BlackBerry Leap


The BlackBerry Leap is a smartphone developed by BlackBerry Limited. Announced on March 3, 2015, at the Mobile World Congress with initial availability in April 2015, the Leap is a follow-on to the affordable Z3 model with a number of upgraded features. Upgrades include LTE support, higher-resolution display and cameras, higher-performance CPU and GPU, double the internal storage capacity, and ships with the latest version of the BlackBerry 10 operating system. Size and weight increased very slightly from the Z3 model.

Specifications

Hardware

The BlackBerry Leap has a 5.0-inch IPS LCD display, 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 phone has a 2800 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 or white colors. It features connectivity to WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. It measures 144 mm x 72.8 mm x 9.5 mm and weighs 170 grams.

Design

According to BlackBerry product designers, key design criteria for the Leap include solid single-body construction, edge-to-edge glass, straightforward SIM/SD card exchange and ease of repairability. Special attention is paid to aesthetic details such as the texture and grip of the covering, laser-cut speaker ports, and the overall look of the white-colored model.

Sales

BlackBerry announced the global rollout of the Leap on April 15, 2015, with immediate availability via various resellers in the UK market. By April 22, 2015, customers in the French, German and US markets were able to order the Leap via either Amazon.com, BlackBerry Ltd's "Shop BlackBerry" website, or certain local resellers. Releases for other markets including Canada, India, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have since been made as well.

Reception

Various journalists and industry pundits have handled the device and given preliminary assessments at its initial showing at the 2015 Mobile World Congress. It has received reviews praising the sleek design as well as the display on the devise, although it was criticized for "not standing out."

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