Blackberry Plans to Launch First Ever Android-Running Smartphone Venice

Blackberry is planning launch its first phone 'Venice' powered by Android. A leaked image shows a phone similar to Samsung's Galaxy S6 Edge, with curved sides. It is said that the handset could be the company's last attempt to revive itself following disastrous sales of its own BB10 touchscreen handsets.

According to Evan Blass, who posted the images and is well known for leaks of new handsets, it will be launched on AT&T and is codenamed Venice.

BlackBerry, which once dominated smartphone sales, now has a market share of less than 1 percent.

BlackBerry briefly showed off the slider device on stage at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March, but it has provided little detail on it since then.
By making an Android device that boasts a large touchscreen and a physical keyboard, BlackBerry hopes to snag a niche in the touchscreen-dominated Android market. The device may attract those still using older BlackBerry keyboard handhelds but who want access to the larger app options Android offers.