At MWC in Barcelona earlier this year, the new BlackBerry KEYone Android Powered smartphone was unveiled to the world. In our initial impressions of the device both at the event and then for the few days we got to spend with it following, the Ausdroid team at MWC were really impressed.
Now we have the official details of its Australian debut. The BlackBerry KEYone will be available for pre-order in mid-June from JB Hi-Fi both online and in-store for $899 AUD. The device should ship by the end of June according to our information — less than a month away.
If you’re interested in the BlackBerry KEYone you can register your interest by visiting www.blackberrymobile.com.au and clicking on Register Now.
At $899, the KEYone is a compelling proposition, especially for the enterprise customer looking for a great performer at well under the cost of the current defacto corporate device, an iPhone. But don’t be fooled, the KEYone isn’t just a business device.
Jason was particularly taken with the quality of the camera during a photo walk he took of Barcelona (while Chris and I were probably hard at work!) with it taking more than a little effort to prise the device out of his hands.
The KEYOne is powered by the more than adequate Snapdragon 625 (having reviewed devices with this exact processor I’m more than satisfied with its day to day performance), 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, SD Card and USB C.
Check out the full specs below:
| Key Specifications: | BlackBerry KEYone |
|---|---|
| Release date | March 2017 |
| Screen size | 4.5-inch |
| Screen technology | IPS LCD |
| Resolution | 1,680 x 1,080 |
| PPI | 434 |
| Rear camera | 12MP |
| Front camera | 8MP |
| Chipset | Snapdragon 625 |
| Core config | 8 x 2.0GHz |
| RAM | 3GB |
| Storage | 32GB |
| MicroSD | Yes, up to 2TB |
| Battery | 3,505 mAh |
| Battery removable | — |
| Connector | USB C |
| Headphone Port | Yes |
| Headphone Location | Top |
| Speaker Configuration | Bottom |
| NFC | Yes |
| Android OS | Android 7.1 |
| Vendor skin | BlackBerry |
| Dimensions | 149.09 x 72.39 x 9.39 mm |
| Colours | Black |
The KEYone is the first BlackBerry device designed, built and sold by the new BlackBerry hardware team at TCL Communications who have taken stewardship of the BlackBerry hardware line. If this is what we can expect from the TCL BlackBerry team, I want to see more of them.
With only a few weeks untill the KEYone preorders open up, if you’ve been waiting for that classic BlackBerry design to come back in a modern smartphone, you’re not going to have to wait much longer.
My boss is so desperate for this phone to come out. He was a prolific blackberry user, was somehow taken over to the dark side of iPhone and then Samsung, but as soon as he saw this – it became my sole task in life to get it for him. Hurry up already. But have to say yes a 64GB memory would have been better even with the SD card option.
It’s a smart looking device. I’d much rather see 64GB memory though, even with the option for an SD card. I was a Blackberry user for many years in a previous organisation and while their keyboard is very good I’m not sure I could go back to typing on a physical keyboard now I’ve got so used to the speed of swipe-based text entry.