BlackBerry ditches the keyboard in latest handset

Yesterday at GITEX Technology Week in Dubai, BlackBerry announced the Motion, an all-screen smartphone with a massive battery. Made by TCL under the BlackBerry Mobile brand, the Motion packs a 5.5-inch screen and running on a Snapdragon 625 SoC platform.

The phone will be initially available in Middle Eastern markets for around $460 USD. North American availability was not announced.

The phone sports a large screen and an even larger battery. Under the 5.5-inch screen is a 4,000mAh battery. The Samsung Galaxy S8+ has a 3,500mAh battery.

This is the second device from the modern BlackBerry. The company released the KEYone smartphone earlier this year, however, that device sports a keyboard under a touchscreen. The device announced today is a pure touchscreen smartphone and it’s clearly just for BlackBerry’s core customers as the company largely left hardware in the past.

BlackBerry, the company formerly knowns as Research in Motion, sold its handheld branding rights to TCL, which is the company behind this phone. BlackBerry proper is making a comeback as a software vendor by focusing on security, and its latest quarterly earnings report suggests the pivot is working splendidly, exceeding the Streets earnings expectations. The company also reported record gross margins of 76 percent up from 67% last quarter and 62% a year ago.

Even with BlackBerry brand making a comeback, it’s not helping the brand’s marketshare which is around zero.