When the BlackBerry Priv was made available for purchase back in early November, the device was exclusive to AT&T, meaning, subscribers to rival carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint, had to bide their time before the device was available on their respective carriers. Now, as the end of AT&T-exclusivity edges ever closer, Verizon customers interested in the latest BlackBerry smartphone will be pleased to know that the FCC has given its all-clear to the Verizon Wireless version of the BlackBerry Priv. Which is just as well, seeing as the nation’s largest wireless carrier has been teasing the availability of the Priv on its network for well over a month now. It was back in early November that Verizon first officially tweeted about the BlackBerry Priv coming to the carrier ‘soon’. Even earlier, back in October to be precise, leaked images showed off the Verizon-bound Priv in all its glory.
The Priv-AT&T exclusivity clause expires on January 20th, so now that the regulatory formalities have been taken care of, Verizon has just edged one step closer towards releasing the much talked-about smartphone on its network. That will probably be a step in the right direction both for the carrier as well as the beleaguered Canadian smartphone maker, seeing as BlackBerry needs better carrier support for the Priv if the company actually wants to sell five million devices each year, which is what BlackBerry’s CEO, Mr. John Chen, had publicly announced earlier. It is also important to note that while the Priv currently comes with a rather hefty $699 price-tag befitting its flagship status, earlier this month, Mr. Chen had apparently indicated that the device will get a substantial price-cut in February.
The BlackBerry Priv, of course, is the very first Android-powered smartphone from the Canadian company formerly known as Research in Motion. The device was launched earlier this year, and by all accounts, has been fairly well-received by both the tech media as well as paying consumers at large. The handset comes with a sliding physical QWERTY keyboard, and features a 5.4-inch AMOLED display, with a QHD resolution (2560 x 1440). The smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 SoC and sports 3 GB of RAM along with 32 GB of storage. While the rear-facing primary camera on the Priv is an 18-megapixel unit, the front-facing selfie-cam comes with a 2-megapixel sensor. The smartphone comes with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop out of the box and carries a 3,410 mAh Li-Ion battery.