BlackBerry announced two new smartphones, the Z10 and the Q10

Toronto: Canada's tech giant Research In Motion Ltd, now renamed just BlackBerry, has launched the much delayed BlackBerry 10 with a slew of new features and innovations.

It's been more than a year since the launch was supposed to happen, but BlackBerry took the stage in Toronto, London, Dubai, Paris, Johannesburg and New York to showcase what they've been laboring over during this period of hibernation, reported a news agency Thursday.

BlackBerry unveiled the first two phones in the series, a sleek Z10 touchscreen phone, and a Q10 that carries the iconic QWERTY keyboard BlackBerry loyalists love.

Remarketing the products with a new, unified brand name, the company's CEO Thorsten Heins said at the New York launch that they're hoping to start afresh and rebuild their brand with this launch.

"BlackBerry has changed, we have re-designed the BlackBerry experience, we have re-engineered our products, we have re-invented this company and we want to reflect this in our brand," he said. "We are now more than ever a company that is united in our vision for mobile computing, and it all starts today," Heins said.

Some of the new features include a speedy predictive keyboard, a hub for social media addicts to unite all their different accounts and information, BlackBerry Balance which allows users to separate work from play on a secure system, an impressive time shift camera that allows you to choose the best photos by capturing moments before and after you snap the photo.

Known as the smartphone pioneers that launched the very first smartphone back in 1999, BlackBerry has descended from the top of the game to just a phone of the past. Apple Inc's iPhones and devices powered by Google's Android have captured the market over the last few years, leaving Blackberry makers in constant efforts to keep up.
(Agencies)