The new Blackberry Priv is BlackBerry’s first Android phone. That means you get BlackBerry’s best productivity features, like BlackBerry Hub and Blend, and supreme security, plus access to around 1.5 million Android apps. Not only do you get more apps than ever, Android also gives you the flexibility to personalise everything about your device.
The BlackBerry Priv’s best feature is probably its slide out keyboard. This is complemented by a 5.4-inch screen coated in Corning Gorilla Glass 4, it has a relatively high pixel density paired with a 1440p resolution, leaving text sharp and crisp and images looking attractive. The device also features the signature professional BlackBerry styling.
The Priv also has a curved display. The phone’s sliding mechanism means the screen doesn’t wrap around quite as completely as Samsung’s Galaxy S6 Edge+, and it isn’t as useful. Samsung’s curved displays let you store app shortcuts, or serve up notifications, or keep tabs on missed calls. The Priv’s curved sides host a fairly mundane productivity app and a little battery status indicator when you’re charging the device.
The phone offers NFC connectivity for file sharing or shopping with Android Pay, and there’s a single micro USB 2.0 connector at the bottom that’s SlimPort enabled – with the right adapters, you can get HDMI, DVI and DisplayPort connectivity, as well as the ability to output 4K video at 30 frames per second.
The Priv is equipped with an 18-megapixel camera engineered by German lens manufacturer Schneider-Kreuznach. Features like phase detect autofocus mean you’ll have a better shot at capturing the action, and the dual colour LED flash promises to brighten up your shots without casting an unsightly blue or yellow haze on your images.
Blackberry specs the phone with powerful processors. The Priv is powered by a 64-bit, Snapdragon 808 hexa-core system-on-chip (SoC). There’s a dual-core 1.8GHz CPU that the phone will tap for high-intensity tasks, and a 1.44GHz quad-core CPU that’ll be slower, but more energy efficient, for general phone use.
The Priv is the phone BlackBerry fans have been waiting for. It has BlackBerry’s security, a physical keyboard paired with a spacious, beautiful screen, and access to Android apps. If you’re an Android fan who likes a nicely designed smartphone that is a true alternative to Samsung, LG or even Apple, then this could be the phone for you.