Athena, Luna and Uni Are Codenames For Upcoming BlackBerry Smartphones


TCL controlled BlackBerry brand is trying to get back on its feet after some rough years just like Nokia. The company is scheduled to launch two or three smartphones this year and current reports have it that these devices will be codenamed Athena, Luna, and Uni. BlackBerry has initially stated that it will unveil at least two devices with a physical QWERTY keyboard like BlackBerry KeyOne.

The “Uni” codename was recently spotted by letsgodigital in a document where BlackBerry filed for patent and trademark. This smartphone will have a similar appearance to BlackBerry Priv. If any of these codenames do not belong to a smartphone then it will be the “Uni” because BlackBerry Uni shares same registration codes as the Uni360 which is a VR headset. We have the Alcatel Uni360 which is also owned by TCL.

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The “Athena” codename is associated with a device that retains the keyboard-based designed and it is reported that this smartphone will come with 6/8GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage and it will have larger keys than BlackBerry KEYone. Rumors also speculate that it will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset with dual-rear cameras.

The credibility of the “Luna” codename cannot be ascertained because the information emanates from different sources. However, this smartphone seems to be the BBE100-1 model and it is probably one of the KeyOne phones to be released this year.

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10 Comments

  1. joe mont
    February 17, 2018

    Another phone for them to abandon updates on before 2 years are even up like they did their flagship the Priv. When a chinese phone has better updates than you you’re doing something wrong.

    • balcobomber25
      February 18, 2018

      Blackberry is a Chinese phone. The name is licensed by TCL

      And one Chinese phone company has better updates than any other brand, Xiaomi.

      • February 20, 2018

        Name is actually licensed by 3 different companies, not only TCL, but TCL is the biggest one.
        BTW. Alcatel brand is also licensed to TCL but its owner is Nokia (not the HMD).

        • balcobomber25
          February 22, 2018

          TCL has exclusive rights for the majority of countries. The phones listed here are all TCL phones. The other companies that have the Blackberry license can only use it India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Bangladesh. The phones in those countries are different than the ones being reported here. For instance below is a link to one of the ones made in Indonesia. As for Alcatel, TCL holds the license for them until 2024, but many industry analysts believe that deal will be extended indefinitely as Nokia has no real interest in making phones. TCL also owns the license for the Palm brand as well as handles manufacturing of Samsung LCD TV’s in certain countries.

          http://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2017/03/09/first-made-in-indonesia-blackberry-phone-goes-on-sale.html

          • February 22, 2018

            Yeah, I know, it’s just… you wrote about name and only TCL… Never mind 😉

            About Alcatel, I have weird feeling that after 2024 Nokia will take back its rights to this french brand and I guess TCL feels that too and what the company’s doing right now is basically an artificial reduction of the brand’s value. In other words – they try to change position of Alcatel phones below the Blackberry’s.
            Note that BB started as rebranded Alcatel phones and after two generations they produce budgetary devices again (I mean, Alcatel).
            After the Idol 4 series which was really good and had positive user reception, instead of producing a better quality devices capable of competing with others, they began to lower the bar. Plus, TCL as a brand is making budget phones too, so Alcatel is actually not that important for them.

            Well… it’s just my intuition, but to me it has sense, somehow 😀

  2. Guest
    February 17, 2018

    Another phone for them to abandon updates on before 2 years are even up like they did their flagship the Priv. When a chinese phone has better updates than you you’re doing something wrong.

    • balcobomber25
      February 18, 2018

      Blackberry is a Chinese phone. The name is licensed by TCL

      And one Chinese phone company has better updates than any other brand, Xiaomi.

    • tpiapiac
      February 21, 2018

      Name is actually licensed by 3 different companies, not only TCL, but TCL is the biggest one. It’s good to know that three different organs are able to produce Blackberry named devices. On the other hand, Priv was the last “original” BB phone and it was abandoned…
      BTW. Alcatel brand is also licensed to TCL but its owner is Nokia (not the HMD).

    • balcobomber25
      February 22, 2018

      TCL has exclusive rights for the majority of countries. The phones listed here are all TCL phones. The other companies that have the Blackberry license can only use it India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Bangladesh. The phones in those countries are different than the ones being reported here. For instance below is a link to one of the ones made in Indonesia. As for Alcatel, TCL holds the license for them until 2024, but many industry analysts believe that deal will be extended indefinitely as Nokia has no real interest in making phones. TCL also owns the license for the Palm brand as well as handles manufacturing of Samsung LCD TV’s in certain countries.

      http://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2017/03/09/first-made-in-indonesia-blackberry-phone-goes-on-sale.html

    • tpiapiac
      February 23, 2018

      Yeah, I know, it’s just… you wrote about name and only TCL… Never mind 😉

      About Alcatel, I have weird feeling that after 2024 Nokia will take back its rights to this french brand and I guess TCL feels that too and what the company’s doing right now is basically an artificial reduction of the brand’s value. In other words – they try to change position of Alcatel phones below the Blackberry’s.
      Note that BB started as rebranded Alcatel phones and after two generations they produce budgetary devices again (I mean, Alcatel).
      After the Idol 4 series which was really good and had positive user reception, instead of producing a better quality devices capable of competing with others, they began to lower the bar. Plus, TCL as a brand is making budget phones too, so Alcatel is actually not that important for them.

      Well… it’s just my intuition, but to me it has sense, somehow 😀