The BlackBerry Priv could be BlackBerry's last chance to remain competitive in the smartphone industry dominated by Apple and Samsung.

BlackBerry is trying something different with the Priv, they are partnering with the Android operating system to power their phone, CNet reports.

BlackBerry phones were popular for business users and were powered by the BlackBerry OS. Now that smartphone owners have switched their preferences to Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating systems, BlackBerry sales plummeted. BlackBerry made the decision to power the Priv with Android but kept one of its other popular features -- the physical keyboard.

The Priv will use Android as its operating system. Android phones usually use the built-in touchscreen keyboard inside the Android operating system, but the Priv will also have a slide-out physical keyboard.

The BlackBerry Priv is a little thicker than the average Android smartphone, likely because of the slide-out keyboard.

The screen on the Priv is a nice 5.4-inch AMOLED display that shows a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels. This leads to clear text and nice looking pictures. The screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 4. The screen is slightly curved, but it will not curve all the way around like the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+.

The camera on the Priv is 18 megapixels (MP). The camera has an autofocus feature and dual flash. The quality of the pictures will be adequate enough for sharing with friends, but blowing them up to full size will show some weaknesses.

Inside the Priv is the relatively recent Snapdragon 808 processor. This processor is a six-core processor and it will run at 1.44 GHz on four cores and 1.8 GHz on two cores.

BlackBerry is known for its security, which is part of the reason that the name of the phone is Priv. Priv stands for privacy and privilege. Past owners of BlackBerry smartphones will appreciate the keyboard and they will certainly be happy with the extra features they get with Android.

The BlackBerry Priv can be purchased for $699 unlocked directly from BlackBerry. AT&T will be the first carrier to launch the Priv and if buyers sign a two-year contract, they can get it for $250.