BlackBerry brand licensee Optiemus Infracom today launched the new Evolve series of BlackBerry smartphones in India. The series comprises of two models – Evolve and Evolve X. Both the smartphones feature a ‘bezel-less’ front and come with a textured back.
BlackBerry Evolve, Evolve X: Price in India, Availability
The BlackBerry Evolve has been priced at Rs.24,990 in India, putting it head-to-head against the Nokia 7 Plus, which is currently one of the best mid-range smartphones that you can purchase. On the other hand, the BlackBerry Evolve X is priced at Rs.34,990, making it a rival to “affordable flagship smartphones” like the OnePlus 6, ASUS ZenFone 5Z, and Honor 10. Optiemus Infracom will begin selling the Evolve X in India starting from the end of this month, exclusively via Amazon India. The BlackBerry Evolve is also an Amazon-exclusive but will not be available until mid-September. Launch offers include Rs.3,950 cashback for Reliance Jio subscribers and 5% instant cashback on EMI transactions made using ICICI Bank credit cards. Additional offers are expected to be available by the time the smartphones go on sale in the country.
BlackBerry Evolve: Specifications, Features
The BlackBerry Evolve comes with a large 5.99-inch full-screen display with 1080 x 2160 Full HD+ resolution and an 18:9 aspect ratio. Protecting the display is a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Under the hood, BlackBerry Evolve is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 chipset with an Adreno 506 GPU. In the memory department, BlackBerry Evolve comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. Moving on to optics, the latest BlackBerry-branded smartphone features a vertically stacked dual-camera setup on the back with a 13MP primary and 13MP secondary sensor. On the front of the handset is a 16MP resolution snapper with tetracell technology for taking selfies and video calls. Users can unlock the Evolve using either the fingerprint sensor or the Face Unlock feature. Fueling the BlackBerry Evolve is a large 4000mAh capacity battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 support for fast charging.
BlackBerry Evolve X: Specifications, Features
Similar to the BlackBerry Evolve, the Evolve X features a 5.99-inch IPS LCD display with 1080 x 2160 Full HD+ resolution and an 18:9 aspect ratio. The BlackBerry Evolve X runs on a more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 octa-core processor clocked at up to 2.2 GHz with an Adreno 512 GPU. BlackBerry Evolve X comes with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. For further expansion, the smartphone comes with a microSD card slot.
Moving on to the cameras, Evolve X features a 12MP + 13MP dual-camera setup on the back with a Portrait Mode and other features that you would expect from a modern mid-range smartphone. While the primary 12MP sensor is coupled with an f/1.8 aperture, the secondary 13MP sensor is coupled with an f/2.6 aperture. For selfies, the handset has a 16MP camera on the front with a Portrait mode as well as face unlock support for easy access. You can also unlock the smartphone using the fingerprint sensor. While the Evolve X may not be the most powerful device in its class, it does come with a relatively large 4000mAh capacity battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 and wireless charging support. The Evolve X impresses in the audio department as well with Dolby Atmos support to provide users with a 3D surround sound experience. Both the smartphones come with a USB Type-C port and runs on the Android 8.1 Oreo operating system out of the box. Like other BlackBerry smartphones, the Evolve and Evolve X both features DTEK by BlackBerry, BlackBerry Hub and other services that are aimed at providing users with a secure Android experience.
