BlackBerry launched its latest handset KEYone at the ongoing Mobile World Congress in Barcelona three days back. With this device, BlackBerry brings back its iconic QWERTY keyboard. But that’s not the only thing which sets it apart from other top of the end devices. The company has worked its way into creating a fingerprint scanner for the KEYone. Now you would say, what’s new about it? Well, it is the placement of the scanner which goes beneath the space bar on the keyboard.

Yes, that’s where the company has placed the ‘revolutionary robust fingerprint sensor that works with both dry or wet fingers’. Making it more unique is the fact that perhaps this is the first time ever that a phone’s physical QWERTY keyboard carried a biometric reader underneath.

Credit for building such a unique fingerprint scanner goes to Fingerprint Cards AB company which teamed up with BlackBerry hardware staff and came up with the ingenious idea.

Commenting on the work, Christian Fredrikson, CEO, Fingerprint Cards AB says:

“In a world of look-a-like smartphones, the KEYone stands out with multiple unforgettable features including Fingerprints’ touch sensor in the keyboard. We look forward to the expansion of our partnership and future BlackBerry devices based on our secure sensor technology.”

Read: Blackberry launches KEYone, to start shipping in Q2

BlackBerry KEYone is the second device to get the fingerprint scanner, the first being the DTEK60. The scanner has FPC1145 touch sensor which BlackBerry claims provides ‘lightning fast authentication.’

The KEYone will be available in the US and Canada in ‘early Q2‘ at a price of $549.

via Phone Arena