This $320 Kit Brings the BlackBerry Classic Back From the Dead

People are bored of their phones. So bored of their big, boring glass and metal slabs that they can’t help but dump all over phones like Nothing’s Phone 3 that don’t look like boring-ass bricks. But apparently people are so bored of their phones that somebody went and made a whole-ass kit that replaces the guts of the long-dead BlackBerry Q20, or “Classic,” with new components and effectively modernizes it with Android.

Beloved for its QWERTY keyboard and BlackBerry OS (who remembers BBM?), the BlackBerry Classic launched in 2014 and lived a short two years before it was discontinued in 2016. Falling fast behind iPhone and Android, BlackBerry, fresh off its rebranding from RIM in 2013, replaced its aging mobile OS with BlackBerry 10, which could later run Android apps. Alas, even with Android apps, BlackBerry 10 couldn’t catch up to Apple and Google’s mobile ecosystems.

Enthusiasts refuse to give up on the BlackBerry Classic, though. A company called Zinwa Technologies is selling a $320 kit called the “Q25 Pro set” that replaces the Classic’s core components—the CPU, RAM, storage, cameras, battery, and even the charging port—with a feature set that is more up to date. You need to bring your own Q20 donor for the mod, but if you’ve got one that you’re willing to prep for surgery, the upgrade kit gives you a MediaTek G99 chipset, 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, NFC, and LTE. It also bumps up the rear camera to 50 megapixels and the selfie camera to 8 megapixels. The battery is an all-new 3,000mAh one that Zinwa claims will last one day, and the charging port is USB-C.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1Y3ROyb6HA[/embed]

Don’t have a BlackBerry Q20 in a drawer collecting dust? Not to worry. Zinwa is also selling a “Q25 Pro full device” that comes with the Q20—same body with the exact 720 x 720 resolution screen, QWERTY keypad, touchpad, and all—for $420. You get all the same upgrades in the kit.

Eric Migicovsky, the original founder of Pebble, who is currently reviving the e-paper display smartwatch under the Pebble brand, shared his modded Q20 on X.

“Damn this is cool,” Migicovsky said. “Someone made a Android mainboard replacement for the Q20. It fits perfectly inside the existing phone. Uses the same display but upgrades the camera and switches to USB C. It feels so good to hold blackberry again. The soft touch back feels amazing.”

Damn this is cool. Someone made a Android mainboard replacement for the Q20. It fits perfectly inside the existing phone. Uses the same display but upgrades the camera and switches to USB C. It feels so good to hold blackberry again. The soft touch back feels amazing pic.twitter.com/WxMRXO0Kbx

— Eric Migicovsky (@ericmigi) August 14, 2025

The Q25 Pro runs Android, but not the latest Android 16. It’s Android 13 from 2022. Responding to an X reply calling out the old version of Android, Migicovsky said, “What does it matter? Is there a noticeable difference between 13/14/whatever we’re on now?” Maybe not for basic apps and phone use like calls, messaging, and web browsing, but an old version of Android may not have the latest security updates, which is pretty important in 2025.

Still, it’s great to see enthusiast startups go so hard on such a niche phone. There’s been a wave of nostalgia for retro tech, particularly phones with physical QWERTY keyboards. Recently, Unihertz announced the Titan 2, a BlackBerry Passport-esque phone with a QWERTY keyboard (and a funky second screen on the backside). Tech reviewer Michael Fisher, aka MrMobile, is still chugging along with Clicks, the company pumping out QWERTY case accessories for the iPhone. Clicks recently released a version of its keyboard case for the 2025 Motorola Razr Plus and Ultra foldables.

Anybody got the phone numbers for former BlackBerry co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie? I’m dying to know their thoughts on the Q25 Pro kit.