New BlackBerry's first 'Venice' Android smartphone to arrive with BB10 apps and features

The long expected venice is on the corner. A leaked image of BlackBerry's highly anticipated Venice Android slider smartphone shows the upcoming device featuring the entire BlackBerry's Productivity Suite of apps.

The BlackBerry 'Venice' Android smartphone is rumored to arrive with BB10 apps and features (Reuters)

Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry has been reportedly working on its first Android-powered smartphone, dubbed the BlackBerry Venice. The company is yet to officially announce the device, though a number of leaks and rumors related to the BlackBerry Venice have continued to surface over the past couple of months.



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This time, serial tipster Evan Blass, (aka @evleaks) has tweeted an image of the BlackBerry Venice Android slider smartphone featuring BlackBerry's Productivity Suite of apps. Along with the image, Blass has also posted a message saying "Nothing else keeps you as productive as BlackBerry." Blass has also uploaded a screenshot of various BlackBerry-specific apk files that will ship with the BlackBerry Venice smartphone.
The BlackBerry Productivity Suite includes BlackBerry Hub, BlackBerry Calendar, BlackBerry Contacts, Documents to Go, Input, and Universal Search. BlackBerry's Communication Suite includes BBM, Worklife for BlackBerry, BBM Meetings, BBM Protected, SecuSuite for BlackBerry, and Global Support. Lastly, the Security Suite includes BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12, VPN Authentication, Secure Work Spaces, Enterprise Identity by BlackBerry, BlackBerry Blend, and Password Keeper.

The large number of pre-loaded apps featured in the BlackBerry 'Venice' smartphone suggests that it is unlikely to be a stock Android device. Blass said, "This is no stock Android handset."
Last week, leaked videos and images of the BlackBerry Venice smartphone had shown some Android apps on its screen, including Google Play, Google+, Hangouts, Google Maps and Android for Work. According to previous reports, the BlackBerry Venice slider smartphone will feature a 5.4-inch QHD (1440x2560 pixels) display. The device will be powered by a 1.8GHz hexa-core 64-bit QUALCOMM Snapdragon 808 SoC, paired with 3GB of RAM. BlackBerry is expected to release the Venice slider smartphone in November this year on all four major US carriers, namely AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobiles, and Sprint.