It's BlackBerry - but with Android and a lovely design.

The BlackBerry Venice is more than just another enterprise handset, as it looks like it will arrive running Android, which would make it the first BlackBerry handset to do so.
Yet in keeping with the brand's tradition it's got a physical QWERTY keyboard, which is a rarity on Android these days, and with a slide-out design you can keep it hidden when you'd rather stick with a touchscreen.
Add to that rumors of some impressively high-end specs and the Venice could be the most exciting BlackBerry phone in years. Here's what we've heard so far.

Blackberry Venice release date

It looks like we might not have to wait too long for the BlackBerry Venice, as it will be landing in the US (and presumably elsewhere) in November - which

BlackBerry Venice design

Assuming the leaks are accurate we have a pretty good idea about the BlackBerry Venice's design. A render of the phone, shows a fairly plain black design, but with what appears to be a large speaker below the screen.
You seemingly pull that down (or the screen up) to reveal a QWERTY keyboard. In fact there's even now a video of that motion in action.
The main design flair beyond the slide-out keyboard is that the edges appear slightly curved and the screen even seems to curve down them a bit, kind of like it does on the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. A GIF posted by gives us a better look at the side and back of the phone, with a silvery power button seemingly sitting half way down the left edge, while there's a textured pattern on the back.
An photo of the phone itself has also been leaked, showing a similar design, this time with the keyboard tucked away.

However these leaks differ from an earlier image supposedly also showing the Venice. That one showed both a physical and onscreen keyboard, but with a squarer design and seemingly no slider mechanism.
In fact, it was more like an uglier version of the Passport.
We'd say the newer images are more likely to be accurate though, as the design remains consistent across them, while few other leaks match this one. Then again, maybe this is a different handset altogether. BlackBerry Prague anyone?

BlackBerry Venice screen

Supposedly the BlackBerry Venice has a 5.4-inch QHD curved screen. That large and high-res display is worth getting excited about while curves are still rare enough to be novel - though it remains to be seen whether the Venice will actually add features to use them, or whether they'll just be curved glass.

BlackBerry Venice rivals

With BlackBerry hardware and Android software the BlackBerry Venice could find itself in a fairly unique position with few direct rivals, especially as QWERTY Android phones are now such a rarity.
But it could feel the heat from the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, which has flagship specs and a similarly curved screen. The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ could pose an even bigger threat, especially as there's a clip-on keyboard accessory for it.
The BlackBerry Venice will also have to compete with other BlackBerry handsets, such as the fairly recent BlackBerry Passport and the staunchly traditional BlackBerry Classic.
Then there's the LG G4, which doesn't have a keyboard but does have similar specs and a similar screen size and resolution to the BlackBerry Venice, at least, if the rumors we're hearing are accurate.

BlackBerry Venice camera and battery

We don't know a huge amount about the BlackBerry Venice's camera yet, but there are reports that it will have an 18MP rear snapper with optical image stabilisation. That sounds like quite a high-spec camera and a significant jump over the 13MP BlackBerry Passport.
From the images and video we've seen so far it looks as though there's also a camera on the front, as you'd expect, but there's no word on what spec it might be.

BlackBerry Venice OS and power

The BlackBerry Venice could be a pretty powerful phone, as there's talk of a 1.8GHz hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor and 3GB of RAM. Those are the same specs as the LG G4.
It's the OS that's really exciting though, as rather than running BlackBerry 10 (or any version of BlackBerry OS), it seemingly runs Android, more specifically Android Lollipop going by the Material Design look of the home screen.
Many BlackBerry phones already run Android apps via the Amazon App Store, but this would be the first one to actually run Android, complete with access to Google Play if the pictures are to be believed.
That may give it more mainstream appeal than other BlackBerry phones and at the very least it gives buyers the choice of whether they'd rather have BlackBerry 10 or Android. In fact, while we've only seen the BlackBerry Venice running Android, there has been some speculation that a BlackBerry 10 version could be released as well.

BlackBerry Venice cost

We haven't heard any pricing rumors for the BlackBerry Venice yet, but if the specs are to be believed then it won't be cheap.

Source: Techradar