The BlackBerry Q5 was launched in India today, at a price of Rs. 24,990 – quite steep considering the not so impressive specifications, and for what was supposed to be the first inexpensive BB10 device, after the premium priced Q10 and Z10 were launched. The Q5 will start retailing from July 20, in black, red and white colours.
The hardware QWERTY keypad-based Q5 is very similar in form factor to its more expensive sibling, the Q10, and shares some of the same specifications. The Q5 is 10.5mm thick, and weighs in at 120 grams. The Q10 is slightly thinner and heavier, at 10.35mm and 139 grams.
Both the BlackBerry Q5 and Q10 bear 3.1-inch 720×720 pixel 329 PPI displays (though the Q5 has a TFT LCD display instead of the Q10’s Super AMOLED), both have 2GB of RAM, and 2MP front-facing cameras.
This is where the similarity ends however. The Q5 has a slower dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor powering it instead of the Q10’s 1.5GHz, 8GB of built-in storage instead of 16GB, and a 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash instead of 8MP.
Other specifications of the Q5 include a non-removable 2180 mAh battery rated to deliver up to 12.5 hours of talk time (3G), and 14 days of standby time (3G). A microSD card is also supported, for expandable storage up to 64GB.
Connectivity options include HSPA, GPRS/EDGE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with hotspot and DLNA functionality, GPS with A-GPS, microUSB, and Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (LE). There is no NFC available.
We have the Q5 in our labs, and we’ll be publishing a review of it soon, so be sure to check back to read our verdict on the new BB10 smartphone. Do let us know what you think of the BlackBerry Q5’s pricing, in the comments section below.