BlackBerry KEY2 Black Unlocked GSM Android Smartphone 4G LTE, 64GB

It's a BB like I remember. Everything is about efficiency and ease of use. Its not perfect but with only 2 apps I overcame the shortfalls. You don't need some crackberry addict talking about why it's so wonderful, so I'll just stick to what isn't perfect about it.1) The Productivity Tab is so close to being good that it hurts. What I want is the old swipe right to get to the Hub. That is sort of there in the tab but in a very limited fashion. Its more inline with other "productivity" screens and add-ons other manufacturers have that no one uses. This was the best of them but could be so much better. What ultimately made me turn it off was that I couldn't hide downloaded but filtered messages. The calendar was a nice touch but not option to control how far out it displayed your agenda and honestly, without it passively in my face I forget. I need it to be obnoxious (if you're like me, install Calendar Notify). In the end between CalendarNotify and a Hub shortcut key it won't be missed.2) Screen Rotation can be weird. This could be an Android thing but turning it off or on is insufficient. The Passport has a similar problem but it wasn't so bad/annoying. With the squarer screen, rotating isn't as needed but rotating the long a$$ phone is more of a production, especially one handed. I'd much rather have a third option to ignore all app controlled rotation and rely only on the phone's orientation. I feel like is probably an app for this (likely root) but this really is just a nit pick.3) The Keyboard is better and worse. It's better then not having a physical keyboard. It is worse because the soft keyboard options are not intuitive or easily managed/accessed. The alt button is in a horrible place if your are doing number entry. The mic button is wasted on me. And not having a hard "." is such a PITA. I loved the Passport's ultra wide keyboard but since it was BB10 it didn't have the android home row buttons. The makes having soft symbols much less desirable. Admittedly I haven't searched through the keyboard settings yet but I'm sure I'll adapt either way.4) The limited options for the Convenience Key to perform other physical buttons' actions. I ended up removing all of the options for this key and just overriding it with Button Mapper. This let me map a short, long, and double click.5) Its flagship pricing but lets call a spade a spade. Nothing from blackberry with ever be a flagship competitor. They don't make entertainment boxes. You are paying a premium, not for the best specs, which this doesn't have everywhere, but for a physical keyboard and a design philosophy, all to a recovering (?) company. I don't find the screen brightness to be a problem. The batter is amazing. The screen, the memory, and the chip could (should) all be better, especially at this price, if you weren't getting what I previously mentioned.6) And because it's a BB, accessories will be in short supply. They will be overpriced, under-quality, and generally not what you really wanted for the phone in the first place.7) Camera isn't good but I never expected it to be.8) I mentioned the home button row already but having it them being hard buttons is asinine. Should have made the screen bigger.So what would I change? Not much. My major issues are software (save some of my keyboard nit picks). This, IMO, is -the- phone for someone who prioritized communication over entertainment. You who you are; you won't be disappointed with this.

I've had this phone for one evening and I feel very contradicted so I will share all of my thoughts so far.Cons:* Quality control - White color is leaking from the bottom left corner of the screen. That's how I got the phone. Very disappointing that I have to deal with returns from day one.* Keyboard - The reason why I got this phone is the physical keyboard. Well how about bi-lingual people? The physical keyboard does not support that many other languages other than English. How hard is it to map the keys? Just look at how windows has mapped theirs and copy.At the moment if I want to type in Bulgarian I end up having my physical keyboard(which already takes 1/5 of the phone's size) and on top of that a digital keyboard gets projected on the screen. How much screen size do you think I am left with? And on top of that I constantly hit the home button(circle icon) as I try to hit the space. It's infuriating! Biggest reason to return the phone if there's not an update soon.* Home buttons bar - I hate the triangle/circle/square icons on the screen. Why couldn't you hide those and get them to show up with a swipe on the screen like all the other companies out there? This has been something that I've seen on a Nexus 5x(year 2015). I mean the screen is already small as it is, don't make it smaller.* Cameras(also in the pros) - I had poor expectations for the camera based on youtube reviews but for real - this camera is really bad. Like 1/10 in low light. I mean I would have much rather gotten a single camera that can take a solid photos in low light than a dual camera with an optical zoom without image stabilization and horrible performance in low light. Front camera is bad too but I don't care about that.* CDMA - Does not support CDMA. Why not?* Space bar - As much as I like the fingerprint integration in the space bar I have to point out that that particular key is a little flimsy. As a result it gives me a flimsy/clumsy feel as I use the keyboard since the space bar is engaged so often. I wonder if that's related to the finger print sensor in it. I would much rather if the space bar was as stable/solid as the other keys, even if the fingerprint sensor was on the back on the phone. Speaking of that sensor, I find myself unlocking my phone by accident. I've set up my thumb as an unlocking finger and every time I pick up the phone I grab it just over the space bar ever so slightly which unlocks it. That is a bit of a flaw in the design but not a big deal.Pros:* Quality build - I enjoyed unpacking the phone. Usually a cheap package holds a cheap product. TCT did not go cheap on the packaging, the box is well made and has a very nice expensive feel. The design is really amiable as well. The phone itself feels well built, there's nothing cheap in its looks.* Looks - the phone looks amazing. I really love it.The design hit a home run in my book. Definitely makes me have mixed feelings about how I feel about this product.* Screen - regardless of what people on YouTube say the screen is pretty good quality. Resolution is good, colors are pretty vivid, crisp and they seem accurate. Screen is responsive. Sure the ratio might not be ideal but we all knew what we were getting in buying this phone.* Keyboard - Super nice, well built. One thing I don't like is how the numbers are positioned but maybe I am just not used to the key placement yet. It's been almost a decade since my last blackberry so I will wait and see.* Shortcuts - I love convenience and I look for it in every product I buy. TCT are definitely bringing in all sorts of shortcuts thinking about the user and hot to save them from any additional clicks. I really really appreciate that. I use my phone to get things done(almost never play games) so I have to juggle through a ton of apps all the time. Going to the home screen every time is a waste. Those shortcuts are just beautiful.* Read camera(also in the cons) - With a decent amount of light you can get some pretty good photos. Good enough for me.* Security - This seems to be working well. Provides a ton of transparency of what features of your phone are being used by what apps. One can easily re-configure certain applications denying them access to the microphone or the camera, etc. I am hopeful there will be a lot more to see from the DTEK software.* Locker - haven't used this yet.* Firefox - Works like a charm, easy to open a page navigate and delete the history if that's your goal.* LED light - Man I missed this feature!! It shines so nicely and brings so many memories. Again it looks really nice, quality execution from TCT. I also managed to customize the light very well. There's a texting app called Textra that will allow you to set different LED lights for different people.* Sound - Lots of complaints online. I am not sure what for, if you want a great sound system you can't expect to get it from a tiny phone speaker. And yet I feel like TCT did a great job with the speaker for the key2. Sound is crips and loud. Better than what I've hard on some other phones. I really cannot complain about it.* Battery - As many other people have stated the battery does hold well. I've been on the phone for hours and it's barely at 55%. (not playing games though, more like exploring the OS, browsing online, watching videos here and there). One of the top 3 features in this phone for me.* Fingerprint sensor - Also the finger print sensor is so cool! Works really well and it’s integrates in the space bar. Definitely a win for me.* Blackberry hub - Highly customizable, I love it. Everything is held in the same spot, saves me time and effort. You need to try it to see, there's a lot to be mentioned here.* Speed - I read a ton of complaints on youtube that the CPU is not fast enough. Believe me, it's fast enough. Everything opens at an instant. Again, I would not use the phone to play games so that's not a test factor for me.*** BIGGEST VALUE FACTOR - Unlike any other phone I have used(plus sized androids/iphones) this phone actually makes me want to do MORE! it feels more like a mini laptop than a phone. In general I have no patience to research things online on a phone. Dealing with typos as I am trying to google things or reading through big articles having to keep cleaning the screen from my finger prints. This is no longer a problem as I am no longer getting exasperated typing on this keyboard. Also I can use the keyboard to scroll through articles. Super convenient. Instantly feeling more productive and willing to interact with this phone.**EDIT** Returning the phone since blackberry responded saying they do not plan on adding support for any new languages to their physical keyboard. Very disappointed. The keyboard is your selling point but you only support a handful of languages, put a bit more effort in that area okay?**EDIT2** I’m still using the phone trying to get a better feel for it before I return it. Updated the list above.**EDIT3** This phone keeps growing on me. Adding several more observations.What I would like to see is an article of how we can better use the keyboard to navigate through the phone. For example if I want to open a web page right now:1) Hold speed key + C(I configured this).2) Hold Alt + D to highlight the url bar(preconfigured).3) Type in a url and press enter.That's pretty sweet but I would like to keep going with the shortcuts how I do on my PC. For example how do I open a new tab or close one? Or even tab through the page?**EDIT4** It would be great if TCT allow us to configure the keyboard. Say one wants to add their own language. Download the chars for the alphabet and set them up how they want.**EDIT5** I was recommended using AnySoftKeyboard which allows using the physical keyboard for languages that are not natively supported by blackberry. It's working well for me. Also I found out that I can map the $ key to "CTRL" which allows for CTRL+A/CTRL+C/CTRL+X/CTRL+V combinations. What's cooler than that? Time saver.At this point I am switching my review to 4 stars and am keeping this phone. I will just replace it due to the defective screen. Other than that it's an amazing device.