BlackBerry Classic


The BlackBerry Classic, originally known as the BlackBerry Q20, is a touchscreen-based smartphone with a physical QWERTY or AZERTY keyboard developed by BlackBerry, previously known as RIM. The BlackBerry Classic was unveiled in December 17, 2014, and it runs the BlackBerry 10 operating system. Its design is similar to the BlackBerry Q10 in form and feel and especially to the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and related lines in that they feature an optical trackpad which can complement or be used as primary means of navigation instead of or with the device's touch-screen.

Specifications

Hardware

The BlackBerry Classic has a square 3.5-inch 720×720 IPS AMLCD, Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus processor, 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage that can be expanded using microSD cards up to 256 GB. The computer has a non-removable 2515 mAh Li-Ion battery, 8 MP rear camera with LED flash and 2 MP front-facing camera with auto-focus. It is available in Black, White and Blue colors.

Software

BlackBerry Classic ships with BlackBerry OS 10.3.1 and is upgradable to 10.3.3.

Reception

The BlackBerry Classic received generally positive reviews from critics, with average ratings of 7/10. Techradar gave a 3.5/5 score, praising the speed of the web browser and messaging services, but expressing disappointment toward a lack of apps and the phone's physical weight.

Sales

In March 2015, financial firm Morgan Stanley issued a report claiming both the BlackBerry Passport and Classic were "not selling" and that only 8,000 units combined were sold in that financial quarter. According to The Guardian, general sales had reached $793 million, which was below BlackBerry's $927 million expectations.
On July 5, 2016, BlackBerry announced that it would cease production of the Classic globally. This ignited speculation that the Classic had been the last BlackBerry with a physical keyboard and with BlackBerry 10. However, on July 26, 2016, the company hinted that another model with a traditional keyboard was "coming shortly". Previously, COO Marty Beard had debunked the rumours about the end of BlackBerry 10.