How is Blackberry Priv- Android with a Difference

Blackberry has been always the favourite choice among all of us and is considered the best phone among all. In recent years since 2013 Blackberry like Nokia phones is not heard much in the market. Many of us might have thought that now no more of Blackberry phones would be seen in the racks for fans to pick. In October 2015 Blackberry again gave a pleasant surprise (though there were rumours from past few months about it) 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.

The BlackBerry Priv is a slider phone

The BlackBerry Priv Android is a slider phone which doesn’t look too much of an Android device but has a resemblance to Nokia Lumia device. The power button is on the left side of the device, and a mute button on the right that’s sandwiched in between two volume keys. Both 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. And 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 you can also just start typing to trigger a search.

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

Blackberry Priv Hardware

• The phone comes with a 5.40-inch touchsceen display with a resolution of 1440 pixels by 2560 pixels at a PPI of 540 pixels per inch.
• The BlackBerry Priv is powered by 1.44GHz hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor and it comes with 3GB of RAM. The phone packs 32GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 200GB via a microSD card.
• The BlackBerry Priv packs a 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, 4G. Sensors on the phone include Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor, Accelerometer, and Gyroscope.

The Hub is back in BlackBerry Priv

The BlackBerry Hub introduced in BlackBerry 10 is back. It bundles in notifications from your email, calendar, messaging apps, and social media accounts into one easy to peruse hub. Tapping on each individual notification will take you to the app it’s coming from, and you can customize alerts for each account. There’s also a productivity tab associated with the app, 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. You can disable it if it’s too much of a bother, though.

The pop-up widgets in BlackBerry Priv

There are pop-up widgets, which let you use a widget with any app without having to paste it on your Home screen. Once you enable it 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, 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 own custom security features. Since this phone is on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, BlackBerry tacked on an app called DTEK, which scans the security status of the device. It looks through your applications and factors in the developer options and trusted app sites you’ve allowed to assess how protected your device actually is. It doesn’t make up for the lack of individual application permissions, which are 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 picture, number, and part of the picture to drag the number to.

BlackBerry Priv Availability

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

Hope you enjoy this remarkable BlackBerry phone again.