The last time there was so much interest in a new BlackBerry handset, the company was ready to launch its first touchscreen phone. The BlackBerry Storm was going to show those interlopers from Cupertino a thing or two about the smartphone business. You could just imagine RIM’s co-CEOs, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, calling Steve Jobs and complaining that BlackBerry doesn’t make desktop PCs or MP3 players, so why should Apple invade on BlackBerry’s turf.

The Storm turned out to be a disaster as it was launched half-baked. While the sequel was actually a serviceable handset that offered improvements in performance, overall the Storm series never lived up to BlackBerry’s high hopes. The company seemed out of touch with the features that consumers wanted on a modern smartphone, and the decline in market share started to accelerate.

But don’t compare the BlackBerry Priv to the Storm. While the Storm was like the first-born child who ended up dropping out of college and becoming a professional slacker, the Priv is like the younger sibling who is driven not to repeat the same mess his brother made. From the fact that it runs Android, to the large QHD resolution screen, and the physical QWERTY keyboard that slides into view, everything about this new handset has phone buyers drooling. Want OIS on the rear camera? You got it. Need a sizable battery? It’s included.

In Britain, Carphone Warehouse has added the BlackBerry Priv to its “Coming Soon” page, and you can click on the “Register Interest” badge in order to get emailed updates about the slider. You will also be notified when a launch date has been announced. To pre-register, you need to have a valid U.K. mobile phone number and a valid U.K. postcode.

Previous rumors have the Priv launching next month, which seems to be a timetable that is quite doable for BlackBerry.

source: CarphoneWarehouse