BlackBerry Priv owners can now get their hands on a Marshmallow beta
The beleaguered smartphone maker just launched a beta program that lets you queue up for a chance to install the beta build of Google’s latest OS. And wait you will, as the BlackBerry Beta Zone shows the program is already full.
If you sign in with your BlackBerry ID you’ll be able to join the waitlist, though there’s no guarantee of when your name may be called. Even if you don’t gain access, Marshmallow should be right around the corner. BlackBerry says in a blog post that testing is to take around four to eight weeks, so you should see a final build of Marshmallow around the end of May.
The story behind the story: While our review found many positives in the Priv, it doesn’t appear to be the turnaround device that the company needs. In an analyst call just a few days ago BlackBerry said it sold 600,000 units (the company wouldn’t disclose how many of those were Privs), which was below the 800,000 projection. With BlackBerry switching its main focus to Android, there’s a lot at stake this year. It’ll be all the more challenging with so many good flagships, particularly the new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.