Blackberry today launched its Classic, a new phone that it hopes will convince those holding onto old BlackBerrys for their keyboard and size to finally upgrade.

The phone features a classic Qwerty keyboard, in a body that is essentially the still-popular Bold, the first of which was released in 2008.

The company chose to concentrate mostly on the keyboard during the launch this afternoon, saying that it was for those that wanted a ““no-nonsense smartphone built to meet the needs of productive people who appreciate the speed and accuracy that can be found with a physical keyboard”.

The company says its physical keyboards are four times more accurate than software ones.

It also features much of the same software, email technologies and privacy tools that have made the Bold a favourite with businesses, and has meant that many still issue them as handsets to employees.