We have just received our much anticipated BlackBerry Priv and so far it seems to be a really nice device,Up till now there has been much talk about its price and I tend to agree it is a little costly but after the wait people have jumped right in and paid a premium price for the first Android from BlackBerry..This is a new direction for BlackBerry who are struggling at the moment when it comes to handset sales,With a slider and keyboard to boot this device sticks out in the crowd and offers users something new,will it keep current BlackBerry fans under its belt and convert those back who have moved on? The keyboard is not like the amazing Passport but reminds me of old and is one of BlackBerry’s well known features,is this enough to keep them afloat?
Main attributes to the Priv are as follows.
Shoots 4K – 200GB of storage – 32GB on board storage. Up to 52 shortcuts can be applied and get full use of the keyboard,although its seems a bit crammed you quickly adapt to it,then of course you can use the virtual keyboard their own native keyboard is excellent and you can always switch to swiftkey too,you have choice…
IMAGE GALLERY
Dual curved screen – Something Samsung brought to the table but its nice,its unique and make the device its own,the device feels comfortable in hand too.
Keyboard
Small it maybe but you get used to it quickly,not quite the same as old though,those who have owned the passport or classic will feel a tad hard done by.But as i said its quick to adapt too and already I am finding myself using it more,Much better than THIS
Battery Life
3410mAh sounds good on the tin but its going to get you a day,given the few days we have used it the battery life is improving and about 4hrs screen on time,with a Marshmallow update due in 2016 this will fix many niggles,so they need to move on that…Again fast charging is present so this can be forgiven..
Speaker
Its big and loud,not like the HTC boom but good nonetheless,great audio clarity,however when headphones are used via the 3,5mm jack sound is poor,its low..This can be addressed by a software update,Yes BlackBerry listen up….We like our music loud..When using headphones via bluetooth or USB OTG the sound is also great though,but for wired fans this 3.5mm volume issue needs addressing…
Build Quality
Top notch it has to be said,with a grippy back holding the Priv is nice,it wont slip from hand,it feels solid as a whole,even when opened the slider mechanism feels solid and the device feels solid yet better balanced.
The cons
Price,touching €800,It could have had marshmallow on board instead of lollipop, Availability and its unlikely we will see this in Ireland on a network..
Take a look at the image gallery and unboxing below and if you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments or get me on the Twitter machine and we will answer you there..
Check out our unboxing below..