MRU
macrumors Penryn
Was looking for videos and reviews too. Nothing ... Maybe as it's not officially launched for a couple of weeks, the Selfridge's thing seems like a soft PR launch, there may be embargo in place for official reviewers.
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BlackBerry KEYone
- Thread starter Aneres11
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akuma13
macrumors 6502a
I'll give it a week to hopefully see reviews trickle in. I know it was a soft launch too but it would be nice for Blackberry or TCL to do some other form of advertising other than the Selfridge thing. I'm obsessed with the phone and just wish there was more promo and info on it coming to the States.
Wow. This may be my next. I'm due for an upgrade for my aging iPhone 5S and I'm not sure what I want to do. I have a MBA that I use and staying in the Apple ecosystem is nice and convenient. However, I am just blown away by this phone from the various unboxing videos I have watched so far. Also, thanks for the review Aneres11! 🙂
I moved to the Apple ecosystem about 2 years ago (converting everything from Gmail to iCloud) and have become heavily invested. iMessage and having a Mac is making me want to stay, but I also want to venture back to the Android world (first two smartphones were the HTC Droid Incredible and Samsung Galaxy Nexus).
Any word on the battery and updates? Timely updates would be another thing I would miss if I went back to Android.
I moved to the Apple ecosystem about 2 years ago (converting everything from Gmail to iCloud) and have become heavily invested. iMessage and having a Mac is making me want to stay, but I also want to venture back to the Android world (first two smartphones were the HTC Droid Incredible and Samsung Galaxy Nexus).
Any word on the battery and updates? Timely updates would be another thing I would miss if I went back to Android.
Battery life is brilliant to be honest, cannot complain at all. Easily gets through the day with juice to spare.
The updates, well it runs Android 7 and I remember with PRIV, it shipped with lollipop and ended up being upgraded to marshmallow fairly soon after release if memory serves.
Blackberry also do monthly security updates which are welcome for Android.
I've already had a software update in the days I've had the device.
Signs are good so far anyway. 🙂
Lobwedgephil
macrumors 603
You will get the monthly security updates almost as fast as google, BB has been very good about that. As for OS updates, those will be way behind, like all Android phones. And may never get updated if the phone isn't a success.
akuma13
macrumors 6502a
The review embargo is off. Tons of reviews out now. Looks like the KeyOne is the best Blackberry in the last few years. I WANT THIS PHONE!!
Yaaaay I'm so glad reviews are out and most people are giving it the thumbs up!
I feel strangely proud haha.
It really is a winner.
I love how Mr.Mobile called the camera a winner too. Sure, not quite on par with the Pixel, but what is? In low light the KEYone often picks up more detail than my S8 did, so there's every chance most people will be able to make some good from this camera.
Well done BlackBerry! 🙂
I feel strangely proud haha.
It really is a winner.
I love how Mr.Mobile called the camera a winner too. Sure, not quite on par with the Pixel, but what is? In low light the KEYone often picks up more detail than my S8 did, so there's every chance most people will be able to make some good from this camera.
Well done BlackBerry! 🙂
Lobwedgephil
macrumors 603
Most reviews pointing to pretty poor performance, lag, and stutters. Are you seeing this?
akuma13
macrumors 6502a
Yes i've noticed the lag and stuttering issues in reviews. But aren't the reviewers using pre-production units? I know @Aneres11 experienced some lag but that was due to a launcher I think. Some users on Crackberry have experienced no lag or stutters since buying there Keyone last week.
Overall, most of the reviews have been positive toward the phone. For Blackberry, that's an accomplishment.
Overall, most of the reviews have been positive toward the phone. For Blackberry, that's an accomplishment.
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I didn't read 'most' pointing to poor performance? If anything, most were saying that the choice of snapdragon processor and big battery is the right one, as it means the phone can run efficiently and not drain the battery.
In terms of my personal take, the only lag I ever get is from Chrome. But this is my experience in general with Chrome.
Pages don't exactly flow smoothly when scrolling and pages with lots of images often are the biggest culprit.
From my experience using every other app, it's a winner. Even YouTube. I've been using YouTube on and off all day (to find collectibles on Yooka-Laylee, mostly 😛 ) and the app opens instantly, videos load instantly and rotating the phone makes the video do the same with absolutely no stutter or slow down.
It's these kind of apps I'd expect the phone to struggle with, but it doesn't at all.
Like I say Chrome is the biggest culprit for lag, but I've always hated Chrome personally.
Lobwedgephil
macrumors 603
Thanks, was just seeing several reviews saying poor performance. Glad you aren't experiencing it and hope it is not an issue.
Definitely a non issue.
'Poor performance' are not the words I would choose when describing the KEYone.
And this isn't me with blinkers on. I am a self confessed BB fan boy, but I'm not naive enough to blindly defend them. You only have to look at my reaction to the PRIV originally to see that! 😛
KEYone is definitely a different beast. I mean, this phone barely gets warm when under heavy load. It's pretty impressive.
MRU
macrumors Penryn
@Aneres11
You had a bit of stutter with the dark mode too. Honestly I think looking at the playstore reviews of BB Launcher from Priv and DTekt users it seems the recent launcher updates introduced peformance hiccups for users. Given the Dtket 60 is running a Snapdragon 820, its a safe bet its the software that needs an update or two rather than the processors in the new Keyone or the older Dtekt 60. Hopefully it's something BlackBerry can amend otherwise simple solution is to use another launcher such as Action Launcher 3 which supports most of the BB launcher actions anyway.
The reviews really make me want the device even more. Next month I'll have to 'treat' myself. Again.
You had a bit of stutter with the dark mode too. Honestly I think looking at the playstore reviews of BB Launcher from Priv and DTekt users it seems the recent launcher updates introduced peformance hiccups for users. Given the Dtket 60 is running a Snapdragon 820, its a safe bet its the software that needs an update or two rather than the processors in the new Keyone or the older Dtekt 60. Hopefully it's something BlackBerry can amend otherwise simple solution is to use another launcher such as Action Launcher 3 which supports most of the BB launcher actions anyway.
The reviews really make me want the device even more. Next month I'll have to 'treat' myself. Again.
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Haha we do like to treat ourselves don't we 😛.
And yeah, dark mode was a problem, I kinda forgot about that haha.
But the normal light theme has no hiccups or slow.
I think I will try a different launcher and will let y'all know.
Action Launcher 3 you say? To the play store!
[doublepost=1493921120][/doublepost]Ok so I just downloaded it.
So far, I hate it.
The level of customisation is too great for my liking.
The app drawer is alphabetical which doesn't work for me. I can't see an option to change.
It also duplicates the top row of apps in a separate section at the top of the drawer?
The google search bar is a weird colour that 'matches' my background but seemingly can't be made just White? That I can see anyway.
And it just looks bad in my opinion. As it is, that is.
I could get it looking somewhere like before, but as it stands it isn't doing it for me currently.
MRU
macrumors Penryn
Tips.
To change colour of search bar etc..
action launcher settings - quicktheme - theme = material light
App drawer.
action launcher settings - app drawers - turn off quick find
Shortcuts to widgets on Icons are referred to as quickcuts
It takes a while to familiarise yourself with it and I'm not sure which features are locked behind the paywall as I bought the app a while ago.
Initial reviews look good and now I'm much more tempted. Right now, I'd say it's between this, iPhone SE, and a refurbished iPhone 6s/6s+ (leaning towards the Plus).
Only question is how I should handle switching back to Google/Gmail since I had made my iCloud email my email for basically everything. Does the Blackberry Calendar/apps handle iCloud accounts, etc? Also, I currently use Safari on my Mac so going to Chrome on the KeyOne would definitely require some handling of the bookmarks. (Is there adblock on Chrome?).
I can move contacts from iCloud back to Gmail.
Photos is fine since I'm doing iCloud Photos (would cancel the 50 GB subscription and delete whatever is in there) and Google Photos and there is an Apple Music app for Android.
Anything I'm missing?
EDIT: How is adoptive storage? Worth getting a microSD card for that?
Only question is how I should handle switching back to Google/Gmail since I had made my iCloud email my email for basically everything. Does the Blackberry Calendar/apps handle iCloud accounts, etc? Also, I currently use Safari on my Mac so going to Chrome on the KeyOne would definitely require some handling of the bookmarks. (Is there adblock on Chrome?).
I can move contacts from iCloud back to Gmail.
Photos is fine since I'm doing iCloud Photos (would cancel the 50 GB subscription and delete whatever is in there) and Google Photos and there is an Apple Music app for Android.
Anything I'm missing?
EDIT: How is adoptive storage? Worth getting a microSD card for that?
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sk1wbw
Suspended
It's the same camera, I wonder why he said that?
Yeah, I want this phone too. Jaime Rivera at PocketNow said he abused it and got two days from the battery.
akuma13
macrumors 6502a
The Pixel's camera software is optimized so well compared to the KeyOne. That's why HDR photos and night shots look better on it.
I just read a comment MrMobile left on another reviewer's video. A software update was released before the embargo was lifted that solved stuttering issues he had. Hopefully future updates from Blackberry improve overall performance and camera.
Yeah I imagine with all of the software updates that the PRIV got over the years and the processor still actually running well, despite sometimes getting toasty, it's still a decent choice.
I was always really impressed with the PRIV screen too. Perfect size for my liking.