BlackBerry KEYone

by Volker Weber

blackberry-keyone-1

It's not the DTEK70 after all. As TCL has revealed in Barcelona 'Mercury' will hit the market early April as BlackBerry KEYone for 599 €. That is not as ridiculously high priced as the PRIV was when it launched, but it seems quite expensive for a business device. This will not be the last BlackBerry. There is already another one in beta. I'm a bit puzzled by the branding. Maybe KEYone will be followed by KEYtwo etc. This is going to make sense when we see the first NOKEYone. :-)

I have been playing with this device last year, but I never disclose information before its time. You may think the unique feature is the keyboard, but what I found interesting is the battery, which is rated at 3500 mAh. That is a lot of juice for a 4.5" display. Compared to an iPhone, it's roughly double the size. This thing is meant to be used all day. I am not a huge fan of the design, but it's functional. It combines elements of Nokia, Apple and BlackBerry. The back provides a good grip, it feels very solid, but the keyboard is relatively small. It cannot hold a candle to the keyboard of a BlackBerry Classic, if only because the keys are not sculpted. I am actually faster on a soft keyboard than this one. It does provide the trackpad functionality first seen on the Passport and it introduces a fingerprint reader on the space bar.

This is a solid business phone with Android, but it does not make me drop a PRIV.

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