BLACKBERRY PORSCHE DESIGN P'9981 8GB QWERTY IN BLACK COLOR UNLOCKED P9981 MOBILE PHONE

I bought this for my boyfriend who is currently working in Cape Town South Africa. He said the phone keeps skipping on him. When he comes back to NC will have to send it back very unhappy with product.

I ordered the Blackberry P'9981 in black direct from the Porsche Design USA website on July 20th, 2013, along with a matching Porsche Design P'6620 chronograph in PVD/black, & P'5000 Sport Tech Blazer Jacket in black all for just under $10k (FedEX shipping was $25 from Canada to USA). The phone and jacket are impressive/pleasing, but the watch is rather basic and underwhelming though satisfactory for the price I suppose. As a set, they do complement each other rather well.The order was received on July 26th, 2013, and I've been using the Blackberry P'9981 daily ever since. I didn't care for the limited color Porsche theme that came standard with the phone but I was able to install the original 9900 theme so no issue there. The internals are mostly the same as the Bold 9900 but the firmware and OS are slightly modified. It's primarily the external casing that differs; you're paying for a custom casing, a custom theme, and jaw dropping retail packaging. I still have my previous Bold 9900 and a pair of Q10s on hand, just because I've been too lazy to either sell or give them away, so I'm able to readily compare them to one another while writing this review.The keyboard of the P'9981 is similar to the Q10 in that it is horizontal and without curvature, but the buttons are closer together and take some getting used to. Honestly, the keyboard rankings are as follows Q10 > 9900 > 9981, and that's because the buttons of the 9981 lack sufficient spacing from each other (there should be that slight indentation in the metal surface that creates the physical separation as seen on the 9900 and Q10). Even after months of use, I find myself typing slower than I would on the 9900, but only marginally so. Also, the track pad of the 9900 worked better than the 9981 for some reason. Although they both seem to use a camera for tracking your finger's motion, the outer edges of the 9981's large square track pad lose sensitivity, so you must keep your finger situated in the middle to be effective.Despite complaints about the back leather cover sporadically falling off the 9981, it has remained secure and never comes off unless I want to remove it. The track pad and all buttons have remained 100% functional with no issues of sticking (some users have complained about a failing track pad). The screen seems identical to the 9900 in size and resolution, but the casing of the 9981 solved a major problem with dust/lint that the 9900 suffered from. After a couple years of use with the 9900, the glass behind the case was littered with a film of lint and dust which was completely inaccessible. The 9981's sealing around the glass screen must be air tight because I find zero evidence of debris working its way behind the glass.The retail packaging was over the top because the box is large enough to house a pair of boots! It also included charging accessories I'll probably never use, though the desk charger that comes with the 9981 is handy and I use it daily. The base has a subtle glow lit by LED and the placement of the phone into the cradle is fast and efficient. The feel of the phone is solid, heavy, and luxurious, but not silly/gaudy luxurious, more like executive luxurious. I've dropped the phone only once from the height of knee level (from restaurant booth to concrete/tile floor), and it lightly scuffed the black PVD layer from two corners and put a couple small nicks into the leather. I was hoping no damage would occur and was rather surprised that such a short distance could incur any wear, but I suppose that's to be expected from a phone of such density/weight that was priced and marketed as if it were a piece of jewelry. I'll just have to be certain never to drop it again, lol. I'd hate to see what dropping from waist level on pavement would do.All in all, I'm happy with the P'9981 as a placeholder until Blackberry releases an upgrade to the 9900 platform that is complete with track pad and action buttons. Like I said, I've had the 9900 and a pair of Q10s (one brand new/unused) set aside all this time and yet I've used the 9981 exclusively. Part of that choice is for the exclusivity of having and using a phone that was limited to a 1500 piece production and another is because the Q10 lacked the entire row of critical action buttons and a track pad (see my review on the Blackberry Q10 Black 16GB Factory Unlocked, International Version - 4G / LTE 3, 7, 8, 20 (1800 / 2600 / 900 / 800 MHz), voted the most helpful critical review).

excellent device. feels premium in the hand. also it is the best designed bb porsche phone. until the classic version comes out ;)