Comeback for kingpin of keyboards

AT A TIME when the word “cellphone” is synonymous with a towering, glass touch screen, physical keyboards appear to be making a minor comeback.

First there was the Nokia 3310, a reboot of the 1990s icon, complete with a low-res 2.4-inch screen, snails-pace 2G connectivity and, of course, an old-school T9 keyboard.

Then, this past week, that former kingpin of keyboards, Blackberry, launched its Keyone smartphone in South Africa. As you’d gather from the name, the physical keyboard is the device’s key feature (sorry, couldn’t resist).

It’ll be instantly recognisable to the millions of South Africans who, until just a few years ago, swore by their “crackberries” and their distinctive, full qwerty keyboards to stay on top of office e-mails, as well as their social lives.

On the Keyone, it’s quite a bit bigger than the one you’ll remember, built as it is into a device that, dimensions-wise at least, doesn’t look out of place in this era of plus-sized smartphones. It’s also got a few nifty new tricks up its sleeve, like touch sensitivity that lets you navigate around the user interface without touching the 4.5-inch glass display – although that’s touch-sensitive too – and a space bar that doubles as a fingerprint reader.

The specs, which look positively futuristic compared to a Blackberry Torch circa 2010, stack up less flatteringly to its 2017 competitors, the most notable being the decidedly mid-range Snapdragon 625 processor, non-4k display and mere 32GB of onboard storage.

But Us-based colleagues who’ve spent some time with the Keyone assure me that its performance feels just as snappy as any current flagship, thanks to cleverly optimised software and the stripping out of unnecessary bloatware. I’ve also heard glowing reports about the 12-megapixel camera.

I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve had a chance to test it out myself. I will say, however, that a big mark in the Keyone’s favour is the software – near-stock Android 7.1 coupled with the excellent Blackberry Hub and clever features like being able to assign app shortcuts and commands to keys on the keyboard.

It’s also a little cheaper than other high-end phones. Currently available exclusively from Vodacom and online from Cellucity, it’ll set you back R9 649 to buy outright or R479 per month on a 24-month uchoose Vodacom Flexi 200 contract.

My recent column (link: http:// bit.ly/ioldata) about MTN deducting data from its customers’ bundles, even when they had mobile data disabled, prompted plenty of feedback, most of it not very flattering to the mobile operator. MTN has since promised to take “decisive steps” to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

Those measures were due to come into place this past week.

More good news for mobile data customers, this time of all networks, is that communications regulator Icasa on Monday published draft regulations that, if implemented, will forbid telecoms operators from expiring users’ data for up to 24 months and introduce tough new rules on when and how they allow customers to go out of bundle.

These measures are longoverdue. Consumer advocates have been arguing for years that vapourising data that customers have paid for in advance is in breach of the Consumer Protection Act. The mobile networks have contested this and, until now, Icasa has defended them.

I suppose I should be pleased the regulator has finally seen the light and is considering steps to protect consumers from this flagrant ripoff, but I’m still miffed about the millions they’ve been fleeced out of over the years – a few hundred of my hard-earned rand included.

The opaque and apparently capricious nature of algorithms used by social networks to decide what constitutes unacceptable content hit close to home for me last Saturday. That’s when Facebook, in its wisdom, decided to remove links to Iol.co.za and other Independent Media articles from its network.

They’ve since been restored but until then, anyone who attempted to share any of the affected articles received spam notifications.

My above-mentioned column on disappearing data was one of the casualties and I had several readers contact me to say that they hadn’t been able to share it on the social network.

As far as I’m aware, Facebook has yet to offer any explanation for the fiasco. I’m not holding my breath. Follow me on Twitter @ alanqcooper.