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BlackBerry, formerly known as Research in Motion, has officially announced its BlackBerry Z10 smartphone.
The Z10 will be the first device to run the firm’s latest operating system, BlackBerry 10.
BlackBerry unveiled the Z10, along with the new operating system at today’s BlackBerry experience event, which was streamed live around the world.
UK users will be able to get their hands on the device from Thursday 31st January from a number of carriers, including EE, O2 and Vodafone.
The Z10 is pegged as BlackBerry’s new class of products, which have been produced to go head-to-head with the likes of Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy devices.
BlackBerry’s bullish approach was apparent as CEO Thorstein Heins revealed the device and highlighted its rightful place amongst its rival firms’ flagship devices.
A key feature of the device highlighted by the CEO was the device’s trademark BlackBerry keyboard, which boasts a range of features, such as the ability to recognise finger swipes whilst in sleep mode.
"BlackBerry 10 devices are absolutely the best typing experience in the industry. Period," said Heins.
The Z10 packs a 4.2-inch screen, offering up a resolution of up to 1,280 x 768 and 356 pixels per inch – which, in terms of ppi actually provides a sharper picture than the iPhone 5 and its 326 ppi display.
Additional specs include a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 2GB RAM, 4G LTE connectivity, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and built-in storage of 16GB, which is expandable to 64GB via microSD card.
Completing the device is an eight-megapixel rear camera and two-megapixel front-facing camera, which are equipped with a new feature known as Time Shift, allowing users to "go back in time" and decide on the optimal image, say, if a friend blinks or moves.
All of this is packed into a 0.35-inch thin frame that weighs 4.78 ounces, and offers strong a resemblance to Apple’s iPhone 5.
Battery life is said to offer ten hours of talk time, video playback of up to 11 hours and standby time of 305 hours.
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