It seems that BlackBerry and Android crossing paths is inevitable. The latest smartphone from Waterloo carries the signature BlackBerry design in the Torch fashion -- slide-up and solid, convenient and stylish, although it won't powered by the company's homebaked operating system, BlackBerry OS10. Rather, it will be shipping with Android Lollipop running out of the box to bring a fresh new experience to both the enterprise and consumers alike.
Several leaks have started surfacing online when BlackBerry CEO John Chen first unveiled the Venice during the launch of the company's latest 5-incher, the Leap. The latest of many is a new video that showcases the hardware prowess of BlackBerry coupled in with the vaastness of Google's mobile operating system.
A hands-on video from a retailer of Bell Mobility has emerged, giving everyone a visual experience of what the Venice has to offer in both the hardware and software spectrum. It's equipped with a tap-to-wake feature, which would either mean that the swipe up to wake is gone or it will remain as a secondary option. Of course, the slide out keyboard is present. And similar to the Passport, it's also touch-enabled.
The convenient BlackBerry Hub and the BlackBerry Device Search can also be accessed by long pressing the home button, similar to how you would access Google Voice on a regular Android smartphone. The notifications are also handle by Google's stock notification bar instead of cycling through the BlackBerry Hub. BlackBerry Password Keeper in its Android form will also come with the Venice.
The video leak didn't go much deeper into the device, and they did stress out that it is only an evaluation unit. Rumors suggest that the Venice will be released in the West sometime this November, although no official announcements have been made by BlackBerry as of yet.
