Nostalgia is what Blackberry KEYone brings but you might end up using this smartphone to the core as it comes with the old assurance, easy of handling and the love of QWERTY keypad but in an Android Avatar.
Since its unveiling at Mobile World Congress 2017, the Blackberry KEYone has been one of the highly anticipated launched of this year and now it has been launched in India with a price tag of Rs. 39,990. The Blackberry KEYone will be the last smartphone from the company before TCL Communications takes hold of Blackberry and trust me when I say this, it might be the last, but Blackberry KEYone is definitely a work of art.
First of all, Blackberry KEYone comes with a combination of Android Nougat and a QWERTY keypad, which by all means a never seen blend of old school hardware as well as high-tech software capabilities. The BlackBerry KEYone is not your regular Android smartphone, it has elements that will take you back to the old BlackBerry days.
However, considering that Indian has developed into a very price sensitive market, the price tag of Blackberry KEYone has put it against the segment leader OnePlus 5’s flagship 8GB RAM/128GB ROM variant, but does the Blackberry KEYone have what it takes to leave a mark as the last Knight from the companies range? Let’s See!!
Blackberry KEYone Specifications
- Curved 4.5 Inch (1620×1080) FHD IPS LCD Display with 433ppi and Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection
- 64-bit 2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor coupled with Adreno 506 GPU
- 4GB of RAM and 64GB internal storage, expandable up to 2TB via microSD
- Android 7.1 Nougat
- 12MP Sony IMX378 sensor (same as Google Pixel) at the rear with dual tone LED Flash, PDAF, 1.55μm pixel size, 1/2.3″ sensor size, and 4K video recording support
- 8MP selfie camera with wide-angle lens, a flash module, 1.12µm pixel size and f/2.2 aperture
- 3,505 mAh battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0
- Fingerprint sensor on space-bar
- 4-row Physical QWERTY backlit keyboard with capacitive touch
- Hybrid dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD)
- 4G LTE support, BlackBerry security software, 3.5mm headphone jack, NFC, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth v4.2, FM Radio, USB Type-C port, and GPS.
- Dimensions: 149.3 x 72.5 x 9.4mm; Weight: 180g
What we like about the Blackberry KEYone
- The QWERTY keypad gives the assurance of having pressed the right alphabet for whatever you might be typing, which an advantage over its touch-screen counterparts.
- Blackberry KEYone’s fingerprint sensor works like a dream as it is quick and accurate in unlocking the phone even from standby.
- It’s the first ever Blackberry to support a dual-SIM
- The Blackberry KeyOne has a crisp and clear Full HD display. It works well under direct sunlight and comes with scratch resistance, which is always a good feature to have in the long run.
- However, if you were hoping for a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 or 821 processor, you haven’t understood the concept itself. Blackberry KeyOne is here to get things done and that is what the device does. While the SD 625 processor might feel a bit underwhelming for some customers, multi-tasking is not a big problem with the KeyOne.
- A masterpiece that eliminates any lag or stutter even when in the hands of heavy users.
- Blackberry KeyOne is not just any Android smartphone and the company’s own UI layer will make you nostalgic for the BB OS days. Moreover, these added features are not any kind of bloatware rather you will eventually find yourself using them.
- In the modern metal phone days, the back panel of Blackberry KeyOne feels quite unique with a rubberish feel to it.
- There is BlackBerry’s DTEK on the KEYone to protect the privacy of your data and in days when we often witnessed ransomware attacks, being the only double layered protected Android phone in India market is definitely a thing to boast about.
- 3505 mAh non-removable battery will last for easily a day and a half with moderate usage
- The KeyOne rear camera is good enough for most users as it can capture subtle colors as well as performs reasonably well in low light, but it is nothing like the Google Pixel’s unit.
- The 8MP front camera is among the best ones in this segment.
What we don’t like about Blackberry KEYone
- The 12 MP rear camera is just an average camera module and could have been better, given the price tag.#
- In days of being used to big screen smartphone, users might struggle with obstruction due to the physical keyboard while playing touch-sensitive games.
- 16:9 video feels extra small in the Blackberry KeyOne with top and bottom black bars.
Verdict
The Blackberry KEYone is a well-dressed package that will appeal to everyone that believes in BlackBerry. The KEYone is an excellent smartphone that comes with exceptional multimedia as well as business credentials and under the hood power that will never disappoint a moderate user. However, perhaps the Blackberry KEYone is Rs 5000 too expensive, but this is exactly what you would expect from a BlackBerry smartphone.
While for some, low better priced OnePlus 5 and Honor 8 Pro might seem to be a better package but for those who loved a BlackBerry once and would give anything to go back to one, the KeyOne is a great option.
But for users looking for the same big screen experience, they should rather look elsewhere.