BlackBerry Priv Pro Reviews

The BlackBerry Priv is a well-made Android phone with a unique feature set. We commend BlackBerry for turning its hand to being an Android OEM, and the result is a fast smartphone with a great display, hardware keyboard and solid build and design. Battery life could be better, but our main quibble is with the price: at this price the Priv needs to be a world beater. And as good as it is, it isn't that. Still, if you want an Android with a hardware keyboard and some BlackBerry features, this is the phone for you.

The unlocked Priv brings BlackBerry's basic strengths—a physical keyboard and notifications—to Android in a big, heavy, pricey package, making it a niche buy.

This, by far, is the most ambitious thing to come out from BlackBerry. We’re eager to see what else will come out of this unholy matrimony.

Don't get me wrong – I really, really like the BlackBerry Priv. It's a great high-end Android phone, especially when you consider who's made it. Finally we have a BlackBerry smartphone with all the apps you want, with a screen you can actually enjoy videos and games on, and an interface that's far more familiar and intuitive (for the general public at least) than that on the BlackBerry 10. Trouble is, I wanted to love the Priv – and this is a phone that BlackBerry really needs people to love if the company's ever going to get back into the consumer hardware market – but I just don't. The flakey performance and absence of a properly premium design, coupled with a price tag which makes it more expensive than the established Android flagship players, makes the BlackBerry Priv very difficult to recommend over its closest rivals. It's by far the best phone BlackBerry has produced in recent years – but once again I can't help but feel that it's just too little, too late.