BlackBerry PRIV pre-orders go live in the UK, delivery by November 6
BlackBerry recently launched a site to give interested customers the chance to register for updates on the BlackBerry PRIV’s arrival. The QWERTY-equipped Android slider has been drawing a lot of attention for itself over recent weeks and months. Today, one retailer in the UK has exclusively opened pre-orders for the device.
Sadly, there’s no option to buy the phone SIM-free and unlocked, but Carphone Warehouse will sell it to customers on a new contract or on upgrade. Pricing starts at £49 per month for those wanting to pay nothing up front for the phone. For that plan on Vodafone, subscribers will get unlimited calls and texts plus 2GB of 4G LTE data. As far as I can see, the cheapest overall way to get the phone is on O2. By paying £79.99 up-front for the PRIV, you can get unlimited minutes and texts, plus 1GB of 4G data for £32.50 per month. You can view all the available tariff options here.
Carphone Warehouse lists the smartphone’s specifications as follows:
- 5.4-inch, 2560 x 1440 resolution AMOLED display (540ppi)
- 1.8GHz Snapdragon 808 hexa-core processor
- 3GB RAM
- 32GB storage (expandable to 2TB)
- 18MP rear camera – 2MP front camera
- Dual LED flash
- 3,410mAh battery
- Dimensions: 147 (184 opened) x 77.2 x 9.4 mm
- Nano SIM
- Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
Interestingly, despite being available to order from a third-party retailer, BlackBerry hasn’t yet opened up pre-orders from its own online store. As far as we know, the phone isn’t available to pre-order in any other region. However, if that changes, we’ll update the post with more regional information. It’s not strange for the UK to be among the first countries to get a BlackBerry phone. In years gone by, BlackBerry has opted to launch first in the UK, sometimes even before its home country of Canada.
