Our slightly older readers probably remember the BlackBerry, devices that were smartphones before smartphones even existed, characterized by a full hardware keyboard built into their chubby black body, and secure email communication through the company’s private server network across the globe.
But then came the iPhone, and BlackBerry simply became irrelevant. The company lost sales and market share, and eventually stopped selling end devices, though it remained in the secure communications business under different ownership. Still, people long to hold a BlackBerry again, whether out of nostalgia or practicality—the typing experience on a BlackBerry with physical keys was simply excellent, still better than what any touchscreen can provide today, and people miss it, rightly so.
Similar to the Commodore comeback we told you about, a Chinese company named Zinwa is working on a kind of revival for the BlackBerry: The company took a pile of old BlackBerry Q20 models and installed Android on them, while replacing part of the internal hardware. The refurbished BlackBerrys will be sold under the name Zinwa Q25 Pro.
To ensure compatibility, the company had no choice but to replace the motherboard with more modern processors—the MediaTek Helio G99, 12 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of storage. Honestly, quite a nice spec. The fact that these BlackBerry devices already have touchscreens helps as well.
The company also replaced the original battery and inserted a 15% larger one of 3000 mAh, along with new cameras including a 50-megapixel rear camera and an 8-megapixel front camera, support for 4G networks (no 5G support), and one last but important touch: The original micro-USB port was replaced with a modern, trendy USB-C port.
However, they run on Android 13, and it doesn’t look like there are any plans to upgrade to a newer version, at least for now. The company is selling this strange and nostalgic creation for $450 apiece. If the project proves successful, the company is considering building more BlackBerry-zombie-Android devices and bringing them back to life.