BlackBerry is back with its final smartphone, the QWERTY keyboard-toting, business-focussed BlackBerry KeyOne, previously codenamed Mercury.
Launched in the run-up to Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017 in Barcelona, the KeyOne was designed by BlackBerry but made by TCL Communications, which will take over the design and creation of future BlackBerry branded handsets.
But the standout feature is the phone’s QWERTY keyboard, something that both appealed and repulsed punters with the BlackBerry Priv, with the aim of making hacking out emails on the go far easier than the more haphazard process of tapping on a smartphone for some users.
On the software side, the KeyOne has Google’s Android 7.1 Nougat at its core but is heavily customised with BlackBerry’s user interface and apps. BlackBerry Messenger, Hub, and the privacy and security management DTEK app are all present and correct.
The combination of a specification that will not drain battery life in order to deliver blistering mobile compute power, and a suite of work-focussed apps, indicates the KeyOne is very much all business, and both BlackBerry and TCL will not doubt be hoping it attracts enterprise users away from the Apple’s iPhones and Samsung’s Galaxy handsets.
With a starting price of £499, the KeyOne is not too expensive, but there are certainly cheaper smartphones on the market.
With it due to go on sale in April, time will shortly tell if there still life in BlackBerry hardware or if the Canadian company’s brand will be more associated with its secure communications software from now on.
While not exactly heavy on display or processor tech, from our brief hand-on the KeyOne is faily smooth and slick to use, with BlackBerry’s user interface easy to navigate, with it leaving Android Nougats best features untouched. It doesn’t feel as blisteringly fast as some high-end smartphones, but is is no slouch either.
At only 4.5inches, the Full HD display is fairly clear, despite having a resolution half that of many flagship Android devices; it doesn’t exactly impress but it leaves not a whole lot to be desired either. We’d need more time with the phone to really get to grips with its interface and see if the smaller display is a problem to productivity.
The keyboard is touch enabled but we’d need more time with it to get a good impression of its capabilities, but so far the QWERTY keyboard fails to impress; we suspect only die-hard fans of BlackBerry mobile of yore will find it an attractive prospect given how tapping away on touchscreens has become almost natural these days.
Finally, the camera appears to be adequate but little more, again we’d need more time to test it, but at first glance it’s hardly a selling point for the KeyOne.
For its final in-house designed smartphone, the KeyOne is a bit of a disappointment, and if this is how BlackBerry thinks phones should be made at a relatively costly £499, perhaps its departure form the hardware market is no bad thing.
Quiz: Are you a BlackBerry master?
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