BlackBerry Venice images leaked

It’s confirmed: Android is the OS on the new BlackBerry Venice.

It’s coming in November to the US on all four major carriers, and hopefully after that to the UK – although there has been no word yet on when that will be.

BlackBerry’s new phone looks to be a crossbreed smartphone. With its slide-down keyboard and full-size screen, it’ll have all the comfort of a physical keyboard and all the functionality of a smartphone. It also has curved edges reminiscent of Samsung’s Galaxy Edge phones, so it’s possible that they may be doing something with that if it isn’t just an aesthetic choice.

Codename: BlackBerry Venice

Thanks to friendly neighbourhood leak Evan Blass we know it’ll be running on Android – giving BlackBerry users unimpeded access to Google Play and all the apps available. A hack makes Android apps available on BlackBerry phones, but it will likely be much simpler for people to access them directly. It’s even possible, depending on how the BlackBerry Venice is received, that BlackBerry OS could be on its way out.

There’s little news on its specs yet, but looking at the BlackBerry Z30, there’s a good chance that it’ll be a well-tuned high-range phone. We’re guessing a 5.5-inch screen, 13/8 megapixel cameras back and front, and 16 to 32 GB of data storage. Earlier photos showing CAD renders of the phone haven’t given many hints as to what’s inside it.

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