BlackBerry Venice release date, specs: Device surfaces in a video presentation

Twitter courtesy of BlackBerry

The rumored new BlackBerry device, codenamed Venice, is hyping up to be an eye-catcher, with previous leaks and reports focusing on the slider's looks. The BlackBerry Venice has surfaced anew, but this time, instead of a series images, the device made its way into a video presentation. 

In a brief hands-on video by Canadian phone retailer Baka Mobile, a device can be seen, allegedly the BlackBerry Venice. The presentation is about four minutes long and showcases what appears to be an evaluation version of the handset. Although the footage stresses that the Venice's software is still in its testing phase and subject to changes before the final version, observers say that the Venice seems to get the best out of both signature BlackBerry features and the Android platform. 

The video highlights that one of the possibly great features of the Venice will be the integrated menu shortcut for BlackBerry's signature Universal Search and Google's Hub and Services present in the Android platform. 

In addition, the video also shows that the slider keyboard, a staple among many BlackBerry devices, will have the same function as the BlackBerry Passport's. Aside from the physical keys, the keyboard will have an integrated sense and touch function that doubles as a scroll pad, which will make it easier to scroll through the handset's features. 

The footage does not demonstrate scrolling through the Settings menu of the Venice, so fans who were expecting to see some hardware specs were disappointed. However, many rumors already surfaced about the upcoming Android-run BlackBerry, with observers saying that the Venice will come with a Snapdragon 808 processor, 3 GB of RAM, and a 5.4-inch screen. 

The video does show the BlackBerry Venice having front grill speakers, located on the bottom of the unit. In addition, the footage also touches on the main camera at the back with a difficult-to-ignore lens bezel. The camera will reportedly come as an 18-MP shooter. 

Baka Mobile