[TooSquare]

My Passport is back to service center and it will take 3 weeks for the repair due to local center is unable to service the phone. I was pleasantly surprised when they gave me a BlackBerry Classic as a temporary phone to use for the next few weeks.

I am now on my 3rd day of using the Claasic and here is my brief review of the phone coming from a Passport user.

I didn't like it at first, the screen is small, keyboard is cramp as compared to Passport, well at least I have the keypad, I consoled myself.

After 2 days into the phone, I began to warm up to it, the memory of 4 rows keypad from the Bold days is back, though I still missed the flick typing and the capacitive keypad, I often found myself moving my thumb on the keypad trying to scroll the page.

The phone size is easy on the hand and much easier to carry in pockets. The phone, despite being a lower end phone as compared to Passport, is oozing Class--beautiful and better manufacturing quality than the Passport in my own opinion. Just the BlackBerry logo at the back of the phone comparing to Passport alone speaks a lot on the manufacturing quality difference between the 2 phones.

Though it comes with less memory and a lesser processor, it was not being felt at all for my normal usage, the operations were smooth except loading graphics heavy websites.

I was nervous about battery life at first, but that has been proven to be a non concern over the last few days, it can easily last me a day.

I am beginning to fall in love with this phone, and having seen and used the phone for a few days, I am confident that BlackBerry will be able to build an excellent successor to the Passport, and I am so much looking forward to it.

Lastly, for those who are afraid to move to a 3 row keyboard, there is nothing to worry about, you will like it, personally, after getting used to the Passport keypad, I have difficulty in adjusting back to the old way.

By the way, I am bidding for Classic on ebay, hoping to get one as a spare phone.

Posted via CB10

[SK122387]

I have the Passport but got the Classic as well. I fell right back in love with the old school BlackBerry style and keyboard, and the Classic really lives up to its name.



Posted via CB10

[Mmickel Abraham]

I have both, I love changing form Passport to Classic, love both.

Posted via CB10

[sid89]

Hahahaha nice one!!!

Posted via CB10

[Percy Marsan]

Nice article! Good luck!

Posted via CB10

[Mausje75]

Indeed nice article OP.

Posted via my awesome Classic

[madman0141]

The Classic is what Blackberry is all about. Glad you like the Classic.

[TooSquare]

Thanks for all the kind comments. I am a few more days into the Classic now and have since accustomed to the keypad, with the occasional flick.

I would think if BlackBerry had incorporated a capacitive keypad to this phone, I will switch without a blink. Four rows keypad with the tool belt as buffer zone would make it even easier to flick type.

I am not sure whether I will be get used to Passport's size again, and will surely be torn when the 3 weeks is up. I might even get a cheap Q10 as an alternate phone because I no longer use the tool belt except for answering and hanging up calls.

Posted via CB10

[One Brain Cell]

I spent at least a month justifying the purchase of the Classic (and mine is secondhand). Despite all the good things about it, it was nevertheless hard to shake the fact I was giving up the 4.7” screen of my old phone for a 3.5” one (with less battery life too!), and worse yet, 2013 specs. Who in the mobile phone universe spends more money for less specs? (he says writing this).

What kept swaying me was the memory of how elegantly & effortlessly a colleagues Blackberry outperformed an all-singing, all dancing HTC phone (this was years ago) that totally outclassed the Blackberry, spec-wise.

I am disappointed with the battery life of the Classic. Well, the battery and the camera. The video camera is surprisingly good though! And perhaps the camera can be improved by purchasing a camera app that’s better than the stock Blackberry software?

The screen I can live with, its really nice in actual fact. Is it the latest update to the OS that’s impacted the mostly heavily on battery life? I’ve turned off as much security and push notifications as possible. Run the screen at 35-40% brightness and don’t really use the phone all that much and I manage about a day from the battery.

I’m hoping with the next OS update they can improve the battery, I get the impression from a few articles on this site that this is a new problem with OS10.3.1476432 whatever its called; because as far as I’m aware Blackberries have been lauded for getting two days life before another charge, and that’s with hammering the phone! I was hoping the smaller, more low res screen of the Classic would ensure manage this easily.

[TooSquare]

I am disappointed with the battery life of the Classic. Well, the battery and the camera. The video camera is surprisingly good though! And perhaps the camera can be improved by purchasing a camera app that’s better than the stock Blackberry software?

The screen I can live with, its really nice in actual fact. Is it the latest update to the OS that’s impacted the mostly heavily on battery life? I’ve turned off as much security and push notifications as possible. Run the screen at 35-40% brightness and don’t really use the phone all that much and I manage about a day from the battery.

I’m hoping with the next OS update they can improve the battery, I get the impression from a few articles on this site that this is a new problem with OS10.3.1476432 whatever its called; because as far as I’m aware Blackberries have been lauded for getting two days life before another charge, and that’s with hammering the phone! I was hoping the smaller, more low res screen of the Classic would ensure manage this easily.

I have to agree that the camera of this phone needs improvement. I am curious of the battery life, I use it a lot, and it can usually last till end of the day. Granted, I switched off 4G, and use only 3G unless I need the extra boost for heavy download which rarely happens.

[sid89]

Yes camera is a weak link, though software have many tricks up its sleeves blackberry needs to optimize the core camera software to make the picture more rich and vivid.

Posted via CB10

[Soapm]

Maybe it's the screen and not the camera... You're used to see the outcome on a larger, more detailed screen...

[One Brain Cell]

Oh yes, forgot to mention that I have switched off 4G too. After changing the push e-mail sync times from every 30 minutes to every few hours, that appears to have helped the battery life somewhat.

Even though it has a mono speaker I find the sound is really pretty good.

Posted via CB10

[double_fault]

Try the Push email with manual sync.

Posted via CB10