BlackBerry Classic Review: Better Late Than Never

Advertisement

On Wednesday, BlackBerry Ltd. (BBRY) officially launched its latest smartphone, the BlackBerry Classic.

Blackberry Classic review, BBRY intro
Source: BlackBerry

While uptake on the company’s comeback touchscreen phones was poor and the sales for the QWERTY keyboard Q10 and Q5 also failed to live up to expectations, prospects for the BlackBerry Classic are much more promising.

Why? It all comes down to the keyboard. The BlackBerry Classic is a true throwback to the BlackBerries of old — not just the physical QWERTY keyboard this time, but also the  row of navigation keys and a touchpad.

It’s so similar to BlackBerry Bold, BBRY actually put up a page showing the differences between the two.

Read our review to see if the BlackBerry Classic has what it takes to start 2015 with a nice boost for BBRY shareholders.

BlackBerry Classic Review: A Bigger, Better Bold

Blackberry Classic review, like a better BBRY Bold
Source: BlackBerry

Many hardcore BBRY fans look back to the BlackBerry Bold 9900 as the apex of the company’s smartphone offerings, the last hurrah before Apple (AAPL) and the iPhone and Google’s (GOOG) Android completely took over.

After its failed attempts at luring consumers with the touchscreen Z10 and Z30, and with the Q10 and Q5 failing to impress the faithful, BBRY went back to the drawing board and drew from the Bold 9900 as inspiration.

The resulting BlackBerry Classic bears more than a passing resemblance to that device. It’s bigger, slightly more squared, has an attractive stainless steel frame and the keyboard is straight rather than curved, but the heritage is unmistakable.

Unlike the gargantuan Passport, the BlackBerry Classic can be easily held and operated with one hand. The display is significantly larger (and higher resolution) than the Bold’s, it runs BB10 and it has a more powerful processor. All good.

BlackBerry Classic Review: It’s All About the Keyboard

Blackberry Classic review, BBRY keyboard
Source: BlackBerry

The most critical resemblance to the Bold 9900 is the keyboard.

Like the Bold 9900 (and the Q10 and the Q5), the BlackBerry Classic has the familiar, QWERTY keyboard. Unlike the Q5 and Q10, the BlackBerry Classic also has the Bold’s four navigation keys and touchpad positioned just above the keyboard.

BlackBerry engineers had to rewrite parts of the BB10 operating system to accommodate those keys, an effort that will be well worth it if the keys convince people older BBRY users to finally upgrade.

The one downside to the trackpad is that the Android apps downloadable through the Amazon (AMZN) App Store tend to ignore it — something that could frustrate users.

However, other areas didn’t receive the same attention as that all-important keyboard, and the BlackBerry Classic feels a little dated because of it.

For example, there’s no support for 802.11ac, the latest Wi-Fi standard. And the CPU is two years old. The square display also means most Android apps won’t run in fullscreen mode — and with a display that’s already smaller than most, this limitation makes things cramped.

But at the end of the day, it won’t matter to BBRY power users, the people who use the device mostly for e-mail and messaging.

BlackBerry Classic Review: Specs

Blackberry Classic review, BBRY specs
Source: BlackBerry
  • 3.5-inch touchscreen display at 720 x 720 resolution (294 ppi)
  • Dual-core Qualcomm (QCOM) Snapdragon S4 Plus @ 1.5GHz
  • 35 Key physical QWERTY backlit keyboard, plus classic navigation keys and optical trackpad
  • 16GB storage, microSD card support
  • 8MP primary camera
  • USB 2.0, Bluetooth 4.0, FM radio, NFC
  • 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi
  • 2515mAh battery rated at 22 hours mixed use
  • 5.16 x 2.85 x 0.4 inches, 6.28 ounces
  • Unlocked MSRP $449

BlackBerry Classic Review: Conclusion

Blackberry Classic review, BBRY conclusion
Source: BlackBerry

The BlackBerry Classic nails the physical keyboard that BBRY fans adore.

There’s no question: This is the spiritual and physical successor to the popular Bold 9900. Hardcore BlackBerry fans should be thrilled.

However, it takes a step backwards in terms of the user experience with Android apps.

The arrangement with Amazon went a long way toward addressing the app shortage on BBRY’s own BlackBerry World app store, but BlackBerry Classic owners will find those Android apps ignore the trackpad, look tiny when shoehorned into the square display and more demanding ones will push the ability of that 2-year old processor.

But for BBRY’s core enterprise customers, the BlackBerry Classic is a winner.

It may not be the fastest thing out there or a great gaming smartphone, but it’s a vast improvement over the BlackBerry Bold 9900, lacks the compromised keyboard of the Q10 and unlike the Passport, it can be held in one hand.

It’s just too bad BlackBerry didn’t release this smartphone a year ago.

As of this writing, Robert Martin did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

More From InvestorPlace


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2014/12/blackberry-classic-review-bbry/.

©2024 InvestorPlace Media, LLC