Surging further in its quest to regain its ground in the smartphone market, a follow-up release have been made to the BlackBerry KeyOne. BlackBerry smartphones are now made by TCL which is responsible for making Alcatel phones too in a similar way HMD makes Nokia phones. The BlackBerry Key2 now has an improved qwerty keyboard which is also now capacitive and a revised build but nothing drastic. Also, the phone now features an improved spec sheet which includes a dual rear camera and hardware to name a few.
BlackBerry Key2 Key Specs and Features
- 4.5-inch, IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 1080 x 1620 pixels (432 ppi)
- Android 8.1 Oreo
- Octa-core Qualcomm SDM660 Snapdragon 660 CPU and 6GB RAM
- Qwerty capacitive keyboard
- 64GB/128GB built-in storage, up to 256GB with a memory card
- Dual 12MP + 12MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera
- 4G LTE
- Fingerprint scanner (front)
- 3, 500mAh non-removable battery
Build and Design
The BlackBerry Key2 keeps the physical buttons which is something you don’t see on smartphones nowadays. A lot of work has been put into the qwerty keypads which you can see in how functional it has become. You can now swipe on the keyboard to navigate in apps plus there is a better spatial arrangement with backlight. A new key has been added at the bottom-right part called the speedy key which serves as a shortcut by pressing it together down and tapping any other letter (must have been preset).
The space bar also doubles as a fingerprint reader just in case you were looking for designated round space. There is a matte finish at the rear which by the way has a pleasant feel to it. There is a USB Type-C port at the bottom in between the speaker grille while the sim port is at the left side and the right side house the volume rocker, power button and another button called the convenience key. The convenience key has a unique surface to differentiate it from the power button and can be configured to launch any action of choice.
Display
At 4.5-inch, the screen is a bit small and if you like watching movies a lot you might not like this phone too much. On the other hand, the smartphone’s screen is only good in portrait mode and certainly not good for gaming because of the lack of equilibrium in landscape orientation. The display is good enough with a resolution of 1620 x 1080 pixels with a fair brightness too and can be seen outdoors
Battery and Camera
Unlike the old history of poor battery life in BlackBerry phones, the BlackBerry Key2 has a good battery life although it is most certainly not going to win any award. The smartphone is powered by a 3, 500mAh battery with fast charge also supported. It doesn’t have wireless charging, not like you are going to miss it that much with the/Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 on board.
BlackBerry joins in the dual camera wagon with the BlackBerry Key2 having the feature on the rear side. Camera performance has to be stellar at this price point and what the smartphone delivers is not particularly impressive. It shoots with a combo of two 12MP cameras, one having a f/1.8 aperture while the other has f/2.6. In the area of selfies, you have a single 8MP camera in charge and it has a quite underwhelming performance.
Hardware and Software
The smartphone has the same set of chipset as the Nokia 7 Plus and it had a good track record performance-wise. Talking about the processor, there is the Qualcomm SDM660 Snapdragon 660 with eight cores accompanied by an Adreno 512 GPU. This performs well enough working hand in hand with 6GB RAM and a 64GB or 128GB storage space from the box. A heavy modification has been made by BlackBerry to the Android 8.1 Oreo for more security and some handy shortcuts.
BlackBerry Key2 Pricing and Availability
The smartphone is available for sale in different online stores and retail hubs around for 235, 000 Naira depending on the location and deal.
BlackBerry Key2 Specs
Here are a few specs of the BlackBerry Key2:
General Features
- Platform: Android 8.1 Oreo
- Processor: Octa-core Qualcomm SDM660 Snapdragon 660
- GPU: Adreno 512
- Memory: 6GB RAM
- Colours: Black, Silver
- Dimension: 151.4 x 71.8 x 8.5 mm
- Weight: 168g
- SIM Type: Nano SIM
- SIM Count: Dual SIM
Display
- Display: 4.5-inch, IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 1620 x 1080 pixels (432 ppi)
- Screen Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Camera
- Rear Camera: Dual 12MP + 12MP camera, 2160@30fps, 1080p Video@30fps
- Rear Camera Features: Autofocus, LED flash, Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, panorama
- Front Camera: 8MP camera, 10800p Video@30fps
Storage
- Built-in Storage: 64GB/128GB
- Memory Card Support: Yes, up to 256GB
- Bundled Cloud Storage: –
Network Support
- 2G GSM: Yes
- 2G CDMA 1X: –
- 3G WCDMA: Yes
- 3G CDMA EVDO: –
- 4G LTE: LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 19(800), 20(800), 26(850), 28(700), 32(1500), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)
Internet & Connectivity
- GPRS: Yes
- EDGE: Yes
- 3G/WCDMA/HSPA: Yes
- HSPA+: Yes
- CDMA EVDO: –
- 4G LTE: Yes
- WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot: Yes
- Bluetooth: Yes, v5.0 with A2DP, LE, EDR
- NFC: –
- Infrared Blaster: –
- USB Port: USB Type-C 3.1
Messaging
- SMS/MMS: Yes
- Instant Messaging: Yes
- Push Emails: Yes
- Email Protocol: –
Entertainment
- Music Player: MP3/AAC+/WAV/Flac player
- Video Player: MP4/H.264 player
- FM Radio: Yes
- Loudspeaker: Yes
- 3.5mm Jack: Yes
Navigation
- Navigation: Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS2
- Maps: Yes
Sensors & Control
- Digital Compass: Yes
- Accelerometer: Yes
- Proximity Sensor: Yes
- Light Sensor: Yes
- Barometer: –
- SpO2: –
- Pedometer: –
- Heart Rate Monitor: –
- Gyroscope: Yes
- Fingerprint Scanner: Yes, (front)
- Iris Scanner: –
- Face Unlock: Yes
- Intelligent Digital Assistant: –
- Motion Sensing / Gesture Control: –
- Voice Control: –
Other Features
- Video Streaming: Yes
- Active Noise Cancellation: Yes
- Wireless Charging: –
- Built-in Mobile Payment: –
- Water Resistant: –
- Dust Resistant: –
- Image Editor: Yes
- Video Editor: Yes
- Document Viewer: Yes
- Document Editor: Yes
Battery
- Battery: 3, 500mAh non removable Li-Ion battery
- Talktime: –
- Standby Time: –
- Fast Charging: Yes
