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BlackBerry Z10 announced, launching mid-March in the US for $199.99

BlackBerry Z10 announced, launching mid-March in the US for $199.99

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BlackBerry Z10
BlackBerry Z10

BlackBerry (formerly known as Research in Motion) has officially announced its first BlackBerry 10 device: the Z10. It could be one of BlackBerry's worst kept secrets — we've already seen the Z10 and the new OS leaked from plenty of angles — but the speculation and waiting is finally over. The Z10 is the company's first full-touch smartphone running the company's new operating system. The Wall Street Journal reports that the device will launch mid-March in the US, though individual carriers haven't yet confirmed specific release dates. (BlackBerry said that the four major US carriers will make announcements sometime today.) Verizon and T-Mobile have confirmed that they will offer the Z10, but only Verizon has confirmed a price so far: $199.99 on a two-year contract. The Z10 will launch on January 31st in the UK, February 5th in Canada, and US carriers will announce release plans in the next few weeks.

The BlackBerry Z10 will be offered in black and white models — Verizon says the white model is an exclusive on its network. On the inside, the phone has a dual-core CPU at 1.5GHz (though BlackBerry hasn't said which processor it's using), 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage — which can be expanded to 48GB using microSD. The device has a rear-facing 8 megapixel camera capable of 1080p video capture and a front-facing 2 megapixel camera capable of 720p video. BlackBerry specifically touted its new 4.2-inch display during the Z10's reveal today: a 1280 x 768, 356ppi LCD screen.

It's been a long ride for BlackBerry and its fans leading up to the Z10's official announcement. The first rumored BlackBerry device running RIM's next operating system — then called BBX, now BlackBerry 10 — was a much different-looking device named the BlackBerry "London." That was in November, 2011. Just a month after the original leak, then-CEO Mike Lazaridis announced to investors that RIM expected to release its first BlackBerry 10 smartphone in late 2012. Then, in June, 2012, under new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins, the goalposts were pushed back again to Q1 2013.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that the Z10 would be coming to all four major US carriers, but BlackBerry only confirmed that the carriers would be making announcements today, and did not specify devices. We apologize for the error and will update with confirmed carrier information as we receive it.

BlackBerry Z10 liveblog images

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