BlackBerry loyalists will love KeyOne
Smartphone runs Android — but keeps its vintage strengths
Not long ago, I ran into an acquaintance who was defensive about still carrying a BlackBerry. He didn’t have to be. Though their ranks are small, BlackBerry loyalists are an ardent bunch who appreciate all that the once-dominant smartphone maker delivered in its heyday: handsets with first-rate physical keyboards, industrial-strength security and generous batteries.
BlackBerry has stopped making the hardware. But now there’s a new BlackBerry called KeyOne, the first from China’s TCL Communication under a brand licensing agreement with BlackBerry. The $549 phone was introduced in February and is set to arrive in the U.S. at the end of this month. I’m confident the BlackBerry fan I ran into will love it.
Put me down as liking the phone too, though not to the degree that I’d be willing to swap the best phones on the market today, Apple’s iPhone 7 or Samsung ’s Galaxy S8.
A workaholic phone: The KeyOne is an impressive throwback that measures up to vintage BlackBerry strengths, only in a more modern package with the Android Nougat operating system and such up-to-date features as the Google Assistant. The 6.35ounce device is built of sturdy anodized aluminum and has an easy-to-grip, rubbery back with tiny dimples. It stands roughly as tall as the iPhone 7 Plus.
The 1620-by-1080-pixel screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 4 — nice, but at 4.5 inches, it’s on the small side. And its rather unusual 3:2 aspect ratio means the display is better suited for reading email than watching
Guardians of the Galaxy, though you certainly could. But there’s no mistaking the fact that BlackBerrys have corporate rather than cinematic roots.
The 12-megapixel front and 8megapixel rear cameras on the KeyOne are perfectly fine, but I wouldn’t call them exceptional. I found typing on the BlackBerry frankly a bit of a chore given its squishy-sized keys. I suspect those of you who’ve stuck with BlackBerry all these years will see it differently.
Vintage features with new tricks: The BlackBerry crowd will recognize other helpful staples, including the convenient BlackBerry Hub repository for email, messages, tweets and other communications; BlackBerry’s DTEK security software for safeguarding the operating system and your data; and the presence of BlackBerry Messenger.
And even thumb typists will appreciate an assist from the touch screen from time to time. So when you press the “sym” key on the physical keyboard, a virtual touch screen keyboard with all the various symbol options turns up on the screen just above. What’s more, as you compose a text or email, a trio of predictive word suggestions you might want to include next appears, a feature common to other phones as well.
What’s not common is how you might go with one of those word choices. You can lightly slide your finger up against the physical keyboard — it doubles as a kind of trackpad — to practically flick the word you’ve selected directly into your message. It’s a neat parlor trick, and “flick typing ” might actually prove productive. You can also just tap a word choice.
Meantime, while guiding your finger along the trackpad, you can also scroll what’s on the screen, though I found it just as simple, if not simpler, to scroll by making direct contact with my thumb along the display.
Keyboard shortcuts are another BlackBerry tradition that is a big part of the KeyOne experience. You can customize up to 52.
One feature I really like is the fingerprint sensor that’s cleverly embedded into the space bar, a natural landing spot for your thumb and a fast and accurate way to authenticate your identify.
I don’t expect the KeyOne to spark a major resurgence of interest in BlackBerry. But there’s a lot to please loyal fans, and other smartphone users intoxicated by the prospects of a physical keyboard experience will also find much to like.
The $549 phone, unveiled back in February, is set to arrive in the U.S. at the end of this month.