Exposed: The BlackBerry Venice caught from all angles

In days long past, arguably two companies commanded high court among the grand arena of phones: Nokia and BlackBerry. Whereas the former took a path that many have criticized and lamented, the latter looks to be heading towards one Espoo should have embarked on from the onset: open adoption of Android. According to leaks and rumors, Waterloo plans to release several Android-based BlackBerry devices this Fall, one of which is the fascinating Venice. Thanks to the largest leak ever, it’s now laid bare for all to see:

And here are shots of the back side and top of the device:

Of particular interest is the top picture which clearly shows not only the SIM card slot, but also a second one, for microSD support. This will immediately alleviate any fears some might have held that the smartphone would pull a Galaxy Note 5.

Curious about the curve

The above leaked shot also reaffirms the clearly visible dual edged folded display. The subject of much discussion with respect to this product, it has been postulated that Samsung might be producing the panels, or perhaps even LG. Assuming either Korean manufacturer would be involved, there is also the hope that the Venice would thus make use of an AMOLED panel to provide stunningly saturated images.

Despite the “leaked” nature of the BlackBerry Venice, it actually made its debut months ago as an unnamed “slider” at MWC 2015 in Barcelona. At that time however, no mention or hint of Android was made, thus it was arguably overlooked. It is unknown as to if BlackBerry -the company- had always intended for this product to run Google’s mobile OS, or if a sudden decision was made after the fact.

The final newly leaked picture is a close-up of the camera module, which shows what looks like an 18-megapixel specification, as well as text indicating both OIS and Fast Focus technology will be on-board. Dual LED flash modules are located to the right side. We also get a very nice look at the textured, almost woven-type back the device is apparently going to make use of.

Currently, the list of rumored specs for the device are as follows:

• 5.4-inch Quad-HD display
• 18 MP rear-camera
• 5 MP front-camera
• 1.8 GHz Hexa-core (Snapdragon 808 chipset) 64-bit
• 3 GB RAM

Off to Italy…or California?

While the exact Venice that BlackBerry chose to name the device after may be a mystery -assuming Venice is the final name and the product does become official – one thing is quite clear: this product will arguably provide for a major shake-up in the industry.  The emergence of a vested, established player into Google’s market would be a major boon to consumers looking for a secure platform, and it would also help to reinvigorate a company that has much to offer, if only were it to find a market to sell to.

Rumors have already indicated the device may be running a BlackBerry 10 skin when it releases this fall, on both AT&T and T-Mobile. Pricing is unknown, though with a curved screen it’s probably safe to assume it will not be a wallet-friendly one. It will supposedly be joined by other products as well, perhaps including a variant of the Passport.

For all those who lamented the protracted loss of BlackBerry, the latter half of 2015 is going to potentially bring forth a wealth of joy. What do you think of these new pictures? Does the product look even more promising than ever? Does the build have the potential to disappoint? Let us know in the comments section.