live.

One is its BES12 mobile device management (MDM) server, that manages multiple operative systems. BlackBerry faces several well-established competitors here.

The BES12 strategy depends on firms that have solely Associate in Nursing older version of BES to upgrade, then formally support iOS and automaton from it. however firms that require to manage their mobile devices have already got Associate in Nursing MDM platform for iOS and automaton, and BES12 lacks additional advanced capabilities around application and content management that competitors, like MobileIron and VMware AirWatch, have today. The potential for BES12 is a smaller amount than meets the attention.

There's additionally its QNX net of things play, that isn't an enormous business however a well-respected one.

Finally, BlackBerry talks up its varied services like BlackBerry traveller and a few of its nicer BlackBerry OS options just like the BlackBerry Hub as potential for service or licensing financial gain. The chat business could be a no-profit zone with several established competitors. Hub extremely could be a nice thanks to manage the communications on your device, however unless it's a part of automaton correct, it's laborious to ascertain it creating an impression -- automaton device manufacturers have learned the laborious method however very little users need bolted-on apps and skins.