BlackBerry Announces Worldwide Launch Of Midrange Leap Smartphone

Currently working its way out of its downward spiral, Canada’s BlackBerry has announced the worldwide launch of its Leap full-touch BB10 smartphone meant for customers that want a less expensive BlackBerry device, but still want the full BB10 experience.

The Leap follows in the footsteps of the Z10 and Z30 with a 5-inch, 720p HD display and the same Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor clocked at 1.5GHz as the Classic and Q10. Other features include 4G LTE support, an 8-megapixel main camera with flash, 2-megapixel front camera, memory card slot, and a 2,800mAh sealed battery. The device runs BlackBerry 10.3.1 with full support for the Amazon Appstore for Android apps.

The phone will launch first in select markets through a combination of local carriers and direct from BlackBerry in Germany, France, United States, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and India over the next few weeks. The phone is expected to cost ~$275 direct from BlackBerry and before any carrier subsidies.