How is Blackberry Priv Android with a Difference

Blackberry has always been the favourite choice and is considered the best phone. However, since 2013, Blackberry, like Nokia phones, has not been heard much in the market.

Many of us might have thought that Blackberry phones would no longer be in the racks for fans to pick up. In October 2015, Blackberry again surprised us (though there had been rumours about it for the past few months) by launching its Android phone.

The BlackBerry Priv- the Android- is now the talk of the town. BlackBerry worked with Google to ensure it put forth a version of Android that wouldn’t have any issues to speak of. It also runs on the same hardware as some of its competitors. Let us know in detail how Priv is an Android with a difference.

Blackberry Priv Android is a slider phone.

The BlackBerry Priv Android is a slider phone that doesn’t look too much like an Android device but resembles a Nokia Lumia device. The power button is on the left side of the device, and a mute button is on the right, sandwiched between two volume keys. The SIM and expansion slot are on top, while the headphone jack is on the bottom.

The BlackBerry Priv has a Keyboard.

Styled in Blackberry aesthetic with black and gray trim with the keyboard slider and is balanced so that it doesn’t feel too top-heavy when it’s slid open, and it’s thin enough that if you didn’t even know there was a keyboard under the screen, you wouldn’t call it thick.

The back is made of a grippy “glass weave” material that makes it easy to hold without collecting lint and dust.

The software is also optimized for the keyboard. From the home screen, you can long-press keys to quick-launch shortcuts and start typing to trigger a search.

The keyboard is also touch-sensitive, so you can scroll with it and swipe down to bring up an optional symbols keyboard. However, some words are sometimes missed as people using touch screens might have difficulty typing fast with this physical keyboard.

Blackberry Priv Hardware

• The phone has a 5.40-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1440 pixels by 2560 pixels and a PPI of 540 pixels per inch.
• The BlackBerry Priv is powered by a 1.44GHz hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor and 3GB of RAM. It also packs 32GB of internal storage that can be expanded to 200GB via a microSD card.
• The BlackBerry Priv packs an 18-megapixel primary camera on the rear and a 2-megapixel front shooter for selfies.
• The BlackBerry Priv runs Android 5.1.1 and is powered by a 3410mAh non-removable battery. It measures 147.00 x 77.20 x 9.40 (height x width x thickness) and weighs 192.00 grams.
• The BlackBerry Priv is a single SIM (GSM) smartphone that accepts a nano-SIM. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, NFC, and 4G. The phone’s sensors include a Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor, Accelerometer, and Gyroscope.

The Hub is back in the BlackBerry Priv.

The BlackBerry Hub introduced in BlackBerry 10 is back. It bundles notifications from your email, calendar, messaging apps, and social media accounts into one easy-to-use Hub.

Tapping on each notification will take you to the app it’s coming from, where you can customize alerts for each account. The app also has a productivity tab, which lives permanently on the right-hand side of the Home screen.

Drag it out, and you can see the day’s calendar events and tasks at a glance. If it’s too bothersome, you can turn it off.

The pop-up widgets in BlackBerry Priv

Pop-up widgets let you use a widget with any app without having to paste it on your Home screen. Once you enable them in the settings, you can slide up on the icon to quickly bring up a widget and use it.

The shortcuts, which live in the Application drawer, offer much more utility. You can drag and drop them on the Home screen as you need them or tap on one from the drawer to use it.

 DTEK in BlackBerry Priv for Security

A BlackBerry phone wouldn’t be complete without a few of its custom security features. Since this phone is on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, BlackBerry tacked on an app called DTEK, which scans the device’s security status.

It reviews your applications and considers the developer options and trusted app sites you’ve allowed to assess how protected your device is.

It doesn’t make up for the lack of individual application permissions available with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but it is an app you’d expect from a company like BlackBerry.

Set a Picture Password in BlackBerry Priv

In BlackBerry Priv, there is a new Lock screen feature called Picture password, which allows you to use a combination of a number and picture to unlock the device, rather than simply typing the password. You choose the image, number, and part of the picture to drag the number.

BlackBerry Priv Availability

The BlackBerry Priv is available unlocked for CA$ 699 directly from BlackBerry’s website. You can get the phone in Canada for CA$400 on a two-year contract or CA$800 unlocked at Bell, Telus, Rogers, SaskTel, Eastlink and Wind Mobile.

I hope you enjoy this remarkable BlackBerry phone again.