The BlackBerry KEYone was finally officially unveiled at Mobile World Congress (MWC) and the latest TCL-made handset seems like an interesting deal. The smartphone is powered by the Snapdragon 625 and 3GB of RAM, in addition to boasting a 4.5-inch display, a physical keyboard with an integrated fingerprint sensor, and a massive 3,505mAh battery. However, another prominent feature of the KEYone is the camera that ships with the upcoming BlackBerry-branded device.
As it turns out, the BlackBerry KEYone will feature a 12-megapixel rear camera with phase detection autofocus, 4x digital zoom, dual-tone LED flash, HDR video and image stabilization, and an f/2.0 lens. If that sounds a bit familiar, that’s probably because the BlackBerry KEYone ships with Sony’s IMX378 sensor, the very same one featured in the Google Pixel and the Google Pixel XL. Sony’s sensor has a diagonal of 7.81mm and the pixel size of 1.55μm and makes use of the company’s SME-HDR technology. Furthermore, the Japanese company previously revealed that the sensor is a significant improvement over its predecessor when it comes to shooting slow-motion video. Finally, the rear camera of the latest BlackBerry smartphone will be capable of recording 4K video at 30 frames per second.
On the front, the BlackBerry KEYone sports an 8-megapixel camera with fixed focus and an 84-degree wide-angle lens. The camera will support FullHD videos at 30 frames per second and will also be able to utilize the so-called screen flash to do a better job of recording photos in places that don’t have great lighting. The front camera of the device will also support video and image stabilization, as well as panorama selfies. Finally, the spec sheet of the BlackBerry KEYone indicates that the handset’s default Camera app will feature support for live filters that have been getting more popular in recent months.
Overall, it seems that the BlackBerry KEYone won’t disappoint photography enthusiasts that aren’t only looking for a smartphone that’s reliable and capable of operating for long hours, but also one that boasts fantastic imaging capabilities. The overall quality of the photos and videos taken with the KEYone will also partially depend on the imaging software that the device is running, so the final verdict on the matter won’t be made before early April when the device is scheduled to be released.
