BlackBerry KEYone

[bcrdukes]

So, the BlackBerry KEYone is coming out, and I am interested in getting one.

Yes, I know that it's not a SnapDragon 835. Yes, I know it only has a 12MP camera. Yes, I know that it is a BlackBerry. But I love the keyboard and BlackBerry Hub.

Any leads for employee pricing? I recall someone here had an "in." Thanks in advance!

https://www.blackberrymobile.com/ca/

[H.Specter]

[Recon604]

let me know too thanks

[chipmunk604]

Very interested in this phone, and it'll most likely be my next phone. The $700 price tag is a real turn off though. I wish we had US pricing at $550 CAD, would of been more appropriate.

[CCA-Dave]

Ordered mine through Rogers on Thursday last week. I've been a Rogers client for 23+ years, so the deal was pretty good.

-Dave

[PiuYi]

Blackberry to me is like that ex you still think about... loved her to death at one point, but as time went on things just didnt work out. Now once in a while you'll want to get back in touch, but it always leads to disappointment

[knight604]

Had mine since May 10th.

AMA

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by knight604

Had mine since May 10th.

AMA

Review - Likes/dislikes
Price / How to get one

thx

edit: i got my hands on a demo device but won't have much time to play with it this week.

[knight604]

Likes? Oh boy ,

• Great camera (uses pixel sensor)
• Monstrous battery life, feels great in hand
• PKB is like the classics but sculpted so letters are actually embedded on the inside of the key
• Nice weight to the device
• GREAT built quality out of the box
• Love the aluminum chassis
• Runs the latest android 7.1.1
• Finger print scanner in the space bar is genius and lightning fast

Dislikes

• Kind of miss AMOLED screen but nice to be able to see the screen when outside in the sun.
• Wish it came out earlier , took forever a phone like this good to be released
• only 1 mono speaker

I got the UK version cause i couldn't wait , paid 695 then import was like 87 and shipping was 45

[bcrdukes]

Ok, I will add, or compliment what knight604 had to say.

- The camera is not bad, but I haven't had a whole lot of time to goof around with it. So far, pictures are coming out pretty nice.
- Battery life: It hasn't changed a whole lot since I got it this morning
- Weight/balance of device - Sweet Jesus. It's pretty good.
- Build quality and aluminum chassis is pretty bad ass
- Nougat runs so pretty fast on this thing. I'm not sure that my Lumia 950XL and Nexus 6P are all that great anymore and it's a SnapDragon 820!
- Yes, Fingerprint scanner is by far, the best I've used.

Edit: The RF radio is as you would expect from BlackBerry, so A+++ on this.

Cons:

Yes, screen could be nicer, but whatever. Not a user of the speaker so it's all good.

Overall, and so far since my previous post, I am very impressed.

[knight604]

On the first day , i got 7HR SOT , 23hours Idle time with 15% left.

[CCA-Dave]

Mono speaker is a downer, but oh well.

Have either of you guys used a passport? How is the KEYone as an upgrade? Keyboard looks to be like the older BB's of years past. Hoping my brain picks it up quickly :P

[bcrdukes]

I got used to the keyboard within a few minutes, so if you've used the keyboard in the past, it will trigger your muscle memory pretty quickly, despite the fact that I'm 90% mentally retarded.

[6793026]

passport?
I loved the passport but it doesn't support android so i had to ditch it to get a priv.

How does this compare to a priv is my question.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by 6793026

How does this compare to a priv is my question.

Here you go!

BlackBerry KEYone vs. BlackBerry Priv: No contest | CrackBerry.com

[tomatogunk]

Like knight, I've been using the KeyOne since May 10th. Came from a PRIV before this, and a passport before the PRIV.

It's the best BlackBerry phone that I've used to date. I was afraid the 625 will be laggy but it wasn't at all. The battery life is impeccable. I was able to go 2 full days without a single charge w/ 6 hours screen on time in total.

The keyboard is similar to the old blackberry of the old days. Pleasure to type on, very much different (in a good way) than the PRIV's.

The fingerprint sensor is fast and a joy to play with. The camera is quite nice too.

Only gripe I have on the phone is sometimes when I use the capacitive keyboard to browse and flick things, I accidentally hit the home/app drawer buttons

[6793026]

Thanks Bcrdukes.
cool review, it might be a bit too flavored towards the keyone, but awesome nonetheless.

I'm pretty sure I'll be getting it. I'm just going to see when my priv dies or when there are keyones being sold for cheap.

my second consideration would be to wait until there's a solid phone protector before I go ahead and buy this phone.

[bcrdukes]

I believe BlackBerry already has three different cases for the KEYOne.

[knight604]

Originally Posted by CCA-Dave

Mono speaker is a downer, but oh well.

Have either of you guys used a passport? How is the KEYone as an upgrade? Keyboard looks to be like the older BB's of years past. Hoping my brain picks it up quickly :P

If you are coming from the passport, i think the battery life is very similar , keys will feel smaller as the keyboard on the passport is the biggest/widest.

Originally Posted by 6793026

passport?
I loved the passport but it doesn't support android so i had to ditch it to get a priv.

How does this compare to a priv is my question.

I came from the priv as well keyone does everything better.

Better keyboard , similar to the classics'
Better processor
Better cameras
Better battery life x2
Better build quality
A fingerprint scanner
Nougat

Originally Posted by 6793026

Thanks Bcrdukes.
cool review, it might be a bit too flavored towards the keyone, but awesome nonetheless.

I'm pretty sure I'll be getting it. I'm just going to see when my priv dies or when there are keyones being sold for cheap.

my second consideration would be to wait until there's a solid phone protector before I go ahead and buy this phone.

The screen is not curved , finding a protector won't be as hard as the priv.

[bcrdukes]

So, three days in, and my battery is at 31%.

[bcrdukes]

Saturday update:

Got more hands-on use with it today. Short summary as follows:

- Started the day with 100% full battery
- Did a bunch of browsing such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, news, weather
- Sent a bunch of SMS messages and e-mails
- Took some photos, posted on social media
- Made over a dozen phone calls: Speech/audio quality is pretty awesome (as expected for Blackberry - does not disappoint)
- Went for a ride and turned on Strava, Garmin Connect, Bluetooth, GPS and all sorts of real-time data sensitive apps
- Pretty much got used to the keyboard. Little to no fat-fingering and texting / messaging is easy.

- A non-issue for me, but for some it will be: If you like smileys/emojis, you may need to take an extra step to get into the emoji menu.

It's pretty much the end of the day and battery life is now at 77%. No app lag, no issues. Nothing. Everything worked perfectly. I couldn't do all of this on my Nexus 6P and end up with 77% battery life; more like 23%. Given everything I did today, I'd say the BlackBerry KEYOne takes the cake. And if it means anything, because I have a demo device with Engineering mode enabled, it's constantly uploading data to BlackBerry for analysis (I cannot turn this off.)

I'll be making my decision whether to get one or not, but it's leaning towards a solid yes.

[Razor Ramon HG]

This looks like the ultimate phone for battery life.

If I wasn't so embedded into the Apple ecosystem, I would seriously consider this.

[bcrdukes]

One thing to note is that I do not use my phone to watch videos or to play games, which is something most people who have top-tier phones would do.

If you were to do anything graphics intensive, this may not be the phone for you. I watched a few videos on YouTube and Vimeo in high quality, and for me, it was acceptable.

[knight604]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

One thing to note is that I do not use my phone to watch videos or to play games, which is something most people who have top-tier phones would do.

If you were to do anything graphics intensive, this may not be the phone for you. I watched a few videos on YouTube and Vimeo in high quality, and for me, it was acceptable.

Its all about long battery life for me now , with the keyone it is a complete package.

Good camera, good performance , long ass battery life.

[Nabatron]

I am pretty excited about the keyone! From all the reviews on youtube and on here it seems to me everyone is praising the battery life. This for phone companies should be one of the top priorities in building a phone. I haven't been this excited for a blackberry phone since the 9900 back in the day. From being a long time blackberry user then switching to apple I cant wait to go back to using a physical keyboard again. Also having a phone that lasts more then a day haha.

I called up blackberry tech support and asked them where you could buy the device tomorrow. Looks like you can buy it from best buy, amazon and they should be selling it on bbmobile website as well.