This $320 Equipment Brings the BlackBerry Traditional Again From the Useless

Persons are bored of their telephones. So bored of their large, boring glass and metallic slabs that they’ll’t assist however dump throughout telephones like Nothing’s Phone 3 that don’t appear to be boring-ass bricks. However apparently individuals are so bored of their telephones that someone went and made a whole-ass equipment that replaces the center of the long-dead BlackBerry Q20, or “Classic,” with new parts and successfully modernizes it with Android.

Beloved for its QWERTY keyboard and BlackBerry OS (who remembers BBM?), the BlackBerry Traditional launched in 2014 and lived a brief two years earlier than it was discontinued in 2016. Falling quick behind iPhone and Android, BlackBerry, contemporary off its rebranding from RIM in 2013, replaced its aging mobile OS with BlackBerry 10, which might later run Android apps. Alas, even with Android apps, BlackBerry 10 couldn’t catch as much as Apple and Google’s cell ecosystems.

Lovers refuse to surrender on the BlackBerry Traditional, although. An organization known as Zinwa Technologies is promoting a $320 kit called the “Q25 Pro set” that replaces the Traditional’s core parts—the CPU, RAM, storage, cameras, battery, and even the charging port—with a characteristic set that’s extra updated. It’s worthwhile to convey your individual Q20 donor for the mod, however should you’ve obtained one that you just’re keen to prep for surgical procedure, the improve equipment offers you a MediaTek G99 chipset, 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, NFC, and LTE. It additionally bumps up the rear digicam to 50 megapixels and the selfie digicam to eight megapixels. The battery is an all-new 3,000mAh one which Zinwa claims will final sooner or later, and the charging port is USB-C.

Don’t have a BlackBerry Q20 in a drawer accumulating mud? To not fear. Zinwa can also be promoting a “Q25 Pro full device” that comes with the Q20—similar physique with the precise 720 x 720 decision display screen, QWERTY keypad, touchpad, and all—for $420. You get all the identical upgrades within the equipment.

Eric Migicovsky, the unique founding father of Pebble, who’s currently reviving the e-paper display smartwatch under the Pebble brand, shared his modded Q20 on X.

“Rattling that is cool,” Migicovsky said. “Somebody made a Android mainboard substitute for the Q20. It matches completely inside the present telephone. Makes use of the identical show however upgrades the digicam and switches to USB C. It feels so good to carry blackberry once more. The gentle contact again feels superb.”

Rattling that is cool. Somebody made a Android mainboard substitute for the Q20. It matches completely inside the present telephone. Makes use of the identical show however upgrades the digicam and switches to USB C. It feels so good to carry blackberry once more. The gentle contact again feels superb pic.twitter.com/WxMRXO0Kbx

— Eric Migicovsky (@ericmigi) August 14, 2025

The Q25 Professional runs Android, however not the latest Android 16. It’s Android 13 from 2022. Responding to an X reply calling out the previous model of Android, Migicovsky stated, “What does it matter? Is there a noticeable distinction between 13/14/no matter we’re on now?” Perhaps not for primary apps and telephone use like calls, messaging, and internet looking, however an previous model of Android might not have the most recent safety updates, which is fairly necessary in 2025.

Nonetheless, it’s nice to see fanatic startups go so laborious on such a distinct segment telephone. There’s been a wave of nostalgia for retro tech, significantly telephones with bodily QWERTY keyboards. Lately, Unihertz announced the Titan 2, a BlackBerry Passport-esque telephone with a QWERTY keyboard (and a cool second display screen on the bottom). Tech reviewer Michael Fisher, aka MrMobile, remains to be chugging together with Clicks, the corporate pumping out QWERTY case accessories for the iPhone. Clicks just lately launched a version of its keyboard case for the 2025 Motorola Razr Plus and Ultra foldables.

Anyone obtained the telephone numbers for former BlackBerry co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie? I’m dying to know their ideas on the Q25 Professional equipment.