BlackBerry, for many, is a name of yesteryear and not up to speed with the likes of Samsung
and Apple. But the Priv demonstrates that BlackBerry are not as down and out as you
may think.
I will admit say that for some time the Priv has been on my radar as a personal purchase
and not for a long time have I felt so passionate about switching, so there may well be some
bias in this review.
The Priv may lack wireless charging and USB Type C connectivity that would accelerate
it to be up there with the best of the future-proofed handsets, but it is perfectly functional.
It still has a solid specification, shown on screen now, that allows this to be badged
with the ‘powerhouse’ title.
At 192g the Priv is not lightweight and it is not all that small either, but it is solid,
sturdy and feels premium to the fingers.
The display is silky smooth and the back panel at first almost feels tacky to the touch,
but it is just super grippy and really helps avoid the phone sliding out your hand.
At 5.4 inches the display verges on the larger side of what most people are comfortable using.
When you do begin using it though, you really appreciate the screen size and the quality.
At a resolution of 2560x1440, it sports an incredible pixel density of 540 pixels per
inch.
That’s 4x the amount of pixels of a standard HDTV.
Images are crisp and bright and well balanced with helped by the OLED display technology.
Corning Gorilla Glass 4 means the likelihood of scratches occurring are slim and the curved
edges make the device look and feel more premium.
Use the optional productivity tab that hides in the edge screen that you can flick out
to get quick access to tasks, calendar appointments and emails. It is really quite handy, ideal
for a glance at what is going on.
The physical keyboard is wonderfully hidden and many I have shown this too are amazed
at how it all fits together.
Small it is, BlackBerry Classic key sized it is not, and is miles off the key size of
the Passport, but it is functional.
I am blessed with small fingers but initially I struggled. Several weeks later I am getting
the hang of it and loving the feel the keyboard gives.
Even if it takes longer to type out what I need, the experience is more enjoyable and
I tend to make less mistakes.
The keys have a relatively small amount of travel but enough to know the key has been
pressed.
As you type on the keyboard, at the bottom of the display, predicted words will come
up and a simple flick up on the keyboard will select the word predicted.
The physical keyboard does also offer one or two things extra.
Firstly, press briefly or press and hold on any key and you can set customisable shortcuts.
Want your email to launch when you press the letter ‘E’ no problem. ‘I’ for Instagram,
consider it done.
Secondly, the keyboard doubles up as a trackpad with touch sensitive controls for fine cursor
control. This works in a number of ways. Use it to scroll up and down and around long web
pages or documents with ease.
Then there is the really fine control you get when entering and managing text. Swipe
across the keyboard from right to left to delete previously entered words one word at
a time. Double tap the keypad and move character by character.
If you were not aware the Priv is the first BlackBerry to run Google’s Android operating
system.
I won’t get into the discussion (that often leads to debate) as to why and if this is
the best choice for BlackBerry, but personally I think this is a good move.
Why? Well I am sold into the Android/Google ecosystem and this is the only device to offer
this and a physical keyboard, so this is a massive plus for me.
Version 5.1.1 is installed on the device and whilst this is not the very new Android 6
this is not a necessity in my opinion.
The OS is installed on the 32GB of internal memory leaving about 24GB available from the
moment you begin using the device. The microSD memory card slot does support cards up to
2TB.
3GB of RAM is available in the Priv and 90% of the time the Priv handles tasks well. But,
it can at times lag for up to 5 seconds. This should not be happening. I am confident it
will be fixed in future updates but at times it lacks the premium feel.
It is worth noting that under intense use, on first setup, and when charging and using
the Priv for navigation, the back of the phone does get hot. Not too hot to touch, but warmer
than probably most would think normal.
The Priv is not weighed down by lots of BlackBerry customisation, but there is some and in my
opinion what customisation there is, is not all that bad.
BlackBerry’s own launcher gives you quite some flexibility. From changing wallpapers
to changing the order in which apps show. Begin typing and the device will start searching
for a relevant result. Press and drag up from the home key and you can go to Google now,
BlackBerry Hub or search; or indeed select your own shortcuts.
I mentioned earlier how the physical keyboard offers shortcuts, but there are shortcuts
in the software too. These are in the app draw under shortcuts, but you can add these
to your home screen to make life a lot easier.
From composing an email, to adding a contact or calendar appointment to starting a timer,
there are loads of useful additions that make this device more powerful.
Let me quickly cover some of the other key software features.
The BlackBerry Hub brings all of your communications into one place so you can view and respond
to all your messages from a single app.
Whether it is social media, email, text messages, calendar appointments, or phone calls, the
BlackBerry Hub allows you to see and prioritise all your messages at a glance; so you never
miss a message.
A nice feature the hub is, I do find it a bit overwhelming at times and often prefer
to navigate into different apps at my own accord.
Whether it’s your financial reports or contacts or emails, your data is encrypted on PRIV.
Extra steps are taken at both a hardware and software level to authenticate Android in
order to help protect you from malware and any unauthorised attempts to tamper with the
OS.
DTEK is an app that acts as a dashboard to monitor and control application access to
your microphone, camera, location and personal information. It provides a security rating
for your device and suggests how to improve it.
Another nice idea, that lacks execution and massive purpose presently, but this will improve
in time.
See 3 dots under an app icon. You can view any application widget by simply swiping up
or down across the icon on your home screen, giving you fast access to the information
you need, when you need it.
I like the idea but have not yet changed my working habits to make full use of this and
I think the same will be said of many other existing Android users.
Advanced interactions include flip to mute, flip to save power and hold to stay awake.
The single speaker on the front for me has been quite impressive.
No it is not perfect, it is not HTC M9 Boomsound quality but few are.
The width of the speaker channel helps with volume and clarity when listening to it.
The camera is engineered to deliver professional looking photos with minimal effort. With an
18 MP dual-flash camera, it integrates technologies commonly found in professional DSLR cameras,
so BlackBerry says.
This all sounds lovely but to date the results have been somewhat mixed and not really DSLR
quality.
Generally speaking well lit shots, typically outdoors were good in terms of colour and
detail but low light, even with the flash became very noisy and not really up to the
standard they should be.
Whilst there is a benefit to rich saturated colours the Priv offers in my opinion a more
natural colour profile.
HDR is available and worth using at times if you do not select the ‘HDR Auto’ option,
it can improve photos quite considerably.
The Priv has a range of settings that you can apply as you frame the scene, including
live colour filters and exposure control.
Features like Phase Detection Auto Focus, Optical Image Stablaisation help the camera
focus instantly and accurately, and capture blur-free, realistic looking photos, even
in low light.
They work quite well together but the camera software is a bit slow and catching the moment
might be tricky when it can take half to a full second or so for the camera to capture
the shot.
The Priv can record in 4K but video capture at night looks a bit grainy and could be better.
The 2 megapixel front facing camera seems like a token effort and is poor show in todays
5 and 8 megapixel selfie world.
At 3410mah, the battery built into the Priv is larger than many and as such you would
expect decent battery life from it.
My findings have been a bit mixed and I can’t really explain why or what has caused the
deviance in battery life.
For the first few days I was getting somewhere in the region of 5 hours of screen on time.
Other days it can be less than 4 hours, but on average it is around about the 4-4.5 hours
mark.
The Priv has sent me on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster over the last few weeks. I have
been really thinking long and hard about whether this is the device for me and would I keep
it.
The answer is yes.
For having so long used a touchscreen keyboard it is taking time to get back to using the
physical. When I do though, nothing beats that tactile feel in my opinion and that satisfying
clunk that comes from sliding the device open.
So solidly built, the parts that need improvement in my opinion is generally software and in
time these improvements will come.
The truth is the Priv can stand confidently on its own two feet. It is a unique and select
audience that will like it and be prepared to pay for it. That same audience may well
be a little more accommodating of its pitfalls.
Yes there are areas which could be improved, but my goodness I think they have done a stellar
job and for a first attempt at an Android phone.