BlackBerry fans who want their trackpad back can now pre-order the BlackBerry Classic ahead of its December debut. The device will be available in the U.S. and the U.K. initially, and it’s priced at $449 and £349 respectively. The Classic is essentially a BlackBerry Q10 with the traditional BlackBerry-style menu keys and trackpad. It’s aimed at long-time BlackBerry users who are looking to finally make the switch to the BB10 platform, without giving up their beloved controls.
The moderately anticipated successor to the classic BlackBerry Bold will be in people’s hands before the end of the year. During a enterprise focused event in San Francisco on Thursday, BlackBerry announced BlackBerry Classic pre-orders had started. The QWERTY keyboard-equipped phone will cost $449 off-contract and shipping is “expected to start mid-December 2014.” The BlackBerry Classic is running BlackBerry 10, like the recently released BlackBerry Passport, but in a more conventional size and shape. Another major difference is that it’s sporting BlackBerry’s traditional physical keys, including a button to pick up calls, a button to hang up, and the throwback BlackBerry key. Specs aren’t paramount on a device like the Classic, but it will have a 3.5-inch 720 x 720 touchscreen, an 8MP camera on the back, and 16GB of built-in storage. It’s running on a Qualcomm S4 Plus chip.
