Waiting for the Blackberry 5G? The Astro Slide could be a good alternative

One more smartphone has shown up at CES 2022 - the Astro Slide reminds us of the upcoming Blackberry 5G, because it has 5G compatibility and a physical keyboard, but... well, the Astro Slide is actually available to buy.

This is the third smartphone by independent London manufacturer Planet Computers, and after being announced via a Kickstarter campaign in May 2020, it's had an official launch at the annual tech event CES 2022. 

It seems that the phone is shipping soon, too. That's at least according to the Kickstarter page, which says it has been delayed from the original date in March 2021. 

Judging by the stats on the page, nearly 4,000 units have been sold so far, but you can still pre-order it now if you find the device interesting.

And there's good reason for you to like the device, especially if you're a fan of the physical keyboard that very few phones have nowadays. The keyboard is backlit, so you can use it in the dark, and by the sounds of it can also be remapped and re-ordered depending on how you like to type.

The Astro Slide also touts 5G connectivity, Android 11 software, a 48MP main camera, two USB-C ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, wireless charging, a microSD slot, a 4,000mAh battery, a 6.4-inch AMOLED FHD+ screen, a 13MP selfie camera, the Dimensity 800 chipset, 8GB RAM and 128GB storage.

Those are some pretty decent mid-range specs - the RRP is €819, which converts to around $940, £680, AU$1,295, so the price fits if you factor in the moving mechanism, and it ships worldwide too so you can pick it up in all those regions.

• These are all the smartphones that launched at CES 2022

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