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TCL to start sales of BlackBerry smartphone in S Korea


SEOUL, Nov. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's unit of Chinese tech giant TCL Corp. said Tuesday it will start sales of the black edition of BlackBerry's KEYone smartphone here starting next month.

The KEYone, which marks the first BlackBerry smartphone to be released in the market after TCL's purchase of the brand last year, runs on Google's Android platform and comes with a QWERTY keypad.

It comes with a 12-megapixel camera on the back and an 8-megapixel camera in the front.

TCL Communication Korea said it is currently taking steps to win nods from local authorities for the release of the smartphone. The device will be released through CJ Hello Co., a local budget operator that borrows networks from mobile carriers.

The price tag of the device is estimated to be slightly below 600,000 won (US$535). The KEYone Black smartphone was earlier released in China and India.

TCL said the South Korean version of the KEYone Black keyboard will be printed with the Korean alphabet as well. Warranty services will be provided through Dongbu Daewoo Electronics Service Corp.'s 105 branches across the country.