My new Priv, my experience

I bought a Prive yesterday from Bell Canada store. Last of 3 in stock. Happy to share my experience with you.

Setup: use BlackBerry content transfer App on your old BlackBerry to upload content to Google and use same App on Priv to download. You can transfer pictures and media files later to save time.

Hardware: solid and high quality. Slightly heavy though.

OS: Android is more complex than BB10 so it will require some time getting used to. More customizable and many ways to do the same things.

Apps: of course a big plus. There are a few BlackBerry specific apps. You can search and update these immediately or wait for automatic update. You will need to download apps like Facebook and Whatsapp yourself.

Keyboard : I am used to vkb of Z10 so vkb is working fine. I think Pkb is useful for longer texts. I am using Pkb now. It's a good second option but an issue is that it makes device top heavy and difficult to hold without support at top. I am liking predictive words on Pkb.

Camera : Fine but not the best. One useful feature is brightness control by sliding your fingers.

Battery: I think battery will easily take you through the day of moderate use. Display uses the most juice so you can keep the brightness low for longer battery life.

Heat up: absolutely no issue with me even after heavy use.

Security : knowing BlackBerry is taking care of security is big plus. DTEK is helpful although I still need to set a password as recommended.

Hub: UI not as nice as BB10 and right now you can not add Whatsapp and other third party apps. But it is still useful and you can get to it by swiping right. No peek though. Also swiping is customizable if you want to open any other App rather than hub.

Summary : I am liking it. Big plus here is apps for BB10 users. For Android users it may be attractive for security and additional physical keyboard. And it is a nice looking and solid device. What is needed now is marketing along with continuous improvement in unique features.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android