1. ImBerryCurious's Avatar
    Truthfully, recent reviews of Priv by Blackberry scared me. I, like many Crackberrians, pre-ordered a Priv the moment it was available, believing that this device would be the perfect mix of utility and flexibility.
    LOOOOOOOONG BACKGROUND STORY
    I was fully aware that this device could fail to deliver, just as many other devices I have tried had. I have always been a mobile tech fan. When I turned 18 (not too many years ago) I bought what I thought was the bee�s knees; Dell Venue Pro. For those of you who have no idea what the SamHell that is, it was a Windows Phone 7 device that was very similar to our beloved Priv in that it was a high-end vertical slider. The problem: apps. Windows Phone, as Windows 10 Mobile does now, had a terrible app gap. However, as many have experienced with the Blackberry Passport, the design and utility of the device made it an instant fave for me. So, in 2012, I rocked a two year old device like it was the hottest thing since sliced bread. And to me it was. When the Gorilla Glass of my Venue met its match in a concrete covered patio floor, I couldn�t simply replace it with a new Venue. I decided to move on to an old flame. I�d had a wildly passionate affair with Android for three years or so before I met Dell. I kept an Archos Internet Tablet by my side for two of those years, and then an LG Optimus Slider throughout my final year of high school. But before I could buy my way back into the Droid bosom, I had to raise the funds. So, I was saddled with my uncle�s old Blackberry Torch 9800. Now, being the tech jezebel that I was, I�d fooled around with a Blackberry Curve while my Archos Tablet sat around waiting for me at home, so I was familiar with some of Waterloo�s seductive ways. But the Torch, while a rather poor fill-in for my Dell Venue Pro, introduced me to the power of Blackberry. It showed me just how powerful I could be. If only the Torch had more power and a better keyboard, it could have turned out to be my main squeeze. But alas, I found a shinier model. Virgin Mobile, through its relation with Sprint, had taken the unsold inventory of HTC Evo 3D�s and rebranded them. This new device had been updated to the latest version of Android, and promised to be everything a young boy with a fickle heart could need. And it was until that young boy started making more money and could afford something a little more powerful. November of 2013, I bought a very endearing phone with the power to take me places I�d never been; the LG Optimus G Pro. I rooted her and played with her for almost a full year until some rumblings from the Crackberry underworld caught my eye. Now, LG had made a wonderful phablet in the original pro, but no matter how snazzy her software was, she was just a plain white slab with wireless charging and a home button that also worked as a notification light. The Passport was a beast. Something to tame. And in the years since I had toyed with the minx that was Blackberry, she had transformed into something elegant and worth a second look. She was Blackberry 10. She could do most of what my Android slab could do but could sing a siren song with her wide screen and keyboard. I was mesmerized. I bought a Passport the moment it was available. And until November 10th, 2015 I held her close, though her younger sister had caught my eye. Yes, I must admit in true Catholic fashion to you, my Crackberrian confessional priests, that I had sinful thoughts the moment I saw the pretty little slider at MWC. I new I had to have her immediately. I knew I WOULD have her. So, I watched closely. She was passed from hand to hand in silence. Random leaks provided me glimpses of the Priv while I waited for her to appear on a retail website. The day she was released, we read reviews and fear struck my heart. She was overheating and losing energy at exponential rates! But I had already pre-ordered. What would our hero�s fate be? Read the review to find out.
    REVIEW
    If you made it through the background story, you are a brave soul. But it only exists to show you that I�ve been around the block and know how to handle interesting phones and ones that are made for utility. The Priv falls into both categories, just as the Passport does. However, the addition of Android means this is a whole different beast that is only comparable, now, to the beasts that already existed in this space. So, I kept this in mind when I first opened the phone. Now, keep in mind that I�ve only had a full twenty-four hours to toy with this phone so there�s no guarantee that my observations and results are completely accurate ones.
    ______Form and Hardware
    The slider is amazing! The keyboard it houses is better than I expected. Let�s face it, you all have read up on the form factor of the Priv. There�s nothing left to say about it really. When I read the reviews however, I was lead to believe that the keyboard was going to be horrendous. But, when faced with the actual device, they actually seemed pretty roomy considering the space they were in. And when I tried the keys, I felt like I could glide on them. I felt like I�d finally found a device that was on-par with my Dell Venue Pro in hardware. One thing I would suggest, however, is to wait until this device becomes popular and implement a more Passport-like keyboard in a second or third generation Priv. Basically, I feel like this could add more space to the keys without taking up any more space on the device. Just food for thought. The device is feeling super slim. I thought that it was going to be super thick compared to other handsets, yet the reality is that the only thing that makes it look that way is the curves on the screen. Beyond that, making the phone any thinner would likely make it hard to handle. The Glass-Weave on the back is nice and grippy, though it doesn�t grip my hand enough in the cold, which makes it feel as though it could fall at any time, but that�s a problem with any phone since I have unusually dry hands. The screen itself is gorgeous to me. Yes, whites are slightly grey, but it actually gives the colors, in contrast a modern look and is a little softer on my eyes than the bright white of my Passport�s screen. While I actually like the placement of the buttons, I am angered to no end at the fact that the Assistant button is essentially Blackberry�s answer to the silence switch on iPhones without the actual utility of said switch. I will keep digging to see if I can find a setting to change it, but as it stands, it seems as though this button was thrown on there when they thought they were going to put BB10 on the device and then was almost entirely forgotten when they decided to make it Android.
    Now, the hardware accessories that come in the box are also a major disappointment. I didn�t expect a quick charger, but I didn�t expect a cord you could hardly hang a Barbie with and headphones that feel like they were made from Black Barbie�s skin. All this talk about how they didn�t sell any Passports, yet nobody thought to jack a few Passport headphones and throw them bitches in with the Priv? Every rebellious teenager knows that if you�re gonna break into the big boy drinks and you can�t afford to replace it, you throw some easily accessible water in the bottle and act like it came that way. (If you didn�t understand this analogy, I assure you that just means you�re a normal human being. )

    More to come. I will not be responding to or even really reading responses until the entire initial review has been posted.
    11-11-15 07:02 AM
  2. aha's Avatar
    Mark.

    PassportSQW100-1/10.3.2.2639
    11-11-15 01:49 PM

Similar Threads

  1. Verizon Priv?
    By cuschieri in forum General Carrier Discussion
    Replies: 132
    Last Post: 04-26-16, 09:29 PM
  2. Deleted emails in Hub keep reappearing
    By diego.roscetti in forum BlackBerry Priv
    Replies: 14
    Last Post: 03-29-16, 01:22 PM
  3. Priv Contacts app
    By midnightdoom in forum BlackBerry Priv
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 12-28-15, 11:17 AM
  4. The operating system is smooth and fits the z10
    By Tanakorn Asokbunrat in forum BlackBerry 10 OS
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 11-13-15, 12:56 PM
LINK TO POST COPIED TO CLIPBOARD