BlackBerry KEYone – The fourth BlackBerry branded phone running Android

The BlackBerry KEYone is the latest Android based BlackBerry touchscreen smartphone with a physical QWERTY keyboard. This is the fourth BlackBerry-branded smartphone that does not run the company’s proprietary BlackBerry OS or BlackBerry 10 (BB10) platforms. Instead, it uses Android 7.1 Nougat, customized with features inspired by those on BlackBerry phones, and security enhancements. Impressively designed and distinctly different, BlackBerry KEYone tries to appeal to those die-hard BlackBerry fans with the best hardware keyboard on the market.

The build quality of KEYone is great. It has 4.5″ screen, 8MP front camera with flash, 12MP auto-focus large pixel rear camera and an awesome fingerprint sensor at the spacebar key. Each key can be programmed to instantly bring up contacts and apps you use most often, such as pressing “B” to open browser. The keyboard also responds to touch gestures like a trackpad, to quickly scroll through webpages or emails.

The right side houses a volume rocker and, below it, a programmable convenience key that can be assigned to anything except turning on and off the phone. This phone is secured with BlackBerry security software and also has DTEK security monitoring app. There is a powerful 3505 mAh battery which offers excellent battery life and quick charge capability. Fast recharging can be done with power management tools like Boost. BlackBerry Hub is the in-built app for consolidating all messages in one place – whether it’s email, calendar, social or phone calls.

However, the performance is inconsistent probably because of buggy software. Aso the camera suffers in low light.

Here are the other specifications :

Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Octa-Core 2.0 GHz, 64-bit Adreno 506, 650MHz GPU

Expandable memory
Expandable memory via hot swappable microSD memory card (Up to 2TB)

Memory
3 GB RAM
32 GB Flash

Ports
USB Type-C
– USB 3.1

Display Resolution
433 PPI
1620 x 1080 IPS LCD
24-bit colour depth

Screen size
4.5” diagonal
3:2 aspect ratio

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