BlackBerry Hamburg and Rome renders were not leaks, but were concepts based on reality

Toward the end of last month, we told you about a pair of handsets called the BlackBerry Hamburg and BlackBerry Rome. The two generally fit the description of two new Android powered phones that BlackBerry CEO John Chen had alerted us to early in April. However, we have just learned that the two pictures and two renders were not leaks from BlackBerry, but were actually two concept models.

The images of the Hamburg and Rome were produced by Dylan Habkirk, who had posted them on his BBM Channel a few days before another website hijacked the images. This other site added their logo to the pictures and renders and proclaimed that these were leaked from somewhere inside BlackBerry.

We do have something positive to take from all of this. While Habkirk has never seen the Hamburg, he did indeed get to see internal sketches for the phone which is what he based the design of his concept on. He says that it copies the BlackBerry Z30 form factor. While he isn't sure of the Hamburg name (as sure as he is about the use of the code name Rome), his understanding is that it will be the first of the two models released by BlackBerry.

Habkirk adds that he has seen the Rome and that it does resemble the previously leaked BlackBerry Vienna images. He adds that it will possibly sport an 8MP front-facing camera and a special hardware button that offers a unique functionality for governments and consumers alike. Pricing for the phone will be in the $500 USD region.


The good news is that the two concepts are based on some reality, whether it was from an internal sketch or a real prototype.


source: BlackBerryCentral via Crackberry