Weighing in at 192g, when you hold the BlackBerry PRIV it feels like you’re holding something substantial, while the rounded edges and textured back creates an air of quality.
This is backed up by a solid set of internals and an excellent screen, as summarised in the table below.
| Specifications | BlackBerry PRIV |
| Dimensions | 147 (184 opened) x 77.2 x 9.4 mm |
| Operating system | Android 5.1.1 Lollipop |
| Display | 5.4? QHD (1,440 x 2,560) |
| Rear camera | 18MP |
| Front camera | 2MP |
| Storage, internal | 32GB |
| Storage, expandable | microSD |
| RAM | 3GB |
| Processor | 1.8GHz hexa-core Snapdragon 808 |
| Battery | 3,410mAh |
| SIM type | Nano |
The Basics
Battery life. Good – lasts more than a day under normal usage. Fast charge. Non-removable battery.
Display. Good – high resolution, responsive, circular polarising filter, good visibility in sunlight.
Storage. 32GB single partition internal, 23.86GB available. MicroSD support for up to 2TB.
Network. All SA 3G & 2G supported. STV100-4 supports Cell C, MTN, and Vodacom’s LTE networks. STV100-3 supports all SA LTE, including Telkom’s TD-LTE network.
Cameras. Excellent rear camera. “Shutter” is a bit slow. Front camera selfies are blurry. No selfie “flash”.
Bundled apps that are actually useful
The stand-out feature of the PRIV is its hardware keyboard – you’ve probably heard a lot about it – so let’s talk about that last.
Something not many people may be aware of is that BlackBerry has brought some amazing software features to Android.
This sets it apart from manufacturers that ship a bunch of irremovable shovelware on their devices that few people will use.
Here is a brief rundown of what you can find on the new BlackBerry Android.
BlackBerry Hub
BlackBerry has ported its notification hub to Android, offering a central repository for all your e-mail, text messages, WhatsApps, BBMs, and notifications from social networks.
It works well, but it can’t act as a complete notification tray replacement.
Only notifications from specific apps are pulled into the hub, leaving users of unsupported apps like Telegram and WeChat in the lurch.
If you don’t like the hub, or if your favourite services aren’t supported, there is nothing compelling you to use it.
Productivity Tab
Linked to the Hub is the Productivity Tab, which lets you swipe the display to “peek” at the latest info from Hub.
It shows upcoming events from your calendar, a task list, and holds your favourite contacts.
While the calendar and contacts are integrated with the usual services and accounts, such as your Google account, BlackBerry’s Tasks and Notes app only synchronises with Microsoft and Novell servers.
This means that to synchronise the task list visible in the Productivity Tab with a cloud service, you will either need a Windows Live Hotmail or Outlook account, or be connected to a Microsoft Exchange or Novell Groupwise server.
You can disable the Productivity Tab, but you can’t uninstall it.
Pop-up widgets
Another great feature BlackBerry has added to Android is the pop-up widget.
While the home screen widgets are one of the unique features Android has, many of the widgets that apps provide aren’t used.
Looking at my own usage, I typically arrange my main home screen into folders of apps I want easy access to, with my calendar widget taking up 6 or 9 icon slots. Because they take up so much space, I might only have one more widget on a secondary home screen.
With pop-up widgets, you can access an app’s widget with a swipe up or down, giving you a way to see the latest information from the app without opening it.
This is similar to iPhone’s new peek-and-pop feature linked to 3D Touch.
Security features: Picture password
BlackBerry has also baked extra security features into Android.
Two that are visible to users are its picture password screen lock, and the BlackBerry DTEK app.
Picture password solves the problem of unlocking your device while being watched.
Instead of a PIN, pattern, or password, picture password lets you choose a number, and set a location for that number on a picture.
When you unlock your phone, you are presented with a randomised grid of numbers. You then find a copy of your number and drag it around the grid until it is over the secret location you selected.
No smartphone is perfect, and while the PRIV is a great piece of technology, it is no different.
It’s not a cheap phone, and if MTN’s prices are anything to go by, the PRIV is set to compete with the Galaxy S6 Edge+ and iPhone in SA (MyMTN Choice 100 package – R519 per month).
Although you can’t uninstall BlackBerry Hub, you can disable notifications from it.