[southlander]

Finally got my hands on a working unit yesterday at the local AT&T store. It looks absolutely great, imo. I like what BlackBerry has done with Android and I like the hardware. But after using it, there were two things that did bug me, a little.

1. The physical keyboard. Now, I am sure there is nothing wrong with the PKB in terms of it performing well once one is used to it. I know BlackBerry would have thoroughly tested and made certain it performs. In fact in other threads I have pointed out that older BlackBerry keyboards were a lot smaller than more recent ones and folks loved those older keyboard form factors. Nonetheless, for a prospective Priv buyer, the keys feel cramped in relation to many recent modern BlackBerrys, at first touch. There is a (small) issue for me similar to the older Torch where using the top row of keys beneath the slider is a bit awkward as compared to traditional BlackBerry.

Which leads me to the second thing...

2. Price. I kept walking around. I looked at the Priv. price -- $740.00. I looked at the Galaxy S6 Edge. $815. yeah a little more, but also a very beautiful phone -- REALLY beautiful. I looked at the LG V10 which is an absolute beast -- $699.00.

So then I went back to the Priv. I was imagining someone who is not a huge BlackBerry fan objectively comparing these phones. That person is perhaps, nostalgic for the physical keyboard. But when they slide the phone open they are probably somewhat underwhelmed by the keys. So then if they are going to say "well I can just use it closed most of the time if I need to", then they are having to ignore the other flagships like the G S6E and the LG V10 that are in the same exact price range, great in their own respects and also from companies that have a long history of making good Android phones.

For a regular phone buyer they would need to have some faith in the usability of the physical keyboard, and also swallow hard on the price in that this is a "version 1" Android product from a company that's had a lot of bad press for years.

As a shareholder it has me a little concerned that this phone might be just another mediocre performer for BB. Though I certainly hope I am wrong and it marks the return of BlackBerry's handset business in a big way.

Has anyone else felt this way after testing one?

[koool1]

I think for the retail consumer knowing nothing at all about the Priv - it would only sell if they wanted their keyboard back. Otherwise the Samsungs and Motorolas of the world are the more go to names. Keep in mind this is a niche product. BlackBerry can not compete with the big names in Android other than with niche products.

Posted via  BlackBerry Z30

[o4liberty]

I don't I believe blackberry did a great job with the Priv myself. The keyboard is awesome and the OS is basically striped down android.
I understand it's going to be hard to sell just another Android device this is why blackberry needs to improve some of the software in this device.

Posted via the CrackBerry App on my Blackberry Priv

[koool1]

I don't I believe blackberry did a great job with the Priv myself. The keyboard is awesome and the OS is basically striped down android.
I understand it's going to be hard to sell just another Android device this is why blackberry needs to improve some of the software in this device.

Posted via the CrackBerry App on my Blackberry Priv

Marketing again is almost non-existent. Sad to see. I hope it sells in spite of the lack of effort.

Posted via  BlackBerry Z30

[o4liberty]

We should have a good idea in a few weeks

[southlander]

I don't I believe blackberry did a great job with the Priv myself. The keyboard is awesome and the OS is basically striped down android.

But that's the thing. On the Android Central Priv podcast (the "PrivCast" lol...), they were saying a great aspect is that if nothing else you are getting a pretty stock Android phone with a physical keyboard. True. But is that something the average phone buyer will spend $740.00 for when they see all those other phones?

[southlander]

Marketing again is almost non-existent. Sad to see. I hope it sells in spite of the lack of effort.

Posted via  BlackBerry Z30

The AT&T stores do have a huge POS display behind the phone. I have not seen anything like that in years in a carrier store. And the Priv is right there alongside the main phones in the middle. In more recent years the BlackBerrys tend to be on the "back walls" and not with the "smartphones" in some cases.

So I do see this part as a big step up from BB and AT&T.

[21stNow]

Absolutely! I understand where you are coming from, as I went to the AT&T store to try the Priv yesterday. I went in to specifically look at the Priv and not other phones; I'm also not the typical phone buyer. That said, unless I was in love with the physical keyboard, I don't think that I would spend $740 on the Priv if I were a typical phone buyer.

Being the phone geek that I am, I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the Priv as much as I did. I did my normal tests of my typing using both the physical keyboard and the virtual keyboard. As usual, I was horrible with the physical keyboard but was perfect with the virtual keyboard (the last part was a bit of a surprise). I don't blame the smaller size of the physical keyboard for my dismal performance, but maybe a slightly larger keyboard would have helped.

It seemed like the Priv's capacitive keyboard is a bit less sensitive to touch than the Passport's keyboard, which is a plus for me. I constantly activated gesture commands by accident with the Passport. I don't think that that would be as much of a problem for me with the Priv, especially since I can slide the screen back down over the capacitive keyboard when it is not in use.

Overall, I don't see myself spending $740 for the Priv for various reasons. I would keep the slider in the "closed" position 99.9% of the time, so the physical keyboard isn't a selling point for me. Still, I hope that the Priv does better than previous BlackBerry handsets did in the marketplace.

[cgk]

What showroom experience ? Still haven't found one in a UK store.

[Techno-guy]

OP is spot on. I agree that consumers excited about the Priv will walk in, use the small and cramped keyboard for 30 seconds and conclude this is not the utterly brilliant Bold keyboard that they remembered before they abandoned Blackberry. The keyboard is certainly not great, but if they find it 'acceptable' they will then look at that high price and walk over to the next phone.

Just not worth the keyboard compromise at a $700 price point. Especially when they are then giving up phones with faster processors, more memory, fingerprint sensors, etc. and at lower price points.

Blackberry's single compelling and unique feature is their keyboards (which I think the market is more open to than is surmised) but I think they fell down on the Priv PKB for your average customer.

[Soulstream]

I think this is a device, not for those who stayed with bb these past years, but for those who left.

These people never had a passport and may miss a physical keyboard, but don't want to sacrifice the app ecosystem for a bb10 device.

[o4liberty]

I can attest that the priv is a great device just needs a little software upgrade and fix some of the early issues. I can't put it down since I picked it up the first day, hopefully Chen gets a lesson in marketing to get the word out and it will sell itself.

Posted via the CrackBerry App on my Blackberry Priv

[Pinot2015]

Marketing is coming weeks leading up to Christmas . They just wanted to get bugs out first which they are doing before marketing in a big way.
This is a new for BlackBerry so actually amazing how well it performs so far.
Z10 had more issues than what's on this forum at launch.
When they actually have supply then they will market. You don't market without supply.

Posted from my Priv!

[CarGuy1368]

I think BlackBerry did a good job, but like you said, I don't think the average consumer will walk in looking for a BlackBerry and might not give the device a proper chance. It's a shame, really.

BlackBerry needs to put a lot of marketing into this device around the holidays.

Posted via the BlackBerry Venice

[Pinot2015]

Finally got my hands on a working unit yesterday at the local AT&T store. It looks absolutely great, imo. I like what BlackBerry has done with Android and I like the hardware. But after using it, there were two things that did bug me, a little.

1. The physical keyboard. Now, I am sure there is nothing wrong with the PKB in terms of it performing well once one is used to it. I know BlackBerry would have thoroughly tested and made certain it performs. In fact in other threads I have pointed out that older BlackBerry keyboards were a lot smaller than more recent ones and folks loved those older keyboard form factors. Nonetheless, for a prospective Priv buyer, the keys feel cramped in relation to many recent modern BlackBerrys, at first touch. There is a (small) issue for me similar to the older Torch where using the top row of keys beneath the slider is a bit awkward as compared to traditional BlackBerry.

Which leads me to the second thing...

2. Price. I kept walking around. I looked at the Priv. price -- $740.00. I looked at the Galaxy S6 Edge. $815. yeah a little more, but also a very beautiful phone -- REALLY beautiful. I looked at the LG V10 which is an absolute beast -- $699.00.

So then I went back to the Priv. I was imagining someone who is not a huge BlackBerry fan objectively comparing these phones. That person is perhaps, nostalgic for the physical keyboard. But when they slide the phone open they are probably somewhat underwhelmed by the keys. So then if they are going to say "well I can just use it closed most of the time if I need to", then they are having to ignore the other flagships like the G S6E and the LG V10 that are in the same exact price range, great in their own respects and also from companies that have a long history of making good Android phones.

For a regular phone buyer they would need to have some faith in the usability of the physical keyboard, and also swallow hard on the price in that this is a "version 1" Android product from a company that's had a lot of bad press for years.

As a shareholder it has me a little concerned that this phone might be just another mediocre performer for BB. Though I certainly hope I am wrong and it marks the return of BlackBerry's handset business in a big way.

Has anyone else felt this way after testing one?

Also a shareholder. And love the phone and you know why compared to other Androids?
Because of BlackBerry Experience Suite of integrated products and the physical keyboard. I use mainly VKB but like option. More ladies than men like PKB so you will see higher demand from women . My wife whom uses a BlackBerry Classic tried my Priv Physical keyboard and liked it just as much as Classic.
Let's not forget the actual specs are right up there with any Android device and its OS will be upgraded to Marshmallow in January.
I'm Priv all the way. But I assure you that market research for demand was done on this keyboard and a device like Priv.
If I bought the Edge or 6p I would now feel I gave something up in features and functionality. It's good to have PKB just in case you need it. There is no built in option like that on any other phone.

Posted from my Priv!

[Frosty_Power]

I think the showroom appeal to the Priv is that it is different. Very different from the typical smartphone form factor. I does stand out from the crowd. Everyone that has seen my phone goes nuts when they see me lift the screen. "WTF is that? Wow!!!". Never ever have I heard "Blackberry" "cool" and "awesome" in the same sentence so many times.

[B_Rad BurnZ]

I originally thought there is no way in hell I would be able to type on the Priv's PKB. I forced my self to try it out and get the feel for it. Now it is my preferred method of entering text and I am faster than I ever was on a VKB. I have always used iOS and Android in the past. I can gladly say I love my Priv and the PKB. Best Android phone I have ever used. It just takes some practice and getting used to.

[early2bed]

This is like walking into a TV showroom and taking in all of the Vizio, Samsung, Sony, Panasonic models and then seeing one model made by RCA. Your first thought is "Wow, I didn't realize RCA still made televisions." Then, "It looks like they only make one model. One size fits all, huh? Well, I guess they were popular during their day. Even I had one back then. I've got a good feeling about this."

[Lobwedgephil]

It is a huge improvement over any BB10 phone from what I have seen. They had a big poster with the Priv on the wall, and the Priv was between the new iPhone and the Galaxy S6. So it was placed among the premium phones and not in the back corner like usual. I watched a few people go look at it, but no one realized that it was a slider from what I saw, so I pulled the keyboard out so the next person to look would have to notice.

[southlander]

More ladies than men like PKB so you will see higher demand from women . My wife whom uses a BlackBerry Classic tried my Priv Physical keyboard and liked it just as much as Classic.

So then this brings up a good point. I was listening to the All About Android podcast on TWIT.TV. The two folks that reviewed the Priv were a man and a woman. The man is the reviewer on Mobile Syrup by the way (I am pretty sure). Anyway one of the first things they mentioned was that their longer nails made it difficult to type on the PKB. The man said he had to trim his so he could review the device. The woman just said she found it a bit of a challenge to use the PKB because of it. Though I think she reviewed it pretty well (Greenbot.com review?). So that was something I had not really thought of. Lol.

[Kurdis Blough]

I think OP did a great job of summarizing the pricing argument. The priv, while an automatic buy for a pkb user/ BlackBerry diehard, is a hard value proposition for average buyers. If one is security focused silent circle + secure services along with a nexus or Moto might make more sense.

!

[southlander]

not the utterly brilliant Bold keyboard that they remembered before they abandoned Blackberry.

That's exactly what came to mind. Not someone like me who has had the Tour, the Bold 9930, a curve, a Passport, etc. and who understands that all these PKBs all work very well after you get settled in. But someone who had say a Bold 99xx (wow like the best BB PKB ever) -- trying it out and having a "that's not how it used to be" reaction.

[Joao Oliveira]

Finally got my hands on a working unit yesterday at the local AT&T store. It looks absolutely great, imo. I like what BlackBerry has done with Android and I like the hardware. But after using it, there were two things that did bug me, a little.

1. The physical keyboard. Now, I am sure there is nothing wrong with the PKB in terms of it performing well once one is used to it. I know BlackBerry would have thoroughly tested and made certain it performs. In fact in other threads I have pointed out that older BlackBerry keyboards were a lot smaller than more recent ones and folks loved those older keyboard form factors. Nonetheless, for a prospective Priv buyer, the keys feel cramped in relation to many recent modern BlackBerrys, at first touch. There is a (small) issue for me similar to the older Torch where using the top row of keys beneath the slider is a bit awkward as compared to traditional BlackBerry.

Which leads me to the second thing...

2. Price. I kept walking around. I looked at the Priv. price -- $740.00. I looked at the Galaxy S6 Edge. $815. yeah a little more, but also a very beautiful phone -- REALLY beautiful. I looked at the LG V10 which is an absolute beast -- $699.00.

So then I went back to the Priv. I was imagining someone who is not a huge BlackBerry fan objectively comparing these phones. That person is perhaps, nostalgic for the physical keyboard. But when they slide the phone open they are probably somewhat underwhelmed by the keys. So then if they are going to say "well I can just use it closed most of the time if I need to", then they are having to ignore the other flagships like the G S6E and the LG V10 that are in the same exact price range, great in their own respects and also from companies that have a long history of making good Android phones.

For a regular phone buyer they would need to have some faith in the usability of the physical keyboard, and also swallow hard on the price in that this is a "version 1" Android product from a company that's had a lot of bad press for years.

As a shareholder it has me a little concerned that this phone might be just another mediocre performer for BB. Though I certainly hope I am wrong and it marks the return of BlackBerry's handset business in a big way.

Has anyone else felt this way after testing one?

The keyboard is as wide as the Classic, wich is the 2nd largest keyboard Blackberry ever made. I would guess that the fact of the priv portion of the keyboard is so slim, you have less real estate to grab, that might make the keyboard feel small. When typing on the Q10 or Passport, using a case makes a lot of difference in the way you grab and feel the device when you type.

I would assume that with a thick case behind it, the keyboard would start to feel more substancial. The fact that the keys are shaped like the passport (with a softer edge) might also change a bit the feel of it, maybe less depth.

[Akamali]

I'm getting the PRIV for the Virtual keyboard, HUB, Calendar and contacts and of course Google Play store. I honestly think, I would only use the physical keyboard when I type large message that requires a bigger screen size. It's just easier to edit and fix text when you have a big screen specially when the virtual keyboard is hidden, this will give you about 40% extra of screen size. If you want to copy a text from a website or quoting something that would take lots of scrolling up and down while you could save 1/2 the time when you use the physical keyboard. So what I really wanted to say is in the end is about Productivity and security and that's what you get with BlackBerry Priv.

Posted via CB10

[Stomps01]

They should at least figure out a new way to secure the demo unit to the counters. I checked one out the other day and couldn't even slide out the keyboard. I told the person working that people coming in looking at it would have no idea it was even there....

I fount the phone and build quality quite impressive! I'll definitely consider buying one after Android M is put on it so I can control permissions. I can see this phone being a huge hit in the Android market. Oh and this location was sold out!!

Posted via CB10