BlackBerry on Tuesday unveiled a new Android smartphone, also relinquishing the development of its handsets to third-party manufacturers, allowing the once-dominant smartphone company to focus on software development. BlackBerry-branded devices will continue to be released by third-party developers, even though the company will no longer control end-to-end development.

The company announced in July that it would discontinue the production of its classic smartphone, coinciding with an announcement by the US Senate that it would shelve Blackberry devices – a previous favorite – for Apple and Android devices.

The latest smartphone, DTEK60, is the second device in the DTEK series of Android smartphones. DTEK60 has a 5.5” Quad HD display, supports micro SD cards up to 2 TB, a 3000 mAh battery with enough power to withstand up to 24 hours of mixed use, an 8MP front-facing camera and a 21MP auto-focus rear camera.

Security: (Specs Provided by Blackberry)

  • Rapid Security Patching: BlackBerry has a record of being the quickest to deliver security patches, setting the bar in incident response and patch management to protect your device from malicious threats.
  • DTEK™ by BlackBerry App: Enables users to automatically monitor their OS and apps to know when their privacy could be at risk and to take action to improve it. The DTEK app also monitors applications and notifies you when someone is: taking pictures or videos without your knowledge, turning your microphone on, sending a text message, or accessing your contacts or location.
  • Hardware Root of Trust: BlackBerry uses a proprietary technique that adds security from the start, allowing for the tracking, verification and provisioning of the DTEK60.
  • Secure Boot Process: Starting with the root of trust, each stage of DTEK60’s secure boot chain must first verify that the next component is fully intact before proceeding, ensuring your device has not been tampered with since the last restart.
  • Android OS hardening: BlackBerry provides additional security patches, improves upon Android’s native Address Space Layout Randomization and reduces the number of system applications and services running with elevated permissions. This makes it more difficult for attackers to compromise the OS.
  • FIPS 140-2 Compliant Full Disk Encryption: Protects your private information, like pictures or bank information, from being stolen if you were to lose your phone.
  • Android™ for Work and Google Play™ for Work: Allows for fast, simple and secure integration with an enterprise environment as well as easy access to numerous rich business and IT-managed apps.
  • Full Enterprise Mobility Management Support: DTEK60 supports BlackBerry’s powerful suite of EMM applications and secure productivity solutions, including: WatchDox by BlackBerry for secure file-sharing, Good Work for business-class email and collaboration tools, Strong Authentication by BlackBerry as a VPN solution, SecuSUITE for Enterprise for secure voice and instant messaging communication, BBM Protected for encrypted messaging and BES12 for secure cross-platform management.

“With the DTEK60, BlackBerry continues to focus on our strengths: state-of-the-art software and security solutions. When you see our logo it means security, from our class-leading enterprise software to devices secured by BlackBerry software,” said Ralph Pini, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of Mobility Solutions at BlackBerry.

DTEK60 is available to purchase from ShopBlackBerry.com in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands for $499 USD ($650 CDN, €579 and £475).