BlackBerry Priv User Reviews

A unique old partner of life. Really not a flagship but à daily phone of 2015, 2016, 2017 .... After this is more complicated. Software update is missing, hardware cpu run just To much hot and drain the battery. Performance are missing but for email, web, call, and video the screen is beauty.

The phone just can't compete hardware-wise with the likes of the Pixel, iPhone 7 or Galaxy S7 but that's only natural, it's a 15 months old device now. Anyone who expects a last year flagship to compete with the current gen ones is a fool. But it can compete in design (blows everyone away except maybe de S7 Edge, both are gorgeous phones) and productivity. The physical keyboard is something no other bran offers, and it's prety good. Also, in everyday life you won't notice any lag and it will perform just as you would expect, but it will get warm pretty fast if you're doing games or updating lots of apps at the same time. The front camera is meh, but the rear facing it's amazing

In my opinion there is no other smartphone other than BB10 which could match the productivity of the Priv for emails and business. If you are looking for a serious performer to stay connected out of the office, look no further.

Seriously underrated phone, especially after Android Marshmallow upgrade. It really deserves a better rating, and much better sales volumes.

Few people even know that Blackberry made an Android phone, nevermind how good it is. I highly recommend it.

I spent an hour filling in why I gave each rating I did and then the webpage crashed and I lost all of my inputs. I will try and come back to edit my review if possible but I wanted to get my ratings in so that other will know just how good this phone is. I picked up a Samsung GS7 edge the other day and must say I'm not impressed so far.

This is a great phone. Normally when you talk to people about a Blackberry at a phone store, they cringe. Everyone I talked to had a positive review. This phone routinely rates in the top 5 for Android phones, and now I know why. I do not regret buying this phone.

I've had a lot of phones in my time, & every brand possible. The Blackberry Priv is up there with the best. I've had Blackberry's in the past, & for business they are stunning, it's just sometimes you want more, so with Android on board the Priv was well worth a look. Since I've had it the Priv has been sensational, for me that is, productivity is fantastic, calendars, emails etc works seamlessly. And since the update, everything is even better, the camera excels now in every department. If you're unsure check the camera score it gets at DxOMark, it's 82. The Priv is in the top ten on there, & that's a real credit to Blackberry. For me it's business & pleasure, at the front you have all the business functions you need, your office door, in the back you have a full blown Christmas party going on. And that can only be good thing for Blackberry, & lets home it is a start of a new beginning for Blackberry as they deserve it.

Purchased this phone through Pre-Order and got the very first shipment. Initial disappointment set in when compared to my Passport...the battery life wasn't as good, the keyboard was cramped, and losing the wide 1:1 screen was a bigger shock then I expected. Hub was laggy, camera focused slowly and didn't like a top of the line 18MP shooter, emails and texts didn't always come through, and the phone would needlessly peg 100% of the CPU and get hot doing simple tasks like browsing the internet. Paltry 2.5-3hrs SOT meant that I had to charge it halfway through the day. "That's normal for Android!" my colleagues would say, but I knew that I shouldnt get the same battery life as their ~2000mAH Androids with a 3410mAH one. I was very close to going back to my faithful Passport, even with its hacked and patched together Play Services that only worked "some-of-the-time" for apps.

I recognized these as all software issues, and patiently waited for the promised first Maintenance update...

This came in two parts for my unlocked unit - first was an OS update on 12/1, which had a bevy of improvements from the camera, to the CPU utilization, and to the overall phone stability. I could now make it through a day of work without charging - albeit barely, averaging out at ~4-4.5hrs SOT - and it did not turn into a nuclear reactor in my hands anymore. I was very happy so far, and when news came of the app updates shortly after I waited patiently.

On 12/14, the Play Store went live with updates to ALL the Blackberry Productivity apps. I was like a kid in a candy store. The Hub was now buttery smooth and emails pushed instantly, battery drain plummited and I now get ~6hrs SOT without touching a charger, easily making it through a day at work. Keyboard added multiple language support like in BB10, the Camera quality increased greatly with focus is now nearly instant. I got used to the keyboard coming from the HUGE Passport, and now type at the same ~60WPM.

In short...I LOVE THIS PHONE NOW. I'm not even getting into the software benefits like Universal Search, Hub, Blackberry Calender, etc. I have no complaints, and picked up one for my Fiance who absolutely loves it as well.

Blackberry hit a Home Run with the Priv!

***IMPORTANT NOTICE TO READERS: MY REVIEW COMES AFTER A MAJOR SOFTWARE UPDATE THAT HAS FIXED ALMOST ALL OF THE ISSUES OTHER REVIEWERS HAVE NOTED****

I will say that in the time that I've owned the Blackberry Priv I have not experienced any major software bugs or issues. Those bugs or issues that I did experience were largely eradicated by the latest (12/7/15) update by Blackberry. Blackberry has been great about updating their products and this is the first Android device I've owned that has put all of the major software updates through Google Play. For example, the camera on the Priv can be updated through Google Play instead of through a regular over-the-air software update that takes a lot longer to receive. This means that instead of waiting months to receive a software update, it can happen at a more rapid pace. Since updating all of the Blackberry apps and software, I can honestly say this is one of the best performing devices bar none. I just had an iPhone 6S Plus and I traded it in for this. I have no regrets so far.

BlackBerry nailed it here mixing their legendary keyboard and own suites of apps with Android ecosystem. The hardware quality is top notch, as are the finishes. The high resolution 18mp with Schneider-KREUZNACH lens takes magnificent pictures.

astonishing deviation for blackberry. Very happy thus far, exceeds my expectations .I bought as a pre-order and was a bit apprehensive but a wonderful blend of new and traditional. The physical keyboard, in use, allows a huge area of typing space and the virtual is as good as any android I have owned. Adequate front camera and very good main shooter.

I excited with this bb
this bb is good
but not good compared with samsung
i use this 3 days, i sell to my friend

battery is not long enough
camera is not good enough
there is apps now. better than before.

The PRIV’s isn’t great if I’m honest -- and I really do enjoy a good QWERTY keyboard on my phone. It lacks the tactility and precision of the Passport’s and, while it does have a few nifty tricks up its sleeve, you can use it to scroll through menus and the like, it just doesn’t live up to expectation. A nice addition to a very different-style of BlackBerry, yes, but something the phone could also have survived without, which brings me back to my original point: is BlackBerry’s obsession with keyboards built on nostalgia or actual consumer demands? After trying to use this one for two weeks, I have to admit, it sort of feels like the former…

The reality is quite a bit different, though, unfortunately. During my 10 days use of the handset, the PRIV seldom made it through a full day -- 8am to 10pm -- without requiring a top-up at some point. Now, this real-world type of battery testing is entirely subjective to how I used the phone -- your experience might be different -- but I did notice the PRIV eats through charge at a rather alarming rate when you’re actually using it, something I’m assuming BlackBerry is very keen for you to do.

For instance, while checking emails and the like over coffee most mornings I was able to drain around 20%-25% off the battery in about 30 minutes. On my Galaxy Note 5, for the sake of comparison, the same ritual took about ~5% of the handset’s charge. Again, this is something that can potentially be resolved with further optimisations to the software, every phone is different in how it manages power consumption, but this is something BlackBerry really needs to drill down on because the PRIV is VERY thirsty for power and this has a very negative effect, obviously, on its overall performance.

Imagine turning on your phone only for it to lose over 20 percent in the initial install. You’d think there was a problem right? In the case of the BlackBerry Priv, this happened to me each of the four times I set the handset up, so it’s definitely something to be wary of. After all, 20 percent in an initial install is certainly excessive.

Since the accidental reset, the battery life has certainly been interesting. It’s too early to report detailed findings of the battery, which is something we’ll look at in the full review but I will say that expectations of more than one day battery life are unrealistic.

As I write this, the handset has drained 17% battery in the 2 hours I have been writing. Furthermore, in the 9 hours it’s been off charge, the Priv has dropped to 25 percent battery which suggests it’ll barely make it through a day. With BlackBerry’s new approach to mobile, there’s no way to remove the battery on the Priv so if you’re a heavy user, a portable battery pack will be a must-have in your bag.

Yes!
My expectations were much higher than this, BlackBerry.
I just expected this phone to be mine for years
From the first day I received this, The iceberg of problems started to appear.
when I installed all my apps, an error message pop out the screen after few seconds. I called the support center and they failed to resolve this issue, but they finally asked me to do factory reset. I did that 3 times but the problem was still there.
Later, the support team handled my case to the "Escalation Department'', and I'm still waiting till this moment for them. Unfortunately, no one contacted me after they promised to call back. However, I was able to temporally to fix this problem by uninstalling and reinstalling the BlackBerry Services app. So, I just discovered that this problem is caused by the buggy BlackBerry software. Once I integrate any email client to the hub, the problems come back again.

The hub is so bad compared to the one on BB10. I can't integrate Whatsapp, Instagram ,,... etc.
The hub also doesn't show the notification till I manually open it, so this makes it so useless to me.

The build quality is not the real well-known BlackBerry quality at all. It is all plastic in everywhere, even the screen is made of plastic. The back cover wobbling and flexing like a sponge. Also, there is a clicking sound when I type on the scree, I feel the two pieces of the phone are not attached well to each other. the camera lens cover is so scratch-able. Don't put the phone in with any keys or metal material in your pocket.

The QWERTY keyboard like it is not made BlackBerry.. It is flat with small buttons, but it does relatively well.

I was expecting the best touch keyboard in the world.. Because my Z10 has the best one. Unfortunately, I'm being disappointed again; The international switch language is missing here. You need to do that from the setting key on the right lower corner, which took more time to switch between two language, and there is a lag from between switching.

The external speaker does really well but the pores on it is "Dust Collector". You can see this after few days of usage.

Handset volume output is average.. It is not the sound quality of BlackBerry in Z10 or Passport.

The screen is excellent with vivid colors and stunning saturation. But the plastic material makes it feel cheap when you touch it.

Back camera is very good, and it is the best camera on BlackBerry phone to date. However, It is not that great compared to Galaxy or iPhone.

Front-facing camera isn't good by any means. Low light imaging is terrible.

Call quality and reception was amazing, but sometimes the phone has unstable bluetooth connection while I was connecting with my wireless handset.

Phone is heavy, but it feels good in hand. It also feel thin

All in all, my expectation was much higher than this. BlackBerry didn't make a good Android phone. The software is terrible like a bugs mine field.
BlackBerry U can do better!

What used to set BlackBerry apart from the competition? It’s legendary email of course. Unfortunately, this is no longer a strong point for the company and this could be bad news for BlackBerry in its fight to be relevant in the consumer market. As you might have expected, the Priv uses BlackBerry’s antiquated BES servers to handle email and unfortunately, BlackBerry kinda forgot to update these for a modern era. For enterprise customers with the existing infrastructure, the reliance on BES won’t be a problem but for pro users, it’s definitely an issue.

First, you have to configure each email account individually with BlackBerry Hub. That means if you’re like me and you have multiple Gmail or Google Apps accounts that you want to sync – I have a total of 3 – you need to configure them individually in BlackBerry Hub and then add them again in the Android OS if you want to use them with any Google services. Talk about redundant!

Second is how BlackBerry Hub handles Gmail or Google Apps accounts: it uses imap and has to manually fetch email. That means the lovely modern world of push email that we take for granted is no more if you want to use BlackBerry Hub. Of course, you could choose not to configure the email but that would then render the BlackBerry Hub and the Productivity Hub useless.

As an example – yesterday I was having an urgent business conversation via email and in the 15 minutes it took BlackBerry Hub to refresh the inbox – 15 minutes is default but it can be set to 5 minutes or more – I had exchanged 10 emails with the person using another Android phone.

There’s no doubt that 5 minute sync times will be acceptable for most users but it’s definitely disappointing that BlackBerry, and in particular BES, doesn’t support push email in 2015. Furthermore, the number of email solutions on the Play Store measures into the hundreds or thousands and even Microsoft has an (excellent) Outlook for Android app. Let’s hope this is solvable in a future update.

BlackBerry have certainly put their own stamp on Android but sadly, they’ve pulled a BlackBerry. There’s a lot to like but there’s also a lot to dislike and the simplest explanation is that some decisions just don’t make sense.

The biggest criticism is how the BlackBerry Hub handles email but it’s worthy of its own section below. Other than this, the BlackBerry software doesn’t quite seem to be completely finished.

Let’s take the curved display as an example: a key selling point of the handset in terms of design, the feature works less often than you might expect. When using the Productivity Hub – which slides in from either the left or the right and offers your calendar, favourite contacts, notifications and tasks at a glance – the data can sometimes vary from the up to date information found in the BlackBerry Hub. Similarly, the battery charging indicator doesn’t seem to always appear on the Edge when the display is switched off and charging and as a key USP, we’d have expected better reliability.

One feature that almost made me give up the Priv immediately is the “Picture Unlock” protection option. Simply put, it asks you to pick a number from 0-9 and then choose where to drag that on a picture to unlock the phone. Sounds complex right? It’s worse than you think – the number appears several times when you want to unlock your phone which makes it virtually impossible and, unless you’ve switched this option off in the settings, it will wipe your phone when you inevitably enter it wrong ten times. As I learnt to my peril, having your phone wipe itself is certainly not something you want to go through when trying to see some pictures you’ve just taken.

Whichever way you look at it, one thing is clear: BlackBerry’s software has a lot of positives but also a few elements that haven’t been fully thought through. Luckily for the Canadian OEM, software can be fixed and hopefully, the company will issue performance and interface updates to improve the overall experience.

I'm very surprised when Blackberry gave up on BB10, and announced they will use Android. I love the idea of Android & secure, that I bought BB priv the minute it goes online.

I must say that I hope too high. This phone is the worst of both world (android & BB). Blackberry made the phone less customable, less rootable. Thus, getting the worst of android.

Not to mention, it still have BB camera quality, that is not good compared to android LG G4 or Galaxy S6 or Xperia Z5.

While I agree with other reviewer here that BB+Android=Awesome (BB become better), but I think Android+BB=Failure (Android become worse).

Where to start...
I have had this phone for roughly 24 hours and I have to day this is a mixed bag for me.
Pro: Let's start with the screen, it's simply a beautiful display that has nice punchy colors and is vibrant. The keyboard for me will take some time getting up to speed as Im so used to the vkb but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.it feels really nice to click buttons and has a nice feel overall. The speaker while only mono and on one side of the bottom it's quite loud and is clear. The vibration motor has a nice pleasant sound/feel, it's one of the best I've had. BB keep the is very similar to stock which is good, they have added a few of their apps to make it feel more blackberry like.
Con: the camera... Not at all what I would consider standout. I've taken multiple pictures of the same object in the same lighting and got vastly different results, it's also not very fast to get multiple pictures out. The battery so far has been average at best, which doesn't cut it in today's flagship. Maybe I'm still in the conditioning of the battery and will gladly change my stance on this if it changes but so far I'm not at all impressed.
The biggest letdown and con for me personally is the build quality.. The left side of the phone has a spot that if you push it inwardly with your finger it flexes and makes a click sound.. Drives me insane, the back of it has a spot by the BlackBerry sign that you can push in as well.. Like there is airspace behind it but not supported to keep it from flexing.again I expect more out of a 700.00 device. My s6 edge plus is leaps better in build quality.

First, I must dissagree completely with Zeeya who give a review of 9 (Z3, Q5) or 10 (Z10, Z30, Q10, Passport, Priv) to most BB phone he review here.

While the phone is really in different league compared to BB10 device, I think the phone is still can't compete with the vast majority of android device due to nothing special (if you think security is not a point -- most user did!!).

I'm coming from a BlackBerry Passport and have to say I had some doubt about using an Android.
I usually dislike it but I was very surprised what BlackBerry did with it.

I'm happy to have an OS with a huge App ecosystem without missing my favourite features from BB10. The awesome Keyboard and the Hub.

I'm very happy with the build quality and the battery life and I guess I will keep my device.

I was excited when I found out that Blackberry use Android, thus, the apps selection will be good compared to baren amazon app store.

But, it turn out this phone is a RUSH JOB. Perhaps it would be better in 1 or 2 or 3 months after several OS update, but here is my temporary review until Blackberry fix it.

First, in less than 24 hours, I already got 3 hangs!!!!! This phone OS is NOT stable yet.

Second, I know camera is NOT blackberry strong point. But I need to say this: the camera quality looks bad.

Third, the phone FEEL SLOWWWW. VERY SLOWWW. Perhaps after optimization, it will be faster. But as of now. I think this is a rush job, and BB need to address this quickly.

astonishing deviation for blackberry. Very happy thus far, exceeds my expectations .I bought as a pre-order and was a bit apprehensive but a wonderful blend of new and traditional. The physical keyboard, in use, allows a huge area of typing space and the virtual is as good as any android I have owned. Adequate front camera and very good main shooter.

I bought it on November 6 as it ships to my house, and then unboxed it, and it seems very good, but what amuses me is that it ran Android OS, instead of their own Blackberry OS which they ran most Blackberry devices.