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Android-powered BlackBerry Venice shows up in hands-on video

With the increasing frequency of high quality leaks, the Android-powered BlackBerry Venice is seemingly becoming closer to reality every day. The QWERTY-equipped portrait slider marks the first time BlackBerry has opted for an operating system other than its own, a move which would have seemed unbelievable just 5-6 years ago. A new video has been uploaded by Baka Mobile on YouTube and shows a relatively in-depth look at the hardware and software.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=15&v=a2-bR5zFbzw]

Like the BlackBerry Passport, the physical keyboard has built in touch-sensitivity, so you can use the entire keypad as a touchpad for scrolling through pages, lists and apps. What’s more, the software is clearly Android, although skinned with BlackBerry’s own custom software and (presumably) protected using the company’s well-renowned security tools. We’re likely to see the use of BlackBerry’s touch-sensitive bezels too, and some form of BlackBerry Hub to collate notifications as well as BlackBerry Assistant, the company’s answer to Google Now and Siri.

This isn’t the first Android-based BlackBerry to leak in recent months. Just a couple of weeks ago we also got our first look at a BlackBerry Passport Silver Edition running a version of Android which looks identical to the UI shown in the Venice leak.

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