BlackBerry PRIV (Black)

Just a brilliant phone.Pros1. 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.Cons1. 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,Pros1. Excellent appearance and dpi2. Carries touch sensitive sliding keypad, for those wanting the BB feel., also easier to scroll than from the screen3. Very good built quality4. Superb back camera taking stunning pics5. Updates regularly.Cons1. Heating issue, esp if you use while charging2. 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 heavy4. Poor front camera, though good a mere 2 MP lacks the crispy image.5. Tough to find hard case for itI 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

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.

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.

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 yearsGo 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.