[asublimeday]

Phonearena just reported the following.

"The BlackBerry Mercury will reportedly be powered by the Snapdragon 821 chipset, which includes a quad-core CPU and the Adreno 530 GPU. A large battery with enough juice to run the phone two days on a single charge is expected to be inside. The screen-size, shortened by the physical QWERTY, is said to measure 4.5-inches. A fingerprint scanner will be embedded in the space bar. This will be the first 'Berry to include the Biometric reader."

Please, please let this be true. The only thing holding me back from purchasing this phone are the middling specs. I'll gladly pay a premium for an actual 2017 Blackberry phone with a great camera and top-tier specs.

[H4zN]

Rumors and a grain of salt. Let's just wait and see, CES is around the corner!

Posted via CB10

[ToniCipriani]

"This will be the first 'Berry to include the Biometric reader."

This is already wrong. DTEK60 is.

[howarmat]

pretty sure its going to have a 625

[asublimeday]

pretty sure its going to have a 625

Man I hope not. The first thing people are going to ask is why they would pay anything over $350 for a 625 when they can get an 821 One Plus 3T for $440. How much of a premium can you really put on a PKB?

[asublimeday]

"This will be the first 'Berry to include the Biometric reader."

This is already wrong. DTEK60 is.

I wouldn't discount the whole rumor just because they got a tidbit about past BB phones wrong.

[conite]

Man I hope not. The first thing people are going to ask is why they would pay anything over $350 for a 625 when they can get an 821 One Plus 3T for $440. How much of a premium can you really put on a PKB?

You are paying for a low volume, custom run of a niche device. If $550-$600 is too much for a mid-range pkb device, then stick with a slab.

[JG_Agustin]

Man I hope not. The first thing people are going to ask is why they would pay anything over $350 for a 625 when they can get an 821 One Plus 3T for $440. How much of a premium can you really put on a PKB?

Then they were never interested in a pkb phone afterall. The only reason to buy such a phone is precisely because one wants a pkb, otherwise, get any other slab on the market.

[ardakca]

Then they were never interested in a pkb phone afterall. The only reason to buy such a phone is precisely because one wants a pkb, otherwise, get any other slab on the market.

So let's price it 700 $. Priv was such a success ).

[ToniCipriani]

I wouldn't discount the whole rumor just because they got a tidbit about past BB phones wrong.

Except ALL the other rumours and leaks point to 625.

Sounds like a case of selective belief.

[conite]

So let's price it 700 $. Priv was such a success ).

The fact is, it actually COST BlackBerry a lot to make it. This is what happens when a company does not enjoy true economies of scale.

BlackBerry was screwed either way. Come out with a high-end device having to price it high, or come out with a lower-end model that everyone would laugh at.

[JG_Agustin]

So let's price it 700 $. Priv was such a success ).

BlackBerry is no longer "officially" a hardware company, unlike when the PRIV was released. Regardless of the pricing, which was on par with other flagships when it was released, BlackBerry's image was already too damaged to become a true success.

The Mercury, on the other hand, is not intended to be "success", nor BlackBerry depends on it to survive. It's a niche device built for a specific crowd, which was "promised" a pkb phone and/or corporate sales. To this crowd it's rather more important to have a pkb on a phone running Android with decent enough specs and priced decently, than to have the latest running specs. If you need the latter, by all means go for a DTEK60, it has received a lot of praising.

Many folks around these forums seem to forget that BlackBerry is no longer dependant on hardware. Let's be real and stop asking for "iPhone or Samsung killer phones". It is what it is or a move on scenario, sad but true.

[Bla1ze]

Phonearena just reported the following.

Please, please let this be true. The only thing holding me back from purchasing this phone are the middling specs. I'll gladly pay a premium for an actual 2017 Blackberry phone with a great camera and top-tier specs.

You forgot to mention they also posted two images that have been floating around forever as new, so alas, don't get to attached to the info.

[thurask]

Tip: if it's got "arena" in the name it might as well be the Onion.

[ardakca]

BlackBerry is no longer "officially" a hardware company, unlike when the PRIV was released. Regardless of the pricing, which was on par with other flagships when it was released, BlackBerry's image was already too damaged to become a true success.

The Mercury, on the other hand, is not intended to be "success", nor BlackBerry depends on it to survive. It's a niche device built for a specific crowd, which was "promised" a pkb phone and/or corporate sales. To this crowd it's rather more important to have a pkb on a phone running Android with decent enough specs and priced decently, than to have the latest running specs. If you need the latter, by all means go for a DTEK60, it has received a lot of praising.

Many folks around these forums seem to forget that BlackBerry is no longer dependant on hardware. Let's be real and stop asking for "iPhone or Samsung killer phones". It is what it is or a move on scenario, sad but true.

You are forgetting the fact that TCL will announce the mercury. I guess tcl cares about the sales.

[ardakca]

The fact is, it actually COST BlackBerry a lot to make it. This is what happens when a company does not enjoy true economies of scale.

BlackBerry was screwed either way. Come out with a high-end device having to price it high, or come out with a lower-end model that everyone would laugh at.

Doesn't explain the reason why TCL also should price it high.

[slagman5]

Man I hope not. The first thing people are going to ask is why they would pay anything over $350 for a 625 when they can get an 821 One Plus 3T for $440. How much of a premium can you really put on a PKB?

Wow, you need to know new people if they will sit around asking what CPU is in your phone...

And how much of a premium can you put on a pkb? A lot more than some arbitrary spec numbers that you'd likely never notice unless you're sitting around comparing di.. I mean benchmark scores with your strangely judgmental "friends"...

Posted without the aid of AutoCorrect with my physical keyboard via CB10

[conite]

Doesn't explain the reason why TCL also should price it high.

If it's a low-volume production run, it will have to be priced accordingly.

But we don't even know for sure who will release the Mercury. Will it be BlackBerry, or will it be TCL?

[ray689]

If it's a low-volume production run, it will have to be priced accordingly.

But we don't even know for sure who will release the Mercury. Will it be BlackBerry, or will it be TCL?

Dude TCL executives have all but blatantly said it's theirs.

[conite]

Dude TCL executives have all but blatantly said it's theirs.

They were indicating a pkb device for sure, yes. But is that the Mercury, or plans for another?

BlackBerry muddied the waters by calling the Mercury the last in-house device.

[Bla1ze]

Wow, you need to know new people if they will sit around asking what CPU is in your phone...

Right? My friends all know just by me telling them what phone it is.

[JG_Agustin]

You are forgetting the fact that TCL will announce the mercury. I guess tcl cares about the sales.

I'm not forgetting anything, at the moment it's not a clear fact who will announce it, only speculation. Granted, if it's TCL as you mention, then I don't see why even compare it with the PRIV's release, as that was BlackBerry's doing. Furthermore, BlackBerry use to produce in Canada and Mexico, which have generally higher production costs than China.

Again, the Mercury is not a device that will save or doom BlackBerry nor TCL, it's a niche product for a specific market which requires pkb at a decent price. Pkb hardware production costs more than using an already existing slab design, thus you need to cut costs somewhere else: specs.

Posted with my powerful and masterful  Passport!

[ardakca]

I'm not forgetting anything, at the moment it's not a clear fact who will announce it, only speculation. Granted, if it's TCL as you mention, then I don't see why even compare it with the PRIV's release, as that was BlackBerry's doing. Furthermore, BlackBerry use to produce in Canada and Mexico, which have generally higher production costs than China.

Again, the Mercury is not a device that will save or doom BlackBerry nor TCL, it's a niche product for a specific market which requires pkb at a decent price. Pkb hardware production costs more than using an already existing slab design, thus you need to cut costs somewhere else: specs.

Posted with my powerful and masterful  Passport!

Well comparing it to BlackBerry Classic seems to be logical. Classic in its time has more or less the same internals as the rumored Mercury in 2017. So BlackBerry Classic costed more to produce and maintain because of the OS, but magically asking more than 499 for Mercury seems logical to some people. The passport with the latest SoC and the capacitive keyboard launched for 599 and it also was a niche pkb phone plus it wasn't also manufactured in China. If TCL or BlackBerry or whoever selling this phone puts more than 499 $ price tag I won't be buying it. Would wait for the fire sale since it will fail miserably if overpriced.

[ToniCipriani]

Classic in its time has more or less the same internals as the rumored Mercury in 2017.

Not. Even. Close. Classic had internals of a 2012 Galaxy S3, which was already a year old in 2013, let alone 2014. 625 is a 2016 SoC, and PDAdb is pointing to it being upgraded to the 626, which is a speedbump optimization.

[JG_Agustin]

Well comparing it to BlackBerry Classic seems to be logical. Classic in its time has more or less the same internals as the rumored Mercury in 2017. So BlackBerry Classic costed more to produce and maintain because of the OS, but magically asking more than 499 for Mercury seems logical to some people. The passport with the latest SoC and the capacitive keyboard launched for 599 and it also was a niche pkb phone plus it wasn't also manufactured in China. If TCL or BlackBerry or whoever selling this phone puts more than 499 $ price tag I won't be buying it. Would wait for the fire sale since it will fail miserably if overpriced.

For the record, I'm not defending that the Mercury should cost more than $499. My first comment (see screenshot) had to do with another user questioning why someone would "pay anything over $350" and compared it with a OnePlus 3T costing $440.

My argument was that spec wise, one can get a a better device for the same price or cheaper than the Mercury, but it won't have a pkb. People who'd be wiling to cash out to get a pkb device will do so even if similar speced phones are cheaper (how much, depends on each person). If they were more interested in specs than a pkb, they'd have a universe of choices, period.

Regarding the Classic, if I'm not mistaken, it was mainly produced through the Foxconn deal (made in Taiwan, if I recall correctly) and even then the cost was not as cheap as many expected. Specs wise, I don't see a comparison with the Mercury though.

Even so, it'd seem that the Mercury may well be priced around the Classic's to Passport's price. I believe that's the rumored cost, so I don't see how it can fail, as it's not intended to be any kind of ground breaking device. Once again, BlackBerry is no longer into hardware and I'm sure TCL has a production contract with BlackBerry, so regardless of final sales, that will not affect their respective businesses.

I'd hate to say it (as I'm also waiting the launch of the Mercury for my mom and gf who want a pkb replacement to their Classic and Q10) but this device in my book, is a consolation for the few pkb aficionados left (including myself), not a "hit or fail" product.



 Passport /  PRIV