BlackBerry signed a deal at the end of 2016 giving up its rights to produce hardware, and today we're getting our first look at the agreement with TCL put to work.
At CES 2017, the first TCL-made BlackBerry phone made its global debut. We just don't know much about it.
The announcement from TCL is odd because the phone, known as the Mercury for now, doesn't actually seem complete. Its name isn't set and specifications aren't being shared. Only a couple of things are known about the Mercury, which will be called something else when released later in 2017.
We already knew BlackBerry's popular physical keyboard was going to be present, but TCL revealed a fingerprint scanner is integrated into the space bar. The keyboard also has touch sensitivity to scroll through content on the display rather than using your fingers on its glass. So you can do most things on the keyboard alone, and that's further aided by the Back, Home, and Recents buttons between the display and the keyboard.
It's confirmed, too, that this phone will ship with Android 7.0 Nougat and a USB-C port. And it's all encased in a metal and rubber body, which multiple people are saying makes the Mercury a little heavy.
What's not known? Everything else. Unknowns include screen size, display resolution, processor, RAM, internal storage, cameras, and battery life.
TCL will provide full details on the Mercury next month at MWC 2017. This means we should know its consumers-facing name, specifications, price, and release date by the end of February.
Because we don't yet have official images to share, we recommend visiting this post on The Verge to see what the BlackBerry Mercury looks like from all angles. Our post here will be updated later today, likely following TCL's CES 2017 event at 2:00PM ET.
Click here for our CES 2017 coverage
Also nobody cares about it. Who’s going to care about another noname Chinese phone with BB defunct branding with a physical keyboard!?