The once-mighty BlackBerry has fallen on hard times in recent years, lagging behind its competitors selling Android devices and Apple’s iPhones. In a bid to stay relevant, BlackBerry has teamed up with Porsche in order to create a line of luxury smartphones, the latest being the P’9983.
The eye-catching new device comes with a QWERTY keyboard, which is very unusual for something released in 2014, however this bold choice might go over well with nostalgics (especially those who already like BlackBerry’s physical keyboard, like Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt). In any case, the keyboard can also be used as a touchpad (meaning you can swipe over the keys as you would over a touchscreen), so the phone isn’t that anachronistic after all.
In terms of technical specs, the P’9983 has 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage that can be expanded via a microSD card slot. It comes with a 3.1-inch 720×720 touchscreen, an 8 MP rear camera, and a 2 MP front-facing camera, as well as 4G LTE support, dual-band Wi-Fi (802.11n), an FM radio, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, and NFC.
The BlackBerry P’9983 will be available at Porsche Design stores starting in October, with pricing details to be announced closer to the release date.
