Why the BlackBerry KEY2 is my favorite phone since the Lumia 1520

The Lumia 1520 is my all-time favorite phone. With the shine of Windows Phone 8.i, the stunning photographic camera sensor, insane battery life, that huge, gorgeous brandish, that centre-popping polycarbonate body, ooh baby. No phone has really come shut to delivering that sort of experience for me since. Only man, the new Android-based BlackBerry KEY2 comes damn shut.

Spec	BlackBerry KEY2
Operating Organization	Android eight.1 Oreo
Display	4.5-inch, 1620x1080 IPS LCD 434ppi
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 4x Kryo 2.2GHz, 4x Kryo 1.8GHz Adreno 512 GPU
RAM	6GB
Storage	64GB / 128GB
Expandable	microSD up to 2TB
Rear Photographic camera 1	12MP (1.3 micron) ƒ/i.8 light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation+phase autofocus dual-tone LED wink
Rear Camera two	12MP (1 micron) ƒ/ii.6 2x optical zoom portrait mode
Front Camera	8MP Selfie wink 1080p/30 video
Bombardment	3500 mAh Non-removable
Dimensions	151.iv x 71.eight 10 8.5 mm
Cost	$650

Yeah! I've used quite a lot of the flagship Android handsets since finally ditching Windows x Mobile, having been unable to bargain with buggy, crashing Twitter app, and the battery-murdering PWA version that replaced it. Each telephone I've used has some form of downside that frustrates in a way that Lumia simply didn't back in the day.

I've noted in previous articles that I'yard not a huge app user. All the banks I work with have nifty mobile websites, and every bit long as my phone has the basics, like Twitter, Instagram, a decent Reddit, and YouTube solution, I'grand pretty much happy.

Fifty-fifty while being ignored by the big players, Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows ten Mobile had decent enough app coverage, so it was never actually the allure of Snapchat or Pokemon Go that made me fall out of love with Windows Phone. The lack of support from Microsoft, and the noesis that inevitably, eventually, it was going to get abandonware only fabricated the decision for me.

Personal power station

The all-time thing about my Lumia 1520 was the battery life. Several days on standby, what certainly felt like upward to two days of moderate usage, the Lumia 1520 was a true beast. I travel a off-white bit for work, and the ability to non accept to accept a hulking backup power bank is a boon I really savor. Lumia provided that, fifty-fifty on its smaller handsets.

Battery life was the headline feature that attracted me to the BlackBerry KEYone from last yr. I fell in love with the handset for its ridiculous battery life, and thankfully, the KEY2 brings with information technology equal amounts of juice. You can simply forget battery life with these phones, and just have peace of heed that no matter how difficult y'all drive the phones, even playing games, you're going to at the very least go through a whole 24-hour interval. If yous're beingness conservative, you might get through several.

Of class, bombardment life isn't the KEY2's signature feature.

KEYboarding life

Another mode BlackBerry'southward new KEY-line phones roped me is with its QWERTY keyboard.

Despite the fact algorithmic swipe typing seems to have become the norm, I still find information technology to be a clunky, slow, inaccurate manner of interacting with a phone, particularly after spending over a yr with BlackBerry's hardware mobile keyboards. The KEYone keys were quite resistive and took quite a while to soften up a bit and go used to. The KEY2, however, refines the experience in some pretty stark ways right out of the box.

The KEY2'southward keyboard, like the KEYone, has some pretty cracking tricks upwardly its sleeve to help you get things done.

The KEY2'southward keyboard, like the KEYone, has some pretty neat tricks upwardly its sleeve to help y'all get things done. Naturally, it comes with a compromise of the phone's screen real manor, simply that has added benefits of reducing battery load. It's with some irony that the KEY2 actually helps keep more of your screen visible, since you lot can use the hardware keyboard itself as a scroll bicycle by just swiping on the keys. Y'all can as well set the keys to all sorts of long-press shortcuts, and prepare up new Speed primal combo commands, similar to the Windows key shortcuts we all know and love. Less swiping through menus, less on-screen clutter.

The new keyboard is very "clicky" with keys that feel far more tactile and responsive, while existence easier on your fingers. I take typed entire articles on the KEYone and KEY2, which is something I simply wouldn't carp with using Microsoft's Wordflow keyboard, SwiftKey, Google'southward keyboard, or any other touch-screen keyboard. There are but far likewise many algorithmic mistakes to make, not to mention how those keyboards like to pretend slang words and profanity don't exist. When y'all write with the KEY2, it'due south the closest thing you can get to having a total-diddled democratic typing feel from your Windows PC. Once you go used to information technology, it'due south touch and swipe writing that feels like the dark ages, not BlackBerry.

Microsoft-powered BlackBerry

Another cool aspect of the KEY2 is that it'south straightforward to strip out all of BlackBerry and Google's congenital-in Android stuff and replace it with Microsoft services. The KEY2 also has a programmable Convenience key on the side, which I've set to actuate a Cortana voice prompt for setting upward reminders.

With the Microsoft Launcher, OneDrive, Office apps, and Cortana, you can ensure that practically every core chore yous might employ your phone for is synced over to your PC. Send web pages from Edge on your phone to your PC in a flash, resume tasks in Discussion across devices, and run into your mobile activity history on Windows 10 cheers to timeline.

Unlike iOS and certain Android phones, virtually everything nigh the KEY2 can be defaulted out to Microsoft services. Replace Google's banana with Cortana, supersede Chrome with Edge, and even replace BlackBerry's Android launcher with Microsoft'south own, which offers a make clean expect right out of the box. All those settings tin can also be backed upward to OneDrive too, which fabricated moving from Android phone to Android telephone extra easy.

Non a perfect device by any ways

The KEY2 is still nowhere near every bit satisfying as the Lumia 1520 was, however. The camera quality is remarkably poor, still, despite having an upgraded sensor over its predecessor. Information technology performs well enough for most twenty-four hour period to day things, specially with a lot of natural lighting, but throw in a smidge of darkness and it'south fuzz city.

The performance also takes a hit, due to the processor used for this handset. The trade-off is a heave to bombardment life, of form, but playing games or heavy multitasking can visibly impede operation. It'southward never what I'd call terrible though. For the well-nigh part, the handset is zippy, and switching betwixt apps is rapid, but sometimes the animations can lag a bit, which is annoying.

Finally, the screen'southward clarity is a tad disappointing, exacerbated past the extreme summer weather nosotros've been having in Europe. In straight sunlight yous'll struggle to see the brandish, which is abrasive, and a far weep from the all-time, similarly-priced Lumia handsets in my drawer.

The performance bug and camera mediocrity brand the ~$650 price signal a piddling hard to stomach, particularly when Android handsets like the OnePlus 6 are offering more than power and sensor quality for a far lower cost point. You have to really want that keyboard and that insane battery life, and luckily for BlackBerry, I really do.

The design is understated, but sleek and smart, as a business phone should be.

Despite the bump in price, I feel that it's a worthy trade-off for the overall step upward in build quality BlackBerry'southward manufacturer TCL has put on offer here. The KEYone most looks like a image right off an assembly line rather than a polished product, defective symmetry and refinement. The KEY2 is incredibly thin, with an attractive, chamfered edges, a unique rubberized back cover, and but more forethought when information technology comes to arranging regular phone features, such as the front-facing camera and speakers. Black everything with silverish accents makes the KEY2 a truthful looker, almost reminiscent of a blackness Lumia 930 from the front.

BlackBerry also cleverly added a rough texture to the power button on the side, nestled between the book rocker and convenience key, making it easier to place and get used to. The KEY2 also has the all-time fingerprint scanner placement I've experienced and then far with Android handsets, hidden abroad cleverly in the keyboard'south infinite bar.

The design is understated, only sleek and smart, equally a business phone should be.

Learning to love Android

Android is still ugly compared to Windows 10 Mobile, and Google's nefarious tendrils are never far away when y'all're using their operating arrangement, but for now, it's the next-best thing for Windows fans. The fact you can't remove whatsoever of Apple's default services on their handsets makes information technology a no-go for me, non to mention their extortionate prices, middling battery life, and hatred of the headphone jack.

Microsoft has been difficult at piece of work making Android ameliorate for PC users, and then far, Redmond has washed a truly awesome task of information technology and then far. Like the KEYone before it, I find that this is the only phone I'thou willing to utilize Discussion on really for writing, rather than simply viewing documents.

My heart nevertheless yearns for a Windows-powered handset. Whether or non that will be Surface Andromeda, I merely don't know. For at present, BlackBerry's KEY2 is filling the void pretty well.

What phone are you using at the moment? Let us know in the comments!

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