For the BlackBerry lovers
Announced at MWC 2017, the BlackBerry KeyOne has made its way to the Indian shores. The smartphone is priced at Rs 39,990 and will be available exclusively on Amazon.in from August 8. Kicking things off with the specifications, the smartphone has a 4.5-inch display, with 1080×1620 pixel resolution. The device is 9.4mm thick and weighs about 180 grams. Powering the KeyOne is the Snapdragon 625 platform, coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64GB built-in storage, expandable up to 2TB via a microSD card. The rear has a 12MP camera and the front has an 8MP camera. It has USB Type-C connectivity and a 3505mAh battery. BlackBerry claims that the device can charge 50 percent in 36 minutes.
Starting with the design, the smartphone has a textured faux leather back that gives it a good grip. The display has Gorilla Glass 4 protection. The good old BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard sits below the display and if you are nostalgic about a physical keyboard, then you will feel right at home with this one. The keyboard has some neat tricks, some of which were present in previous BlackBerry smartphones as well. For example, the entire keyboard works like a trackpad, making it easy to scroll through mails and websites without physically touching the display. Another nifty keyboard trick is using its touch sensitive nature as a delete button. If you are typing a message or an email and want to delete some words, simply swipe from right to left to delete the typed words. There are a lot more gesture-based tricks one can use on the smartphone.
Speaking of security, the BlackBerry KeyOne comes with DTEK, an app we have seen on previous devices and it pretty much works the same. You get notifications when an app is accessing certain information on your smartphone. For example, when you switch on the torch app, it accesses the camera and this pops up in the notifications. You can disable notifications, but it’s a nice touch for people that are paranoid about smartphone security.
The BlackBerry KeyOne also has a fingerprint sensor which is combined with the spacebar key. When you take the smartphone out of your pocket, there are two small LED lights that light up on either side of the spacebar to help you easily identify the positioning of the fingerprint sensor – a handy feature for those reaching for their smartphone in the dark.
The rear and front cameras seemed to focus fast and click pictures instantly, and you wouldn’t expect anything less from a smartphone priced at Rs 39,990. We will however reserve our judgement on the quality of images for our final review.
Overall, the BlackBerry KeyOne looks like an interesting device. Will it put BlackBerry back on the map? Only time will tell. Until then stay tuned as we will bring you full review of the smartphone soon.
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Sameer Mitha
Sameer Mitha lives for gaming and technology is his muse. When he isn’t busy playing with gadgets or video games he delves into the world of fantasy novels. View Full Profile
