When BlackBerry confirmed that it will not be releasing any BB10-powered device this year, the company also mentioned that about three Android-powered devices will be unveiled instead.
Well, we have seen the BlackBerry DTEK50 and DTEK60 make their way to the public’s eye, but the third device, codenamed BlackBerry Mercury, has just made its first appearance on Geekbench. Of the two DTEK phones, it is only the DTEK50 that has been made official. As for the DTEK60, the phone has just appeared in “accidental” leaks that include showing up for preorders via renowned retailers, but it could be released anytime from now.
Both BlackBerry DTEKs are powered by Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, however, there is good news for those still looking out for the BlackBerry Mercury as the latest leak shows that the device will actually be powered by the latest Android 7.0 Nougat.
The leaked details of the BlackBerry Mercury don’t just end there. Apparently, the device will come with a mid-range processor – a 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 625 that features a clock speed of 2.0GHz. This chipset has an Adreno 506 GPU to support it alongside a decent RAM of 3GB. On the Geekbench scores, the supposed BlackBerry Mercury managed 913 points for the single-core test and an incredible 5047 points for the multi-core test.
As for the rest of the specs, there are not so many details that have surfaced so far. However, unlike the DTEK50 and DTEK60, the upcoming BlackBerry Mercury might go back to the QWERTY keyboard that last appeared on the BlackBerry Priv. The phone will also come with a slightly smaller screen size of 4.5 inches with a Full HD display. It is possible that 32GB will be the default onboard storage alongside a massive 3400mAh battery.
It gets even better with the BlackBerry Mercury when it comes to photography. Reports claim that an 18MP snapper will be on the back of the phone while the front will come with an 8MP selfie sensor. There is no known date as to when this midrange BlackBerry phone will be launched, but it should happen soon as we approach the busy holiday shopping season.