The Gentleman Magazine Issue 7 | February 2018 | Page 82

BlackBerry KEYone Black Edition:
“Not just the best BlackBerry I have ever used, but it’s the best phone I have ever owned”
Words By Sebastian Oakley
BlackBerry is a name that stands out around the world for
security and productivity ever since they started production
in 1984 , now 34 years on and a licensing agreement with TCL,
BlackBerry Mobile have produced the BlackBerry KEYone
Black Edition and what a device it is. Back to the screen, it boasts a scratch-resistant IPS LCD panel
with a resolution of 1620 x 1080, 433 PPI and a 24-bit colour
depth. Now all this put together makes this one of the most
enjoyable screens to look at day-in-day-out, Colours look
fantastic and the brightness is phenomenal.
Before I start this review, I will state that I have been a
BlackBerry user since the Bold 9700, I then upgraded to BB10
with the Passport and then to the Android eco system via the
Priv. So, I have witnessed first hand how the BlackBerry phone
brand has evolved into BlackBerry Mobile that we see today,
and I must say they have achieved greatness with the KEYone
and Motion. I currently have mine set just off the lowest setting and I can see
the screen come day or night with no viewing issues. However,
if you like your screen bright it can achieve brightness which I
think any user you be amazed by.
From opening the box of the BlackBerry KEYone Black Edition
you know this is a premium built smartphone, with its black
aluminium chassis this device feels solid in the hand, you also
get a nice rubberised back to the device which I found to be
extremely grippy which is perfect for one-handed use. Yes, you
read that right one-handed use, you can’t say that about a lot of
smartphones on the market today. This is achieved by its 4.5”
screen and that amazing QWERTY Keyboard we have grown
to love from BlackBerry making this phone an extremely
manageable 5.8” in height and 2.8” in width – perfect for one-
handed use for all users.
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Spec wise in the KEYone Black Edition you are getting an 8MP
front camera with flash, 12MP large pixel rear camera with dual-
tone flash along with a finger print sensor that is embedded in
the spacebar of the keyboard – I find this feature fantastic, very
snappy and a bonus to the already brilliant security.
The processor is a Snapdragon 625 and it has 4GB of ram and
64GB of internal storage with the option is add additional
storage of a whopping 256GB MicroSD!
Using this device for just over a month as my daily driver it has
taken everything I have thrown at it, multiple email accounts,
tons of apps running in the background, split screening apps
etc and it has never missed a beat.
, Security in Motion”