[psurani]

Hi Friends,

Am confused whether to buy Key2 or Note 8
Coming from a passport, Key 2 seemed no brainer to me
But spacebar issue, bad camera with Key 2 and amazing looks and camera of Note 8 seems to have made me thought to consider note 8

till few days back, I was off strong opinion that the glass slabs are mere specs luring customers to fall in its trap. And lately I seem to be falling in the trap, only thing holding me back is that I simply hate typing on glass.

Please advise with your wise thoughts.

Posted via CB10

[GoGoGoose]

Hi Friends,

Am confused whether to buy Key2 or Note 8
Coming from a passport, Key 2 seemed no brainer to me
But spacebar issue, bad camera with Key 2 and amazing looks and camera of Note 8 seems to have made me thought to consider note 8

till few days back, I was off strong opinion that the glass slabs are mere specs luring customers to fall in its trap. And lately I seem to be falling in the trap, only thing holding me back is that I simply hate typing on glass.

Please advise with your wise thoughts.

Posted via CB10

Hi, I came from passport too.

Bought 2 silver Key2s... No issues whatsoever with the spacebar on either one. Camera seems decent, and is way better than the horrendous Passport camera.

I loved the passport, but extremely happy with my choice of Key2 as replacement.

[meattray]

Hey its whatever makes you happy. We can't really decide on a phone for you. We're obviously all BlackBerry fans here so it's a little biased but what's important to you?

Higher specs and camera? Go for the note.

Typing experience? No question it's the BlackBerry.

[psurani]

I prefer typing experience on PKB, but the camera on my Passport disappointed me heavily. Ofcourse I have DSLR, but I don't carry it everytime.
There may be tricks to use passport camera in better way, but I wish to prefer better clarity with default settings which doesn't seem to be the case in Key2 as per reviews.

Posted via CB10

[meattray]

I prefer typing experience on PKB, but the camera on my Passport disappointed me heavily. Ofcourse I have DSLR, but I don't carry it everytime.
There may be tricks to use passport camera in better way, but I wish to prefer better clarity with default settings which doesn't seem to be the case in Key2 as per reviews.

Posted via CB10

The passport can take great pictures if you know what you're doing with it. The key2 seems to be satisfactory on default settings. No, it's not going to compare to the Note but they're good enough for most daily usage in my opinion.

[fanisk]

I have no issues with the space bar on my key two , camera takes very good shots under good light but absolutely poor under low light conditions.
if your priority is the physical keyboard go for the key two, if the camera , go for the note.
ex passport , PRIV and key one owner.

[the_boon]

Hi Friends,

Am confused whether to buy Key2 or Note 8
Coming from a passport, Key 2 seemed no brainer to me
But spacebar issue, bad camera with Key 2 and amazing looks and camera of Note 8 seems to have made me thought to consider note 8

till few days back, I was off strong opinion that the glass slabs are mere specs luring customers to fall in its trap. And lately I seem to be falling in the trap, only thing holding me back is that I simply hate typing on glass.

Please advise with your wise thoughts.

Posted via CB10

The KEY2 is not as monstrously sized as the Note, so it's much more manageable in one hand and more pocketable in general.

The keyboard is the star of the show, and it's really awesome. Glass doesn't compare.

The Note will produce the better photos/videos, I'm not even gonna try to pretend otherwise.

As for battery life? The KEY2 will DESTROY the Note, no contest.
We're talking:

4.5" LCD powered by a 660

VS

6.1" AMOLED powered by an 835


If you find yourself typing on your mobile phone way more than capturing photos/videos and watching media, then you know what to choose

If you like to have a device that powers you through an intensive day and then some, you know what to choose

[psurani]

The KEY2 is not as monstrously sized as the Note, so it's much more manageable in one hand and more pocketable in general.

The keyboard is the star of the show, and it's really awesome. Glass doesn't compare.

The Note will produce the better photos/videos, I'm not even gonna try to pretend otherwise.

As for battery life? The KEY2 will DESTROY the Note, no contest.
We're talking:

4.5" LCD powered by a 660

VS

6.1" AMOLED powered by an 835


If you find yourself typing on your mobile phone way more than capturing photos/videos and watching media, then you know what to choose

If you like to have a device that powers you through an intensive day and then some, you know what to choose

Thanks mate
You are always very helpful with your comments on this forum. Much appreciate it.
I completely agree and understand what you saying.
Unfortunately have to sacrifice one or other thing.
I don't care about screen quality, don't watch lot of media on phone
But camera quality is definitely a concern. So it's between camera and keyboard. I prefer keyboard over camera, but already have done this in passport, really disappointed that have to do it again with Key2. Wish they could have made a better camera too.

Posted via CB10

[TheBond]

I have both and I came from Note 8.

Despite of how Passport was, there has never been anything like it. I have owned both Black and Silver Edition of that device.

Now Note 8 is a superb phone and the spen does become a weapon for all your productivity needs. It will beat anything and everything. I even bought the Physical Keyboard attachment (from South Korea) and it wasn't that bad. However I ended up not using it that much. The spen did work well but at times the curved glass doesn't go in favor of the device and you get frustrated when taking screenshots or taking notes. The device is also very slippery so you will have to protect it. The battery is below par for my usage however the fast charging does work well, so make sure you get a fast car charger.

KEY², I waited and didn't jump on getting it as soon as it came out. I wanted it to be released in local market and also see if there are major concerns. I really was worried about both spacebar and the camera problems, and hesitated for a few months. Finally I found an awesome deal and thought to import it and see if it's as bad as people stated.
Yes the camera is way below par and I hardly use it (and never in low light). It does an OK job for scanning and video calls (although there are some mic issues that had been addressed recently, check Whatsapp calling thread). The spacebar clickiness issue I noticed thanks to overblown threads here at Crackberry. Tbh I don't even notice it any more after a week. The physical keyboard is probably the best they have made for an Android. The phone looks amazing in hand and there's no cheap build feeling when you hold it. Batterywise it'll kill Note 8 and fast charging works fine too (not as fast Note 8).

If you don't want a physical keyboard that bad and/or good battery, then Note 8 is a great choice. Some say Camera hardware is not bad but the software is letting it down. That itself says a lot about how BlackBerry and TCL is doing its job. IMO they would have known about it during QA but never bothered since they think camera isn't "important" for usual BlackBerry users.

PS: If I was using a Note 8 (or any glass slab phone) I wouldn't had written this much. Credit where it's due. I love the KEY²

[psurani]

I have both and I came from Note 8.

Despite of how Passport was, there has never been anything like it. I have owned both Black and Silver Edition of that device.

Now Note 8 is a superb phone and the spen does become a weapon for all your productivity needs. It will beat anything and everything. I even bought the Physical Keyboard attachment (from South Korea) and it wasn't that bad. However I ended up not using it that much. The spen did work well but at times the curved glass doesn't go in favor of the device and you get frustrated when taking screenshots or taking notes. The device is also very slippery so you will have to protect it. The battery is below par for my usage however the fast charging does work well, so make sure you get a fast car charger.

KEY², I waited and didn't jump on getting it as soon as it came out. I wanted it to be released in local market and also see if there are major concerns. I really was worried about both spacebar and the camera problems, and hesitated for a few months. Finally I found an awesome deal and thought to import it and see if it's as bad as people stated.
Yes the camera is way below par and I hardly use it (and never in low light). It does an OK job for scanning and video calls (although there are some mic issues that had been addressed recently, check Whatsapp calling thread). The spacebar clickiness issue I noticed thanks to overblown threads here at Crackberry. Tbh I don't even notice it any more after a week. The physical keyboard is probably the best they have made for an Android. The phone looks amazing in hand and there's no cheap build feeling when you hold it. Batterywise it'll kill Note 8 and fast charging works fine too (not as fast Note 8).

If you don't want a physical keyboard that bad and/or good battery, then Note 8 is a great choice. Some say Camera hardware is not bad but the software is letting it down. That itself says a lot about how BlackBerry and TCL is doing its job. IMO they would have known about it during QA but never bothered since they think camera isn't "important" for usual BlackBerry users.

PS: If I was using a Note 8 (or any glass slab phone) I wouldn't had written this much. Credit where it's due. I love the KEY²

Thanks mate for your advise. That's really helpful
Yes I do care about physical keyboard and just seem to get carried away with awesomeness of note 8's beauty and specs.

I will look for a good deal for key2, because paying £539 for a low spec camera is not acceptable.

Posted via CB10

[Bob80220]

PS: If I was using a Note 8 (or any glass slab phone) I wouldn't had written this much. Credit where it's due. I love the KEY²

Agreed... 👍

Bob

[epoc32]

just pick the pkb case for the note 8

[danfrancisco]

I have both the KEY2 and the Note8 and for me, it's the KEY2 all the way!

Don't get me wrong, the Note8 is a great device; but even with Cobalt's BB suite installed on it, I can't get past Samsung's UI and bloatware. And I'm not sure what it is about BB's VKB, but I find that it always works smoother on BB devices than on non (Ive loaded it on my Note8, Essential Phone, Xperia Z3 and none of them feel as smooth as my BB android slabs... the DTeK50 even types better!y.

The one thing that is great about the Note8 is the camera. For that reason, it's my go-to phone for vacations. If I want to capture the moment, I go with the Note8.

But in every other area, the KEY2 is my undisputed productivity beast!

[larryjb1120]

I have a Note (Galaxy Tab A with stylus) and find that the handwriting recognition is less than stellar. It should be better, in fact it was better before an update and then they wrecked it and now it's quite frustrating. It's still better than typing on glass, but the pkb is much better for writing.

Posted via CB10

[arif b santoso]

Hi Friends,

Am confused whether to buy Key2 or Note 8
Coming from a passport, Key 2 seemed no brainer to me
But spacebar issue, bad camera with Key 2 and amazing looks and camera of Note 8 seems to have made me thought to consider note 8

till few days back, I was off strong opinion that the glass slabs are mere specs luring customers to fall in its trap. And lately I seem to be falling in the trap, only thing holding me back is that I simply hate typing on glass.

Please advise with your wise thoughts.

Posted via CB10

Note 8, giving you all your needs.
But no PKB.

[the_boon]

Note 8, giving you all your needs.
But no PKB.

And no dependable enough battery life.

A 6.1" AMOLED with a 3300mAh power pack is sort of a disaster.

[the_boon]

If I was using a Note 8 (or any glass slab phone) I wouldn't had written this much.

^^^ THIS ^^^

Most of the smartphone market these days cares primarily about display and camera (you would think battery would be up there but nope) but hardly anyone wants to enjoy typing on their phone and type accurately.
I guess it doesn't matter if they just communicate with emojis or short sentences which are made non-disastrous (or disastrous in some cases) by autocorrect.

[arif b santoso]

And no dependable enough battery life.

A 6.1" AMOLED with a 3300mAh power pack is sort of a disaster.

From 100% to 20% in 10 hours (moderate use) it's acceptable for me.

[the_boon]

From 100% to 20% in 10 hours (moderate use) it's acceptable for me.

Lol that's pretty bad, my optimized Privs could do better than that.

To each their own

[tonycanuck]

My thoughts:

I really envoyed the BlackBerry Torch 2, the Z30, the Passport SE, and the PRIV. I had bad experiences with the DTEK60, which has driven me away from BlackBerry.

I now have a Samsung Galaxy S9+, which is a great fast device with a great camera. I have installed the BlackBerry HUB and virtual keyboard.

I still miss the accuracy of the PKB of BlackBerry devices, and even the virtual keyboard on the Z30 was fantastic.

It depends what you want. A PKB with BlackBerry predictive text is fantastic, and the Key2 seems to have a solid build with decent camera.

The Samsung S9+ however has superior specs. If you want a Samsung Note, I would suggest the Note 9 since it has a far superior BlueTooth enabled stylus you can use as a remote for the camera.

Better still, I would wait a few months to see what comes out in 2019. It is rumored that the Samsung S10 release in February 2019 may have 5G connectivity. The Note 10 likely will appear in September 2019.

Just my thoughts!

[Bracken81]

well I'm about to put my note 9 on eBay. brand new but opened. bought the key2 and decided the note 9 was not for me. still own my passport and keyone. the note 9 with all its features and wows are just gimmicky. at the end of the day it's a phone. I want something I enjoy using and not to show off. I've now discovered at the expense of my pocket. I don't need all that bling.

[crackhead007]

I personally carry both the Note8 and the KEY2 every day. Neither phone is perfect. The PKB experience on the KEY2 is a wonderful but not everyone cares about that. The battery on the KEY2 is second to none. Now the battery on the Note8 is sub par but the camera on the Note8 is hard to beat. There are phones that have better cameras but this discussion is between the Note8 and the KEY2. The Note8 is also a faster phone but if you are not carrying both you will never notice. To be honest if the camera on the KEY2 wasn't so noticeably behind it would have been my only phone. I do still use the KEY2 for a lot of things just not for pictures.

For the record I typed this on my Note8 since the notification for his thread didn't come up on my KEY2.

[the_boon]

Now the battery on the Note8 is sub par

They crammed a 3300mAh cell into a phone with a power hungry SD835 and a 6.1 inch AMOLED running LagWiz... what could we expect lol

The Note8 is also a faster phone but if you are not carrying both you will never notice.

Which is why specs are overrated in general. Any modern mid ranger will serve over 99% of users needs.

[crackhead007]

Which is why specs are overrated in general

And that is why I did not mention them. . People get hung up on specs. They do not tell the full story

Typed on my KEY2 (just because)

[the_boon]

And that is why I did not mention them. . People get hung up on specs. They do not tell the full story

Typed on my KEY2 (just because)

People get hung up on specs because every ***damn smartphone looks nearly identical.

So therefore since the outer design is boring, predictable and overdone, there is nothing left to focus on than internal specs.

People probably get frustrated that their piece of glass isn't the latest one when the latest one comes along, so it's always a rush to get the latest because of the insatiable feeling of wanting to have the latest, even if the only difference is an insignificant-in-the-real-world speed boost between the two devices.