BlackBerry Tries Again, Announces New Z3 and Q20 Smartphones

Poor BlackBerry. After seeing just about no success with the flagship BlackBerry Z10, an absolutely disastrous launch of the QWERTY BlackBerry Q10, and no further luck with the BlackBerry Z30, to say the company’s portfolio of BlackBerry 10 powered smartphones have gotten off on a rocky start would be just about the understatement of the millennia. But today BlackBerry is at bat once more, announcing today at Mobile World Congress not just one, but two new BlackBerry 10 powered smartphones – the new all-touch Z3, and the enterprise friendly successor to the Q10, the Q20.

While the original Z10 and the Z30 were all focused primarily on power users, BlackBerry is trying something new with the Z3. On the outside, it has all the makings of a premium smartphone, but its what’s on the inside that counts the most, and what’s on the inside seems to be markedly low end. We’ve got a 5-inch display with a “long lasting battery”, 3G capabilities (initial models are shipping with sans LTE support), and a price tag of “under $200.” BlackBerry has also only announced availability for Indonesia thus far, making this very much a smartphone for emerging markets, perhaps similar to Nokia’s new Android powered “X” lineup of phones.

Though the Z3 may not be the Z10 successor that many industry analysts could have hoped for, the Q20 is very much simply a straightforward go at getting the original Q10 right. It’s got a similar body to the Q10 – a full QWERTY keyboard, a 3.5-inch touchscreen display, and that familiar design. But BlackBerry claims they’ve managed to cram higher end hardware into the device, including a more powerful battery. The design has also been made more durable, remedying one of the biggest issues people had with the Q10. Pricing and availability for the Q20 have yet to be confirmed, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable to guess that we might be looking at another $200 on-contract device here.