BlackBerry Hamburg (Neon) gets FCC certification, confirms TCL as its manufacturer

BlackBerry is expected to launch three new Android smartphones in the coming months, and the first one to hit the market will be a mid-range model code-named Hamburg (or Neon) with full touchscreen display (no physical keyboard), which is expected to be priced under $400.

The phone was spotted on GFXBench benchmarks earlier this year, and now it has got approval from Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which means we can expect the launch soon in the U.S. According to FCC documents Hamburg (or Neon) has the model number ST-100-2 (RDJ211LW) and also confirms TCL as the manufacturer, the same company behind Alcatel phones. The documents further reveals that the phone will have a 2610mAh battery.

Earlier reports have claimed that BlackBerry Hamburg will be a re-branded Alctael Idol 4. Interestingly the specs of Hamburg outed by GFXBench and the battery capacity revealed by FCC  matches the specs of Idol 4 (except the processor). Last month an image of Hamburg that surfaced online showed a design similar to Idol 4 as well.

If BlackBerry Hamburg is a rebranded Alcatel Idol 4, we can expect it to come with 5.2-inch 1080p display, 1.5GHz octa-core Snapdragon 652 SoC (Snapdragon 615 as per GFXBench), 3GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, 12MP rear camera, 8MP front camera and run Android Marshmallow. Note that Hamburg is not the official name of the phone, and will hit the market under different name.

As for the official announcement date, recently, BlackBerry CEO John Chen during BlackBerry Security Summit in New York, revealed that the company will discuss new devices next week, so we can expect Hamburg/Neon to be part of the discussion.

Via