Blackberry Z3 Launched

Sunil Lalvani, MD, BlackBerry India at the BlackBerry Z3 launch in New Delhi

Asanticipated earlier BlackBerry has launched the new BlackBerry Z3 at a launch event in New Delhi today. This smartphone is priced at Rs.15, 990 and will be available for pre-order from Flipkart, The Mobile Store and BlackBerry stores from Wednesday and will be available officially for sale from 2^nd July.

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The BlackBerry Z3 makes its way towards the market at a time when phone manufacturers, after focusing on the top-end for much too long, have realised the importance of the budget/mid-range segment. With the launch of good (and sometimes exceptional) phones like the Motorola Moto G, Nokia’s line-up of Windows Phones and challengers from Indian phone makers like Micromax and Xolo, the segment that falls between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 20,000 hasn’t been this alive in years.

The BlackBerry Z3 features a 5-inch display with a resolution of 540x960 pixels. It runs BlackBerry 10.2.1 OS, which has an added ability to run Android apps as well. It’s powered by a Qualcomm MSM8230 Snapdragon 400 and is having 1.5GB of RAM.

Side-View of Z3

It comes in 8GB built-in storage which is expandable to 32GB using microSD card. It has a 5MP rear shooter with flash and 1.1MP front camera. Connectivity features include GPRS, EDGE, 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC. It has a non-removable back panel.

Back Panel of Z3

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Look and build of this phone is just fantastic. Although it’s made of plastic still it’s got a quite rugged and premium finish. The bottom line is it makes BlackBerry look quite strong in this mid-range segment, with strong contenders from Motorola, XOLO and Nokia Lumia Series.