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BlackBerry Is Finally Making an Android Phone Because It Can't Afford Not To

And yes, it has a keyboard.

After years of declining sales, Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry is finally doing what it probably should have done much sooner: Make an Android phone.

BlackBerry CEO John Chen officially confirmed the oft-rumoured device, named the BlackBerry Priv, in a press release announcing the company's second quarter earnings results (they weren't good).

"I am confirming our plans to launch Priv, an Android device named after BlackBerry's heritage and core mission of protecting our customers' privacy," Chen is quoted as saying. "Priv combines the best of BlackBerry security and productivity with the expansive mobile application ecosystem available on the Android platform."

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.@CrackBerry That render is getting a bit tired, dontcha think? pic.twitter.com/UZsanau6df
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) September 24, 2015

According to BlackBerry, the phone is "a flagship slider device," and will be available late in the calendar year. With the addition of Android, the Priv could be welcome news for those who have abandoned BlackBerry in recent years for more popular, consumer-friendly phones, but still prefer a hardware keyboard for typing.

The company has sold just 800,000 phones over the past three months, and fell short of analyst expectations with its latest quarterly results.

Although this will be BlackBerry's first Android smartphone, the company has flirted with Android in the past. At launch, the BlackBerry 10 operating system included the ability to install some Android applications that had been downloaded to a computer and then copied to the device—a process known as sideloading. More recent versions of BlackBerry 10 now come bundled with the Amazon Appstore.

AndroidCentral previously reported that the Priv may be running Android Lollipop 5.1.1, come bundled with various BlackBerry apps and security-focused modifications, and have a curved screen similar to that of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. BlackBerry has promised more details in the coming weeks.