BlackBerry's sway in the boardroom may have waned in recent years. But for many young professionals entering the frantic workplace, their devices still remain an enticing prospect for business-focused productivity, according to the Canadian manufacturer. To that end, BlackBerry unveiled its first smartphone for 2015 at MWC - the Leap.

If the launch video below is anything to go by, the Leap is aimed squarely at young business professionals, or "Start ups" as BlackBerry has curiously named them. Marketing jargon aside, the Leap looks like a well made mid-range device based on early impressions. As has become the usual tact with some of BlackBerry's newer devices, a heavy emphasis has been placed on the typing experience. As a result, the Leap is the best typing experience that BlackBerry has produced in a full touch device to date, according to those at the company.

Fitted with a 5" HD display (720x1280), the Leap's screen yields a solid 294 ppi pixel density. Perhaps a little under specced in the processor department, the phone features a dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus chipset, clocking at 1.5 GHz. Added to that is a generous 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB worth of onboard storage. One of the other features that BlackBerry touched on during its launch is a 8 MP camera on the rear, with a 2 MP option up front.    

The Leap should slot in nicely within BlackBerry's current stable of smartphones, sitting directly between the entry-level Z3 (review) and touch/type sporting Classic. No official pricing is detailed at this stage, but we could expect the Leap to retail around the R5 000 mark when it arrives in a couple of months. Click on the hands-on video after the break, for a better look at the Leap.