Wow these pictures man I love this camera yo yo
guess where I just got done did you clean your car nope I just got 28
emails done on this blackberry really I mean don't you need to work on a
computer for that kind of stuff no I'm telling you man the physical keyboard on
this blackberry is definitely something worth checking out here wanted to give
it a shot oh cool man thanks so this is the BlackBerry key2 the successor to
the BlackBerry keyone that I was very fortunate to test out last year I did
get some hands-on time with this device during launch and quite frankly I had
mixed feelings about this particular smartphone and how well would it compete
with the rest of the Android flagship smartphones in 2018 especially
considering it's $650 price tag that is expensive you know it's a premium price
to pay for a smartphone of this caliber but either way I've been using the key2
for about a month and it has been an interesting experience quite frankly
similar to the keyone so I'll be spending the majority this video talking
about using the physical keyboard on Android smartphone in 2018 what's it
like adapting a lifestyle that's completely different from a typical
average Android smartphone so let's discuss all right so let's talk about
some of the improvements that BlackBerry has done to the key2 when compared to
the keyone in terms of the physical keyboard so from a material finish it's
now matte black versus a glossy plastic finish from the key one so this does a
few things one it helps a little bit with the grip so if you're typing on the
smartphone you would notice that you'd actually be able to hit all those
buttons easily because there's that extra texture that adds and it really
complements the typing experience and obviously it doesn't get greasy as
faster as plastic so I really like the matte finish plus again it aesthetically
looks really nice with the device blends in really well with the aluminum unibody
frame so from a design standpoint I love what blackberry has done in terms of the
material choice for the physical Keys the buttons are a little
bit bigger than last year's model so they do complement the typing experience
the tactile feedback is excellent again it is an awesome experience when you're
composing emails once you're used to it there's a less room for typos because it
is a physical keyboard with individual buttons so you can feel them as you're
typing them over something like a virtual keyboard where you just sort of
tapping on the glass do not that the phone doesn't vibrate when you're typing
on the physical keyboard but rather you get this tactile sort of experience the
act returns are pretty short yet they're defined the spacebar key still acts as a
fingerprint reader which is a great implementation in the first place where
job library for still keeping that the speed key is a new feature that has been
added to the key to so this essentially allows the user to quickly switch
between apps without having to go through the home screen and it is
programmable so for instance I can assign I for Instagram F for Facebook
C for Chrome or G for Gmail and I can access those apps by holding down the
speed key and pressing those respective buttons it's a cool feature a customized
ability is just endless with all these 52 buttons you can assign them with to a
certain app but personally I haven't really taken advantage of this feature
because I'm so used to exiting out of the app and looking for other apps and
accessing them but I don't want to hear your thoughts on speaky what do you guys
think about it is it a cool faster way to access apps switch apps in particular
flick typing is still present consider it as an autocorrect functionality with
G port or I guess a Blackberry version of that so you can flip up to register
your desired word or flip back to erasin it's quick and fast it works really well
it's pressingly better than G board if I'm being fairly honest now the presence
of this physical keyboard is a godsend when it comes to multitasking you can
have a YouTube video playing at the top and have your mail app below and you can
start composing your email without any unnecessary interruptions so for
instance on my pixel 2 I tried opening up a YouTube video on the top and of
course I tried composing an email but right now when you look at it I'll have
the virtual keyboard sort of taking half the screen and then I have my email but
then the video is completely cut off so you know from a realistic screen to body
ratio it just doesn't make any sense when it comes to multitasking especially
for this particular feature but for the key - it works really well because the
screen size is just perfect for that split view so yeah I think overall the
execution when it come to multitasking is just a lot better on
the key - it makes a lot more sense than key - when compared to something like an
Android smartphone or for instance a pixel do and get in this case the scroll
feature is still present but it's not that big of an improvement compared to
the keyone it works pretty well with some apps and not so much with others
for example with Google Docs it skips like 50 lines with just a gentle swipe
now I thought that the center area this keyboard Westworld sensitive but having
used a smart phone in one hand I realized that the whole keyboard is
sensitive and it doesn't have any palm rejection so if I hold this keyboard
pretty stiffly like that I have noticed times where the screen would just keep
scrolling up and down in a faster manner and it just takes away that whole
experience when you're viewing content if you're just reading up something
online so yeah that's just something that I want to mention
speaking of one-hand operation that was quite the challenge with the key 2 in
fact the keyone as well typing again it gets significantly
slower especially when you are trying to reach a secondary number keys it is
again very highly inefficient I think the physical keyboard is really geared
towards two-hand operation you really need to use both of your thumbs for the
fastest experience now considering that this is a physical keyboard glide typing
is totally out of question when you compared to other Android smartphones
with a virtual keyboard featuring that so if you're looking for something with
one hand operation or something that you can quickly compose text with key to is
definitely not for you because I can quickly compose texts and emails with
that feature I should also mention that I've run into times where I would
accidentally hit the home screen or the home button when I'm trying to reach for
the T or the Y one of the keys at the top row so that gets a little bit
knowing especially when you're trying to type up something and I think part of
this has to do with how sensitive the capacitor where the navigating buttons
are which are capacitive by the way so that I did find a little bit annoying so
do keep that in mind if you're an emoji lover then the BlackBerry key2 is
certainly not for you because by default device uses the BlackBerry keyboard so
the emoji collection is fairly limited plus it opens up a half of the screen
real estate if you were looking for a certain emoji so again it really takes
away from that experience but you don't have the option to search for a
particular emoji or even a gift now if you were to compare this to something
like G board it be of a larger collection because it
gets constantly updated and I would much rather prefer G board over the
BlackBerry keyboard just because the collection is there now you could
technically use G board on the key2 it's just a matter of switching back and
forth between the BlackBerry keyboard and G board and that can be done
automatically within the notifications tab where when you're trying to compose
a text or an email it'll automatically pop up it's just a matter of your user
preference the only issue is that when you're trying to use the secondary
functions you'll have to hold the shift key and you know compose or hit that
secondary function button whether that's a number or if you're trying to
capitalize a certain letter but when you're using the BlackBerry keyboard
accessing the secondary functions it's just a matter of simply hitting the alt
or the shift just once and you'll be able to use those secondary keys so
that's something to keep in mind again it's possible but personally I just
don't think it's a feasible option so having discussed my experience using the
physical keyboard on the key2 what are some of the workarounds when it comes to
using the device in general when it comes to other tasks well let's start
with the display it is a significant compromise for someone who heavily
invest their time on phones consuming content the lack of front-facing
speakers I mean I really wish if the earpiece acted as a left channel just to
add that extra kick when it comes to watching a video or something as the
bottom facing one can be easily muted and of course there's a lack of water
resistance remember if water gets into this device
through the tiny gaps the phone's functionality is pretty much compromised
last but not least there's a lack of wireless charging so there are a lot of
compromises and it's a drawbacks with the key2 and I think someone who's
willing to invest six hundred fifty dollars on something like the key2
should really you know look at their existing lifestyle and see themselves or
start analyzing probably put together a pros and cons list and see hey what are
some of the features that I see myself using with the key2 what are some of
the features I don't really care what I don't really use so yeah that's that's
that the display is pretty much the same size as the keyone you get the same 4.5
inch 16 20 by 1080 IPS display color reproductions just as expected they're
good viewing angles and a balanced contrast ratio it's again nowhere closer
to the saturation levels found on Sam flagships it's not a super-bright panel
I'll be honest so viewing outdoors might be a little bit of a challenge battery
life in one word is exceptional it features a 3500 milliamp hour battery
the exact same capacity as its predecessor I was easily able to get
through a couple of days with a single charge under casual use and this
involves checking my email browsing the web checking up on social media like
Twitter and Instagram and messaging as well now if you're a heavy user say for
example you consume a lot of media content then you can certainly get
through a day and a half worth of use on the key2 I don't think you'll be able
to kill the battery in a single day just because the way how they've built this
device in terms of the specs and how efficient it is it's pretty interesting
because you've got a smaller display a pretty efficient processor and so all of
these things sort of work hand-in-hand to give you that really good battery
life now I just want to quickly go over the software experience on the
blackberry k2 so out of the box BlackBerry has loaded it with Android
8.1 Oreo and it is expected to receive the Android P update later on now from
an OS perspective nothing really has changed from the keyone you're getting
the exact same sort of bloatware apps like bbm blackberry hub and a few other
applications that are of course preloaded on the on the phone but I
really don't see myself taking advantage of them then there's the Locker app
which I found to be particularly interesting because it's a pretty
important feature and actually one of the key selling features of the key2
essentially it's a private hub that lets you add certain apps folders documents
or even pictures with your fingerprint verification in my case I had my banking
app set up so every time I open them it would have to or I would have to
authenticate the startup with my fingerprint it's an added layer of
security in my opinion and if you're with someone who's working in the
corporate world where you're dealing with a lot of confidential files photos
and all the other kind of stuff this is something that you could take advantage
of where you would obviously need that extra authentication to access those
files so kudos to Blackbird for including that and I really wish if
other Android smartphones would be able to directly integrate that I'm sure
third-party apps are available but still it would be pretty cool to have that out
of the box and the last thing that I want to discuss here is the camera
performance on the key2 and this probably gonna be a short segment but
I'll say right now it's pretty terrible I mean look looking at these pictures it
definitely like it's coming from a smartphone
that's 150 to 200 dollars rather than a $650 smartphone I mean these pictures
they don't do any justice you know the sensor doesn't do a really
good job exposing for the highlights HDR doesn't really work that well I mean
eyes left all these settings in auto mode I thought HDL would do some justice
but that was not the case one of the best gaming headsets is now available
through mass drop the PC 3 7 X has fantastic drivers incredible comfort and
the best microphone in the class plus they look awesome for a gaming headset
check out the drop link below so there you have it my experience using the key
2 for the past few weeks of course with this physical keyboard now would I
recommend this phone for $650 no because I really feel like blackberry step they
just went a little too far there when it comes to pricing really wish if this
phone or I would I wish that this phone was surprised somewhere between 450 to
550 I think that would have been a pretty cool sweet spot for this
particular device because at 6:50 when you look at the competition it is just
it's it doesn't make any sense here than one plus six the the Google pixel 2 and
a few other smartphones as well so the key2 doesn't really compete with those
regard with those come with those flash chips but if you take pricing out of the
equation then this is a unique device in my opinion first and foremost the
physical keyboard it really is an awesome feature or a unique design
implementation when it comes to a Productivity if you want to get work
done if you're someone who's scripting on the golf you're writing a lot of
emails if you're basically spending majority of your time outdoors you know
working and just getting work done I think the physical keyboard will really
come in beneficial it just makes a lot more sense especially when it comes to
multitasking and you know less room for typos compared to G born on my pixel to
which I'm really frustrated with so yeah when it comes to productivity in general
key2 is an excellent option and there also the security features that are
built into the key2 which just takes things up a notch especially with D Tech
and the way how it handles and scans all the apps in the background for whether
or not if it's accessing your microphone your camera it's just really awesome and
I'm gonna end on this note no one's gonna buy the key2 for the best
possible display you know the best cameras or the best content consumed
experience that's not what the he too is really cute towards it really
is a wart machine if you want to get work done this is what you should
probably look into but you could still get them done on your smartphones it's
just that this would help the physical keyboard will really help elevate that
experience and of course you know considering the drawbacks those are some
of the things that you'll have to consider when you're looking into
something like the key2 but I'd love to hear your thoughts on this device
what do you guys think about it does it have its place or is it worthy enough to
compete with the rest of you know the Android smart forms of 2018
let me know in the comments down below I'm a bar with Hardware Canucks thank
you so much for watching and we'll see you in the next one