The new Blackberry Priv is now ready to be pre-ordered at $699, and it’ll start shipping everywhere in the US as of November 6.
New Blackberry Priv Apps Revealed
The Internet has had an inside look at the new smartphone, which promises to be the flagship slider device and the saving grace of the Android smartphone. The center of all of this leaked intel is the new Blackberry Priv’s ‘Prodctivity Edge’ feature, which displays notifications on the curved edge display.
But more of that later. Blackberry has released a list of Android apps that will be exclusive to the Priv from the Google Play store, and among them are: MicrosoftexFAT, Notes, Contacts, Tasks, DTEK, Blackberry Calendar, Blackberry Hub, Blackberry Keyboard, Blackberry Password Keeper, Blackberry Launcher, Blackberry Camera, Blackberry Device Search and Blackberry Services.
Some of these are not new to current BB users, but they have been updated for the new device, while others are brand new. A version of the Blackberry Content Transfer application, which will allow users to transfer data saved in an old Blackberry (running on OS 10.2.1 or later) to a new one, has also been released specifically for the Priv. This app will be able to use password-protected encryption, Google Drive, the phone’s media card or a private WiFi network to transfer all data that is associated with a web-based account. All of these will be available on Blackberry World.
The New Blackberry Priv’s Productivity Edge Feature
The Blackberry Priv has a 5.4″ Oled QHD display with curved edges, as we’ve seen on the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus. The company hasn’t yet detailed what the exact function of the new blackberry’s curved edges are, but the internet may have an inkling or two.
A Crackberry forum may have some answers about the function of this feature, having released a photograph that suggests that it enables users to select an icon to get an app preview. Leaked images reveal icons for quick view for Calendar, Mail, Tasks and Contacts. So this again may be the result of the Blackberry-Samsung partnership, because this feature sounds awfully similar to Samsung’s ‘People Edge’ feature.
The Priv and Samsung Galaxy Series Are Getting More Eerily Similar
It seems this partnership has set deeper roots than expected. At this point it almost looks like the new Blackberry is the Samsung Galaxy’s closest cousin, with similar features for a steep price compared to its relatives and competitors. Hopefully the device will do the partnership proud and do well in sales, but that is yet to be determined as pre-orders go along.
