[thurask]

Since the world phone is a lost art, here's all of the variants of the BlackBerry KEY2 LE 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:

BBE100-1
CODENAME: bbe100global, bbe100globalrussia
LTE: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 8 / 12 / 17 / 19 / 20 / 26 / 28 / 32 / 38 / 40 / 41
UMTS: 1 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 8
GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
CDMA: none
SIMS: 1
INTERNAL STORAGE: 32GB / 64GB
COLOR CHOICES: Atomic / Champagne / Slate
Where it works best: International GSM (Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania)
Is it released yet? Yes
Will it be released? N/A

BBE100-2
CODENAME: bbe100americas
LTE: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 8 / 12 / 13 / 17 / 20 / 28 / 29 / 38 / 39 / 40 / 41 / 66
UMTS: 1 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 8
GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
CDMA: none
SIMS: 1
INTERNAL STORAGE: 32GB / 64GB
COLOR CHOICES: Atomic / Champagne / Slate
Where it works best: Americas GSM (i.e. not Sprint)
Is it released yet? Yes
Will it be released? N/A

BBE100-3
CODENAME: bbe100dscn, bbe100dscnchina
LTE: ???
UMTS: ???
GSM: ???
CDMA: ???
SIMS: 2
INTERNAL STORAGE: 32GB / 64GB
COLOR CHOICES: Atomic / Champagne / Slate
Where it works best: China
Is it released yet? No
Will it be released? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

BBE100-4
CODENAME: bbe100dsglobal, bbe100dsglobalindia
LTE: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 8 / 12 / 17 / 19 / 20 / 26 / 28 / 32 / 38 / 40 / 41
UMTS: 1 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 8
GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
CDMA: none
SIMS: 2
INTERNAL STORAGE: 32GB / 64GB
COLOR CHOICES: Atomic / Champagne / Slate
Where it works best: International GSM (Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania)
Is it released yet? Yes
Will it be released? N/A

BBE100-5
CODENAME: bbe100dsamericas
LTE: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 8 / 12 / 13 / 17 / 20 / 28 / 29 / 38 / 39 / 40 / 41 / 66
UMTS: 1 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 8
GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
CDMA: none
SIMS: 2
INTERNAL STORAGE: 32GB / 64GB
COLOR CHOICES: Atomic / Champagne / Slate
Where it works best: Americas GSM (i.e. not Sprint) + Verizon
Is it released yet? Yes
Will it be released? N/A

More to come...

[krazyatom]

Finally CDMA USA version!

[conite]

3000 mAh battery.

1 mm shorter, same width, 1 g lighter than KEY². So, the same.

[conite]

Finally CDMA USA version!

I think you read that wrong.

[krazyatom]

I think you read that wrong.

I believe in TCL that they can do this with cdma version!

[conite]

I believe in TCL that they can do this with cdma version!

Why bother? Verizon has already moved on. Sprint will become a new device ghost town.

[krazyatom]

Why bother? Verizon has already moved on. Sprint will become a new device ghost town.

But isn't that huge loss for TCL? Keyone sold bunch of cdma versions. Without cdma versions, you're skipping two major carriers.

[joeldf]

Verizon is trying real hard to move away from CDMA. With VoLTE, they can do without it.

Sprint is not that "major". Plus. Once it gets gobbled up by T-Mobile, they too will concentrate on expanding 5G with LTE, and again CDMA will be left in the dustbins.

Besides, compared to the rest of the mobile world, CDMA is real small.

[AmritD]

3000 mAh battery.

Ah that's a shame

ClassicSQC100-1/10.3.3.2163

[HostessCupcake]

Verizon is trying real hard to move away from CDMA. With VoLTE, they can do without it.

Sprint is not that "major". Plus. Once it gets gobbled up by T-Mobile, they too will concentrate on expanding 5G with LTE, and again CDMA will be left in the dustbins.

Besides, compared to the rest of the mobile world, CDMA is real small.

All of that may be true but the Key2 does not work on Verizon which has 150 million subscribers in the U.S.

[conite]

All of that may be true but the Key2 does not work on Verizon which has 150 million subscribers in the U.S.

But that doesn't relate to lack of CDMA.

Clearly they haven't come to an arrangement as of yet - and may never. The price may have been too steep.

[HostessCupcake]

But that doesn't relate to lack of CDMA.

Clearly they haven't come to an arrangement as of yet - and may never. The price may have been too steep.

All we know for sure is that the K1 has CDMA bands and works on Verizon, and that the K2 does not have CDMA bands and does not work on Verizon. Those things may be unrelated but all else is speculation.

[conite]

All we know for sure is that the K1 has CDMA bands and works on Verizon, and that the K2 does not have CDMA bands and does not work on Verizon. Those things may be unrelated but all else is speculation.

The KEYᵒⁿᵉ works because it doesn't require to be whitelisted to make calls.

The KEY² does.

This is not a technical hurdle, but a Verizon decision. They didn't actually lift a finger for the KEYᵒⁿᵉ either.

No use making a CDMA variant for KEY², since Verizon would have to whitelist the device anyway after the end of 2019 for it to keep working. And if they did that, they wouldn't need CDMA now anyway.

[krazyatom]

Verizon is trying real hard to move away from CDMA. With VoLTE, they can do without it.

Sprint is not that "major". Plus. Once it gets gobbled up by T-Mobile, they too will concentrate on expanding 5G with LTE, and again CDMA will be left in the dustbins.

Besides, compared to the rest of the mobile world, CDMA is real small.

Sprint is 4th largest carrier in the US with 32 million subscribers. If we can get 1 million to buy key2, it would be huge success.

[krazyatom]

The KEYᵒⁿᵉ works because it doesn't require to be whitelisted to make calls.

The KEY² does.

This is not a technical hurdle, but a Verizon decision. They didn't actually lift a finger for the KEYᵒⁿᵉ either.

I wonder why TCL didn't add cdma bands. It doesn't cost anything right?

[conite]

I wonder why TCL didn't add cdma bands. It doesn't cost anything right?

Read the rest of my previous post. It makes no sense to make a CDMA device for Verizon.

[thurask]

The four BBE100-1/2/3/4 are the ones with the most solid information I can find on them, but there might be one or two more. One of those might be a Verizon model, actually.

[krazyatom]

Read the rest of my previous post. It makes no sense to make a CDMA device for Verizon.

I understand that Verizon is retiring CDMA soon but TCL had chance to make huge money by selling cdma key2.

[conite]

I understand that Verizon is retiring CDMA soon but TCL had chance to make huge money by selling cdma key2.

Not to Verizon. They couldn't sell even one without a commitment to whitelist. And if they had a commitment to whitelist, they wouldn't need CDMA.

[krazyatom]

Not to Verizon. They couldn't sell even one without a commitment to whitelist. And if they had a commitment to whitelist, they wouldn't need CDMA.

Does that mean BBM will never have Verizon phone in the future?

[conite]

Does that mean BBM will never have Verizon phone in the future?

The future is not written.

[krazyatom]

The future is not written.

It's really disappointing. Key2 could've done better than k1. We can always buy k1 Verizon model.

[spyros_81]

Any intel on when it'll be announced?

Posted via CB10

[BerryRipe]

So it's roughly the same size dimensions yet it's called the Lite. Am I the only one that liked the idea of it being smaller.

I want a Key3 with PP keyboard, wider phone and slightly shorter. Stereo speakers are a must. Once you rocked the PPSE it's hard to use many other phones after that for me at least.

Posted via CB10

[joeldf]

So it's roughly the same size dimensions yet it's called the Lite. Am I the only one that liked the idea of it being smaller.

I guess they are making a distinction between "Lite" and "Mini".