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The KEYone, the latest in the BlackBerry Ltd/TCL collaboration, is a phone that returns lớn the Canadian brand"s iconic roots, for better or for worse. With Nougat and a strong focus on security, the KEYone is aimed at enterprise users and long-time fanatics.
Overall, the spec sheet for this phone is nothing chart-topping. The SoC is over a year old at this point & the screen has been downgraded from the year-and-a-half-old Priv"s, but using the KEYone wasmostly a pleasant experience until after about a weekwith it. That was when I started experiencing rather noticeable slowdown và other problems.
So what does a proverbial return to khung for BlackBerry mean in the ever massive app android space? Well, there"s not really a simple answer. But let"s get going —we"ve got a lot khổng lồ cover. You don"t want khổng lồ be here all day, do you?
The unit that I"ve been using for the last week & some changeis pre-production. There have been a few hiccups with the software along the way, which I"ll note in the appropriate section below. Most of these problems will hopefullybe fixed before the KEYoneis available for sale.
Display | 4.5" IPS LCD 1620 x 1080; 434 ppi |
CPU | Snapdragon 625 |
GPU | Adreno 506 |
Software | apk 7.1.1 Nougat; BlackBerry Security |
RAM | 3GB |
Storage | 32GB, expandable via microSD |
Cameras | 12MP IMX378 (1.55μm) rear, 8MP front |
Battery | 3,505mAh; Quick Charge 3.0 |
Misc | USB Type-C 3.1, fingerprint sensor, 3.5mm jack, physical keyboard, NFC |
Connectivity | |
Measurements | 149.3 x 72.5 x 9.4 mm; 180 g |
Buy | BlackBerry |
Software | The "stock" take on game android with BlackBerry"s apps is great. It feels lượt thích what Motorola does: functionality added on đứng top of Google"s vision. It has the latest security patch and Android 7.1.1. |
Battery life | My time with phones from the likes of Huawei and Xiaomi has somewhat desensitized me to lớn stellar battery life, but the KEYone is definitely above average. |
Screen | The màu sắc accuracy, brightness, và viewing angles are spectacular. The screen crisp and more than adequate, despite its odd kích thước and aspect ratio. |
Fingerprint sensor | I am not sure from where the fingerprint sensor was sourced, but it"s almost on Huawei"s màn chơi for speed và accuracy. Seriously, my success rate has been almost perfect. |
Build quality | The KEYone is one hell of a solid device. The aluminium frame combined with the soft-touch back make the phone feel extremely durable. |
Ergonomics/weight | The KEYone is chunky & is a bit difficult lớn hold. Typing with one hand onthe physical keyboard is also a pain. And even though it"s only 180 grams, the KEYone feels very dense và heavy. Using it single-handed is not a pleasant experience for long periods. |
Speaker | I know this should go without saying, but the speaker qualityon this phone is pretty terrible. |
Performance | Major lag, homescreen redraws, và RAM management issues led khổng lồ a phone that, after about a week of use, became almost unusable. |
To give you some perspective on the KEYone & its design,the sale materials say that the phone is "Distinctly different. Distinctly BlackBerry." That last part, and to an extent the first, is quite true. BlackBerry (well, it"s really TCL, but you know what I mean) has opted for what you might call the quintessential look that defined the heyday of Research In Motion. & while that seems lượt thích a negative at first glance, the KEYone"s kiến thiết exhibitssome modernization in its overall execution.
This phone garnered more looks, comments, và questions in my time with it than any other I"ve used— I"d say that it comes close to lớn the amount of attention I received when smartwatches were still young. The physical keyboard is what drew people"s eyes. The whole front face would throw anyone for a loop, especially when we"re starting to see such high screen-to-body ratios these days. Not a single person that I"ve come across thinks that this is a pretty device... & I agree with them. The KEYone is not beautiful, elegant, slim, or anything else lượt thích that; it is aimed at a niche that, in theory, cares little for those things in a pocket computer.
From the back, the phone looks fairly unassuming và normal. The soft-touch finishfeelslike it was ripped off of the good ol" OG Nexus 7. My fingertips glide across the band-aid texture, but when push comes lớn shove, my hand grips it solidly. Coupled with an aluminium frame, the KEYone feels sturdy, durable... And like a brick. Lớn put thiskindly, it is one hell of a chunky phone— I actually had 2010-2011 phone era flashbacks when I removed itfrom the box. At 180 grams (6.35 ounces for you Imperial folks), the KEYone gets quite heavy in the hand after prolonged usage. See, I have this odd tendency to support phones with my little fingerwhile I"m using them; BlackBerry has made me decide lớn try lớn break that habit.
I know that I mentioned it briefly, but let"s talk seriously about the KEYone"s keyboard. When smartphones were starting to trend toward on-screen keyboards, I was not happy. I liked the tactile response of my Droid và Droid 2, & haptic feedback was just not as satisfying. I had also not learned khổng lồ type without looking on my G1 or smartphone htc Hero, a problem I did not have with any of my Droids or BlackBerries. I eventually got over myself & became a solid fan hâm mộ of SwiftKey & the navbarthat Google brought to android with Ice Cream Sandwich.
Now that I"m all done reminiscing, let"s get back lớn the topic at hand. The KEYone"s backlit keyboard is really good, if not a little weird after spending the last several years with asoftware variant. If I were a keyboard nerd lượt thích Ryan, I"d describe the travel distance, tactile feel, and the like — Ijust lượt thích my gaming mice và PC hardware. While the keys are much too small for my taste, I found that I actually had very few errors in general usage. Each one is easily pressed and responds with a solid click. The layout is obviously QWERTY (duh), so it"s pretty easy to lớn get khổng lồ the point where you"re typing fairly quickly. So far, the only things that have taken me some time lớn adjust lớn are the symbol layout and the placement of the left shift key versus ALT. Most of my errors have been activating the alternative mode instead of capitalizing the next letter.
If you"re into it, there are 52 programmable keyboard shortcuts that can open apps or contacts. For instance, you could assign a long press of "c" to open Chrome, "f" to lớn start up Facebook, and so on. There"s one catch, though: it"s limited lớn the BlackBerry Launcher. In any other, long-pressing a letter will bring up a phone tìm kiếm for shortcuts and apps that are associated with that key. One of the other interesting features is the flick gesture, which inserts the first SwiftKey-like prediction when you, well, flick your thumb up the board.
My biggest gripe about the keyboard is the fact that I have khổng lồ seeit everytime that I am using the phone. Whereas the Priv has the sliding mechanism lớn mask its keyboard when you aren"t using it, the KEYone"s stares you in the face. This reduces the screen form size to 4.5" và a 3:2 aspect ratio. I understand that this kiến thiết choice was madein the spirit of the BlackBerries of old, but I can"t say that I am a fan. And if you don"t lượt thích the physical keyboard or just don"t want lớn use it all of the time, you can use the software version. However, unlike the Priv, this is not the best option. A full-screen keyboard on this smaller display is not the most pleasant of experiences.
The fingerprint sensor is fantastic. Embedded in the space bar, it"s lightning quick and very accurate. Only Huawei"s sensors have proven so reliable for me, which should tell you something.
The front of the phone has the screen, the capacitive navigation buttons, the keyboard, and the front camera (and earpiece/sensors) along the upper aluminium bezel. The back has the rather large camera module (there"s still a hump, by the way, despite this thing being a brick) & BlackBerry logo. On the top of the frame, you will find the 3.5mm tai nghe jack. The left side only has the power button, while the bottom houses the speaker grilles and the USB Type-C 3.1 port. Finally, the right side is home to the SIM tray, volume rocker (which feels cheap & hollow) & what BlackBerry calls the "Convenience Key." Both it and the nguồn button feel only slightly more solid than the volume rocker & I"d honestly rather seeone of them be textured or differentiated in some way from the other. Just because they"re on opposite sides of the phone does not mean I didn"t phối them up from time to time.
The Convenience Key is a tertiary button that is customizable và can be mapped lớn almost any kích hoạt you want. It can xuất hiện a certain app, activate one of many shortcuts, or perform a few system functions lượt thích power off. At this moment, I have it mapped to lớn Google Now since Assistant is tied to lớn a long press of the home button. Let"s just say that I"ve opened Now a lot more than I usually do. It"s cool to lớn see BlackBerry trying tocater in some khung to nguồn users by adding in this key. At least this isn"t chained khổng lồ a useless virtual assistant.
Overall, the KEYone is well-built, but it is a polarizing device in its design and construction. Some people will love it, while I think that most won"t. It doesn"t have the sneaky, incognito aspect that the Priv did, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Whether you like the look of the phone or not is entirely up lớn you— I"m just not the biggest fan hâm mộ of it.
When discussing the KEYone"s display, most will inevitably focus on the aspect ratio, i.e. Its general shape. BlackBerry went with something decidedly more square than what most of us are used to. Despite this, the 1620x1080 IPS panel is crisp, clear, và quite bright. I am ratherfond of the color reproduction, & I found this khổng lồ be one of the more accurate panels that I"ve used. There"s even an sRGB mode. The viewing angles are superb and the screen is just a joy to lớn look at. It also gets very bright for outdoor use.
The display is not the KEYone"s strongest aspect, but nor is it the weakest. The resolution is more than adequate especially given the total screen size. There really isn"t that much more lớn say on the matter: great screen, awesome colors, but it won"t blow you away.
Battery life
With a 3,505mAh battery, you"d expect the KEYone to last a long time. I mean, that"s one of the features that BlackBerry is hoping encouragespeople to buy this phone. The good news is that it is certainly above average. After using Huawei và Xiaomi devices for the last few months, I have gotten used to lớn a phone that can easily get me through a day, so I am glad that this onecontinues the trend.
During my testing, I had the screen at 100% brightness with plenty of texting, emailing, messaging, and several attempts towatch YouTube videos và play games. Not only did I get over five hours of screen-on-time, but the idle drain on the battery was practically negligible.
The largest battery to lớn ever come in a BlackBerry phone & the screen resolution help khổng lồ contribute khổng lồ theclaim that you can get 26 hours of "mixed use," but if you run low, Qualcomm"s Quick Charge 3.0 is supported. When you plug the phone in, you are presented with two options: Charge Onlyand Boost Mode. The latter is touted as "giving you the most efficient charge possible, even if you only have a few minutes."
Audio
When Ithink of a BlackBerry, I don"t always picture a phone with the best sound chất lượng and output. Sure, it might get the job done, but you know what I mean. In all fairness, the KEYone is not meant to lớn be your media player— rather, it"s not supposed to lớn be the one on your desk that pleases your ears the most.
It gets the job done, that"s about all I can say. The sound that pushes out of the headphone jack is tolerable and works just fine for the gym or other activities where you won"t be lugging around high fidelity cans. The external speaker is subpar, even considering that this is a smartphone. For music or notifications, there is plenty of distortion & crackling at 80%+ volume. The cacophony at that màn chơi is awful, so I"ve left the KEYone in vibrate-only most of the time. At least the phone has a good vibration motor.
Call unique & connectivity
When I first received the KEYone and inserted my SIM card, I was sorely unimpressed. Sản phẩm điện thoại data would not work due to a problem with the APN settings và the phone presented me with an annoying notification telling me that there was a problem. After some digging and chatting with "people in the know," I found out that this was a known issue with thispre-production build of the software and it was being addressed in preparation for the final release.
After manually setting up the APN for my MVNO carrier, my wireless connectivity has been passable. Call quality reached my expectations— Bluetooth và WiFi have also been reliable. I have had my LG Watch Urbane (Android Wear 2.0), xe máy 360, and Samsung Gear S3 connected to it during my entire usage. None have had any issues staying connected, nor did I have trouble with any of the công nghệ bluetooth không dây headsets I tried.
Reception, however, was another matter entirely. The phone constantly dropped calls or failed lớn make them at all. I also frequently lost data connection or experienced slower speeds than what I am used lớn on my carrier. The KEYone also experienced cell signal holes that have never been there— I went through a hole near my house every day, but all of my other devices were just fine in the same area (same SIM, etc). It was extremely frustrating.
I"ll admit: I went into all of this not expecting much from the camera. Come on, it"s a BlackBerry. But seriously, the KEYone"s is legitimately good. It performs well in low-light environments with post-processing that is kind lớn photos. I"m certainly glad to lớn see BlackBerry carry on where the Priv"s camera left off.
With all of that being said, it cannotquitehold its own next tothe Pixel, GS8/GS7, or even the P10. The KEYone can put out good-quality pictures that are crisp in detail, but with some aggressive smoothing in post-processing.Those of you who pay attention will notice that the KEYone packs the same sensor as the Pixel, the IMX378. While that certainly can lend itself khổng lồ good photos, it"s not the be-all, end-all.
My opinion is that this is one of those phones where it"s more difficult lớn take a bad picture. This camera is lượt thích a jack-of-all-trades— you"ll get great outdoor, indoor, and nighttime photos. Will they have that so-called "Wow!" factor? Well, that depends on you.
Moving around khổng lồ the front, BlackBerry opted for an 8MP fixed focus, 84° wide angle shooter. LCD flash is also included. Supposedly, this is best suited for those video clip conferences where you"re not in a position lớn get somewhere with better lighting. This is the official blurb on the matter: "For times when you have to lớn take a clip conference on the go, the device includes an 8MP front camera with fixed focus, LCD flash, và 84-degree wide angle lens." Just own up lớn the fact that you put in an LCD flash for selfies; there"s nothing wrong with that.
Wrapping all of this up, let"s go over the camera UI. It"s basic, but in a good way. In Auto, you are presented with the upper bar that has the settings for flash, timer, aspect ratio, và HDR, as well asthe general options. Along the bottom is the gallery preview, front/rear camera switcher, shutter button, mode selection, & visual effects.
In the options, you have the control mode, where you choose between tự động hóa and manual. Then there"s the JPEG fine or standard compression choices, face detection, and video clip resolution stuff. The KEYonecan go all the way up to 4K30fps, but you lose "enhanced video stabilization" above 1080p30, which is kind of a bummer.
Contrast this camera phầm mềm UI with something from Huawei and you"ll see why I am a huge fan. There aren"t as many options, but what"s there is useful và mostly necessary. Good job, BlackBerry.
Software
When the Priv launched a year & a half ago, the general consensus seemed lớn be that the software was good. Much like Motorola and OnePlus, BlackBerry has gone with a "stock+" take on Android, i.e. Where Google"s vision is kept intact, but useful features are added on vị trí cao nhất to better the user experience. The KEYone follows the same logic, though with Nougat 7.1.1 running underneaththis time around.The BlackBerry brand is built on security, reliability, và stability. When the company shifted over to android from the corpse that was BB OS, it brought with it some of the hallmarks upon which it had built its reputation. There was a commitment to updating tothe latest monthly security patches, the DTEK security suite, and even some hardware modifications that all helped to lớn ensure users had the safest và most secure take on Android. Now we"re here with the KEYone & that focus is still on-point.
On the surface, the software looks like stock Android, but there"s a bunch running under the hood, from the apps to the settings và options. I"ll go through bothof those elements in their own sub-sections to follow. I think you"ll be as surprised as I was in regard to lớn the màn chơi of depth và detail with each addition made. Not all of it is useful, in my opinion, but it"s there.
BlackBerry apps
This is one of the pillars forBlackBerry"s plan lớn draw potential customers. My time with BlackBerry"sphones was so long ago that I hardly remember what BB OS was lượt thích (and I never even used v10). Even if I did, I can tell you right now that I was not a hardcore user, so the KEYone gave me my first experience with a lot of the apps that BlackBerry loyalists swear by.
The Hub app is where it"s at, at least in terms of sheer nguồn user capability. This functions as a place where you can see all of your messages, emails, texts, & other relatednotifications. It pulls from Gmail, your default SMS app, yên ổn services, & various social media platforms lượt thích Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, và LinkedIn. Due to the volume of incoming emails và the email-fu that I am forced to vị each day, I ignore tin nhắn in Hub. It was just too difficult since it still doesn"t support the tabbed inbox or filters/labels as well as I"d like.
You can also set up custom views for Hub, where you select what accounts will show up— this is how I was able khổng lồ successfully "ignore" Gmail. For enterprise users, this could be the way you separate your work & personal data. While this is all great, I frankly got bored when trying lớn make Hub work khổng lồ my advantage. It can take a lot of work, time, và effort lớn get it the way you want it. I have no doubt that some people will bởi vì this, because there is much power khổng lồ be had in the app, but it is not for everyone.
Nipping at the heelsof Hub in terms of sale importance, we have DTEK. Though it"s still being hyped just lượt thích it was when the Priv launched, itremains a mostly useless, feel-good example of the placebo effect. You"re presented with red Xs, yellow exclamation points, & green check-marks that denote your level of security in various areas. It"s a centralized location lớn show the average user the basics of app android security, which isn"t a bad thing. I suppose I am shrugging it off because I know what I"m doing when it comes khổng lồ this stuff và my perfectionist/completionist nature hates not seeing green check marks. Since I am not going khổng lồ change my usage habits, then I might as well not look at annoying yellow exclamation points.
For those of you who are wondering what my DTEK status is, I am sitting firmly at "Fair." As annoying as that is, at least I am usinga BlackBerry device (because that"s one of the security checks). I can sleep a bit better tonight knowing that. If you hit green on all criteria, then your needle will be in the "Excellent" range on the gauge. Good for you.
DTEK is actually worth a damn when it comes to showing what apps are accessing certain permissions và notifying you when they do. Oryou can have itinform you when a specific application is requesting certain permissions. For example, I can tell DTEK khổng lồ let me knowwhen something accesses my calendar or to notifyme when kích hoạt Launcher alone tries to lớn read it. There are certain people who will love this— I am not one of them.
BBM is here, for some reason. It"s still the same old app & I really don"t feel lượt thích going over it. Basically, if you use BBM then you know what it is. If you don"t, you"re not missing much. There"s still no SMS functionality; AndroidMessages is your default out of the box.
The Calendar phầm mềm is cool, I guess. It still has the "Meeting Mode," which automatically silences your phone when you"re in a meeting according lớn your calendar. There are also options for creating events in different time zones from the system one & whether or not the phầm mềm informs you if events conflict. It"s a neat take, but I wouldn"t điện thoại tư vấn it special.
Finally, there are various note-taking, task, password management, and photo markup apps. None are particularly worth paying attention toand I am sure there are better offerings from either Google or other third-party developers. I don"t want to lớn waste too much time with them.
Settings và general UI
Apps are great và all, but what about overall user interface? lượt thích I said, the software is "stock+" Android. It looks, feels, và functions much like Nougat would on a Nexus or Pixel, but there are additional optionsto play with. Most of them lie in the display settings menu, so I"ll address some of them.
There"s the color balance slider (for cool or warm, or somewhere in between) How you want the Recents menu lớn look — you have the choice of Rolodex, which is the normal way, Tiles, và Masonry A green bar along the edge of the screen that shows the battery levelremaining while charging (it"s neat & I"ve seen it before in custom ROMs) An option lớn double tap lớn wake/sleep the phone.There"s one final piece that I want khổng lồ address in more detail. It"s called the Productivity Tab và it exists as a small white bar on the far right edge of the screen (its position và thickness can be adjusted). If you"ve used kích hoạt Launcher & the Quickpage feature, then that"s basicallyhow this works. If you have no idea what I"m talking about, the Productivity Tab pulls out from the side of the screen và has five sections. The first is a calendar widget showing you what you have going on that day or the next. After thatis a Hub shortcut to lớn show you any unread messages. Sections 3 and 4 are a todo and contacts list, respectively. Finally, there"s a settings sub-menu for the Tab, where you adjust position, transparency, height, thickness, etc. I lượt thích the Productivity Tab for little more than the calendar widget, which is exactly what I use the Quickpage for in my default kích hoạt Launcher setup.
The other addition you"ll see in the system settings is for the Convenience Key, which I mentioned all the way back up closer to the vị trí cao nhất of this review. It"s the thing under the volume rocker that looks/feels exactly lượt thích the power button. Oh, yeah, you can bản đồ it to open whatever phầm mềm or shortcut you want. I find it mostly useless. But some may find it lớn their liking. The sub-menu itself is pretty straightforward: it shows you what the key does, what kích hoạt is currently assigned khổng lồ it, the option khổng lồ clear said action, and a short list of what you can map to it. Here"s what"s available khổng lồ choose:
"Open app" will bring up a menu of everything you have installed "Speed dial" allows you khổng lồ set a contact to the key (don"t vị this) "Send message" allows you to xuất hiện either an thư điện tử or a text to lớn send lớn a specific tương tác "All shortcuts" brings up a long menu of all the shortcuts that BlackBerry thinks you could ever use/need.
Once you make your choice, that"s what the Convenience Key will bởi until you select something else. It only works when the screen is on and unlocked, so keep that in mind.
There"s a gestures section, but it only has the toggle for the double-tap power nguồn button for camera shortcut. Not sure why this is off onits own, but whatever. The sound settings still has the "Notify during calls" và "Flip to mute" options— I disabled the former because who needs that. The security area is actually almost stock, except for the picture password. By the way, skip that, too. Developer options has the sRGB mode toggle I mentioned earlier (which always turns itself off when I back out of the menu), but it"s missing the OEM unlock entry. Because this is BlackBerry, so no unlocking or rooting for you. Everything else is all the same as a Nexus or Pixel.
BlackBerry Launcher, the mặc định out of the box, is pretty basic. You have the option for those keyboard shortcuts & little else of note. After I toyed around with it for a bit, I movedon to action Launcher. The notification shade và Quick Settings are also just lượt thích stock with the same animations & everything.
If you"re super paranoid about people peeringover your shoulder lớn look at the stuff on your screen, BlackBerry provides you with the Privacy Shade (via the Play Store). This prevents othersfrom physically seeing private and sensitive content by blocking out everything except for a tiny viewing area. How big this little window is depends on what form size you want, but even with Privacy Shade active, you can still interact with your screen. It"s neat, I suppose. You can adjust the shape & background transparency via the little menu that appears when the Shade is active.
Performance
The Snapdragon 625 powering all of this is not too bad of a chip. Though decidedly midrange and a year old at this point, it carried the KEYone along better than I would have thought initially. However, after about a week, the lags, stutters, và hiccups started lớn settle in, with the most noticeable beingexiting the camera app, constant homescreen redraws, và apps not remaining in memory very well.
The camera thing was especially bad when I used the nguồn button shortcut khổng lồ launch the camera from a locked state; exiting after this caused the phone lớn hang for almost thirty seconds. Following that, there"d be another forty-five seconds of unresponsiveness, even from the fingerprint sensor or power nguồn button. Suffice to lớn say, it was quite annoying & dismaying. I am not sure whether this is a bug in the pre-production software or not; regardless, it was irritatingand made using that shortcut more than useless.
As time went on, the sheer sluggishness of the phone became quite apparent. Animations would lag, the whole OS would hang when launching apps at random intervals, và my homescreen redrewevery time I went back home (I used BlackBerry, Action, và Nova Launcher— all with the same result). I also experienced some seriously aggressive RAM management/problems. As an example, I opened a new app for the first time and needed to lớn sign in. I knew my password, but needed my 2FA code. Switching over lớn Authy, I grabbed the code và double-tapped the recents button khổng lồ switch back lớn the original app... Only lớn find that it needed to lớn reload, requiring my credentials again. After all of that, the 2FA code had expired. Rinse & repeat; I just used Authy on my PC to get signed in after a near instance of rage quitting. That"s just a singular example, but things like that happened often.
The Adreno 506 GPUis pretty capable, though. The only problem is that there is no reason to game on this phone— not only is the screen quite small for such an activity, but the keyboard & overall design of the phone"s face make gaming uncomfortable. The GPU is justwasted potential, I"d say.
These issues could be related khổng lồ this pre-production hardware and software, but there was a point at which the KEYone became unusable. These problems persisted through reboots. Performance for the first several days was quite good, but it deteriorated very rapidly. Surprisingly so, actually, which made the disappointment I felt seem worse. I should note that I will be retesting everythingwith a production model when the phoneis released lớn see if these issues persist.
Value
As we near the kết thúc of this journey review, I"m left with a fewquestions. The one I will ask & hopefully answer in this penultimate section is this: Is the KEYone worth it? Besides the horribly stylized name and physical keyboard, what is the value proposition of this phone? It will retail for $549 USD, which puts it at the high end of the midrange spectrum. That"s still a hefty sum for a year-old SoC & some very fast performance degradation, even though both of thosecome with a decent screen, good camera, & awesome overall software experience.
Even with all of the security stuff và the keyboard, I am not entirely convinced that $549 is a good price. $349 is probably the most that I would pay for this phone, especially when you consider that a px is $100 more than the asking price ($650) or that a OnePlus 3T starts at $440. Both phones come with better internals, a similar overall UI/UX, & bettercameras. What makes the MSRP even more painful is the subpar performance (note: again, this could be related lớn the pre-production hardware/software), something that I cannot in good conscience ignore or fail khổng lồ mention in this regard. You will be much happier with what OnePlus, Google, và even Samsung have to offer you.
BlackBerry is likely going lớn aim this at the enterprise, which may not care about the price tag as much as us normal consumers. Those users, however, do want a phone that"s going to work well no matter what they"re doing.
The long và short of it is that if you"re considering this phone as one of your options, then I"d say go with the OnePlus 3T as the best value for your money; if your budget is a little more flexible, then go with a pixel or Galaxy S8. If you"re really interested in one of these, just wait until they go on sale.
Conclusion
So who is the KEYone for, exactly? According toBlackBerry, it"s meant for: "people who use their phones more for communication rather than media consumption, people who are tired of having the same oneas everyone else, people who are professionals & rely on their phone to lớn get things done, and people who are looking for somethingdurable that will last through a busy day."
If you want my opinion (and you did just read this whole thing, so why wouldn"t you), I would say that the KEYone is for the BlackBerry power nguồn user of yore. I never was one, but I vị know a few who stilltalk about their old phones. This phone is for them. Minus the DTEK50 và DTEK60, the KEYone is BlackBerry"s (and TCL"s) latest real attempt at the game android side of things since the Priv. From my time with it, the KEYone failed at providing a good user experience, eventhough it isa little eccentric and anachronistic in a dễ thương way.
BlackBerry returned to lớn its roots with this phone, its aim fixed squarely on thefans of old. Personally, I happen to lớn prefer the glass slabs that we have nowadays & I think that the KEYone is a relic of a long bygone age. I eventually adjustedto the khung factor and physical keyboard, but even after reaching that point, I still did not enjoy typing (versus my current neutral feeling on the matter with the software versions). Simply put, I vì chưng not like the KEYone. I do, however, appreciate a solid, well-built device even if it is a brick. But good construction is only a single criterion when evaluating a device for recommendation and I don"t think that the average consumer or even an apk nerd would enjoy using this phone. It"s kind of ugly, bulky, dense, và one of the main draws, the keyboard, is a novelty at best.
This is definitely a niche product and I usually frown on that because it"s so limiting— honestly, that"s probably just the business student in me talking. BlackBerry/TCL clearly have a target market for the KEYone that they believe is slavering for it(I am certainly not in it). That being said, narrowing down to lớn a specific demographic does not excuse a poor user experience. I"ve said it plenty of times in this review, but I"ll say it again: I know that the mã sản phẩm I haveis pre-production hardware và software. Bugs, janks, và other oddities are khổng lồ be expected. There was supposed to lớn be an update for the đánh giá units, but I have not received it as of this writing.
I like what the KEYone is trying to lớn be & do.It"s a quirky little thing that was actually fun khổng lồ use sometimes just because it"s so different. The "stock+" Androidis also quite refreshing & helped to subdue some of my frustrations early on. But being chất lượng with greatsoftware cannot carry a phone through the trials that this phone presented. Và no, the irony of this is not lost on me— I usually get the phones with outstanding hardware & bogus software. The Snapdragon 625 is a decent chip in its own right; on paper, I should have never had the problems I did.
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Odds are, either you have already decided that you want one of these or your company"s IT department will purchase them in bulk. In both of those cases, I wish you the best và hope that you have the best experience that this phone has lớn offer. Perhaps the issues I"ve had will be fixed with production hardware or a few software updates down the line, or maybe it"s all been down to bad luck in the silicon lottery (#jordansluck). But I just have a feeling that the KEYone will go down as one of those game android phones that has a cult following, but is ultimately worth more in a few years as an antique than as a daily driver today.