We've been following BlackBerry's journey from the top of the smartphone market to the bottom, and it has been extremely tempting on multiple occasions to declare the company effectively dead. Poor decision after poor decision has resulted in the company's products - which were the absolute must-have status symbols of an entire generation - being seen now as relics from the distant past. There are holdouts, no doubt, but their number is diminishing every day.
`
BlackBerry, the company formerly known as Research in Motion, has had many chances over the past few years to set its course right, but has instead launched one outlandish product after another; trying anything that might work. We liked the unusually shaped Passport(Review| Pictures), but it was never going to be a mass-market success. More recently, the Classic(Review| Pictures) represented a U-turn in strategy to cater to everyone who hated BB10's touch interface, and the Leap(Review) tried to appeal to budget-minded fans but missed that mark spectacularly.
blackberry_priv_angle2_ndtv.jpg
We now have yet another strategy shift, in the form of the BlackBerry Priv. The company has finally caved to pressure and adopted Android, turning its famous business-first ecosystem into a collection of apps and services. However, priced at Rs. 62, 990, this phone has its work cut out for it. Is the Priv finally going to give BlackBerry the success it so badly needs, or is still too little too late?
Look and feel
The Priv immediately feels like a super-premium device, but this is more about its build quality than its looks. At first glance, it doesn't have the "wow" factor that, for example, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge(Review| Pictures) has, but that changes the instant you flick the screen up to reveal the keyboard. It's been a really long time since we had anything other than a flat candybar phone to play with, and everything about the mechanism from its sound to its smoothness feels really, viscerally satisfying. It's way too easy to keep absentmindedly flicking the screen up and down when the phone is in your hands, and at no point did we have even the slightest doubt about the durability of BlackBerry's design.
The front is nearly all glass, with curved edges on the sides. The screen itself doesn't curve like the one on the Galaxy S6 Edge; the space to the sides is mostly the screen border. This means there's no need to strain to read what's at the screen's outer edges, but you'll still have to deal with reflections that are impossible to avoid.
blackberry_priv_left_ndtv.jpg
A large BlackBerry logo is placed front and centre above the screen, with a programmable multi-colour notification LED the front camera further to the right. When the screen is off and the phone is plugged in, you'll see a coloured bar indicating the current charge percentage along the screen's right edge. Apart from this, there is no real way in which BlackBerry has integrated the curves into its software or user experience.
Beneath the sliding screen is a lip that lets you push it up with one hand. Unfortunately, we often hit the on-screen Android home button when trying to do this. The bottom of the phone's lower half is thick enough to accommodate the phone's loudspeaker. The power button is on the left and the volume buttons are on the right.
blackberry_priv_rear_ndtv.jpg
The phone's rear has a carbon fibre finish which is smooth but still easy to grip. There's a thick silver ring around the camera lens, which protrudes quite a bit from the rear. The two-tone LED flash is right next to it. The Nano-SIM and microSD trays are located on the top of the phone's lower half, while the Micro-USB port and 3.5mm socket are on the bottom.
We were concerned about the Priv's size and weight, especially its balance when open. While not ideal, BlackBerry has done well. What surprised us was that this phone is really uncomfortable to talk on - the protective ridge on top dug into our ears and no amount of adjusting made it any better.
blackberry_priv_bottom_ndtv.jpg
Specifications
The BlackBerry Priv is a high-end phone with suitably high-end specs, comparable to today's top performers. Unfortunately, it has launched just weeks before the entire Android world will be refreshed, with every top company expected to launch a new flagship at MWC 2016 in late February. The Priv will look a lot like last year's news very soon.
That said, the hardware is still quite strong. There's a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, with six CPU cores, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage with the option of up to 2TB more using a microSDXC card, LTE support on Indian frequencies, NFC, GPS, and dual-band Wi-Fi ac. The display measures 5.43 inches diagonally and has a resolution of 1440x2560 pixels.
blackberry_priv_screen_ndtv.jpg
There's a 3410mAh battery with Quick Charge 2.0, but the bundlded charger does not support quick charging. The Micro-USB port on the bottom supports SlimPort accessories such as video output adapters. The camera on the rear has an 18-megapixel sensor, Schneider-Kreuznach optics, a two-tone LED flash, and optical image stabilisation. Video recording goes up to 4K at 30fps. The front camera is only 2 megapixels, so don't expect great-looking shots or video calls from it.
Software and usage
Rather than fork Android, which other companies have attempted to do, BlackBerry has gone with the whole Google package, apps and all. The Priv runs Android 5.1.1 though a Marshmallow update should be released by the end of March. There are lots of tweaks and modifications, but surprisingly not a custom skin that might replicate the BB10 experience more faithfully. To the casual user, BlackBerry's involvement in the software of the Priv won't seem any deeper than other manufacturers go, with just a few preloaded apps and cosmetic touches.
blackberry_priv_android_ndtv.jpg
That said, there are security-centric features under the hood. BlackBerry knows what its enterprise and corporate customers demand - as we've been told, the name "Priv" comes from "privilege" and "privacy". BlackBerry promises that it has "hardened" Android to protect your data and defend against malware and intrusion attempts. An app called DTEK gives you an overview of your security settings and what your apps have been up to.
The first thing you'll notice on the Android homescreen is the trademark red BlackBerry "splat" badge on app icons, letting you know that you have notifications. While eye-catching, you lose the ability to see how many notifications you have in each app. The badge has also been incorporated into the notifications on the lockscreen and in the pull-down shade: a strip of icons along the top lets you see alerts for each individual app or phone function, and for some reason there is a numerical count next to each one here, even though they're much smaller.
blackberry_priv_screens1_ndtv.jpg
In addition to widgets and app icons, you can have shortcut icons on the homescreens as well. These are very handy, but could confuse some users. These help you perform specific actions, and have descriptive names such as "Check battery level", "Turn Wi-Fi on/off", "Schedule BBM meeting", and "Text contact". This still doesn't quite make up for the relatively sparse selection of quick toggles in the notifications shade.
One very neat feature is that you can call up homescreen widgets related to specific apps by swiping up or down on their icons. This lets you quickly pull up your Chrome favourites or VLC's playback controls, see messages between you and a particular contact, or even check the contents of your Google Drive. It's really convenient and lets you avoid cluttering up your homescreens. The app drawer scrolls vertically, and there are tabs for widgets and shortcuts beyond what you choose to have outside on the homescreens.
blackberry_priv_screens2_ndtv.jpg
There's also a semi-transparent tab on the right, and if you swipe inwards from the edge, you'll be taken to a screen that shows you your upcoming calendar events, unread messages, to-dos, and favourite contacts. You can turn it off if you like, or swap it to the left. It doesn't serve very much purpose since it duplicates a lot of other functionalitWe've been following BlackBerry's journey from the top of the smartphone market to the bottom, and it has been extremely tempting on multiple occasions to declare the company effectively dead. Poor decision after poor decision has resulted in the company's products - which were the absolute must-have status symbols of an entire generation - being seen now as relics from the distant past. There are holdouts, no doubt, but their number is diminishing every day.
`
BlackBerry, the company formerly known as Research in Motion, has had many chances over the past few years to set its course right, but has instead launched one outlandish product after another; trying anything that might work. We liked the unusually shaped Passport(Review| Pictures), but it was never going to be a mass-market success. More recently, the Classic(Review| Pictures) represented a U-turn in strategy to cater to everyone who hated BB10's touch interface, and the Leap(Review) tried to appeal to budget-minded fans but missed that mark spectacularly.
blackberry_priv_angle2_ndtv.jpg
We now have yet another strategy shift, in the form of the BlackBerry Priv. The company has finally caved to pressure and adopted Android, turning its famous business-first ecosystem into a collection of apps and services. However, priced at Rs. 62, 990, this phone has its work cut out for it. Is the Priv finally going to give BlackBerry the success it so badly needs, or is still too little too late?
Look and feel
The Priv immediately feels like a super-premium device, but this is more about its build quality than its looks. At first glance, it doesn't have the "wow" factor that, for example, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge(Review| Pictures) has, but that changes the instant you flick the screen up to reveal the keyboard. It's been a really long time since we had anything other than a flat candybar phone to play with, and everything about the mechanism from its sound to its smoothness feels really, viscerally satisfying. It's way too easy to keep absentmindedly flicking the screen up and down when the phone is in your hands, and at no point did we have even the slightest doubt about the durability of BlackBerry's design.
The front is nearly all glass, with curved edges on the sides. The screen itself doesn't curve like the one on the Galaxy S6 Edge; the space to the sides is mostly the screen border. This means there's no need to strain to read what's at the screen's outer edges, but you'll still have to deal with reflections that are impossible to avoid.
blackberry_priv_left_ndtv.jpg
A large BlackBerry logo is placed front and centre above the screen, with a programmable multi-colour notification LED the front camera further to the right. When the screen is off and the phone is plugged in, you'll see a coloured bar indicating the current charge percentage along the screen's right edge. Apart from this, there is no real way in which BlackBerry has integrated the curves into its software or user experience.
Beneath the sliding screen is a lip that lets you push it up with one hand. Unfortunately, we often hit the on-screen Android home button when trying to do this. The bottom of the phone's lower half is thick enough to accommodate the phone's loudspeaker. The power button is on the left and the volume buttons are on the right.
blackberry_priv_rear_ndtv.jpg
The phone's rear has a carbon fibre finish which is smooth but still easy to grip. There's a thick silver ring around the camera lens, which protrudes quite a bit from the rear. The two-tone LED flash is right next to it. The Nano-SIM and microSD trays are located on the top of the phone's lower half, while the Micro-USB port and 3.5mm socket are on the bottom.
We were concerned about the Priv's size and weight, especially its balance when open. While not ideal, BlackBerry has done well. What surprised us was that this phone is really uncomfortable to talk on - the protective ridge on top dug into our ears and no amount of adjusting made it any better.
blackberry_priv_bottom_ndtv.jpg
Specifications
The BlackBerry Priv is a high-end phone with suitably high-end specs, comparable to today's top performers. Unfortunately, it has launched just weeks before the entire Android world will be refreshed, with every top company expected to launch a new flagship at MWC 2016 in late February. The Priv will look a lot like last year's news very soon.
That said, the hardware is still quite strong. There's a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, with six CPU cores, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage with the option of up to 2TB more using a microSDXC card, LTE support on Indian frequencies, NFC, GPS, and dual-band Wi-Fi ac. The display measures 5.43 inches diagonally and has a resolution of 1440x2560 pixels.
blackberry_priv_screen_ndtv.jpg
There's a 3410mAh battery with Quick Charge 2.0, but the bundlded charger does not support quick charging. The Micro-USB port on the bottom supports SlimPort accessories such as video output adapters. The camera on the rear has an 18-megapixel sensor, Schneider-Kreuznach optics, a two-tone LED flash, and optical image stabilisation. Video recording goes up to 4K at 30fps. The front camera is only 2 megapixels, so don't expect great-looking shots or video calls from it.
Software and usage
Rather than fork Android, which other companies have attempted to do, BlackBerry has gone with the whole Google package, apps and all. The Priv runs Android 5.1.1 though a Marshmallow update should be released by the end of March. There are lots of tweaks and modifications, but surprisingly not a custom skin that might replicate the BB10 experience more faithfully. To the casual user, BlackBerry's involvement in the software of the Priv won't seem any deeper than other manufacturers go, with just a few preloaded apps and cosmetic touches.
blackberry_priv_android_ndtv.jpg
That said, there are security-centric features under the hood. BlackBerry knows what its enterprise and corporate customers demand - as we've been told, the name "Priv" comes from "privilege" and "privacy". BlackBerry promises that it has "hardened" Android to protect your data and defend against malware and intrusion attempts. An app called DTEK gives you an overview of your security settings and what your apps have been up to.
The first thing you'll notice on the Android homescreen is the trademark red BlackBerry "splat" badge on app icons, letting you know that you have notifications. While eye-catching, you lose the ability to see how many notifications you have in each app. The badge has also been incorporated into the notifications on the lockscreen and in the pull-down shade: a strip of icons along the top lets you see alerts for each individual app or phone function, and for some reason there is a numerical count next to each one here, even though they're much smaller.
blackberry_priv_screens1_ndtv.jpg
In addition to widgets and app icons, you can have shortcut icons on the homescreens as well. These are very handy, but could confuse some users. These help you perform specific actions, and have descriptive names such as "Check battery level", "Turn Wi-Fi on/off", "Schedule BBM meeting", and "Text contact". This still doesn't quite make up for the relatively sparse selection of quick toggles in the notifications shade.
One very neat feature is that you can call up homescreen widgets related to specific apps by swiping up or down on their icons. This lets you quickly pull up your Chrome favourites or VLC's playback controls, see messages between you and a particular contact, or even check the contents of your Google Drive. It's really convenient and lets you avoid cluttering up your homescreens. The app drawer scrolls vertically, and there are tabs for widgets and shortcuts beyond what you choose to have outside on the homescreens.
blackberry_priv_screens2_ndtv.jpg
There's also a semi-transparent tab on the right, and if you swipe inwards from the edge, you'll be taken to a screen that shows you your upcoming calendar events, unread messages, to-dos, and favourite contacts. You can turn it off if you like, or swap it to the left. It doesn't serve very much purpose since it duplicates a lot of other functionalitHome| Mobiles
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BlackBerry Priv Review Jamshed Avari, 12 February 2016
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BlackBerry Priv Review
We've been following BlackBerry's journey from the top of the smartphone market to the bottom, and it has been extremely tempting on multiple occasions to declare the company effectively dead. Poor decision after poor decision has resulted in the company's products - which were the absolute must-have status symbols of an entire generation - being seen now as relics from the distant past. There are holdouts, no doubt, but their number is diminishing every day.
`
BlackBerry, the company formerly known as Research in Motion, has had many chances over the past few years to set its course right, but has instead launched one outlandish product after another; trying anything that might work. We liked the unusually shaped Passport(Review| Pictures), but it was never going to be a mass-market success. More recently, the Classic(Review| Pictures) represented a U-turn in strategy to cater to everyone who hated BB10's touch interface, and the Leap(Review) tried to appeal to budget-minded fans but missed that mark spectacularly.
blackberry_priv_angle2_ndtv.jpg
We now have yet another strategy shift, in the form of the BlackBerry Priv. The company has finally caved to pressure and adopted Android, turning its famous business-first ecosystem into a collection of apps and services. However, priced at Rs. 62, 990, this phone has its work cut out for it. Is the Priv finally going to give BlackBerry the success it so badly needs, or is still too little too late?
Look and feel
The Priv immediately feels like a super-premium device, but this is more about its build quality than its looks. At first glance, it doesn't have the "wow" factor that, for example, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge(Review| Pictures) has, but that changes the instant you flick the screen up to reveal the keyboard. It's been a really long time since we had anything other than a flat candybar phone to play with, and everything about the mechanism from its sound to its smoothness feels really, viscerally satisfying. It's way too easy to keep absentmindedly flicking the screen up and down when the phone is in your hands, and at no point did we have even the slightest doubt about the durability of BlackBerry's design.
The front is nearly all glass, with curved edges on the sides. The screen itself doesn't curve like the one on the Galaxy S6 Edge; the space to the sides is mostly the screen border. This means there's no need to strain to read what's at the screen's outer edges, but you'll still have to deal with reflections that are impossible to avoid.
blackberry_priv_left_ndtv.jpg
A large BlackBerry logo is placed front and centre above the screen, with a programmable multi-colour notification LED the front camera further to the right. When the screen is off and the phone is plugged in, you'll see a coloured bar indicating the current charge percentage along the screen's right edge. Apart from this, there is no real way in which BlackBerry has integrated the curves into its software or user experience.
Beneath the sliding screen is a lip that lets you push it up with one hand. Unfortunately, we often hit the on-screen Android home button when trying to do this. The bottom o
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