[JOHNGAETANO]

After actually using the KEY2 now for two solid weeks, I thought it was time for a review.
It’s funny, as before I actually received my KEY2, I was able to see and use my best friends KEY2 for a quick 30 minute span, and during those 30 minutes I was initially very disappointed in the sequel of the KEYone. My first impression left me disappointed in the light weight feel, a feel which gave me the thoughts of a “cheap build”, I was also disappointed in the camera’s consistency, the monotone speaker, and the choice to use the same screen. But upon actually receiving mine, and putting it to a real world use, I have a much different opinion.

First of all, everyone should know I stopped using the KEYone after the issues I experienced with the very poor signal strength. Dropped calls is not something I can deal with in my business, or life. Upon dumping the KEYone, I moved to the Note 8, which certainly wasn’t my favorite phone, but I toughed it out until I got my Blacked out KEY2. I loved my KEYone tremendously, except for the dropped calls.

One of the best things with the Key series of phones is the feel in hand, and the KEY2 is awesome in that regard. Even my wife commented on how nice the KEY2 feels in the hand. The new right sided button placement is an improvement, as is the cool textured on/off button. I find the textured button helps your brain/finger with orientation. I have found the backing to offer a good solid grip, and a toughness. You won’t hurt the backing. Overall the phone is just a pleasure to hold and more importantly use! The overall weight, while at first I thought was a “cheap feel” is now a welcome addition. When the phone is in my pocket, I’m glad it’s lighter, and I also realize now that the KEY2 remains balanced very well, and the lighter weight is welcome to me. You won’t find a phone that feels better in the hand than this one. Nice job Blackberry getting the “Look & Feel” spot on.

The Telephony of the KEY2 is much improved from the KEYone. There are no more dropped calls or issues with signal strength. I’d say the earpiece sound is clearer, and without distortion. The speakerphone is louder, but it still lacks stereo sound. Loudness of the speaker isn’t an issue. Clarity in the right situations, or with someone not speaking clearly could be a problem. Thanks Blackberry for listening to us.

The Screen I find to be more than adequate in size and brightness. One little trick I learned while being outside and looking at a dim screen, just turn on adaptive brightness and suddenly the screen is plenty bright to read. I spent a good portion of the weekend on my porch in direct sunlight, and had an enjoyable and much easier time reading the KEY2’s screen vs my wife iPhone X.

The Keyboard being 20% larger is just what my large fingers needed. This is the best keyboard since the 9900 and Passport. The difference between the KEYone and KEY2 is major, especially if you try to go back to the KEYone after prolonged use the KEY2. The scrolling feature on the KEY2 is also much improved, and at this point not only very useful, but addicting. I love scrolling with the keyboard now, and doing so without the skips and jumps from the KEYone. The shortcuts remain to be a super nice feature many users are missing out on. Nice job Blackberry for listening to us, and wanting to truly make the PKB a pleasure to use again.

The Camera has been an inconsistent concern for me up to this point. I have taken some really good photos, but I have taken some bad ones too. Because I have first hand experience with the phone taking good photos, I am confident Blackberry will come up with a software solution that will solidify the camera experience. I am not a professional photographer, but I’d like to have a camera that will at least shoot consistent photos, without any big issues. The camera isn’t the quality of the P20-Pro, nor was it advertised to be, but overall I feel the camera is a good one, but it needs software help to allow us to take good consistent photos inside and out.

The Battery life has been so amazing. Like right now at Noon, I am at 75%, and was off the charger at 4:00am. This weekend I was getting a solid 6 hours of screen on time. Amazing!!

As far as Oreo's many improvements, coupled with the Blackberry Launcher, BB Apps and just the overall Blackberry experience, its been great and I love it. Blackberry has gone out of their way to make the BB experience not only a fun one, but a functional one. The continued improvements to the launcher, the HUB, and the suite of apps is appreciated, and noticed. There is a bevy of features and options that not all smartphone manufactures offer. This is what makes BB special. I love the fact their own launcher is customizable without having to load a new launcher.

So you can see my overall experience with the KEY2 has not only been good, but it’s been great. I am a business user who uses the phone for a ridiculous amount of phone calls, 100’s of emails, and texts daily, and will browse websites, and participate in social media including the likes of Crackberry, Android Central, Instagram, Twitter, and Snap Chat, and watching two to four YouTube videos daily. I don’t use my phone to watch Netflix, or to play games.
I hope this review is helpful, and informative.

[fanisk]

Thanks for the detailed report , appreciated it , really useful.

[world traveler and former ceo]

Thanks John. Confirms what many us us have known.. that it takes a couple of weeks with a new pkb to really get in sync with the phone, it's features, and how it feels and how to use it best.... it's both a learning process and a period of adjustment so it's best to keep an open mind and be patient and not rush to quick judgments..

This has always been my observations with all the pkb phones... I agree with you that the KeyTwo is a great phone with one of the best keyboards ever!

Enjoy!

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[schwartz1030]

Great review! I wholeheartedly agree. For the KeyOne I needed a TPU case to feel secure holding onto the phone. I thought it was the dimensions or the slippery sides. The new weight + balance + smaller sides make this phone a delight to hold bare without the case. On the KeyOne I would always press the convenience key when pulling from the holster as well. No problems now.

My only issue is the double typing of keys. I hope they create a software fix soon.

[ohopper]

So, here is my $64,000 question about KEY2...

Is the K2 a better integrated replacement for a BB10 phone than the KEYone turned out to be? I have carried BB10 devices since opening day of the Z10 on Verizon back in March of 2013. I graduated to the Passport (GSM on an AT&T MVNO) and loved it! It was fast, functional and had that amazing touch-sensitive PKB. Then, my employer made me move back to Verizon. I quickly found a refurb Z30 which I was happy with until Dropbox changed their API, breaking the File Manager, a critical business tool.

While I moved my files over to OneDrive, I started shopping for a new phone. I decided it was time to overcome my Google paranoia and give K1 a try. It seemed the ideal blend of BlackBerry with main-stream apps. So, I bought the phone on Black Friday and I will never ever get back the next two months while I
searched, researched and experimented with Android apps. It was all dizzyingly distracting. I even had a weather app lock me out of my phone! My boss quietly asked me to "Get rid of that phone..."

But, I persevered. After two months, I was fairly functional. Not BB10 functional, but I could do most of the things I had come to depend on my Z30 to do. I could attach a file to an email with "only" for or five additional keystrokes (compared to the stock File Manager in BB10). I had no real complaints with BlackBerry Hub, until one day I tried Outlook for Android...

I was enjoying the Starbucks app and Uber and Waze and all the rest of my new mobile world. But, I'm a business user, and after six months, I decided to move back to my Z30. That was truly a revelation. It was like finding an old pair of shoes in your closet. Nothing else is as comfortable. You may not look as stylish, but, you're not starting a new crop of blisters either. But, I had gotten hooked again on PKB, so after a little more research, I found that the Classic had a bit more horsepower than Z30, so I bought another refurb on eBay.

When I took delivery and moved in, that was actually when the "old shoes" analogy hit me. Except for the loss of touch-sensitivity, the Classic keyboard runs circles around the K1. The very brief long press of a key for a capital letter more than makes up for the lack of scrolling, although the swipe to delete is still but a fond memory...

Getting back to my original question, is K2 more similar to BB10 than K1? I read that the BlackBerry app suite has improved. Does it now have a file manager with cloud and SD card support? That was really my biggest deal breaker. It defies my understanding why such a brilliant team of software geniuses have not been able to superimpose all of the time-honored BlackBerry tools onto the Android platform. If security requires them to lock their kernel it off from other Android apps, so be it. End users who think they know better can always start building their own experience on Google Play.

Please send me some encouragement, or remind me that I still have another year and a half before BB10 loses factory support. In the meantime, I have my Hotspot and an 8" Samsung tablet for "emergencies."

I'm also really curious if others share my pain.

Thanks OP for a great review. I am guardedly optimistic.

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[Matthew Davis7]

Wow, what a great review! Thank you for sharing!

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[Kraeutermann]

So, here is my $64,000 question about KEY2...

Is the K2 a better integrated replacement for a BB10 phone than the KEYone turned out to be? I have carried BB10 devices since opening day of the Z10 on Verizon back in March of 2013. I graduated to the Passport (GSM on an AT&T MVNO) and loved it! It was fast, functional and had that amazing touch-sensitive PKB. Then, my employer made me move back to Verizon. I quickly found a refurb Z30 which I was happy with until Dropbox changed their API, breaking the File Manager, a critical business tool.

While I moved my files over to OneDrive, I started shopping for a new phone. I decided it was time to overcome my Google paranoia and give K1 a try. It seemed the ideal blend of BlackBerry with main-stream apps. So, I bought the phone on Black Friday and I will never ever get back the next two months while I
searched, researched and experimented with Android apps. It was all dizzyingly distracting. I even had a weather app lock me out of my phone! My boss quietly asked me to "Get rid of that phone..."

But, I persevered. After two months, I was fairly functional. Not BB10 functional, but I could do most of the things I had come to depend on my Z30 to do. I could attach a file to an email with "only" for or five additional keystrokes (compared to the stock File Manager in BB10). I had no real complaints with BlackBerry Hub, until one day I tried Outlook for Android...

I was enjoying the Starbucks app and Uber and Waze and all the rest of my new mobile world. But, I'm a business user, and after six months, I decided to move back to my Z30. That was truly a revelation. It was like finding an old pair of shoes in your closet. Nothing else is as comfortable. You may not look as stylish, but, you're not starting a new crop of blisters either. But, I had gotten hooked again on PKB, so after a little more research, I found that the Classic had a bit more horsepower than Z30, so I bought another refurb on eBay.

When I took delivery and moved in, that was actually when the "old shoes" analogy hit me. Except for the loss of touch-sensitivity, the Classic keyboard runs circles around the K1. The very brief long press of a key for a capital letter more than makes up for the lack of scrolling, although the swipe to delete is still but a fond memory...

Getting back to my original question, is K2 more similar to BB10 than K1? I read that the BlackBerry app suite has improved. Does it now have a file manager with cloud and SD card support? That was really my biggest deal breaker. It defies my understanding why such a brilliant team of software geniuses have not been able to superimpose all of the time-honored BlackBerry tools onto the Android platform. If security requires them to lock their kernel it off from other Android apps, so be it. End users who think they know better can always start building their own experience on Google Play.

Please send me some encouragement, or remind me that I still have another year and a half before BB10 loses factory support. In the meantime, I have my Hotspot and an 8" Samsung tablet for "emergencies."

I'm also really curious if others share my pain.

Thanks OP for a great review. I am guardedly optimistic.

Posted via CB10

Solid File Manager for Android has built in Cloud and SD card support, works well for me.

For BB10 there is a new Dropbox Client called Basket, look for it here on the forums.

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[ucghandyman]

This is all good to read. I miss BB. Recent Android 8 update prevents me from using my BB7 phone via hotspot.

My BB10 Classic aggravated me so much that when it broke I was relieved to go back to BB7 via hotspot from my Moto Play Droid. BB7 seemed to have so many add d features that BB10 had lost or muddled.

I may try Key2 someday when I get rich.

[ohopper]

Thanks Kraeutermann. I used Solid File Manager on my KEYone, but, it is just not as seamless as File manager in BB10... oneDrive is working fine for me on my Clasic and is native to BB10, making it so easy. That's the sort of stuff I expect to find in a new BlackBerry device. Easy, intuitive, efficient. I have been spoiled by BB10. I loved my 9900 at the time, but, I would never even think of reverting to BB7... I'd like an AndroidBerry that behaves like a Passport. Is that too much to ask for? I don't think so.

[xamxhun]

with or without your review, i will get my hands on a Key2 once it is available in my region.
and certainly your review is very detailed and extremely useful, really appreciate it and thank you.

[o4liberty]

Nice review I am not having all the issues everyone is talking about on mine. It's a very nice device.

[conbrio29]

Interesting reading everyone's reviews, keep them coming everyone!

[pastornordel]

I had no real complaints with BlackBerry Hub, until one day I tried Outlook for Android...

Thanks OP for a very good read.
'ohopper' I can't tell if your remark about outlook for Android is sarcastic. I use Outlook at work on a desktop. I'm currently using a Passport, but if I switched to Key2 I'd be curious to know if there is good mobile option for syncing with Outlook on desktop.

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[JoCool929]

Thanks OP for a very good read.
'ohopper' I can't tell if your remark about outlook for Android is sarcastic. I use Outlook at work on a desktop. I'm currently using a Passport, but if I switched to Key2 I'd be curious to know if there is good mobile option for syncing with Outlook on desktop.

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I use outlook for android on my Priv, it works great and synchs with Blackberry calendar.

[ohopper]

'ohopper' I can't tell if your remark about outlook for Android is sarcastic. I use Outlook at work on a desktop. I'm currently using a Passport, but if I switched to Key2 I'd be curious to know if there is good mobile option for syncing with Outlook on desktop.

Posted via CB10[/QUOTE]

Rev,
I was being quite sincere. Since my employer uses an exchange server, and I have a personal multi-device Office 365 subscription, I ran both Hub and Outlook in parallel for a while. As time went on, I found myself using Microsoft more and BB less. Everything syncs perfectly. In all candor Hun for Android also syncs perfectly with the right version(s) of Outlook.

On my Android tablet, the BB feature I crave the most is Keyboard, not the browser, the absolutely brilliant, gesture enabled BlackBerry touchscreen keyboard. I would pay real money for the ability to use that important tool on my backup app device. Unless BlackBerry comes around, I'll probably give one of the Swype keyboards a try.

At this point, my tablet is Outlook, not Hub. I'm happy to say, however, that my preferred browser is still Keyboard Browser.

Good luck!


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