MWC 2015: BlackBerry Leap unveiled with 5-inch edge-to-edge display and 25-hour battery

BlackBerry has pulled the curtains on a new mainstream smartphone, the Leap, at MWC 2015.

According to the mobile maker's CEO John Chen, it will target young mobile professionals - a key segment that is still eluding the Canadian phone maker - with the 5-inch device.

It comes with 4G functionality, an edge-to-edge HD display, BlackBerry's signature keyboard and a rather eye-catching 25-hours battery life thanks to a 2,800mAh battery.

Other features include a textured back, a Qualcomm SoC clocked at 1.5GHz, 16GB of storage, 2GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear camera capable of recording at 720p, BlackBerry 10.3.1 OS plus BlackBerry's own assortment of applications includin Blend, Assistant and World.

Z-lister

BlackBerry aficionado will probably remember that the Z10, which launched more than two years ago, had exactly the same hardware (bar the lack of NFC and a bigger battery).

The Leap will be out in April in Europe and in the US and will cost $279 (about £180, AU$360) SIM free. The Z10 was available for as little as £145 (about $220, AU$290) online after debuting at almost twice that price.

Chen reiterated BlackBerry's commitment to make more money out of its smartphones after the division started to generate meaningful revenue for the company.

• Check out our MWC 2015 coverage

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