My dad liked the BlackBerry classic design, he is an average user who is just going to enter into the world of smartphones. The main requirement is whatsapp, browsing ,clear phone calls and some music. Please, is it a good option?"
No. BB10 goes EOL 12/31/2019. Get a Key2 LE. The less expensive but latest KEY device running latest Android. Things like WhatsApp don’t have to deal with old 4.3 ART that could break any time. Key2 LE runs BBAndroid running 8.1 ART with full compatibility.
As a Classic user, the browser is less than spectacular and most third-party services are either dead or soon to be so. Even the Hub will likely be useless soon as more email providers begin to block older TLS versions. The Key2 LE is definitely a better choice.
Classic user here too - just started using it a month ago and as Querty keyboard devices go, it's fantastic. Easy to type on, feels great in the hands (even small hands).
It runs BB10 though, which is why you're being warned about it. The BB10 OS has a short shelf life at this point. There are other browsers you can install which will improve on the native browser, but very few commercial apps will run on it. The Android Runtime is frozen at version 4.3, so most modern Android apps won't work. Whatsapp dropped support for it almost a year ago, although people say the older Android versions will still run on it.
All that said, I still love the phone for what it is- BB10 was a great OS, and the keyboard is perfection. If you can get one cheaply and you don't need the newest apps, you'll get a great year out of it, at least. After that, who knows. Ultimately we will all have to switch to something else. (But so far, there's nothing else out there yet that will make me happily walk away from the BB10 keyboard devices.)
Getting WhatsApp to work on BB10 at this point is doable, the issue is the battery drain once you get it up and running and actually start using it. And the Classic's battery really isn't great at all once you start throwing anything Android at it.
Not only that, but chat backups and restore don't seem to work so... when you do eventually move on to a supported device, you'll lose all the conversations (the media can be retrieved since it'll all be stored on the SD card).
All that said, I still love the phone for what it is- BB10 was a great OS, and the keyboard is perfection. If you can get one cheaply and you don't need the newest apps, you'll get a great year out of it, at least. After that, who knows. Ultimately we will all have to switch to something else. (But so far, there's nothing else out there yet that will make me happily walk away from the BB10 keyboard devices.)
Posted with my Classic, SQC100-3/10.3.3.3204
Classic user here too.
I love the OS and the keyboard, and I use my company iPhone as a secondary device, not the classic. Unfortunately I can only use that for company e-mails for now and I hate it. I'm too used to my classic and superior communication skills it has.
I also use messenger lite on the bb, becouse all of my friends use that for communication. I have no issues, it can even use my hub, although I cannot reply directly from the hub - that's understandable.
My problem is the same with switching to something else. Switch to what? I hate ios and android. I can't get used to them. Of course, becouse I don't want to. If the time comes when I have to let go of my classic as the daily driver, I think I shall by an android blackberry pkb device, but then I will have to deal with getting rid of all the Google nonsense before I can use it to my liking.
My mom uses a z10, she loves it. She doesn't need anything special, and the z10 delivers. Phone calls, messenger lite, taking pictures, checking out the weather, some basic browsing and that's all. If your dad needs a first smart device he can get used to easily the bb10 os might just be perfect. I don't know anything about whatsapp tho. Look around on cb for that one.