I'm here with BlackBerry's latest smartphone, the Key One, and it's notable because it's one of the few Android smartphones you can get these days with a physical keyboard. However, we have to remember that BlackBerry isn't actually making this phone; the company has a partnership agreement with TCL, a Chinese manufacturer, who are making the phones but BlackBerry is handling all the software. Everything you see here is coming from BlackBerry, including monthly security updates and any Android updates in general as well. So, regardless of it being made by BlackBerry or TCL, the end result is the same product.

The physical keyboard on this phone is a major selling point for many users. It's a great feature that allows for faster typing and more efficient communication. However, it does come with its own set of challenges. For example, the keyboard is a bit slow to respond, which can be frustrating when you're trying to type out a long message or email quickly. Additionally, the battery life is affected by the physical keyboard, as it requires more power than a standard touchscreen keyboard.

One of the most interesting features of the physical keyboard on this phone is its ability to assign shortcuts to each and every key. For example, you can set G to open Google, and long pressing on any key will bring up a menu with various options. This feature makes it easy to quickly access apps or perform specific tasks without having to dig through menus. It's also great for those who want to use their phone as a productivity tool, as they can quickly switch between apps and tools.

Another unique feature of the physical keyboard is its ability to toggle on a virtual keyboard. If you need to type out a message that doesn't require the physical keyboard, you can simply press the button at the bottom of the screen and the virtual keyboard will appear. This feature is convenient for those who want to be able to quickly access their phone's camera or other apps without having to navigate through menus.

The camera on this phone is surprisingly good, especially considering its relatively low price point. The rear-facing camera has 12 megapixels, which is higher than many other phones in the same price range. However, it does have a slightly limited field of view due to its compact design. This means that you may need to adjust your camera angle or composition when taking photos to get the best results.

The display on this phone is also worth noting. While it's not as bright or vibrant as some other phones in the same price range, it gets the job done for everyday use. The 1920x1080p resolution is standard for most smartphones, but it does mean that you won't be able to see every tiny detail on the screen. However, this shouldn't be a major concern for most users, who are more likely to be browsing social media or checking email rather than watching video content.

One of the biggest drawbacks to this phone is its relatively small display. Coming from phones like the Galaxy S8, which have massive screens that can show off their capabilities, it's hard not to feel a bit disappointed by the Key One's compact design. However, it does make up for it in terms of portability and ease of use. The phone is incredibly lightweight and compact, making it easy to slip into your pocket or purse.

The price point for this phone is also worth considering. At $500, it's a relatively affordable option for those looking for a smartphone with a physical keyboard. However, there are many other cheaper Android phones out there that offer similar specs and features at a lower price point. For example, you could get a phone with better or similar specs for around $200-$300.

In conclusion, the BlackBerry Key One is a great option for those who want a smartphone with a physical keyboard and don't mind sacrificing some brightness and display quality in the process. However, it may not be the best choice for everyone, especially those who are looking for the latest and greatest features or want to spend their money on a phone that can keep up with their daily needs. If you're already invested in the BlackBerry ecosystem and want a reliable smartphone that will meet your productivity needs, then this could be an excellent option for you.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: eneveryone is Julian from Digital Trends and I'm here with BlackBerry's latest smartphone it's the key one and it's notable because it's one of the few Android smartphones you can get these days with the physical keyboard but we have to remember that blackberry isn't actually making this phone the company has a partnership agreement with TCL a Chinese manufacturer and they're making the phones but blackberry is handling all the software so everything you see here software wise is coming from blackberry that includes monthly security updates and just any Android updates in general as well so regardless it still has to be met with certain design restrictions and guidelines that TCL has to follow so that BlackBerry maintains that sort of standard of durability long battery life and you know just having a good phone with a good keyboard so it has a 1080p screen but it has a 4.5 inch display and that's really small but it was necessary because they wanted to fit that keyboard right there so really you're not going to buy this phone unless you want to miss a physical keyboard that's the key feature here and you know no pun intended so it has a physical keyboard right here power button on the Left volumes rocker on the right and a convenience key which we've seen on previous Detex Blackberry phones but 5660 in the D Tech 50 and you have a USB C charging port on the bottom and a headphone jack at the top what's really neat is that this has a 3500 5 million power Satterlee and that's surprisingly long lasting in our testing we used it for a full day and I ended at midnight and I came up with 40% left and I haven't really seen that in the smartphone for a long time so this can definitely get you through more than a day it's also powered by qualcomm snapdragon 625 processor which isn't the most powerful chip and it is a little dated at this point but it's still helping this phone get massive battery life and that's always a plus you get 32gb of storage but the good thing is there's also a micro SD card slot so you can expand - however much you want so blackberries t1 runs Android 7.1.1 which is the most recent version of Android and as you can see it also has the latest security patch level and that's because lacto really prides itself on security and what once itself to do you the best and no other manufacturer really follows through with every month security patches from google but it's nice to see that someone is and that's always a plus but as you can see it's incredibly close to stock android in fact i believe it is stock android you can get all the features you get with nougats including notification bundling and only thing only differences really come in here wages these let some slight tweaks to the afterword and some slight tweaks to the overview button where you can see they have this different layout i believe you can change it to your liking but you know i actually kind of like this different style better unfortunately there are a ton of pre-installed apps but they're all BlackBerry apps so if you're buying BlackBerry device you probably expect that you can expect the same things like blackberry hub which is a sort of an app that shows all your notifications coming in from all your different apps which is actually kind of neat if you want to just have one specification system and check out everything and of course there's the VM messenger if you wanted to you know message other people and of course there are security apps as well I believe there's an app called VTech by blackberry and this sort of gives an overall check up on your phone just to make sure your security is fine and that those things like check the view of a screen stick a screen lock and check the apps consistently to make sure everything you're downloading is secure but the real important feature here is the keyboard and as we see it the QWERTY keyboard and it's surprisingly not too bad to type in let's actually jump into Google keep here hi bear to digital trends so it's really slow of course for anyone transitioning to a button layout from a smartphone or a touchscreen smartphone might might take some time to pick this up but of course again with time I'm sure I will get faster and anyone who's using this phone for longer than a couple couple of days will it will definitely get faster but again you have to get used to it and it's really up to personal preference if you prefer keyboards over touchscreen keyboards because sometimes you know it works well other times I can I really for example miss swipe gestures where I could just easily move around the keyboard and type things but the fact that I get to press physical Keys is also kind of nice in a way I'm not sure if that makes sense but it just sometimes give you a nicer feeling in a more final feeling when you're typing in other words and making sure you know what you're pressing this keyboard here contains some faculty to do some gestures so I can delete words just by swiping left like that unfortunately I don't think I can undo that but you also have some other neat features like for example if I wanted to move three letters one of the other cool things you can do is assign the shortcuts to each and every key here so for example I've set G to open Google and you can even long press to set it something else like Gmail same applies to any other key just to press that for example this is mapped at Facebook I don't think I've said anything if I long press it but if you haven't you can always pull this up here where you can choose either an app that starts with F for example or you can do other shortcuts like right here like sending a message to someone or other shortcuts that you can see here and that's actually a really neat feature because finding apps doesn't feel as fast because I would have to quickly tap there to search something and for being using this keyboard is again is a little slow so having the ability to just quickly press something that I'm looking for like G for Google it's really nice and I think it's one of the best features of this keyboard but if you press and hold this button you get access to emojis to Flipboard settings and voice typing so voice typing naturally lets you type with your voice which as in the typical Google account settings and if you try that again connects with your Flipboard and again you can access some oh geez so you're not completely reliant on emoticons or using a standard emojis you would try and use here you have also access to all these Android emojis take them to people so there's a virtual keyboard that you can actually toggle on if you so desire there you go so obviously a little redundant there perhaps a little unnecessary but of course if you wanted to type something there you go it works just as well again you are seeing a lot less than you should but it's certainly there the camera at the top is an 8 megapixel camera and on the back you have 12 megapixels and it's surprisingly good take a look at a picture I said last night it was pretty good for low-light shot there wasn't a lot of light there see the details are little fuzzy but to be honest I wasn't really expecting much out of the BlackBerry camera but I'm a little surprised but that's a good thing it is fact that it could take stuff like this it's kind of nice so one other thing I wanted to address is that there's so little that you get to see in this screen because it's so small you know coming from a phone like the Galaxy s8 which is conveniently right here you get to see so much when you look at the screen just in terms of content you know you can you can see everything that you want and there's just so much more that you can see I have to make everything smaller on this phone because I just wasn't able to see a lot I would see maybe a few Twitter posts at a time when we go to Twitter I can see two tweets which it ends limits certainly what you can see on the screen at any given time but that's just something to note in case you want it or you enjoy using your phone for consuming a lot of content especially watching videos for example it's just a little weird watching it when you know you have this giant thing on the side for example let's click on that so it's certainly not terrible but it's always for me at least it's bizarre having this little addition here and I'm watching it like this it just feels very compact and and you can see the aspect ratio is also a little weird because this is in the standard 1920 by 1080p resolution so there's no other real reason to buy this phone other than the people there are a lot of other cheaper Android phones with better or similar specs and ones that of course offer vibrant bright displays so really it all comes down to the keyboard and if you sort of having that Blackberry brand in your life so if that's who you are 500 $450 this is a pretty decent smartphone but for anyone else they're just looking for the next smartphone to upgrade I don't think this is the right\n"