That mid-range BlackBerry smartphone we’ve been seeing in leaked images over the last few days with a codename Neon is now official and guess what? It’s named after one of the features that BlackBerry has been using to differentiate its PRIV (and this now) from the herd of Android devices: DTEK. The DTEK50 it is! Not surprising though since BlackBerry’s first Android smartphone, the PRIV, is named after its main feature: the privacy that BlackBerry has been known over the years to offer and which is (mostly) a myth on Android in the wake of a post-Edward Snowden revelations world.
DTEK is BlackBerry’s privacy software and as such BlackBerry is touting the DTEK50 as “the world’s most secure Android smartphone”. According to BlackBerry, the DTEK50 “will automatically monitor your OS and apps and let you know when your privacy could be at risk and how you can take action to improve it.”
Like we’d heard before while the rumours made rounds, it’s a mid-range smartphone through and through modeled after Alcatel’s Idol 4.
As such, it has all the specifications that we’ve known all along. A 5.2-inch full HD display, an octa-core Snapdragon 617 processor, 3GB RAM, 16GB internal storage (expandable up to 2 terabytes), a pair of 13 and 8-megapixel cameras, a 2,610mAh battery and Android 6.0 Marshmallow with the usual BlackBerry add-ons like BlackBerry Hub, Password Keeper, built-in enterprise features and the like.
Unlike the PRIV, the DTEK50 does not have a physical keyboard. Users will have to make do with Blackberry’s onscreen Intelligent keyboard instead.
The Alcatel Idol 4 has a unique feature: the Boom key. On the DTEK50, it is being called the Convenience Key and will function much the same way as it does on the Alcatel smartphone with users able to customize it.
The BlackBerry DTEK50 is available for preorder on BlackBerry’s online store and a couple of carriers in the US and Canada. International availability will be announced “in coming weeks” according to the statement the company sent announcing the device.
