Something big happened yesterday while you were working, sleeping, or taking a long lunch today. BlackBerry hosted the annual 'BlackBerry Live' event. At the event, the Canadian company unveiled a new smartphone: the Q5. Love BlackBerry's older phones and miss the QWERTY keyboard? The Q5 might just be the answer to your prayers.

Inside the Q5

Remember the BlackBerry R10 that was being talked about a few weeks back? Well, the Q5 is actually the R10 (name change). This phone comes with a QWERTY keyboard and runs BlackBerry 10. This phone comes with the popular Curve design, and has some similarities with the BlackBerry Q10.

Both the Q5 and the Q10 share the same screen size, resolution, and other features. The main difference here its hat the Q5 comes with a much lower price tag. It's easy to see what BlackBerry's imagined Q5 market will be. This phone comes in an array of bright colours including red, white, pink, and black. It's not a bad phone at all, and it's a phone that plenty of people will like. If only BlackBerry could include more popular apps in the company's app store, these phones would sell a lot better.

Availability

Interestingly, BlackBerry isn't launching the Q5 in North America just yet. The company plans on launching the phone in Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. Even though the company hasn't listed any prices yet, the markets that will receive the phone first offer some clues as to the price range.

BlackBerry has done a wise thing by targeting different markets this time around. A cheaper phone that looks great and still comes with the popular QWERTY keyboard will entice a lot of people. This is especially true since some of BlackBerry's fan base has started to jump ship to other platforms. Maybe, just maybe, the Q5 is the phone that BlackBerry needed to create.

When It Will Arrive

If you live in North America, there's no telling how long you'll have to wait for the Q5 or if the phone will even make it to your shores. If you live in one of the emerging markets above, BlackBerry has stated that the Q5 will be released in July. It's too bad that BlackBerry isn't releasing the Q5 in North America. I'd wager a bet that this phone will sell relatively well in other parts of the world, and it might just sell really well in North America too.

BlackBerry could target those people that don't want to pay a ton of money for a smartphone, but, sadly, this phone won't be in North America any time soon. For now, you'll have to look at the pretty photo of the Q5 above, and check back on this site for a hands on with the new device once it arrives in our neck of the world.

What do you think of a cheaper QWERTY phone from BlackBerry? Is this phone what you've been waiting for? If you live in one of the countries listed above, will you buy the new phone?