BlackBerry PRIV (Black)

Just a brilliant phone. Pros 1. Feels premium. Looks different. Feels different. In a world where all android phones look alike, this one stands out of the crowd. Especially when you have the keyboard drawn out. 2. Slide out is cool - Slide out keyboard is cool. BB has brought this back. KB Is very useful as well. Serves as track pad as well which makes browsing and reading a joy. 3. Price - It was priced at 60 K which was ridiculous. I got it for 33 K which is a steal for such a secure and different phone. 4. Typing - Typing is a different experience altogether. Both on touch screen and physical KB. 5. Security - Phone is secure like hell. There's an inbuilt app DteK which actually shows which App is accessing what on your phone. Very imp in today's life. 6. After Marshmellow update, phone works like a charm. No lags or performance issues. Cons 1. Camera - Rear camera is good. Not the best. But still clicks amazing pictures. Front camera is very average. 2. Battery - Battery life drains out fast. Especially if you use WA and PayTm.

I got this for Rs. 31,318 in Feb 2017, the price has fallen to less than 30K now, also was available at a whooping discount at around 20K twice in May 2017, but I know it was launched at 66K. This is typical of Blackberry models having steep price fall with time. Coming to the phone itself, Pros 1. Excellent appearance and dpi 2. Carries touch sensitive sliding keypad, for those wanting the BB feel., also easier to scroll than from the screen 3. Very good built quality 4. Superb back camera taking stunning pics 5. Updates regularly. Cons 1. Heating issue, esp if you use while charging 2. Many errors like camera not working, front speakers not working after updates will occur, but a simple restart of the phone will solve the issue (those familiar with BB will do it) 3. A wee bit heavy 4. Poor front camera, though good a mere 2 MP lacks the crispy image. 5. Tough to find hard case for it I AM EDITING THIS REVIEW 6 MONTHS AFTER USING IT BECOMES SUPER HOT TO HANDLE, BATTERY DRAINS LIKE HELL IT BECOMES LESS THAN 40% AFTER OVERNIGHT 100%, IF USING BATTERY SAVER MODE TOO IT BECOMES 70%. ALSO WORST ANDROID OS ON TOP OF BLACKBERRY. THIS SURELY IS MY LAST BLACKBERRY PHONE. Overall buy it between BELOW 20K, worth any day than the cheap china phones, BUT DOESNT MATCH PREMIUM IPHONE OR SAMSUNG

The first phone that I fell absolutely in love with. The phone itself looks spectacular, the slider bit just adding to its superb looks. It felt unique, something that stands out from the rest of the crowd. It's like bringing a 67 Shelby to a modern day supercar event. However, as much as I loved the phone, it did have certain flaws. The first phone that came in had a gap between the screen and the lower body (with it being a bit more raised on the left side)- so everytime you use the touch screen to type, the upper body would tap onto the lower body. I got that replaced (great service by Cart2India and Amazon). The second set was all better- but the issue with the raised gap came back in a week or so. I'm not sure if the manufacturing standards had gone low nowadays. Maybe it was the use of metal bodies in the older days than plastic. Nevertheless, if you're looking for something extremely solid, this may not be the best idea. However, as for everything else- this phone has topped all other phones I've used to date; which is a lot of phones. Good work on this one Blackberry. Could've been better, but still- thanks for bringing back the good old times.

Ironically, this product is being reviewed six days after I had physically received it in great condition though Amazon site still says " its getting closer"! Blackberry Priv out of the box has been an unbelievably captivating experience. It is sleek, and a design marvel. Up on its feet, when I booted it up, it performed fast, snappy and stutter free. A lot of Blackberry magic have been carried down to an alien OS that Android is to Blackberry. I am truly impressed with the end consumer experience. With judicious choice of what one needs and what are disposable( a subjective referral point), I get well over 24 hours of battery life. Admittedly, the device tends to easily warm up in your palm; an undesirable spin off from Snapdragon 808. To my relief it is less warm in your hands than another flagship carrying the same SOC! I am sure, with the advent of Android Marshmallow anytime soon, we will see this phenomenon disappear with better battery life and snappier performance. The Physical keyboard takes a few days of constant use to get familiar with owing to a closer key configuration the design warrants. But, once that stage is overcome, it is a sheer joy to keep flicking the suggested words up. Adding up to the brilliance of the keyboard, we can as well customise the level of artificial intelligence in terms of word predictability! Lastly, the cameras. They performs as well as a Blackberry passport does and sadly nothing better. But Passport camera is not disappointing by any stretch of imagination. This is to my own conscience, an incomplete portrayal; but let me state that I might not have more negatives than positives to add. The price and affordability are again relative terms.

Physical keyboard is not that friendly compared to other BlackBerry phones. Other than that feeling is awesome. Feels like a premium mobile. Can be used to show off to your friends. Battery lasts one day with normal usage. Edit: After using for more than 1.5 years Go with this mobile if you are super rich and you don't want to install any apps on your mobile because you have a personal assistant who owns iPhone or latest samsung or oneplus mobile which can hold as many apps as possible.

The phone looks awesome and that's the reason I bought it over KeyOne. The interface however deserves only a 3 and a half stars. Too many redundant notifications. The display is crisp but not very bright unlike other blackberries. It is difficult to read under daylight. KeyOne is much brighter than this. The battery life is average, not bad. In the initial days the back up was on the lower side but slowly in a weeks time it has adjusted and can manage around 2 days. (I don't play games) The camera is very good and colour reproduction is nearly natural. The physical keyboard is impractical to use as the phone becomes long and difficult to balance. However it is more a style icon than a typewriter and it does its work well. Just slide up and you have all eyes on you. (That is one way of judging a phone :) The only reason I bought it over KeyOne was due to its stunning design. Given the option to re-buy a phone, I would still buy Priv over KeyOne even after all the hassles in the phones. I am adding a few photos taken from its camera. (Cropped) UPDATE Amazon is clearly cheating people by selling this phone under Indian warranty. The phone's charging port has stopped working and it will not switch on anymore. I went to the closest service center and they DENIED warranty because the IMEI number did not match their database. They are not willing to give a denial letter on their letter head instead they have given a warranty denial e-mail. Amazon does not accept e-mails and Blackberry is not willing to give denial letter on paper. The Amazon customer care told me that this is not the firat case with me. Well it means that Amazon is aware that there is no warranty on this phone and I am not the only person being denied warranty. Why the hell is Amazon still selling this phone under warranty? It's been two months and the phone is not working. Shame on Amazon and shame on Blackberry. Amazon has made it a habit to never follow up. I called Amazon customer care and reported the issue. They told me to wait for three to four days while the matter is being looked into and mentioned explicitly not to call them, rather they would call me and update me on the matter. After two weeks I called them again only to hear that my request was declined because they needed a service denial letter on paper. I called them again after a few weeks to tell them that hard copy of denial letter will not be possible. Again they told me that your matter is being escalated and not to call them, instead they will contact me. After a week or so there was no update and when I called them they said the same old story about a hard copy of service denial. You're acting sick Amazon. I am going to drag both Amazon and Blackberry to the consumer court and seek suitable compensations. If only I could be any less serious about about it. I am changing the rating from 4 stars to 2 stars primarily because after sales service and fraudulent warranty.

An excellent product that is a steal for its current price! Pluses: 1. External keyboard. Let's not fool anyone here. People are here to buy a phone with a hardware keyboard. And it doubles as a trackpad! 2. Flagship at a price that is a steal. 3. Screen: very responsive, brilliant multitouch, sharp, clear images, OLED ensuring brilliant contrast. 4. Security. Blackberry=security and this phone is no exception. I'm a paranoid security freak, and I actually feel safe with this one. 5. Software: Android+blackberry. And you do get the best of both worlds! The phone is brilliant if you are an executive/professional. Minuses: 1. Rot front camera. Even the back camera has more pixels than potential imo, but it helps. 2. Too big for small hands. Especially problematic if you have small thumbs. Not for the tiny handed ones, no matter what its pluses may be. 3. Needs a hard-shell cover. No two ways on this one - it slips out of breast-pockets easily, and is too fragile (aka, costly) to risk dropping. 4. Gets bulky with a hardshell cover (or at least BB's own cover). Simply put, buy for the keyboard, and don't buy if you have small hands.

OVERHEATING trumps all. Once it over heat it drain the battery from 80 to 20 % in just one hour even if you are not using it. Whats the point of having a beautiful phone with great feature but it acts as a paper weight after 3-4 hours of usage? and let me tell you, No matter which version you purchase, all have the same issue. Anyway jaisa bhi tha Bohot acha phone tha. Build quality and looks! probably no other phone out there can beat that but looks are not everything can be proved buy this example. Issues: 1 Worst battery drain ever I come across with. 2. Phone overheat as good as burning flame. 3. Pathetic service center I encounter a problem with my power button so I went to service center and he replied after 10 days that you have an imei error and we cannot give support and it doesn't support on warranty, this is what they actually said in email: MODEL PRIV IMEI NO. 351624070418993 LOGIN ERROR CRM error , Cannot create Job Warranty support no longer available for this particular handset. Request to please contact seller.