BlackBerry launches its first Android phone Priv in India at Rs 62,990

New Delhi: Canadian firm BlackBerry launched its first Android-powered smartphone ‘Priv’ in India today at a price tag of Rs 62,990.

First unveiled in October, Priv marks the BlackBerry’s foray into Android-based smartphones.

BlackBerry’s shift to Android is being seen a move aimed at helping the ailing company to return to popularity. Once an iconic business phone, BlackBerry has lost out to Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS-based smartphones.

BlackBerry had also hinted the company may soon unveil another Android phone this year.

The move will also help BlackBerry cash in on the app-rich ecosystem of Android, the lack of which has been an area of complain for many BlackBerry users in the past.

The smartphone went on sale in the US and Canada in November last year.

Priv was priced at USD 699 in the US (about Rs 47,000) but here the cost is above the 60k mark.

The phone comes with a 5.4-inch display and is powered by a 1.8 GHz hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal memory (expandable by up to 2TB).

The single SIM 4G phone runs Android Lollipop OS and sports 18MP rear and 2MP front camera with 3,410 mAh battery.

Privacy and Security from an Android-powered smartphone

Then there’s the privacy bit. Out here is where those looking for an Android smartphone with security as their top priority will find the BlackBerry really interesting. So yes the BlackBerry is not for tweakers and custom ROM users.

So what do you get when you combine a flexible operating system (Android) with the most secure one (BlackBerry OS)? Its not slow, that’s for sure.

This Godzilla, has plenty of tricks up its sleeves.

Firstly, there’s BlackBerry’s Root of Trust that uses cryptographic keys hard-wired into the hardware of the device. Meaning that this not a layer of software running on assembled hardware, this software knows the hardware and hardware is also aware of the software. For example, the Boot ROM residing in the CPU will verify the Boot ROM after which the Boot ROM verifies the signing key of the Operating System, making the Priv difficult to compromise. This was a feature that was available on the Passport as well, but comes to an Android-powered device for the first time.

Thinking that a root will give you access to flash this smartphone like other droids out there? Nope, its not happening here. Verified Boot and Secure Bootchain ensure embedded keys to verify every layer of the device from hardware to OS to applications in order to make sure they haven’t been tampered with. So yes, the data inside your BlackBerry Priv is locked down in a fortress. Then there’s more goodies, like FIPS 140-2 compliant full disk encryption. Its, turned on by default. And finally the Priv also uses DTEK.

DTEK is a new BlackBerry app (designed keeping in mind Android’s “high” security standards) that works as an assistant to monitor the security on your smartphone. It looks after everything to do with security and will even suggest changes to your passwords if need be.

Google Play Store Apps on a BlackBerry

And then of course the cherry on top is complete access to Android’s Google Play Store. So for the first time on a BlackBerry device, you will have the combination of powerful hardware, combined with secure and flexible software and millions of apps and games to download.

No, Blackberry has not switched over to Android, but seems to be testing the waters right now.

Clearly, it is the first time ever that we are getting a BlackBerry device powered by Android. And for now, all we can tell is that every other manufacturer out there needs to buckle up as the ride is going to get bumpy.

In fact, this could be the Priv could change BlackBerry’s future in the smartphone business and bring back the days of the pre-Apple era.

(With inputs from PTI and www.techtree.com)