BlackBerry KEY2 Hands On: Is This My Next Phone? By MrMobile [Michael Fisher]

(upbeat music) - For much of the past year I carried the BlackBerry KEYone as my personal smartphone and people always ask me the same two questions, they still make BlackBerry's and isn't it about time you upgraded your phone? Well the answer to the first one is, yes, and today the answer to the second question is too. I'm MrMobile and the BlackBerry Key2 could quite possibly be my next phone if it fixes one of its predecessors crucial deal breakers. This is your first look at the BlackBerry Key2 brought to you by Internxt. Confession time folks, I love my KEYone, but everything about the Key2 feels and looks better. It's cleaner, sharper, with the same exact display but a much sleeker chassis around it so it feels a lot smaller. At the same time the thing that makes it a BlackBerry has actually gotten bigger.

The physical keys are 20% taller, and frankly I never found the KEYone too cramped to begin with. I did have a problem with the older phones glossy keyboard coating though so I'm happy to say that it's replaced with a matte finish. This works together with excellent key travel and click field to make typing very comfortable on the Key2, and considering that's most of the reason you'd wanna shell out for this phone, that's a very good thing. One button in particular deserves a closer look. See on the KEYone you could program any button to open any app or shortcut, but you had to be on the home screen for that to work.

Well this is called the speed key, and it fixes that. It lets you use your shortcuts even if you're inside another app so you can quickly multitask with keystrokes instead of scrolling. Oh, and bonus, I've always thought it ridiculous on a device with so many buttons, that none of them could drop the notification shade. Well there's a new option that lets you assign the currency key to do just that. More on currency in just a second when we talk price.

First, two things I have to touch on since it's 2018 and I can sum 'em in five words, no notch, yes, headphone jack. More important to me we've now got all the accessory buttons on the same side of the phone including the convenience key not a Bixby button, not a Goggle assistant button, a button you do whatever the heck you want with. I'll probably wind up assigning it to the camera. In keeping with the times, there are two around back. The second one helps with portrait mode plus it's a 2X optical zoom lens.

The KEYone exceeded expectations in its photos but this here BlackBerry isn't making as big a deal about the providence of the camera sensor so I'll reserve judgment until I can use it in the real world. Okay, time for the potential deal breaker. See, as much as I loved the KEYone shortly after my review it began to bog down until it became just dog-slow and even the later higher specced models didn't help matters. Well that kind of slow down is intolerable on a device built for getting business done so I'm really gonna be looking very closely at performance when my Key2 review device comes in. Another concern, the KEYone never had the brightest screen of the bunch and with the same panel the Key2 isn't gonna to win any viability awards either.

I am looking forward to seeing whether the new phone lives up the battery life of its predecessor though which was legendary. Finally we come to the price, how much? I'll make you a deal, if I tell you now instead of putting the sponsor spot here like a jerk, will you at least try not clicking away as soon as the numbers leave my mouth? I'm gonna assume you said yes because you're very fine people. BlackBerry's MSRP for the Key2, when it launches later this month, is $649.00 a hundred bucks more than its predecessor debuted at. Whether the Key2 is worth that premium will depend on a full review, but to be honest, it's probably gonna be my next phone no matter what. See, the KEYone re-addicted me to something I didn't know I was missing, the physical smartphone keyboard.

And no matter how much fancy glass I've typed on since, I've yet to get over it a second time. And well, I'm hoping the Key2 will be good enough that I don't have to. - What do I think? I think it's gonna be my next phone. - This video was brought to you by XCloud, an incredibly secure storage platform from Internxt. XCloud is the cloud everyone deserves a truly private and secure platform with file distribution and end-to-end encryption so one one can access your files.

Not nefarious hackers, not governments, not even Internxt itself. Sign up for the wait list now and you'll be eligible to win over 50 Internxt tokens each week until the beta launches later in the third quarter, that's about 500 bucks you could win each week. Signup for the XCloud beta risk free at the link in the description below. - Let me know what you think about the Key2 friend. Sound off in the comments and follow me on Instagram at theMrMobile so you can be the first to see some of the insufferable BlackBerry hipster photos I take once I get my review devise.

'Till next time, thanks for watching and stay mobile my friends.

Source : MrMobile [Michael Fisher]