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Introduction
The BlackBerry KEY2 stays true to the DNA of its range and offers, beneath its screen, a physical keyboard. Reliquat of another era or essential functionality? We will let you judge after reading our test.
Datasheet
| Model | BlackBerry Key2 |
|---|---|
| Version of the OS | Android 8.1 |
| Interface | Blackberry 10 |
| Screen Size | 4.5 Inches |
| Definition | 1620 x 1080 Pixels |
| Density of pixels | 434 dpi |
| SoC | Snapdragon 660 at 2.2GHz |
| Processor (CPU) | ARMv8 |
| Graphics Chip (GPU) | Adreno 512 |
| RAM (RAM) | 6 GB |
| Internal Memory (Flash) | 64 GB, 128 GB |
| MicroSD | Yes |
| Digital still camera | Dual 12 megapixel sensor |
| Camera (front-facing) | 8 Megapixels |
| Video Recording | 2160 |
| Wi-Fi | Yes |
| Bluetooth | 5.0 + A2DP + LE |
| Networks | GPRS, EDGE, LTE, HSPA |
| Supported bands | 2100 MHz (B1), 800 MHz (B20), 1800 MHz (B3), 2600 MHz (B7), 700 MHz (B28) |
| SIM | 2x nano SIM |
| NFC | Yes |
| Ports (Inputs / Outputs) | USB Type-C |
| Geolocation | Yes |
| Battery | 3500 mAh |
| Dimensions | 151.4 x 71.8 x 8.5 mm |
| Weight | 168 grams |
| Colors | Black, Silver |
| Price | 620 € |
|
Product sheet | Test |
Unique design, physical keyboard
Does the physical keyboard have a future? " Yes ! You will answer Blackberry. And KEY2 stands by this belief. The newest member of the Canadian brand (placed under the lap of Chinese TCL) is no exception. Beneath the screen, the mosaic of letters does not go unnoticed.
And before I get into my criticism of this design, I would just like to point out something that struck me: half of my entourage found this sublime smartphone, the other half have absolutely not appreciated its aesthetics. It was really 50/50. It must be confessed in any case that it stands out clearly from all others.
It has the size of a large phone like the Mate 10 Pro (6 inches), but its screen is much smaller since close to a quarter of the front area is occupied by the physical keyboard keys. The latter is also separated from the display area by capacitive keys. The contours of the screen are, by the way, quite thick.
Not being at all adept of the physical keyboard, I probably did not appreciate the true value of the design of the device, but must admit that it gives off a "professional" air. To express it more clearly, we immediately feel that we are dealing with a smartphone for people who need a complete tool in their pocket. Nothing illogical therefore not to see a BlackBerry KEY2 ultra foil.
Let's get back to the keyboard. The latter is, in itself, not unpleasant to use. The touch and the visibility of the letters are very well cared for, but if you prefer the software keyboards, this one will not suit you. We can not take advantage of the swype and especially – which I missed the most on the KEY2 – easy access to the numeric keypad. On this smartphone, to enter a number, you must press the ALT key before the number (you can also stay pressed while entering the numbers). It is therefore necessary to use both hands for this, or to waste time by using only one.
It is also possible to make appear a soft keyboard while remaining press the key "sym" (especially for special characters), but it seems particularly redundant. The physical pad also serves as trackpad . The first impression is very special, even uncomfortable, and then you get used to it. However, there will always be a tendency to scroller with the finger directly on the screen, because it is more intuitive.
The spacebar also serves as a fingerprint reader and works properly. At the back, there is a kind of notched rubber. The sensation is not unpleasant and work on the material allows the phone not to slip. The plain back is flocked with a large aluminum BlackBerry logo and a double camera on the top left horizontally.
The smartphone pleases in hand, despite a first impression of size that we can to have. The ignition and volume buttons are on the right edge, above a shortcut button. The jack is located on the top, unlike the USB-C port, at the bottom, between two speaker grilles (only the one on the right emits sound).
Small screen, but quality
] On the large BlackBerry KEY2, there is a small screen 4.5 inches to 3: 2 ratio particular, even destabilizing. Once this impression is over, we can appreciate the Full HD definition – which translates here by 1620 x 1080 pixels – of this one. We quickly notice that the red does not badert enough against the very dominant blue. Without being particularly troublesome, it generates colors that lack a little natural. It is possible to change very slightly this detail, without particularly convincing result.
In full sun, it will take a little closer to the screen of your eyes to see what it displays. Our probe also indicates a maximum brightness of 441 cd / m² which is more than honorable. The color temperature is around 7500K which is very correct, even if a little more heat would not have been refused. Finally, the contrast is excellent with a ratio of 1449: 1.
The keyboard, this shortcut
Android 8.1 Oreo program with a home interface that, at first, is almost imperceptible. Then we see some BlackBerry applications, with DTEK for security and BBM for … uh … for the people who are still there. On the third page of the home (to the right), several applications are aligned to increase your productivity with a notepad, a To-Do List (nothing incredible, we get along).
Other key BlackBerryesque: the hub that you make appear by pulling the tab on the left edge of the home screen. This activity center (I have unfortunately not found a better way to describe this option in French) includes a view on your agenda, your messages, your contacts and some widgets for weather and the latest news, for example. Again, the focus is on optimizing the productivity of the user when he works.
Speaking of widget, note that it is possible to parameterize simply by placing your finger on a application icon before dragging it up. However, this does not work with all apps.
The keyboard also offers shortcuts. You have an application to set which key should launch which service based on a short or long press. You can also make these settings by pressing the speed key key consisting of nine points forming a square. Once you have taken the hand, it's quite practical. So while I was navigating on Chrome, I could go directly to the camera by pressing this key and then typing A.
Finally, the interface of multitasking is special, since the rectangles of open applications are displayed as a mosaic that reminds (a little) the graphical organization of Windows Phone (but this can be set in the phone options). To summarize, we are entitled to a falsely purified Android experience with many customizations. The big problem is the video. Watching the latest creation of its favorite YouTubeur horizontally is really not pleasant.
The physical keyboard shifts the video and in addition, it is framed by large black borders. Especially at the level of the capacitive buttons which become invisible, certainly, but can not, in fact, not free space to the video. 16: 9 and 18: 9 contents do not fit well on the 3: 2 screen
Photo: too many gaps
Two 12 megapixel photo sensors are present on the back of the phone to make your shots . The main lens opens at f / 1.8, while the second, a telephoto lens with a 2x optical zoom, is satisfied with an aperture at f / 2.6.
When all the right conditions are gathered, the BlackBerry KEY2 knows how to take beautiful pictures with colors that stand out very well thanks to a good contrast.
Unfortunately, as soon as the dynamics of the image becomes a little too strong, the sky crames totally or the scene is too underexposed.
Indoors, the dive takes for its rank. The elements photographed are too "soft" because of a lack of sharpness.
At night, the phone alternates between the correct and the less good. He is able to cope fairly well in a few situations, despite the drastic increase in noise in the image.
On the other hand, on too many occasions, he behaves too strangely and the same scene photographed two times can change dramatically in terms of color and exposure while I have almost no position change when shooting.
The telephoto is interesting to use to preserve a good level of details on objects photographed by far.
Combined, the two sensors make it possible to realize pretty portraits (with a blur in the background) when conditions permit.
The front sensor offers selfies not folichons, which also lack sharpness in low light. For video, you can shoot up to 60 FPS in 1080p. There is also a very gadget idle mode.
The BlackBerry KEY2 does not aim at the top of the top in terms of performance. Its Snapdragon 660 however remains very satisfactory in the vast majority of uses. At least, if you really use it for business purposes, for productivity, it does not disappoint at all.
Nevertheless, hard to forget that the BlackBerry KEY2 is sold at almost 650 euros and that for this price, users are entitled to expect a more powerful chip. In terms of performance, the phone is doing well on Arena of Valor with all graphics pushed to the bottom. The number of frames per second remains stable around 60 FPS and goes down to 56 FPS during the most animated scuffles.
He encounters a little more difficulty on a game like PUBG with the graphics settings thoroughly. The game is still playable, but you have to deal with some swings – very short each time, but frequent. To target an enemy is disabling. The BlackBerry KEY2 behaves better with average settings, but it's a lot smoother.
| BlackBerry KEY2 | Oppo R15 Pro | Nokia 7 Plus | OnePlus 6 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SoC | Snapdragon 660 | Snapdragon 660 | Snapdragon 660 | Snapdragon 845 | ||
| AnTuTu 7 | 139,437 [19659110] 147,792 [19659111] 140,565 [19659112] 267,316 [19659118] PCMark 2.0 | 6,324 [19659110] 8,399 [19659111] 6,132 [19659112] 8,233 [19659110] 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme | 1 220 | 1 353 | 1330 | 4,668 |
| 3DMark SSE (Graphics) | 1,065 | 1,183 [19659111] 1,159 | 5 204 | |||
| 3DMark SSE (Physics) | 2,489 | 2,716 | 2,754 | 3,430 | ||
| GFX Bench Car Chase (onscreen / offscreen) | 9 / 7.4 FPS | 9/9 FPS | 8.6 / 9.0 FPS | 32/35 FPS | ||
| GFX Manhattan Bench (onscreen / offscreen) | 19/17 FPS | 22/22 FPS | 21/23 FPS | 58/71 FPS | ||
| Sequential Read / Write | 273/206 MB / s | 301/195 MB / s [1 9659111] 277/212 MB / s | 718/154 MB / s | |||
| Random Read / Write | 13.4k / 4.5k IOPS | 21k / 16.8k IOPS | 14.4K / 4,6K IOPS | 35,9k / 5,6k IOPS |
In the table above, we can see that the Nokia 7 Plus, at less than 400 euros, offers very similar performance. But above all, if you are looking for a very powerful smartphone, a device like the OnePlus 6 will be better for you and cheaper.
Note finally that the BlackBerry KEY2 heats a little when it is pushed into its limits. It is quite localized and the fingers do not risk any burn.
Autonomy my love
The battery of 3500 mAh of the BlackBerry KEY2 does its job very well and is perfect until the next day noon in heavy use. In this, it is very useful for people who use their smartphones a lot during a busy day of work. The device has something rebaduring and reliable.
The diagonal size of the screen saves a few precious percentages of energy and the consumption of the physical keyboard seems well controlled.
By chaining two parts Arena of Valor, then PUBG, the device has lost almost 20% battery, an impressive result in view of the significant resources exploited by these two tasks for about 30 minutes. On a one-hour YouTube video, the battery icon is only 5% to 6% empty, which is simply excellent.
On our ViSer test protocol, the phone held more than 9 hours and 40 minutes, which confirms the impressions expressed above, because this score ranks comfortably above the average.
On the refill side, it is effective and allows to go from 20 to 60 % of battery in 30 minutes, then to reach 91% with an additional half hour.
Network and communication
The BlackBerry has never encountered the least concern to capture the 4G network of Orange (I I stayed in the Paris region all along this test). It is also compatible with all frequency bands, you will be quiet on this side. The GPS has always managed to get me to port, without ever failing to geolocate me accurately.
Finally, as far as calls are concerned, the ambient noise has never covered the sound of my voice, but my interlocutors m have reported that it had a timbre that was unnatural in our conversations. The phone seems to operate some kind of audio processing that is not to everyone's taste
Price and availability
The BlackBerry is available at a price of 650 euros.
To read on FrAndroid: BlackBerry or BlackBerry? For her, the physical keyboard is an obligation
Test BlackBerry KEY2 The verdict
You have to like physical keyboards to like the BlackBerry KEY2. This is really a sinquanone condition because you have to sacrifice significant benefits from software keyboards. Apart from that, the design is well controlled, without madness. We regret the presence of capacitive buttons that reduce the size of the screen. The display area suffers from very thick borders.
The screen suffers mostly from its small size. If we can ignore this detail, it is very much appreciated despite a blue a little too present.
The Android spirit is perfectly respected while bringing a home interface on top with interesting options for productivity, including all practical keyboard shortcuts (as long as we can adapt to the physical keyboard). Big problem: the multimedia, but the phone is clearly not thought for video or games.
The double camera is able to offer pretty pictures, but it is easily put in difficulty and when comes the night , it behaves much too unpredictably.
Nothing amazing in terms of performance, but the smartphone plays its role as an effective working tool. It will be on the most greedy games that it will show signs of weakness. No surprises, therefore, on the side of Snapdragon 660.
The smartphone does not disappoint in terms of autonomy. It is very convincing and can easily hold more than a day and a half even using it in a thorough way.
The BlackBerry KEY2 is a very atypical smartphone that must exist because it is for a very special audience. This is clearly a niche, but the brand fully badumes its choice and sacrifices a bit of its photo quality and power to provide a reliable device in terms of autonomy and very focused on productivity.
The physical keyboard will repel most users, but it will be perfect for anyone who, on the contrary, wants one. Thanks to the configurable shortcuts and some options of the interface, this smartphone is very interesting. However, we can not help but regret the poor adaptation to videos in the horizontal and its price far too high compared to the proposed experience.
Do not hesitate to turn to his predecessor, KEYone , quite similar, but today much more affordable.
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Positive points
- Careful keyboard
- Well thought out shortcuts
- Good screen quality
- Big autonomy
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Negative points
- Screen a bit too small and with a strange ratio
- Incorrectly adapted to video content
- Photo quality too average
- Price high
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