BlackBerry Classic released: Can old-school design win back smartphone users?

Canada-based BlackBerry has released its BlackBerry Classic smartphone to woo those users who prefer to use a physical keyboard instead of a touchscreen.

The BlackBerry Classic bears a resemblance to the Blackberry Bold and Blackberry Curve smartphones.

Speaking at the launch of company's latest device, BlackBerry chief executive, John Chen said: "We are here to stay, there is no question about that. Now we have to engineer our growth."

An important functionality of the BlackBerry Classic is the command bar feature that helps in easy navigation.

Announced in June 2014, the BlackBerry Classic incorporates the following key hardware aspects:

• 3.5in Capacitive touchscreen display with 720x720 pixels resolution and a screen enclosed with the Gorilla Glass 3 protector.
• Blackberry 10.3.1 operating platform straight out of the box.
• 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.
• 8MP autofocus rear camera with LED-flash.
• 2MP front snapper for video calling.
• 4G LTE, 3G, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi and microUSB connectivity support.
• 2515 mAh Li-ion battery that provides a talktime of up to 17 hours on 3G and standby time of 365 hours on 3G.

"We expect the Classic to be the most popular BlackBerry enterprise device and the easiest transition for current BB7 (legacy device) users," said an analyst, as quoted by Reuters.

Blackberry Classic is currently available for purchase from Amazon US, Blackberry's online store, and will be stocked by major US carriers such as Verizon and AT&T.

The smartphone is priced at $450 (£287) on Amazon US.