What we know about the BlackBerry Q5

BlackBerry just recently unveiled its newest handset – the Q5 – at the BlackBerry Live event last night. Here’s a quick look at what we know about the smartphone so far. We know that the handset will be a mid-tier alternative to those who want a Q10 but find it to be too expensive.

First up is the screen. The Q5 has a 3.1-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 720 x 720 pixels. This gives it a pixel density of 328 ppi, thus making it a rather crisp display. The handset will be a hybrid device with the touchscreen as well as a full QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard has discreet keys and, according to BlackBerry, has been designed to help accommodate fast and accurate typing. It also has the Instant Action shortcuts feature thatlets you perform tasks faster by using the keyboard.

The BlackBerry Q5 seems to have decent hardware

On the connectivity side of things, the handset will have support for the basic things, including 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. However, despite being a mid-tier phone, it will also have NFC capabilities. The Q5 will have 8GB of internal memory, which is expandable by using a microSD card slot. It can connect to a computer or a wall charger through a microUSB 2.0 slot. The handset will have GPS, but whether it will support only A-GPS or GLONASS is unknown as of yet.

The handset will be powered by a 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor by Qualcomm. Keeping this alive and running will be a massive 2100 mAh non-removable battery that will surely last a long time thanks to the relatively smaller screen size and non-demanding hardware.

Photographers will get to use the 5 megapixel rear camera with features including LED flash and autofocus. There is also a 2 megapixel front-facing camera. The front camera will be usable with BlackBerry Messenger’s video calling service.

As for the software, the handset will be running on BlackBerry 10 OS and will get all of the OS’s features, including a gesture-based touch UI and the BlackBerry Hub.

The BlackBerry Q5 is expected to hit store shelves in July and will be available in black, white, pink and red colour options.