Review: BlackBerry KeyOne
If you hanker for the days when your smartphone had a 'proper' keyboard, the BlackBerry KeyOne could be just for you
Ten years ago, every smartphone maker wanted to make their devices look just like BlackBerrys, competing to make devices with physical keyboards. The Nokia E-71, for example, was intended to compete squarely with BlackBerry for the all-important business users who simply had to be able to send and receive emails on the move.
Today, a different bunch of device makers are all competing to make their devices look as much like Apple iPhones as possible - without being sued by Apple, of course.
And pretty much the only keyboarded smartphones these days come from BlackBerry. Its latest device, the BlackBerry KeyOne, is one of the only modern Android phones with a physical Qwerty keyboard, which today packs a fair amount of novelty factor in market full of devices all competing to look the same.
Of course, this is no BlackBerry as you used to know it, coming instead from a deal with TCL Corporation to build the phones. But with a £499 retail price in the UK it's going to have to be pretty good to attract the wallets of potential buyers.
Design
The BlackBerry KeyOne, despite being definitively different from most other Android phones available, felt strangely familiar upon first unboxing, and it was only after holding it for a couple of minutes that it became clear why it felt like a phone I'd used before; it's reminiscent of the industrial design of the Lumia range.
That means it has an entirely flat top, with just a 3.5mm headphone port, and rounded edges that make it more comfortable to hold. Of course, the addition of a Qwerty keyboard is a pretty significant change to the design, and the slots at the bottom of the phone are different too, but there are definitely some similarities in the shape.
While that might conjur up slightly negative connotations, the Lumia 900 that springs to mind launched in 2012, the full aluminium frame, soft-touch textured rear panel and metal struts between each row of keys combine to give the impression of being a suitably premium handset, and that's no bad thing given that it's competing against similarly priced devices like the Huawei P10, which touts its slim design above much else.
Previous BlackBerry Qwerty-equipped handsets (that's quite a sentence) like the Passport used a square display, but the KeyOne has a more regular rectangular shape. Due to the keyboard, the 4.5-inch display doesn't have a 16:9 aspect ratio, instead offering 3:2. People focused on productivity will like this, people that use their phones for watching TV and movies won't, due to the black bars used to fill out the aspect difference on widescreen content.
On the right side of the phone, there's a volume rocker and the 'Convenience Key' - a button that you can essentially set to perform a function (like set an alarm, or call a specific person using speed dial, for example) or you can set it to open any app you have installed. I went through a few options, but settled on using it to launch the camera, though it doesn't then act as the shutter button too (but you can use the volume rocker). There's also the now commonplace combined SIM and SD slot just above the volume rocker.
On the left side, there's the power key and on the bottom there's the USB Type C charging port and speaker grilles.
Flipping it over reveals the black soft-touch rear panel, replete with the BlackBerry logo in silver and the 12-megapixel autofocus camera. You're almost certainly not buying this phone, or even considering it, for the camera though.
Nestled into the space bar of the four-row keyboard is a very responsive fingerprint sensor.
Officially, the BlackBerry KeyOne measures up at 149.3 x 72.5 x 9.4mm, so it's not going to win any awards for svelte lines, and at 180 grams, it's clear that the addition of the keyboard doesn't come without (numerous) drawbacks. That said, it's still not particularly heavy, being about 40 grams more than an iPhone 7. Alternatively, you could consider it the weight of an iPhone 7 plus a Kit Kat Chunky. I'm just saying, you could.
Next page: Hardware, camera and storage
Review: BlackBerry KeyOne
If you hanker for the days when your smartphone had a 'proper' keyboard, the BlackBerry KeyOne could be just for you
Hardware, camera and storage Putting the keyboard aside for a second, there's not a whole lot to shout about in terms of specs or defining features of the KeyOne when you compare it with some of its similarly-priced rivals, or indeed cheaper brands like OnePlus. Sitting above the Qwerty is a 4.5-inch (1,620 x 1,080 pixels) Gorilla Glass 4 display.
While its 3:2 aspect ratio sets it apart from the dimensions of most other handsets, the screen isn't 'best-in-class' by a long shot. That's not to say it's bad, but if you're coming from a more premium device, you'll notice that it's not as bright or colourful as its pricier alternatives.
Nonetheless, it's still perfectly acceptable and bright enough for use in direct sunlight.
Under-the-bonnet, you get a 2.0GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Octa-Core chipset, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage and some pretty run of the mill 12-megapixel and 8-megapixel cameras on the back and front, respectively.
That front-facing camera, at 8-megapixels, does offer some potentially handy features like a selfie panorama mode and an 84-degree field of view so you can fit more into your shots. Nonetheless, on paper, the KeyOne isn't blowing anyone away, and that's not really a surprise.
Fortunately, the rear-facing 12-megapixel affair has a Sony IMX378 sensor and takes better photos than its specs suggest. If you give it sufficient light, it'll produce some good images with popping colours. In regular daylight, rather than a bright sunny day, it fares pretty well too, not suffering too much from 'noise' in the images. As you continue to decrease the brightness of your surroundings, that noise ratio goes up though.
Actual image capture isn't quite as snappy as top-of-the-line options, but there's no huge delay either, and if you do happen to be shooting some fast-action footage, there are features like a slo-mo mode that will help compensate.
The camera options are clearly laid out too, making it simple to switch settings, apply a filter (that you can see previewed live) and jump between manual and automatic mode.
You can see in the sample images here that colour representation is accurate, and it deals well with shots that have bright and dark patches, but it doesn't deliver the 'pop' and vibrancy of more expensive options.
While it doesn't have all the bells and whistles and isn't a competitor to a top-of-the-range S8 camera, it's certainly better than any BlackBerry phone I've used before, and costs at least £200 less than that particular class of rival too.
Powering everything along is a large, non-removable 3,505mAh battery.
Next page: The keyboard!
Review: BlackBerry KeyOne
If you hanker for the days when your smartphone had a 'proper' keyboard, the BlackBerry KeyOne could be just for you
The keyboard The keyboard on the KeyOne is the reason that this handset will either appeal or not. Or potentially, appeal initially, and then lead you to a world of regret.
By now, a BlackBerry keyboard holds few surprises; the one thing about an iconic feature is that you can't easily change it and retain that same feeling, so for some time, BlackBerry has been delivering a three or four-row, metal-strutted Qwerty on its devices. The Passport, for example, had a three row setup, due to its broader dimensions.
It's a feature that continues to baffle me, with annual interludes of forgetting it's even a possibility on a phone anymore. When you think of BlackBerry's brand (and 'exec' image user base), you think of work. You think of productivity. You think of the days when you used to bash out hundreds of text messages on a T9, predictive text keyboard.
Compared to a T9, it's unsurprising that BlackBerry's keyboard was seen as a step forward, but compared to the versatility and reliably flawless functionality of an on-screen one, it's a step back.
Yes, it supports gestures - you can swipe to delete, insert word predictions and a few other bits - and it has a number of genuinely useful and smart options. The problem, for me, is that when it comes to the actual typing part, it's less efficient and slower than using an on-screen keyboard, which is an option if you want to activate it.
It's more consistent use, for me, came as essentially a touchpad - using it to navigate menu screens and scroll through web pages. Slightly oddly, you can activate a swipe input mode using the physical keyboard, which I suspect I would never, ever get the hang of using. Initial tests confirm this suspicion.
The gentle backlighting on the keyboard was always appreciated though, and in theory (if you can remember what they all do) you can set two quick launch functions for every single key. To set a function or app to launch when you press a single key, just press any button on the keyboard; to assign a long-press function, just hold your finger down a little longer.
In short, in some way, the performance of the Qwerty is almost irrelevant.
People that want a BlackBerry phone and/or Qwerty keyboard will be entirely satisfied by the performance of the KeyOne in that regard. It's dependable and smart.
People (and that's most people) that no longer have a need for one won't, and shouldn't, be swayed by it though. It's a better keyboard for an existing user base, not one that will win over the mainstream, and that's okay given BlackBerry's market positioning, skewing back towards its enterprise roots.
Next page: Performance, software, battery - and verdict
Review: BlackBerry KeyOne
If you hanker for the days when your smartphone had a 'proper' keyboard, the BlackBerry KeyOne could be just for you
Performance, software and battery
Despite being pretty uninspired on paper, BlackBerry's tweaks to Android continue to be some of the more worthwhile. In bringing across features like the BlackBerry Hub (as it has done on previous devices), the sprawling mess of Android notifications can be tamed with relative ease.
For anyone unfamiliar with BlackBerry Hub, it essentially aggregates all your incoming notifications from different sources (SMS, email, messaging, social networks, etc.) and allows you to view that information in a whole host of different ways.
For example, you can view it all in one stream, enable threaded messaging (or disable it), set specific colours for each account, set unread labels, and perhaps most usefully, create custom views of accounts. This means you can, say, set one for all your different email accounts, one for multiple Twitter accounts.
It's also very easy to set-up and, once done, is a pleasure to use.
The BlackBerry Launcher has a quick action tab that allows you to view an overview of the newest notifications, along with your schedule for the day and access to contacts hovering on the right side of the screen by default.
Again, this is fairly customisable, allowing you to move it, change the colour, height, and transparency, as well as switch it off altogether.
Customisability is a theme that runs throughout the default BlackBerry launcher, even allowing you to use third-party icon packs without installing apps like Nova Launcher. Beneath those tweaks, you'll find the KeyOne arriving running Android 7.1 (Nougat).
Another strong point on the KeyOne is the battery life you can eke out of the 3,505mAh power pack, which is handy as its fast-charging isn't as fast as some of its rivals. A solid hour of (not overly graphical) gaming drained just 13 per cent , which is considerably better than some of the alternatives.
Similarly, streaming movies and TV will drain around 10 per cent per hour from your battery at around 70 per cent screen brightness. That might not sound too impressive, but many smartphones would easily drain an extra 5 per cent or more here.
As long as you're not constantly streaming HD video or gaming all day long, the KeyOne is one of the few phones available that offers genuine two-day battery life. And if you are a super-user, it'll still easily get you through a full day.
Along with the user-focused Android tweaks, the KeyOne also ships with BlackBerry's DTEK security system on board too, which should keep any system admins that need to manage corporate devices across a network pretty happy. As a suite of tools for consumers, it has its uses too, keeping you logged in to services via a built-in password manager, for example.
Price and verdict
At £499, the BlackBerry KeyOne isn't a straightforward purchase, but the price of the handset isn't quite as relevant here as it is on other phones.
There are so few options for a Qwerty-equipped Android phone, let alone one that's actually worth using, that cost alone probably won't be the deciding factor.
Plus, of course, a significant part of BlackBerry's proposition is still aimed at businesses, which aren't as price-sensitive to individual device costs.
Combining the thoughtful - largely productivity-focused - operating system tweaks with a truly smart keyboard (again, providing you're really, really sure you want a physical Qwerty) is a genuinely unique and compelling proposition.
The problem, I suspect, is that most people would rather watch YouTube without black bars than use a physical keyboard on their phone in 2017.
If you definitely want a keyboard on your phone, you're not going to get a whole lot better than this - even the camera is entirely acceptable quality, which isn't always a given, even on a £500 phone. Add in that it has a two-day battery and there are yet more reasons to consider it. Again, there aren't many devices that can deliver on this claim.
The BlackBerry KeyOne is good in many ways, and I'd almost consider one as my daily phone for the battery and productivity alone. But that keyboard, good as it is, just isn't something I need in my life anymore.