Blackberry all set to Make a Comeback with DTEK50 Smartphone

The DTEK50 is a rebranded alcatel Idol 4 and the company has reached an agreement with TCL (Alcatel OneTouch's parent company) as its hardware partner for this device

After failing miserably with Priv due to its high pricing Blackberry is back with a midrange, all-touchscreen smartphone DTEK50 which is a rebadged Alcatel Idol 4. Targeted at business customers it has BlackBerry's DTEK software that protects users from malware and other security problems. The DTEK app gives a quick overview of the device security and takes action if necessary.

Running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, BlackBerry has said that it has modified Android with its own technology originally developed for the BB10 platform to make it more secure.

The DTEK50 is almost identical to alcatel Idol 4. As far as specs are concerned, it comes with a 5.2-inch 1080p touchscreen, a 13 MP rear camera with phase detection autofocus and LED flash, an 8 MP selfie shooter, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 617 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, and a 2,610 mAh battery.

With this move Blackberry has made it clear that it would not continue to produce phone hardware as it is unsustainable. Low cost of manufacturing in China aided by low labor cost has made it a manufacturing hub of the world. That’s why many international brands have stopped local manufacturing in their native country. Apple too relies on Foxconn for manufacturing its products while its sole focus rests on the OS, design and technical specifications.

Once considered a dominant force in the Smartphone arena, Blackberry has consistently failed to revive itself in the past. Its new OS - BB10 - was launched four years after Android was released but it was too late as Android had already captured the market.

The other blunder was releasing Priv - its first Android Smartphone in 2015 with a premium price tag which kept it beyond the reach of the masses.

Overall, it will be interesting to see the kind of response Blackberry DTEK50 receives from the market.

The phone is already up for pre-order from BlackBerry's website in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands. It's priced at $299, €339, CAD 429, and £275, respectively. It is expected to be available during the first week of August.