BlackBerry Q5 Launched & BBM On Android And iOS. Will We Be The BlackBerry Boys Now?

Today, the BlackBerry Live 2013 annual conference in Orlando, USA saw the launch of BlackBerry Q10 Pre-Orders Begin In India - Here's An All You Want To Know's younger brother, as we like to call it, with the name BlackBerry Q5. Deemed to become the smartphone for the 'emerging markets', BlackBerry Q5 is the classic QWERTY device with a 3.1-inch touchscreen that features the rather unusual resolution of 720 x 720 pixels. We saw the same in Q10, but Q5's screen is a LCD. Not the Super-AMOLED, sorry. Powered by a dual-core 1.2Ghz CPU, the phone provides the user with a 8 GB storage and microSD slot for expansion. On the Q5, the battery is made non-removable and instead of the fibre-glass and aluminum build given to Q10, the materials for Q5 is the good ol' plastic.

We are calling it the younger brother also because the company plans to target the younger demographic with the Q5 as against Q10 that catered to a more professional audience. The dimensions of the Q5 are 120 x 66 x 10.8mm and it weighs 120 g. For connectivity, users can choose from NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, and mobile tethering.


As we still struggle to find out who is the winner - FaceBook Messenger, Viber or WhatsApp, we can't forget how the BBM was the most popular feature of the BlackBerry OS. Yeah, long before it was cool. And news has it that CEO Thorsten Heins has announced to make the BlackBerry Messenger available as a third-party app to the two most popular smart platforms - iOS and Android. Shunning the old versions, BBM will be come to iPhones running at least iOS 6.0 and Androids running at least Android Ice Cream Sandwich.

Along with this, there was also an announcement featuring the 'BBM Channels', that as BlackBerry puts it are a way for BBM users to connect with the businesses, brands, celebrities and groups they are passionate about. With BBM Features like voice and video calls, Screenshare, and these newly announced Channels, once BlackBerry comes up with the platform on operating systems other than iOS and Android, we can't wait to see how the BBM regains its popularity in the new and young markets.

Coming back to Q5, the price of this smartphone is not yet declared, but most tech blogs out there are predicting a hefty pricing. The Q5 will be available from July 2013 in selected markets in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. How do you like the new entry? Are we ready to become the next-gen BlackBerry Boys? Share with us in comments.