BlackBerry 1S40629 KEY2 64GB (QWERTY Keypad) Factory SIM-Free 4G Smartphone - Black

I hesitated for a long time before upgrading from my excellent KeyOne, but am very glad that I did. There were three inovations that appealed to me: 1. the larger keys on the physical keyboard; 2. the repositioning of the power key onto the right side of the phone along with the volume key and the convenience key, and 3. the speed key to improve access to the shortcutkeys.Although the KeyOne keyboard is positive and fairly easy to type on, I find the significantly larger keys on the Key2 more comfortable and I feel I can be more accurate, very much like the excellent keyboard on the Blackberry Classic. I think that Blackberry and TCL Communications have done an excellent job in redesigning this keyboard.I much prefer to have all the other physical controls on the righthand side of the phone as I can lay it in a horizontal belt case without the phone continually switching on as I move.Finally, I think that the speed key is a superb innovation and great improvement. For me, the ability to have 52 shortcuts available through a long or a short press of all 26 alphabet keys is in itself a superb productivity feature and one that has always drawn me towards Blackberry, but to have the ability with the speed key of accessing shortcuts without having to return to the home screen every time is a real game changer. It just makes moving from one app to another and then back again so much quicker and easier. You can be, for instance, working in one app, notice a text message arrive, pop across to the shortcut you have set up to text that particular person, write your reply and then return directly to the app you were working in. I think this is a superb phone and one of the best I have ever owned - definitely 5-star for me.

Late delivery, communication errors, faulty product.

This is the first Blackberry device that I have used and owned. I had originally purchased it from Amazon, however, the device was probably stolen in transit and I received a box with broken seals with the charger and headphone only. Amazon sorted this out for me and I purchased the phone from somewhere else.Having owned samsung galaxies and iphones in the past, I wanted to have something unique and different that was not just this 'percentage faster' and this 'percentage thinner' etc from the previous model. With all the similar toys out in the market, only the key2 stood out as the most unique and innovative product that functioned not just as an entertainment device but a proper phone too. Initially, It was tricky for me to get used to the physical keyboard, however, typing on the phone is the best experience now, and I would never go back to a virtual keyboard. The phone has outstanding build quality , and looks and feels great too. Call quality is excellent, as is the sound when streaming media, contrary to many reviews that stated the speaker was not 'loud enough', this has not been the case for me.The screen quality is also outstanding, although I notice that the pixels are not as sharp as the 2k screen on my other phone (that I dont use any more, as i prefer the blackberry), but this is not rocket science as it is a 1080p phone. The great thing about sacrificing the desire to admire extra super sharp edges is that the battery lasts longer. The phone already has a great battery, i believe about 3500mah, and the fact that it doesnt have a 2k screen just means it lasts much longer. I am able to get over a days moderate use without having to charge it.The only negative thing about this phone for me is an issue withe the stock blackberry launcher. It has a bug that causes excessive ram to be used and slows the device down, this fixes temporarily when you reboot the phone but it is annoying to have to constantly keep doing that. Hopefully blackberry will sort this out soon, as it is such a great launcher. For now i have deactivated the launcher, and am using another launcher off playstore.Overall, great solid device that performs well as a phone for professional use as well as for entertainment. Like I mentioned earlier, this is my first blackberry device that I have used and owned and I am thoroughly pleased with it. Contrary to popular belief... i have come to the conclusion that blackberry phones are not only for professional use or for 'blackberry fans'!

I finally moved from my previous BlackBerry Passport as my new client requires the use of apps that don't run on the old BlackBerry ecosystem (eg Slack, Trello).Physically the keyboard is as good, if not better, than any of the old premium BlackBerry physical keyboards (eg Bold 9900) and it didn't take me long to get used to it after the old Passport (which had a much wider keyboard).Having lots of Android apps running in the background does take a toll on the battery, but I easily manage to get through a whole 24-hour cycle of heavy usage (2-3 hours of calls and 200+ messages everyday - note: on the Passport this would have been 1.5-2 days).Solidly built - much better than I expected after having read some of the earliest reviews.I use the speaker-phone almost all of the time, whether for one-on-one conversations or for multiple people at my side (eg conference calling) - the other side can always hear me/us really clearly - the speaker is definitely ok, but not as loud or clear as the old BlackBerry Passport (which had the best speakerphone I have ever used - and this includes my previous shared use of high-end Androids & iPhones which never seemed to hit the mark for me for speakerphone conversations).I find Android a little fiddly (after previously using the BB10 OS for four years) but that's just Android - I'll get used to it like any other Android user...There are regular security/software updates (which I appreciate) and I am happy to be using what is touted as: "the most secure consumer mobile device" on the market.I really like:* the fingerprint reader built into the spacebar* the Hub messaging system* and of course, the Physical Keyboard!Hope this helps

BlackBerry are dying - no support for apps and they really are quite disconnected and bear a poor resemblance to BB10 apps. Moving away from BlackBerry finally since I no longer use the apps.