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BlackBerry unveils KEYone Black Edition: a faster, more stylish variant
TCL has been rolling out its BlackBerry KEYone to a number of territories since the device’s launch earlier this year. While there may be those still hoping to get their hands on that device in their location — it hit China and India only in August — the company has now revealed an upgraded version at IFA 2017.
At a pre-brief event Android Authority attended at IFA, TCL revealed the KEYone Black Edition handset, an all-black version of the original black and silver device that comes with an upgrade in the RAM and internal storage departments. It’s super sexy.
The KEYone Black Edition has 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage
TCL said that the new KEYone was built following consumer feedback, stating that its customers were looking for an even sleeker, more powerful device. Thus the Black Edition handset was born, featuring 4 GB of RAM, up from the 3 GB of RAM of its predecessor, and 64 GB of internal storage space as opposed to 32 GB of storage. We said in our full review that the KEYone was lacking in the RAM department, making it difficult to switch between apps at times.
These are the only changes that have made it onto the new device — it’s otherwise exactly the same as the original — but they might provide that extra incentive to pick one up. I would agree with TCL that the newer model looks more sophisticated, and though I’m not sure how dramatic an effect the extra RAM will have overall, it would bring the device up to the level of more modern flagships.
This announcement arrives following the recent tease of an all-touchscreen BlackBerry device set for a release in October — more on which you can read about here. TCL said that choice was a big part of its ethos going forward, which is why it’s giving consumers both a new touchscreen device and physical keyboard device to choose from as we head towards the end of 2017.
TCL also stated that KEYone shipments had been strong, but wasn’t willing to discuss exactly how many units had been sold.
What do you think of the BlackBerry KEYone Black Edition? Would you be interested in picking one up? Let us know in the comments.
