Blackberry Announces the Global Release of Its Leap Smartphone

Blackberry’s physical QWERTY keyboard had a good run, but it looks like the company is focusing more and more on touchscreen-based designs. In 2013 and 2014, the brand released its Z3, Z30 and Z10 smartphones, which are now followed by the Blackberry Leap – a mid-range device aimed at “young power professionals.”

The smartphone was unveiled in Barcelona during the Mobile World Congress event, and it comes with a 5-inch edge-to-edge 720p IPS display as well as 2GB of RAM memory, 16GB of storage space and a MicroSD card slot. The CPU is a Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait paired with an Adreno 305 GPU, and even though it’s not exactly the most impressive, it packs enough power for basic apps. Equipped with the BlackBerry OS 10.3.1, the Leap is a breath of fresh air in an iOS and Android dominated market. Other highlights include an 8-megapixel rear camera as well as a 2,800mAh battery that can supposedly deliver 25 hours of heavy use before it needs a recharge.

Priced at about €277 or £199, the Blackberry Leap can currently be purchased from the brand’s UK online store. During the next few weeks, it will become available in countries such as Canada, U.S., France, Germany, India, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

What do you think about Blackberry’s newest smartphone?

Image courtesy of Engadget.