Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsProductive, not frivolous
Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2017
First of all, I'm not a typical smart-phone user. I don't live for cat videos or snarky 140-character proclamations on the state of humanity (politics), the nation (politics), and/or celebrities (incredibly brainless politics). If I had any hair left, it would be grey, and I'm considering buying a house with a lawn just to tell kids to get off of my grass.
No surprise, then, that my "use case" for a smart phone is a bit different than most. I care about productivity tools so that I can look like I'm working when I'm really in my workshop pretending to know how to fix and build things. (Productivity Note: This phone can be used to find someone to fix things you've fixed.) I type in reader-centric sentences and paragraphs, not "n txt spk 2 get msg :-) ;-) B-| <3". It takes a little bit of text to craft messages with some thought and nuance, some actual content, and text requires typing. Typing on a soft keyboard is to let others do the thinking for you, to get "suggested" from typo to bland average. The "fix" for half-baked soft-keyboard technology is ever-worse spelling, punctuation, and grammar. (Suggestions: "grandma," "gramophone," "Alexander Gram Bell.")
So to me, this device is a keyboard with productivity apps attached; and the apps have gotten pretty darned good. It's a communication portal for those who value the written word and have thoughts more complex than "like" to get across. It is for people who want to DO things, to think and create, not just react to what is fed to them.
For the desperate few who have endured this far, here's the actual review of the phone itself, a reward for your substantial sacrifice so far.
Positives:
Did I mention that it has a keyboard? It's a VERY nice keyboard, and once configured the way I wanted, has been GLORIOUS. It takes up the same screen space that a soft keyboard would. I've turned off most of the typing "help" that seems purpose-designed to wreck my prose. Android, however, persists a little. As does my prose. Sorry.
Solid build. It does have corners at the top, and I would absolutely HATE to drop it on one of those. But until that happens, it looks amazingly professional.
The screen seems to be attached as far as I can tell. Maybe I've missed something. *shakes the phone* Nope, still attached. It looks like a screen, with the same "wrap-around" fetish that has infected phone designers lately.
Battery is shockingly good. Turn the radio off at night and it lasts for three days. No longer do I walk through the airport looking for outlets like an out-of-air diver grasping for his buddy's regulator. An hour of charge gets me through a day of solid use. Well, it gets the PHONE through the day.
There are comments in the reviews about weak wifi. I have no objective measure of this except to say that of the dozen or so devices I use that have wifi, this is in the top three for connectivity. And the Bluetooth is so good that I worry it's getting a little chummy with my car's audio system. What, exactly, are you two plotting? I use a VPN away from home for my por... um... sensitive files, and it has never failed to work perfectly.
Stability is another place I've seen negative comments. It's Android running on a stock processor. What the heck apps did you load onto it? It's stable as hell, maybe two restarts for system updates in two months. Android and NSA spyware just WORK. Not sure what the complaints are.
USB C is a gift to the elderly and blind. Micro USB is proof that two ways of inserting a plug means it will be wrong the first try at least 75% of the time. Can somebody please work on the OTHER end of the cable now?
Don't care:
The Blackberry software is fine. Just... fine. I do use the hub occasionally, but would never notice if it wasn't there. And it's hard to see whether the DTEK is helping anything. I mean it's not like people stealing my e-mails are giving me feedback. This may be my own (now-obvious) ignorance speaking, but it all seems a bit of a shoulder shrug to me.
On the negative side:
The rubberized back helps with grip, but it tends to pick up marks and crumbs and fingerprints and small pets.
Also on the back, the camera sticks out a little. I feel like every time I set it down on a hard surface, I might as well scrub the lens with steel wool.
Both of these negatives may be negated soon with a leather case. Out of the box, though, they are "meh" design features.
The quick-access button is great except for the fact that it works. I keep bumping it. Awesome... another photo of my finger.
Conclusion:
Blackberry and Android had a baby, and here it is... the best of both. And by "best" I mean the most productive. If you want a fashion accessory with the processing power of an 80s Cray supercomputer, buy one of the generic slabs of glass that are out there. But if you are old enough to know what a Cray supercomputer is and/or your student debt came with actual spelling and grammar skills -- and you prioritize function over fashion -- then this device is for you.
