Blackberry Key2: First Impressions: A Smarter Upgrade From Its Predecessor

The Blackberry KeyOne that was launched last year was not your typical Android phone-type candy-bar. He came with a physical keyboard and that made all the difference. His successor, the BlackBerry KEY2 launched in India on Monday, is working on the same formula, tweaking and improving features and hardware. It remains a niche device with a relatively smaller screen and a physical keyboard that doubles as the power of productivity. But at Rs 44.990, the Key2 is not for everyone. In our first impressions of the privacy-centric phone, we will describe the features and how it all adds to the old-school charm of a QWERTY keyboard.

Design and Build

The Blackberry Key2, like its predecessor, looks like your usual Android device. It has a physical QWERTY keyboard that is larger than before with larger keys. The fingerprint sensor is integrated into the spacebar and a reprogrammable function key is located at the bottom of the keyboard. The volume flip-flops, the power button and a new convenience key are all housed in the right side of the phone. The back has a rubberized texture that feels quite premium but tends to collect dust and oil stains easily. There is a double camera on the back, a first for a Blackberry phone. The screen is also relatively smaller than usual full-screen Android phones. The phone is constructed of aluminum alloy and is quite heavy, which makes for a better grip on the phone. The keys on the keyboard are also larger and it swells from the center to help with the typing experience. Being used to typing on touch screen phones where a feather-touch is enough to type something, pressing the hardware keys on the Key2 seemed a bit stranger. Interestingly, the keyboard also doubles up as your navigation pad. Swipe along the keys to the left, right, up or down and you can navigate the phone without having to reach the screen (which is also a bit difficult to do). Overall, the Key2 is proving just as premium as its upscale contemporaries and although the typing experience may be a little used, it's good to see Blackberry maintain the "d & rsquo; appearance "Businessman" that he was formerly known.

Show

The real estate at the front is divided between the physical keyboard and the display. Unlike other Android phones that adapt more and more to the screen in the available space, the Key2 is a refreshing departure. Its 4.5-inch Full HD IPS LCD panel may not be a dreamer of a job guard and a player, but it's a boon for people who have to spend their days typing long paragraphs on their phone . The size has grown a few inches from its predecessor and the pixel density is quite high, which indicates that the screen content is sharp and vivid.

Performance and Software

Despite its high price, the Blackberry Key2 is not a flagship device, at least in terms of hardware powering the phone. It runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC coupled with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage that is expandable via a dedicated microSD card slot. The phone felt fast and catchy for the short time I had it in my hands, but not as fast as the OnePlus 6 which, incidentally, is much more affordable than that.

The focus of the Key2 is on three things – privacy, security and convenience. The phone software is focused on these three things. For privacy, you get a suite of apps that keeps viewers from peeking in your phone. A tinge of privacy that darkens the entire screen except the part you're reading. An editor application that darkens the text you do not want others to see. And a pbadword manager that stores your pbadwords and sensitive documents in a secure virtual safe. Apart from that, you get the Blackberry Hub that houses all the communication channels, including your SMS, emails, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are all homes in the same app, so you do not have to open them individually. A menu appears from the edges if you swipe to the left that contains more shortcuts. Each keyboard alphabet can be programmed to launch a specific application and there is a special key in the keyboard that can also be programmed to perform a specific action. For security, you get the Blackberry DTEK application that monitors the security status of your phone in real time. It checks for new updates, applications that run the background and the use of your location, microphone and camera, so that you can keep track of where and how your data is coming out.

The user interface of the phone is also pretty light. It takes a lot of Android stock inspiration, but the features indicate that it's all but. That's the hardware and software combination at play here that makes the Blackberry Key2 a unique device in a crowded market of phones that all look and work the same way.

Camera

The Blackberry Key2 is the first Blackberry camera to offer two cameras at the back. Despite being debut, the 12 + 12MP camera at the back seemed pretty fast and eye catching. The primary lens has an aperture of f / 1.8 while the secondary sensor has an aperture of f / 2.6. The secondary sensor provides 2X optical zoom and portrait mode. It is too early to decide on the quality of the phone's camera, but the interface seems pretty easy to use. There was also no delay in filling. The screen being placed higher, it becomes a bit difficult to reach the shutter button, but you can still reprogram a key to perform this action.

Battery

The Blackberry Key2 is powered by a 3500 mAh battery that supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0. Blackberry claims that the phone can run a full day that we will test in our rigorous testing for the exam.

First Impressions

The Blackberry Key2 is an essential update to KeyOne. The phone highlights the problems that KeyOne had and brings to the table a bigger screen, a larger keyboard and two cameras. For the limited time I used the phone, it was a refreshingly different experience that was both oozing in nostalgia and an indication of what it would be like using Android with a physical keyboard.