BlackBerry has officially announced the BlackBerry Leap, their latest touchscreen phone with a 5-inch display. What is notable about this BlackBerry touchscreen smartphone is that BlackBerry claim that it has a 25-hour battery life with continuous usage. Partly due to the large 2800 mAh battery, it could also be so thanks to a rather undemanding Snapdragon S4 Plus processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB storage. The Leap measures in at 9.5mm thick and weighs 170g with an 8MP rear camera and a front camera. while it runs a BlackBerry Hub, it can use the Amazon Appstore and will let you install Android apps. No Malaysia release dates or pricing yet, but hopefully it does better than the previous BlackBerry touchscreen smartphones like the Z10 and Z3. Check out the official hands-on video in this article.

The BlackBerry Jakarta is rumoured to be the next touchscreen smartphone from BlackBerry after the BlackBerry Z30 and Z10. So far, the Jakarta is just the codename with it possibly being called the BlackBerry Z3 when it gets announced. So far, the design looks very similar to that of the LG Vu but tech specs include a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1.5GB RAM, 8GB of storage, a 5MP rear camer, 1.1MP front camera, 2650 mAh battery and a 5-inch display with 960 x 540 pixel resolution. As usual, the tech specs aren't very impressive, prompting many to consider that the Jakarta or Z3 could be an entry-level device around RM500. This seems unlikely though as BlackBerry devices have not dipped past RM1K even for the supposedly affordable BlackBerry Q5. The BlackBerry Z3 is expected to come with the BlackBerry 10.2.1 update which will allow users to install Android apps through APK files.

With 2014 already here, we look back at the year 2013 for all the awesome mobile phones to have come out in 2013 for Malaysia. There were quite a lot of them, so we picked based on innovation, performance, design and potential successfully delivered. In no specific order we list out the following mobile phones that rocked our world currently available with local Malaysia support as follows:

• HTC One - The First Good-looking Android Phone
• Sony Xperia Z - The First Stylish Water-proof smartphone
• Samsung Galaxy S4 series - A performance smartphone for every user
• Nokia Lumia 1020 - The Ultimate Cameraphone
• LG G2 - Best all-rounder performance with functional rear controls
• Sony Xperia Z1 - The most feature-filled smartphone
• Nokia Asha 500 series - Bringing hybrid smartphone capabilities to the masses
• Apple iPhone 5S - The world's first 64-bit smartphone with well-done fingerprint scanner
• Nokia Lumia 1520 - The Videographers phablet
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 - The Ultimate Phablet with 3GB RAM
• Motorola Moto X - Always on and always listening
• Vivo Xplay 3S - World's first 2K display smartphone
• BlackBerry Z10 - World's first BlackBerry smartphone with no QWERTY keyboard

The BlackBerry Jakarta is a smartphone resulting from a collaboration between BlackBerry with Foxconn. It also looks to be following in the footsteps of the BlackBerry Z30 and Z10 touchscreen smartphones as it has been rumoured to have no physical QWERTY keyboard. Headed for Indonesia where BlackBerry has a very strong consumer base, the device will have 3G connectivity and should be available ther by April 2014, with no news yet on a possible Malaysia release date or pricing. As every tech user should know by now (and we sincerely hope BlackBerry decision makers are listening) coming out with yet antother touchscreen BlackBerry is like looking for trouble when you're already neck deep in crap. BlackBerry's other touchscreen devices have not been selling well, especially in the face of more powerful, more feature filled and more affordable smartphones. Hopefully we're wrong and the BlackBerry Jakarta suddenly has a slideout QWERTY keyboard at the very least.

BlackBerry has officially announced the Porsche Design P'9982. While you may think that this is just a rebadged BlackBerry Z10 (and the tech specs are the same) the P'9982 is actually made with premium materials which include an Italian leather backside and a stainless steel frame. Each device has it's own BBM Pin number for extra exclusivity. The use of premium materials means that the P'9982 is actually thicker by 0.5mm and heavier by 2.5g compared to the Z10 it is based on. Tech specs remain the same though and include a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 2GB RAM, 4.2-inch display with 1280 x 768 pixel resolutions, 1800 mAh battery, 8MP rear camera, 2MP front camera nad support for 4G LTE. The user interface has been customized as well for the price of 1500 pounds (RM7600+). It can be bought through the Harrods and Porsche Design online Store but for more information go check out the main site. Check out the video and links in this article.

Back in August 2013, a couple of images leaked for the BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9982 which appeared to be a BlackBerry Z10 with Porsche Design elements. Recently, the smartphone has surfaced again, this time in a hands-on video. In this video it doesn't reveal much in terms of tech specs or features but if it is Z10 based, it would probably use the same hardware of a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 4.2-inch display and 1800 mAh battery. At the time of writing, the Z10 is currently priced at RM1899 so a BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9982 model could go for just a bit more than this and not the RM6000 or so it was initially expected to cost. No specific Malaysia release dates were available but it should be within the region soon. Check out the video for your self in this article.

Celcom's slated 14 days of BlackBerry Z30 exclusivity is just around the corner and they've since released the various packages surrounding the Z30 smartphone.  Available on 5 October 2013 at the Blue Cube Sunway Pyramid store, Full Line Communications Sdn Bhd in Shah Alam and Gateway Sdn Bhd in Wangsa Maju, the BlackBerry Z30 will be available on 24 month contras to any Celcom First Voice + Data mPro bundle plan subscribers. As mentioned before, the first 200 subscribers get a BlackBerry Z10 FREE (RM1899), an Urbanears Headset (RM340), 2 Alicia Keys concert tickets (RM590) and the Alicia Keys "Girl on Fire" album download. Check out the table and links in this article for more details.

As mentioned in an earlier report, the BlackBerry Z30 has been officially announced here in Malaysia. While it will be available from 5 October 2013, Celcom has exclusive rights over the smartphone for the next 14 days starting from that date. As such Celcom are teasing a number of fairly interesting freebies for those who sign up for a BlackBerry Z30 under a Celcom plan during this 14 day period. This includes a FREE BlackBerry Z10, 2 Alicia Keys concert tickets for KL, free download of Alicia Keys "Girl on Fire" album and an UrbanGears headset for the first 200 subscribers. After the first 200, the next 800 will also get freebies, but what exactly these freebies are still hasn't been announced just yet. So if you're gunning for a BlackBerry Z30, save 5 October 2013 as the day to do so, preferably at a nearby Celcom Bluecube store. Stay tuned and we'll keep you posted.

BlackBerry Malaysia recently announced their newest flagship BlackBerry device with the BlackBerry Z30. Formerly known as both the A10 and the Aristo, this 5-inch display smartphone features the same touchscreen interface as the BlackBerry Z10 and gesture control scheme in the newest update to the BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10.2. While it doesn't really pack many tech spec surprises, the Z30 does do one thing that BlackBerry has never done before, which is to offer a flagship device like the BlackBerry Z30 at just RM1998. Other tech specs available on the BlackBerry Z30 include:

• 1.7GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor 
• Quad-core Adreno 320 GPU
• 5-inch Super AMOLED (1280 x 720)
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB storage
• 8MP rear camera (5x digital zoom, 1080 HD video recording) + 2MP front camera (720p HD recording)
• 3x speakers
• 2880 mAh 

BlackBerry's upcoming 5-inch smartphone, the BlackBerry Z30 or Aristo as it is codenamed, may be the company's last gasp saviour as the most recent BlackBerry 9720 really didn't do as much as expected (we expected it entirely). On the other hand, we're expecting many good (and hopefully great) features from the Z30 smartphone which likely will include a 5-inch touchscreen and an overall design much like the BlackBerry Z10. Apparently the BlackBerry Z30 has leaked in a vs match with the Nokia Lumia 925 and this has seemingly confirmed a number of tech specs which include the aforementioned 5-inch HD Super AMOLED screen, a 2880 mAh battery, 16GB of Storage and 2GB of RAM along with the fact that it will likely be called the BlackBerry Z30 and not the A10 as was initially rumoured. These revelations come from details in the leaked pics which you can check out for yourself. Again, not much news on when the Malaysia release date would be or how much it would be priced but stay tuned and we'll keep you updated.