Moving from iPhone to BlackBerry KeyOne, the Experience so Far

We are now well in our way into 2018 and like anything else I decided to make a bit of a change. This time it’s with the most frequently used gadget that I have, my smartphone.

This year I decided to switch from my trust iPhone into the Android based Blackberry KeyOne. The reasoning behind it is quite simple, I wanted a physical keyboard to reduce my typos and the only new phone that has it is the Blackberry KeyOne.

A lot of people who know me have told me that it’s a mistake. Even I wasn’t so sure of that myself. So after using this Blackberry KeyOne for a while, I’ll share with you some of my experiences.

The Physical Keyboard

The physical keyboard is like I said, the main driver to get a Blackberry for me. I’m happy to say that the physical keyboard does perform well.

The tactile feeling is very close to the old Blackberry that I used to have a while ago. The shape of the keys are as such that they are not just squares but slanted a bit, making it easy to type without pressing the wrong button.

I gotta gotta say that it took a day or two to get used to a physical keyboard. However once I got used to it, it’s really good to use.

In addition, they keyboard’s gestures are really handy too for choosing the word suggestions and scrolling through pages.

The only thing that I wished is that the put some sort of weight down the keyboard, so that the weight is more balanced when typing.

In short, the keyboard delivers to the expectation. Definitely an improvement for me over the iPhone 7 plus soft keyboard.

Camera

Mobile phone camera is something that I use quite heavily. I love photography and in absence of my SLR I use my phone a lot.

Now, compared to the iPhone, the KeyOne’s camera is definitely not as good. Focusing speed and low light performance is below the iPhone.

Having said that, with the correct settings and conditions, it should be possible to take a good shot.

Design and Build

Compared to the iPhone 7 plus, the KeyOne is considerably thicker. In the photo above, even with my glass screen protector attached to the iPhone 7, they KeyOne is still thicker.

Is this a bad thing though? I don’t think so. The blackberry feels really sturdy and I’m not so worried that the body will scuff up badly (granted that I was using the jet black iPhone 7 Plus. It’s actually easier to hold as well.

Battery

Next to the keyboard, I think the battery life is another advantage for this phone. On a typical work day with a whole bunch of emails and Web browsing, the battery lasts very well.

From 100% battery at 7am I ended up with 20% at 10pm.

Entertainment

This part is where the phone doesn’t perform very well. For normal entertainment usages like netflix or watching YouTube videos it’s fine, but there are black bars due to the screen’s 3:2 aspect ratio.

I tried playing a few games too and while they are totally playable, the framerates were not as smooth as when I used my iPhone.

On the good side though, since this is android and I like retro gaming I’m able to install dosbox turbo, something that I haven’t been able to do in iOS.

Conclusion

In conclusion, so far my transition from the iPhone 7 plus to the Blackberry KeyOne has been smooth. In fact, this whole post was written using the KeyOne.

They always say, always use the right tool for the job and the Blackberry is definitely the phone for work with its solid keyboard, sturdy body and great battery life.

Categorised in: General article, Review