1. thurask's Avatar
    Since the world phone is a lost art, here's all of the variants of the BlackBerry KEY2 that we know of.

    As for where the phone works, consult the band list and which networks you want to use it on before going with where the phone works best; you might find a model not intended for your carrier just happens to have perfect band support, although ancillary services like WiFi calling are not guaranteed.

    The list:

    BBF100-1
    CODENAME: bbf100global, bbf100globalrussia
    LTE: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 8 / 12 / 13 / 17 / 19 / 20 / 26 / 28 / 32 / 38 / 39 / 40 / 41
    UMTS: 1 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 8
    GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
    CDMA: none
    SIMS: 1
    INTERNAL STORAGE: 64GB
    COLOR CHOICES: Silver/Black
    Where it works best: International GSM (Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania)
    Is it released yet? Yes
    Will it be released? N/A

    BBF100-2
    CODENAME: bbf100americas, bbf100americasatt
    LTE: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 8 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 17 / 20 / 28 / 29 / 30 / 38 / 39 / 40 / 41 / 66
    UMTS: 1 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 8
    GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
    CDMA: none
    SIMS: 1
    INTERNAL STORAGE: 64GB/128GB
    COLOR CHOICES: Silver/Black
    Where it works best: Americas GSM (i.e. not Sprint)
    Is it released yet? Yes
    Will it be released? N/A

    BBF100-3
    CODENAME: bbf100cdmasprint
    LTE: ???
    UMTS: ???
    GSM: ???
    CDMA: ???
    SIMS: 1
    INTERNAL STORAGE: ???
    COLOR CHOICES: ???
    Where it works best: USA CDMA (i.e. Sprint)
    Is it released yet? No
    Will it be released? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    BBF100-4
    CODENAME: bbf100cnchina
    LTE: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 8 / 12 / 13 / 17 / 20 / 26 / 28 / 34 / 38 / 39 / 40 / 41
    UMTS: 1 / 2 / 5 / 8
    GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
    CDMA: 0
    SIMS: 1
    INTERNAL STORAGE: 64GB/128GB
    COLOR CHOICES: Silver/Black
    Where it works best: China
    Is it released yet? Yes
    Will it be released? N/A

    BBF100-5
    CODENAME: bbf100tmo
    LTE: ???
    UMTS: ???
    GSM: ???
    CDMA: ???
    SIMS: 1
    INTERNAL STORAGE: ???
    COLOR CHOICES: ???
    Where it works best: T-Mobile USA?
    Is it released yet? No
    Will it be released? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    BBF100-6
    CODENAME: bbf100dsglobal, bbf100dsglobalindia, bbf100dsglobalindonesia, bbf100dsglobalrussia
    LTE: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 8 / 12 / 13 / 17 / 19 / 20 / 26 / 28 / 32 / 38 / 39 / 40 / 41
    UMTS: 1 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 8
    GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
    CDMA: none
    SIMS: 2
    INTERNAL STORAGE: 64GB/128GB
    COLOR CHOICES: Silver/Black
    Where it works best: International GSM (Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania)
    Is it released yet? Yes
    Will it be released? N/A

    BBF100-8
    CODENAME: bbf100dsjapan
    LTE: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 8 / 12 / 13 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 26 / 28 / 32 / 38 / 39 / 40 / 41
    UMTS: 1 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 8 / 19
    GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
    CDMA: none
    SIMS: 2
    INTERNAL STORAGE: 64GB
    COLOR CHOICES: Silver
    Where it works best: Japan
    Is it released yet? Yes
    Will it be released? N/A

    BBF100-9
    CODENAME: bbf100japan
    LTE: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 8 / 12 / 13 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 26 / 28 / 32 / 38 / 39 / 40 / 41
    UMTS: 1 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 8 / 19
    GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
    CDMA: none
    SIMS: 1
    INTERNAL STORAGE: 128GB
    COLOR CHOICES: Black
    Where it works best: Japan
    Is it released yet? Yes
    Will it be released? N/A
    Last edited by thurask; 07-24-18 at 06:25 PM.
    Bla1ze, moosbb, Erik_1991 and 4 others like this.
    05-21-18 05:03 PM
  2. thurask's Avatar
    At this early in the process, all there is is regulatory statements and documents. More to come once an OS drops.
    05-21-18 06:52 PM
  3. herbersh's Avatar
    Thanks Thurask. Btw does any phone manufacturer release 'world' phones.
    05-21-18 07:27 PM
  4. thurask's Avatar
    Thanks Thurask. Btw does any phone manufacturer release 'world' phones.
    Apple, sometimes.
    05-21-18 07:34 PM
  5. Aju's Avatar
    Apple, sometimes.
    Also according to some guys in the forum, ESSENTIAL phone also ships one single universal model!

    PassportSQW100-1/10.3.3.3216
    KDorn likes this.
    05-23-18 03:09 PM
  6. gjh1978's Avatar
    The BBF100-2 would work 100% with Verizon’s LTE network (bands 2,4,13). They are phasing out CDMA next year and are no longer allowing CDMA devices to activate on-network as of 6/30, so this would make sense to push this variant to T-Mobile, AT&T & Verizon. Sprint is a different pony altogether and should see improvement for support once the merger with T-Mobile goes through.
    FF22 likes this.
    05-23-18 04:11 PM
  7. Vistaus's Avatar
    Also according to some guys in the forum, ESSENTIAL phone also ships one single universal model!

    PassportSQW100-1/10.3.3.3216
    But the question was about a 'world phone'. AFAIK Essential doesn't ship to Europe, Asia or Africa yet, which most likely indicates that some important bands are missing and thus it isn't really a 'world phone'.

    Posted via CB10 using my amazing  Passport (OG Red) <3
    05-23-18 05:01 PM
  8. conite's Avatar
    They are phasing out CDMA next year and are no longer allowing CDMA devices to activate on-network as of 6/30.
    CDMA-only devices.

    But yes, the end is near thankfully!
    05-23-18 07:40 PM
  9. sorgo's Avatar
    Bbb100-1 is pretty much a world phone (US+EU).
    I am checking now the frequencies and it looks like the bbf2 model will be the us GSM. But the difference is very minor. Didn't k1 us GSM vs k1 EU have more discrepancies?

    BTW I'm still wondering why would they not keep the GSM us version as -1 anymore.
    05-23-18 08:38 PM
  10. sorgo's Avatar
    https://www.frequencycheck.com/carri...es?c_id=260240

    This is a cool site if you want to check the frequencies for a specific country or carrier
    05-23-18 09:16 PM
  11. conite's Avatar
    Bbb100-1 is pretty much a world phone (US+EU).
    I am checking now the frequencies and it looks like the bbf2 model will be the us GSM. But the difference is very minor. Didn't k1 us GSM vs k1 EU have more discrepancies?

    BTW I'm still wondering why would they not keep the GSM us version as -1 anymore.
    For the Motion and KEY², the -2 model is for NA, where the -1 model is for elsewhere.

    The KEYᵒⁿᵉ models are reversed.
    05-23-18 09:22 PM
  12. sorgo's Avatar
    BBA100-1 is NA just to complete the picture
    05-23-18 09:39 PM
  13. snowsquirrel's Avatar
    I wonder if the number of bands affects reception, or battery life. Otherwise economy of scale would dictate that all manufacturers simply make a universal /world phone, rather than messing with multiple sku's.
    05-23-18 11:12 PM
  14. conite's Avatar
    I wonder if the number of bands affects reception, or battery life. Otherwise economy of scale would dictate that all manufacturers simply make a universal /world phone, rather than messing with multiple sku's.
    Because of carrier arrangements and regional regulatory issues, the KEYᵒⁿᵉ has about 60 variants.
    05-24-18 06:00 AM
  15. spyros_81's Avatar
    Will there be a dual sim version?

    Posted via CB10
    05-24-18 09:49 AM
  16. anon(10268214)'s Avatar
    The BBF100-2 would work 100% with Verizon’s LTE network (bands 2,4,13). They are phasing out CDMA next year and are no longer allowing CDMA devices to activate on-network as of 6/30, so this would make sense to push this variant to T-Mobile, AT&T & Verizon. Sprint is a different pony altogether and should see improvement for support once the merger with T-Mobile goes through.
    The only reason CDMA still exists at this point seems to be for 2G/3G backwards compatibility. The official end of CDMA will be when those services are finally eliminated. For that matter, true GSM, also 2G/3G, is all but phased out by most carriers at this point as well...

    In order words we are probably closer to a Global phone today than ever. These regional variants seem more related to differentiating between carriers for the purposes of controlling services, whitelisting, etc. I seriously doubt the various bands are not receivable by all models, and are probably only disabled at the OS level and / or by carrier firmware.
    bluesqueen23 and portplayer like this.
    05-24-18 09:56 AM
  17. snowsquirrel's Avatar
    I have done some signal processing in my day, but not specifically cellular.

    They more frequencies/patterns you look for, the more false-postives you get, and the more bandwidth you use. That is why I was wondering if there was a limit on the number of bands a phone could reliably support.

    On the software side they could likely disable ones that are not in use, but I don't know much about the hardware side of antennae.
    05-24-18 10:06 AM
  18. conite's Avatar
    Will there be a dual sim version?

    Posted via CB10
    I'm sure it will remain much the same as the Motion and the KEYᵒⁿᵉ.
    05-24-18 10:09 AM
  19. thurask's Avatar
    A little more info added.
    05-24-18 12:59 PM
  20. anon(5316299)'s Avatar
    I am assuming the T-Mobile version (-5) will include Band 71 support. Can anyone reliably confirm or disconfirm that? Also - any information on whether T-Mobile will actually stock the device?
    05-24-18 01:16 PM
  21. thurask's Avatar
    I am assuming the T-Mobile version (-5) will include Band 71 support. Can anyone reliably confirm or disconfirm that? Also - any information on whether T-Mobile will actually stock the device?
    LTE 71 would be my guess, but why they didn't add it to the BBF100-2 is a mystery.

    As for if it will actually come out, no idea.
    05-24-18 01:28 PM
  22. danfrancisco's Avatar
    We can always count on thurask to create these variant threads every time a new device comes out. THANK YOU!!! Somebody at CB please sticky this thread already!

    And hello there BBF100-6... I'm looking at you and salivating at the thought of importing you overseas into my anxious hands!

    NoAM carriers need to get with the times. They can't sell locked phones anymore (at least not in Canada) so just embrace the dual SIM already!!!
    portplayer likes this.
    05-25-18 01:14 PM
  23. WT44's Avatar
    @thurask any idea why they skipped BBF100-7? I know from K1, that variant 7 is the Indian dual sim version (which works perfectly on European bands). According to your overview that version became BBF100-6.
    05-25-18 03:53 PM
  24. thurask's Avatar
    @thurask any idea why they skipped BBF100-7? I know from K1, that variant 7 is the Indian dual sim version (which works perfectly on European bands). According to your overview that version became BBF100-6.
    No idea, but I haven't seen even the faintest mention of it. On the Motion the BBD100-7 was the ultimately canceled dual sim North America version, for what it's worth.
    WT44 likes this.
    05-25-18 03:59 PM
  25. portplayer's Avatar
    The only reason CDMA still exists at this point seems to be for 2G/3G backwards compatibility. The official end of CDMA will be when those services are finally eliminated. For that matter, true GSM, also 2G/3G, is all but phased out by most carriers at this point as well...

    In order words we are probably closer to a Global phone today than ever. These regional variants seem more related to differentiating between carriers for the purposes of controlling services, whitelisting, etc. I seriously doubt the various bands are not receivable by all models, and are probably only disabled at the OS level and / or by carrier firmware.
    +1. You are correct in all of your statements and even your ultimate assumption. Verizon is undergoing the kill cdma experiment presently.
    05-28-18 09:05 PM
168 123 ...

Similar Threads

  1. Reputable place to buy Blackberry
    By blandIRON in forum Ask a Question
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 06-08-18, 02:20 PM
  2. Replies: 9
    Last Post: 05-29-18, 12:53 PM
  3. Blackberry Priv
    By Davy Soeun in forum BlackBerry Priv
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 05-21-18, 12:05 PM
  4. Will Nokia Steel Work with BlackBerry?
    By CrackBerry Question in forum Ask a Question
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 05-21-18, 10:51 AM
  5. Theme for blackberry passport
    By SHYBU S in forum More for your BlackBerry 10 Phone!
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 05-20-18, 09:03 PM
LINK TO POST COPIED TO CLIPBOARD