BlackBerry announces cheap $400 DTEK50 Android phone
BlackBerry has announced a secure Android phone attractively priced for company use.
Buoyed by its foray into Android with the PRIV, BlackBerry has announced a second Android phone, the budget DTEK50 which seems a rebranded Alcatel Idol 4. It also comes with BlackBerry Hub and the company’s signature hardware security.
Hardware wise, it’s pretty much the same as the Idol 4. Both have 5.2-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreens and Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processors. Being a basic phone, there’s just 16GB of in-built storage but you get 3GB of RAM. BlackBerry says the phone supports up to 2 Terabytes stored on a microSD card, if and when you get your hands on such a card. You then could store documents generated throughout your life on your phone - at least I could.
The phone has an 8 megapixel front facing camera and a 13MP snapper on the back with phase detection autofocus and a dual-tone LED flash. There’s also fast battery charging.
The DTEK50 is a cheap phone, just $US299 ($400), and is smaller than the 5.4-inch PRIV. It uses Google’s Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system and you can download apps from the Google Play store. It supports Android for Work and Google Play for Work for secure integration with an enterprise environment.
BlackBerry says the DTEK50 is designed for budget users and enterprise fleet deployment. By making a cheapie Android phone BlackBerry obviously is seeking to dramatically ramp up the presence of its phones in workplaces by making them attractively priced for companies to buy and distribute to their staff.
Given it comes with much better security than standard Android phones, many companies might see merit in that pitch.
Despite releasing details of the new phone this morning, BlackBerry is yet to confirm whether the DTEK50 will be officially released in Australia, and if so, when. So far it will be available for pre-order from ShopBlackBerry.com only in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and The Netherlands.
BlackBerry says the DTEK50 encrypts all users’ information, including business critical data and personal data such as pictures, videos and contacts. Malware protection is built-in along with backup, wipe and restore capabilities.
Additional software lets users control which apps have access to personal information or device features such as the microphone or camera.
BlackBerry says it will delivers security patches on the same day that Google publicly releases information about them, something not all manufacturers do.
It says the phone lets users automatically monitor their operating system and apps to know when their privacy could be at risk and to take action to improve it.
The company says the phone tracks applications and notifies users when someone is taking pictures or videos without your knowledge, turning your microphone on, sending a text message, or accessing your contacts or location.
A power pack with a high-capacity portable charger is available at extra cost.
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