BlackBerry Classic will ape the keyboard and shape of classic BlackBerrys

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It hasn’t been an easy few years for BlackBerry but the company is still (just about) afloat – and in an attempt to stay that way it’s working on a new smartphone that echoes the classic BlackBerrys of yore.

It’s called, of course, the BlackBerry Classic.

Revealed in an open letter by BlackBerry CEO John Chen, the upcoming Classic will hark back to older models in its shape, size and keyboard layout. There’ll be a top row of navigation keys and a trackpad too, and Chen describes it as “the device that has always felt right in your hands and always felt right in your busy day”.

Berry me with my boots on

It won’t be a totally retro phone, though: it’ll run the BlackBerry 10 OS and feature a bigger, sharper screen, and presumably its specs will reflect that it’s (likely) being released in 2015 rather than 2005.

BlackBerry has, of course, recently launched one physical keyboard-equipped phone in the ungainly shape of the Passport, but it sounds like the Classic won’t compromise on ergonomics simply to accommodate a larger screen.

Chen writes that more details on the BlackBerry Classic will be released soon. We’ll give you an update then.

[Source: BlackBerry]

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Tech journalism's answer to The Littlest Hobo, I've written for a host of titles and lived in three different countries in my 15 years-plus as a freelancer. But I've always come back home to Stuff eventually, where I specialise in writing about cameras, streaming services and being tragically addicted to Destiny.