Things are in Motion for BlackBerry’s new full-touchscreen smartphone

It seems that BlackBerry's claims of pulling out from the smartphone business to focus on software was all smoke and mirrors, as the company is back with a brand new handset. The BlackBerry Motion debuted on Sunday's GITEX Technology Week in Dubai and we're already seeing leaks on what the device is packing.

First reported by leak extraordinaire Evan Blass and later confirmed at its unveiling, the BlackBerry Motion continues on from 2016's BlackBerry DTEK50, ditching the qwerty keypad in favour of a 5.5-inch FullHD touchscreen design and supposedly featuring Android Oreo, becoming the third Android handset from the company.

While details on specification were lacking at the reveal, Android Central, similarly known for its outstanding degree of accuracy has the down-low of what to expect. Not quite rivaling 2017 flagship phones, reports peg the device at a price point of around $460/£350, housing a Snapdragon 625 (or more recent 626) processor, 4GB RAM, 32GB storage space and, perhaps the biggest selling point, a huge 4,000 mAh battery.

Most of the images are courtesy of CrackBerry's Twitter with one from the official BlackBerry Mobile Twitter account.

Noticeably, the Motion has thicker bezels than that of what's flooded the market lately, retaining its physical home button as well as the 3.5mm headphone jack many seem to fondly miss. Many will be pleased that the handset also features a forward-facing fingerprint scanner to unlock the phone and IP67 level water resistance, similar to that of the recently announced Pixel 2.

Unlike Google's new phone, the camera of the BlackBerry Motion isn't its focus but it does pack a 12MP rear camera with f/2.0 aperture and 8MP front-facing camera for those wanting to capture the moments.

The Motion will still focus on software according to the report, shipping with all of the add-ons that BlackBerry users have become accustomed to, including BlackBerry Hub, Messenger and privacy-centred DTEK application.

The BlackBerry Motion handset is currently restricted to a limited release, making its way to the Middle Eastern market first. Other territory releases have yet to be announced.

KitGuru Says: I remember owning a BlackBerry Curve 9300 at one point. It wasn't a bad phone but its limitation of the OS was what fundamentally drove me away from the brand, making the push into Android all the more understandable. Does the BlackBerry Motion pique your interest?

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