Well, that didn’t take long.
Shortly after the BlackBerry DTEK50 leaked out, the Android phone has become officially official. The unlocked DTEK50 is now available for pre-order for $299 ($429 CDN, €339, and £275), and if you do pre-order, you’ll get a free 12,600mAh battery pack to go with your new phone. BlackBerry says that the DTEK50 will ship the week of August 8.
BlackBerry will also launch the DTEK50 in Canada, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and The Netherlands for $429 CDN, €339, and £275.
As for what you’ll get in exchange for your hard-earned dollars, the DTEK50 features a 5.2-inch 1920x1080 display, 13-megapixel rear and 8-megapixel front cameras, an octa-core Snapdragon 617 processor, and 3GB of RAM. Also included is 16GB of storage, but you can supplement that with a microSD card. Powering the whole package is a 2610mAh battery with Quick Charge 2.0 support. One other notable hardware feature of the DTEK50 is the Convenience Key on its right side that you can use to quickly launch your favorite app.
The DTEK50 comes preloaded with Android 6.0 with several BlackBerry software customizations. Those include BlackBerry’s custom software keyboard, the BlackBerry Hub to bring all of your communications into a single place, and gesture controls that you get quick access to the BB Hub, Google Now on Tap, and an app shortcut with a swipe gesture.
The BlackBerry DTEK50 is sold unlocked and supports GSM networks like T-Mobile and AT&T in the U.S.
While the DTEK50 lacks the physical keyboard that BlackBerry is known for, it does have a more affordable price tag than BlackBerry’s keyboard-equipped Android phone, the Priv. The DTEK50 appears to be a rebranded Alcatel Idol 4, sporting a similar design and feature set as the Alcatel phone, but the DTEK50’s BlackBerry branding and software features could make it more appealing to some consumers.
