The BlackBerry Classic, originally known as the BlackBerry Q20, is a

touchscreen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...

-based smartphone with a physical QWERTY, AZERTY or QWERTZ keyboard developed by

BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...

, previously known as RIM (Research In Motion). The BlackBerry Classic was unveiled on December 17, 2014, and it runs the

BlackBerry 10 BlackBerry 10 is a discontinued proprietary mobile operating system for the BlackBerry line of smartphones, both developed by BlackBerry Limited (formerly Research In Motion). BlackBerry 10 is based on QNX, a Unix-like operating system that was o ...

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

Classic has a square 3.5-inch 720×720 IPS AMLCD Display, it sports a dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait

Qualcomm Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, 4 ...

Snapdragon S4 Plus processor, 2 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of internal storage, which can be expanded up to 256 GB using a

microSD Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices. The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...

card. The phone has a non-removable 2515 mAh Li-Ion battery, an 8 MP rear camera with LED flash, and a 2 MP front-facing camera with auto-focus. The device is available in multiple colours, Black, White, and Blue.

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 ''TechRadar'' is an online publication owned by Future and focused on technology. It has editorial teams in the US, UK and Australia and provides news and reviews of tech products and gadgets. It was launched in 2007 and expanded to the US in ...

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 Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

issued a report claiming both the

BlackBerry Passport BlackBerry Passport is a smartphone developed by BlackBerry Limited. Officially released on September 24, 2014, the Passport is inspired by its namesake and incorporates features designed to make the device attractive to enterprise users, such as ...

and Classic were "not selling" and that only 8,000 units combined were sold in that financial quarter. According to

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, 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.

References

External links

* {{BlackBerry

Classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

Mobile phones introduced in 2014 Discontinued smartphones Mobile phones with an integrated hardware keyboard