BlackBerry launches Z3 in India; available on pre-order for Rs 14,990

BlackBerry just launched the Z3 at an ongoing press conference in New Delhi today. The new budget smartphone is priced at Rs 15,990 but will be available for a special pre-order price of Rs 14,990.   Customers will be able to make the bookings from The Mobile Store, Flipkart and all BlackBerry Exclusive stores from June 25 to July 2.   The addition of the Z3 also marks the entry of **BlackBerry Maps in India** , a feature that’s long been missing from the BB10 platform here. Maps features 3D, voice guided, Turn-by-turn navigation as well.   The Z3, which is designed for Indonesia, is the first new BlackBerry phone since chief executive John Chen took the helm of the crisis-hit company in November.   The handset is also the first to be produced from the Canadian firm’s partnership with Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, which makes gadgets for Apple, and is a key test of whether the new strategy will work.   BlackBerry India MD Sunil Lalvani started by talking about the recent financial results which saw BlackBerry turning in a surprising profit. Clearly money in the bank gives you the greatest adrenalin rush. Lalwani also highlighted recent gains, including 33K BES 10 servers within a year of launch, cash up to $3.1 billion, 16 out if 20 G20 governments use BlackBerry and 7 out of 8 G8 governments.  

Lalvani even showed off global media quotes after the results which have been markedly different from the negativity some time ago. Underlined that BlackBerry is not exiting handsets – said there was no reason to do a 5 year deal with Foxconn otherwise.

‎Battery was the first thing highlighted and rightly so as our review attests – one of the highlights of the Z3, followed by the build quality.

Android ‎apps compatibility that BlackBerry executives never spoke about publicly earlier is also being openly touted. So is the recent Amazon App Store announcement though details are not available on the specifics – if the BlackBerry store will have curated content and apps, etc, or just the same Amazon app store that can also be side loaded today.

  The phone has a 5-inch touchscreen, like most of BlackBerry’s newest handsets which do not have the physical keyboards of the older devices. While the resolution is lower than the Z10, the panel still manages good colour reproduction. Other features include a dual-core, 1.2GHz CPU from Qualcomm, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB onboard storage, expandable memory up to 32GB as well as connectivity options like NFC, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB 2.0.   The Z3 also manages to pack in a relatively large battery of 2500mAh capacity, which gives it really good battery life.   The launch price is a bit high considering the Z10 is not to far away, which makes it a little difficult to recommend. You can read about the new phone in great detail in our review right here.