BlackBerry unveils Q5 smartphone, priced at Rs 24,990

Smartphone major BlackBerry today unveiled its latest touch and type handset Q5 at a price of Rs 24,990, which will be available in the market from July 20.

"The BlackBerry Q5 smartphone offers the full BlackBerry 10 functionality as well as access to the growing catalog of BlackBerry 10 apps. With its physical QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen, it gives customers the best of both worlds," Managing Director for India at BlackBerry, Sunil Lalvani said.

BlackBerry Q5 launch price is closest to Chinese firm Huawei's Ascend Mate smartphone which was launched around a month back with 4050 mAh (milliampere-hour) battery. Blackberry Q5 has 2180 mAH non-removable battery.

BlackBerry Q5 has 3.1 inch screen, comes with 8 Gigabyte of in-built storage, 5 megapixel rear camera with auto focus and flash, 2 MP front camera. The phone has 1.2 Ghz dual core processor.

The past one month has seen a series of smartphone launches in India by players including Micromax and LG, which has reworked its strategy to revive mobile phone business.

BlackBerry Q5 is among highest priced phone, after LG Optimus G Pro, that had been launched in India within last one month. Micromax launched it Canvas 4 phone for Rs 17,999.

BlackBerry Q5, however, is priced at half of its most expensive model - Q10.