Blackberry KeyOne
Discussion
Loving the look of this and really want one. However, EE don't seem to be doing it, only O2 or Vodafone, so pondering what to do.
Buy it outright at £500, get a £20 a month sim only deal with EE, or have a £40 a month contract with O2.
Been impressed overall with EE, never used O2 though so don't know what to expect.
Also would like to know PH's opinion, anyone bought a KeyOne?
Buy it outright at £500, get a £20 a month sim only deal with EE, or have a £40 a month contract with O2.
Been impressed overall with EE, never used O2 though so don't know what to expect.
Also would like to know PH's opinion, anyone bought a KeyOne?
I've just ordered one 
For background, I currently have a Microsoft Lumia 950 (Windows phone), which I have loved. Three reasons made me change.
Firstly, I currently have a (seperate) Blackberry device for work. But they are turning off the Blackberries, and you now have to use something called "Good" (?) which only runs on Android or iOS. So I have to switch.
Secondly, some of the recent Windows Mobile updates have been terrible, in that they have broken stuff that I rely on. I use only a few apps - phone, text, email, calendar, web browser, OneDrive, camera and photo apps - but I use them a lot and I need them to work. And on Windows Mobile there isn't really a wide choice of, say, calendar apps. If Outlook has been broken, you're stuffed until they decide to fix it, which could be months if at all. That made me think about looking around.
Thirdly, I've never been one for third party apps, but you are now starting to get small apps from retailers and the like which are really handy. For example, if you are on your own and go into Wetherspoons, you can't really order food at busy times because you have to get a table first. But you can now sit at a table and order your food and drink through an app and it comes to you. And obviously the app is Android or iOS only.
I do a lot of typing on my phone, so a physical keyboard appeals. Also, I like things that are a bit different, where the maker has taken a risk rather than just conforming (I used to own a Citroen DS5...) Plus, in a perhaps rather British way, I like to support the underdog. So I saw the KeyOne, and decided to go for it.
I've ordered it unlocked from CPW for 499 GBP. Unfortunately it is now "on back order", which is extremely irritating since when I ordered it the website said delivery next day. Not happy, but I'll give them a couple of days.
I'll be sad to leave Windows Mobile. Microsoft seem to be going through yet another reboot of their mobile division and I'm sure I'll be back at some point. But in the meantime I'm looking forward to getting the KeyOne. I think this device is going to do really well.
For background, I currently have a Microsoft Lumia 950 (Windows phone), which I have loved. Three reasons made me change.
Firstly, I currently have a (seperate) Blackberry device for work. But they are turning off the Blackberries, and you now have to use something called "Good" (?) which only runs on Android or iOS. So I have to switch.
Secondly, some of the recent Windows Mobile updates have been terrible, in that they have broken stuff that I rely on. I use only a few apps - phone, text, email, calendar, web browser, OneDrive, camera and photo apps - but I use them a lot and I need them to work. And on Windows Mobile there isn't really a wide choice of, say, calendar apps. If Outlook has been broken, you're stuffed until they decide to fix it, which could be months if at all. That made me think about looking around.
Thirdly, I've never been one for third party apps, but you are now starting to get small apps from retailers and the like which are really handy. For example, if you are on your own and go into Wetherspoons, you can't really order food at busy times because you have to get a table first. But you can now sit at a table and order your food and drink through an app and it comes to you. And obviously the app is Android or iOS only.
I do a lot of typing on my phone, so a physical keyboard appeals. Also, I like things that are a bit different, where the maker has taken a risk rather than just conforming (I used to own a Citroen DS5...) Plus, in a perhaps rather British way, I like to support the underdog. So I saw the KeyOne, and decided to go for it.
I've ordered it unlocked from CPW for 499 GBP. Unfortunately it is now "on back order", which is extremely irritating since when I ordered it the website said delivery next day. Not happy, but I'll give them a couple of days.
I'll be sad to leave Windows Mobile. Microsoft seem to be going through yet another reboot of their mobile division and I'm sure I'll be back at some point. But in the meantime I'm looking forward to getting the KeyOne. I think this device is going to do really well.
Jimmy Recard said:
ETA: It would seem that it's basically a Chinese company with the licence to use the name. TCL Communications, according to Tech Radar
Yeah, my understanding is that Blackberry is now just a software company. They sold the rights to use the Blackberry name on hardware to TCL who are Chinese. The KeyOne is actually the last handset that was designed by Blackberry themselves. Future devices will be designed and made by TCL.I have a feeling that physical keyboards are going to come back into fashion. If so, Blackberry are going to be kicking themselves
I've been using Blackberries from when they were called Research In Motion (RIM). Amazing devices in so many ways. Always had a soft spot for them.
AmitG said:
Yeah, my understanding is that Blackberry is now just a software company. They sold the rights to use the Blackberry name on hardware to TCL who are Chinese. The KeyOne is actually the last handset that was designed by Blackberry themselves. Future devices will be designed and made by TCL.
I have a feeling that physical keyboards are going to come back into fashion. If so, Blackberry are going to be kicking themselves
I've been using Blackberries from when they were called Research In Motion (RIM). Amazing devices in so many ways. Always had a soft spot for them.
same here. had numerous Blackberries over the years and I like them ( back when BBM was King I have a feeling that physical keyboards are going to come back into fashion. If so, Blackberry are going to be kicking themselves
I've been using Blackberries from when they were called Research In Motion (RIM). Amazing devices in so many ways. Always had a soft spot for them.
) had to get HTC as my last phone as I couldn't get a Passport at the time. KeyOne will be landing next month. looks a great phone. back to a physical keyboard for a change.AmitG said:
Yeah, my understanding is that Blackberry is now just a software company. They sold the rights to use the Blackberry name on hardware to TCL who are Chinese. The KeyOne is actually the last handset that was designed by Blackberry themselves. Future devices will be designed and made by TCL.
I have a feeling that physical keyboards are going to come back into fashion. If so, Blackberry are going to be kicking themselves
I've been using Blackberries from when they were called Research In Motion (RIM). Amazing devices in so many ways. Always had a soft spot for them.
Terrific phones for sure. My Q10 has finally retired today I have a feeling that physical keyboards are going to come back into fashion. If so, Blackberry are going to be kicking themselves
I've been using Blackberries from when they were called Research In Motion (RIM). Amazing devices in so many ways. Always had a soft spot for them.
Quite like the concept of this. I've been a Nexus user for a few years now and although I love the vanilla Android experience etc. At the old age of 28 (yes I grew up in the hayday of keyboarded phones) I'm finding it increasingly more annoying to type on these screens these days especially if your out and about.
n3il123 said:
Did anyone get one of these in the end?
CPW cancelled my order seemingly for no reason. After ages on the phone they said it was because they said they couldn't get any more stock. They then "forgot" to refund my 499 GBP, cue another half hour on the phone. None of the physical stores within 100 miles of me had any stock. So despite my best efforts, I haven't got one 
I decided to wait until Christmas. Rumour is that Microsoft may announce "something" mobile related in October.
I'm still keen, but CPW are really messing me about.
I've got one and love it but it has just been back to blackberry (well, their warranty repairers) as the screen literally just fell out. Took a full 2 weeks to sort.
Anyway, back now and better than ever, even if I lost a couple of weeks of unbacked up stuff (as they wiped it, despite being asked not to, which they confirmed).
Anyway; I believe they're updating the manufacturing to make sure this doesn't happen and so maybe ran low on stock as they needed the 'new' (fixed) phones on the shelf?
Anyway, back now and better than ever, even if I lost a couple of weeks of unbacked up stuff (as they wiped it, despite being asked not to, which they confirmed).
Anyway; I believe they're updating the manufacturing to make sure this doesn't happen and so maybe ran low on stock as they needed the 'new' (fixed) phones on the shelf?
I finally got one. Microsoft "announcing" the end of Windows Mobile was the last straw for me. Obviously my Windows phone continues to work, but it made me realise that the bugs are never going to be fixed, and performance was deteriorating with every update.
So, I got the KeyOne this week. First reactions:
The phone itself is gorgeous. I love it. It feels really well built, with a real heft to it. Looks and feels like a premium product. A world away from the lightweight plasticky feeling phones. I love the rubber texture on the back and the metal body.
I love the keyboard too. I can type really well on it.
I tend to go for unusual things (previous car: Citroen DS5) and the KeyOne is definitely unusual. I like the fact that they did something different rather than following the herd. It is, to my knowledge, the only Android phone on sale with a physical keyboard. And I suspect it may be the last.
It seems to be really fast. The screen is lovely.
After Windows Mobile, I find that I really, really hate Android. Everywhere you go there are popups flying out at you; the opposite of Windows Mobile, which tried to get out of your way so that you could do actual work. Every app looks different, like the teams weren't talking to each other. It's so confusing. I much prefer the minimalist look of Windows Mobile. (Of course, the beautiful Windows Phone 7 UI was the zenith of phone UI design, with even Steve Jobs saying he admired it.) I guess I will have to get used to it.
Outlook for Android is a bit pants. It does the job, but that's it. It gets in the way. There is too much screen furniture. The calendar doesn't have a decent week view like Calendar on Windows Mobile, which for me is a real pain in the arse, since I used it all the time.
Setting up an Android phone with a Microsoft Outlook account is not that easy. I did it wrong the first time and had to hard reset the phone. I added the Outlook account during setup, which apparently you are not meant to do, since it only lets you sync email, not calendar or contacts. So I tried to delete it, but could not find anyway to do so. And then I installed Outlook and it complained about a duplicate account. So everything got in a mess and I had to hard reset to get out of it. I think I have now got email, calendar and contacts in Outlook and the contacts also sync to the phone so that they appear in the SMS and dialler apps. A faff, but I think it's working now.
Battery life appears to be excellent. Much better than my old Lumia 950. Call quality and reception are both excellent. I feel that this phone does the basics very well.
Overall I'm reasonably happy. Need to give it a couple of weeks before pronouncing final judgement. I'm sad that I had to move, but as mentioned above I had no choice really.
So, I got the KeyOne this week. First reactions:
The phone itself is gorgeous. I love it. It feels really well built, with a real heft to it. Looks and feels like a premium product. A world away from the lightweight plasticky feeling phones. I love the rubber texture on the back and the metal body.
I love the keyboard too. I can type really well on it.
I tend to go for unusual things (previous car: Citroen DS5) and the KeyOne is definitely unusual. I like the fact that they did something different rather than following the herd. It is, to my knowledge, the only Android phone on sale with a physical keyboard. And I suspect it may be the last.
It seems to be really fast. The screen is lovely.
After Windows Mobile, I find that I really, really hate Android. Everywhere you go there are popups flying out at you; the opposite of Windows Mobile, which tried to get out of your way so that you could do actual work. Every app looks different, like the teams weren't talking to each other. It's so confusing. I much prefer the minimalist look of Windows Mobile. (Of course, the beautiful Windows Phone 7 UI was the zenith of phone UI design, with even Steve Jobs saying he admired it.) I guess I will have to get used to it.
Outlook for Android is a bit pants. It does the job, but that's it. It gets in the way. There is too much screen furniture. The calendar doesn't have a decent week view like Calendar on Windows Mobile, which for me is a real pain in the arse, since I used it all the time.
Setting up an Android phone with a Microsoft Outlook account is not that easy. I did it wrong the first time and had to hard reset the phone. I added the Outlook account during setup, which apparently you are not meant to do, since it only lets you sync email, not calendar or contacts. So I tried to delete it, but could not find anyway to do so. And then I installed Outlook and it complained about a duplicate account. So everything got in a mess and I had to hard reset to get out of it. I think I have now got email, calendar and contacts in Outlook and the contacts also sync to the phone so that they appear in the SMS and dialler apps. A faff, but I think it's working now.
Battery life appears to be excellent. Much better than my old Lumia 950. Call quality and reception are both excellent. I feel that this phone does the basics very well.
Overall I'm reasonably happy. Need to give it a couple of weeks before pronouncing final judgement. I'm sad that I had to move, but as mentioned above I had no choice really.
Sorry I forgot about this thread 
In short - I love it. I love the physical keyboard, and I love the build quality. It feels like a proper quality product. Like a Leica camera or something. I get the impression that this device was built for productivity and durability, not as a trinket to show off.
Last week I accidentally dropped it from about 3 feet onto carpet floor tiles. It landed on a corner and then screen down. There are no marks on it and it works perfectly.
Battery life is incredible. I am admittedly a light user - maybe 20 mins of calls, 10 texts and 10 emails per day, plus a little bit of web browsing. I find that the battery lasts 5 days before I need to recharge it. That is really impressive.
Those are the things that (for me) elevate it above all the other Android devices out there.
I've managed to tame Android so that it doesn't keep bugging me. But I still miss Windows Mobile. With Android all the apps seem to do things differently. People go on about the thousands of apps in the Play store but outside of the "big hitters" a lot of them seem to be either garbage, or variations on the same theme. Or both. Using a Microsoft account on Android still doesn't work very well. You basically have to use Outlook for Android and as mentioned earlier it's not as slick as Outlook on Windows Mobile was.
So - it's a thumbs up from me. If Microsoft ever bring out their mobile device I'll be taking a very close look at that. In fact if Microsoft could get Windows 10 running on this thing then it would be my perfect device.
In short - I love it. I love the physical keyboard, and I love the build quality. It feels like a proper quality product. Like a Leica camera or something. I get the impression that this device was built for productivity and durability, not as a trinket to show off.
Last week I accidentally dropped it from about 3 feet onto carpet floor tiles. It landed on a corner and then screen down. There are no marks on it and it works perfectly.
Battery life is incredible. I am admittedly a light user - maybe 20 mins of calls, 10 texts and 10 emails per day, plus a little bit of web browsing. I find that the battery lasts 5 days before I need to recharge it. That is really impressive.
Those are the things that (for me) elevate it above all the other Android devices out there.
I've managed to tame Android so that it doesn't keep bugging me. But I still miss Windows Mobile. With Android all the apps seem to do things differently. People go on about the thousands of apps in the Play store but outside of the "big hitters" a lot of them seem to be either garbage, or variations on the same theme. Or both. Using a Microsoft account on Android still doesn't work very well. You basically have to use Outlook for Android and as mentioned earlier it's not as slick as Outlook on Windows Mobile was.
So - it's a thumbs up from me. If Microsoft ever bring out their mobile device I'll be taking a very close look at that. In fact if Microsoft could get Windows 10 running on this thing then it would be my perfect device.
Annnnd it's got a problem.
It was all working fine. I say fine rather than great, because while I love the hardware, I still hate Android and all its works. And after what happened recently, I hate it even more.
Early last week I got notification of a big Android update. Ooh great, I thought. But having only just set up the phone, I decided to hold off for a bit.
It brings up the notification, I click on "Later" (there is no option for "Don't tell me again", it's either "Now" or "Later"). Turns out that "Later" in Android world means "10 minutes later" so the phone starts pestering me constantly and gets to the point where pretty much anything I try to do is overlaid with this big thing telling me to upgrade.
So I connect to wifi and upgrade. 30 minutes later it's all done. Great. Then over the next day I realise I can't make or receive calls any more. Bummer, but a reboot seems to solve it.
And now I find that Bluetooth doesn't work any more, even after rebooting. It won't pair with the Bluetooth in my car (Toyota Prius Gen4) any more. You run the pairing process, and it pairs but then disconnects between 1 and 30 seconds later. It worked perfectly with my Windows phone and it worked perfectly with an iPhone that I borrowed from someone. So I know it is 100% not the car.
A quick google suggests that this is a known problem. The forums are full of people who either can't pair their KeyOne with Bluetooth devices, or who can pair but then have problems with the connection dropping after 30 seconds. In the case of a car this means the phone dropping out of car audio and back to phone audio, which is a serious bummer if you are on a work related call.
There is apparently no fix. Blackberry are putting out generic "how to use Bluetooth" advice, and seem to be making vague noises about investigating the problem.
So - while the hardware is great, I can't recommend this device until the Bluetooth problem is fixed.
If Microsoft are listening: please, please get your act together and get Windows - either mobile or full - running on this thing.
It was all working fine. I say fine rather than great, because while I love the hardware, I still hate Android and all its works. And after what happened recently, I hate it even more.
Early last week I got notification of a big Android update. Ooh great, I thought. But having only just set up the phone, I decided to hold off for a bit.
It brings up the notification, I click on "Later" (there is no option for "Don't tell me again", it's either "Now" or "Later"). Turns out that "Later" in Android world means "10 minutes later" so the phone starts pestering me constantly and gets to the point where pretty much anything I try to do is overlaid with this big thing telling me to upgrade.
So I connect to wifi and upgrade. 30 minutes later it's all done. Great. Then over the next day I realise I can't make or receive calls any more. Bummer, but a reboot seems to solve it.
And now I find that Bluetooth doesn't work any more, even after rebooting. It won't pair with the Bluetooth in my car (Toyota Prius Gen4) any more. You run the pairing process, and it pairs but then disconnects between 1 and 30 seconds later. It worked perfectly with my Windows phone and it worked perfectly with an iPhone that I borrowed from someone. So I know it is 100% not the car.
A quick google suggests that this is a known problem. The forums are full of people who either can't pair their KeyOne with Bluetooth devices, or who can pair but then have problems with the connection dropping after 30 seconds. In the case of a car this means the phone dropping out of car audio and back to phone audio, which is a serious bummer if you are on a work related call.
There is apparently no fix. Blackberry are putting out generic "how to use Bluetooth" advice, and seem to be making vague noises about investigating the problem.
So - while the hardware is great, I can't recommend this device until the Bluetooth problem is fixed.
If Microsoft are listening: please, please get your act together and get Windows - either mobile or full - running on this thing.
I forgot about this thread too.
Got one at launch, cracking phone! Not so bothered about Android having come from iOS, the two do seem more similar in operation than I remember from pre iPhone 4 days.
I love the keyboard! I do a lot of email for work on it so massive bonus for me. And the battery life is still great as a heavy user, 2-3 days!
Only gripe I had was in July, the screen fell out of the housing, turns out it was a warranty issue as blackberry hadn’t put glue on the inside. Replacement given and touch wood, been fine ever since!
Got one at launch, cracking phone! Not so bothered about Android having come from iOS, the two do seem more similar in operation than I remember from pre iPhone 4 days.
I love the keyboard! I do a lot of email for work on it so massive bonus for me. And the battery life is still great as a heavy user, 2-3 days!
Only gripe I had was in July, the screen fell out of the housing, turns out it was a warranty issue as blackberry hadn’t put glue on the inside. Replacement given and touch wood, been fine ever since!
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