Blackberry’s slidey smartphone might hit the USA in November
Will the Android-toting Venice sink or swim? [Update: Now with GIFs]
It’s no secret that Blackberry has been on the rocks of late, with the Canadian company’s fortunes looking decidedly shakey.
But, off the back of the opinion-splitting Passport, everyone’s favourite noughties manufacturer surprised us all a few months ago by apparently coming through on its promise of a slider phone.
That’s right: in an apparently non-ironic throwback to its glory days of Qwerty-keyed domination, Blackberry is bringing the Venice to the table, a full keyboard sliding handset which it seems the manufacturer is hoping will change its luck.
We’ve seen leaked shots and grainy snaps and confirmations that the new device will be running Android, but as yet there’s no hard evidence of the Venice’s specs.
That might be about to change, though, at least according to prolific (and generally accurate) leaker Evan Blass (@evleaks), who yesterday unveiled a further image of the supposed new device, which packs a full touchscreen interface married to a slide-out physical keyboard, as well as the news that the four major US carriers have all confirmed the Venice will hit shelves in November.
And now, courtesy once again of @evleaks, we’ve been gifted a GIF of that sliding action in, well, action.
Crackberry have turned it into a video (which you can enjoy above) showing us just how the new Venice’s keyboard might slide on out – and it’s as you’d expect: when the typing gets serious, pull down on that mammoth speaker grill and get busy on the keys.
Get a first look › BlackBerry’s purported Android slider phone
With no release date yet for the UK or Europe, we’ll have to wait for info from our friends across the Atlantic for the full details on Blackberry’s latest foray into full-fingered phone tech.
Part of the appeal of Blackberry devices was always their software, so only time will tell whether the decision to package the Venice with Android, even with the inevitable aftermarket app additions, was a good one (though it’s hard to see direct Play Store access as a bad move).
[Source: Pocket-lint]
Chris Rowlands
Freelance contributor 
