BLACKBERRY PRIV HANDS ON: PRODUCTIVITY AND SECURITY PERSONIFIED

The BlackBerry Priv is one of the most unique (and perhaps unusual) smartphones released this year, and is now available for pre-order in Malaysia. At RM3.559, this is one of the most expensive smartphones around. Does it warrant the high asking price? Depending on who you ask, it’s a tough question to answer.

As can be seen immediately, BlackBerry is aiming to reintroduce a form factor that hasn’t been seen in modern smartphones today: a slide-out physical keyboard. Like that on the BlackBerry Passport, it is a smart keyboard, where it is also touch-sensitive for scrolling and swiping. The slide out mechanism also feels solid – and looks great in action.

The Priv again attempts to differentiate itself in the software. It may run on Android (Lollipop out of the box), but BlackBerry has included several additions that makes the Android experience different.

The first is – obviously – the addition of the BlackBerry Hub. The Google Now gesture on Android now offers three options on the Priv, which are the Hub, Search and of course, Google Now. Within the Hub, users will see all messages, emails and a swipe down while at the top of the Hub lets the user “peek” at calendar entries – really useful when going through appointments.

The Priv’s Recent Apps page, which is heavily modified from Android

On the Hub, emails shown can be deleted with a swipe to the left, and “snoozed” when swiped to the right; there’ll be an option to remind the user based on time, location and even WiFi connection.

Working in tandem with the Hub is a new Productivity Tab. Living in a similar location (and gesture activation) as another dual-curve smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge, the Productivity Tab provides an “at a glance” view of the most important info for the user. Whether it is calendar appointments, texts, contacts and upcoming tasks, the Productivity Tab makes everything accessible in one centralised location. Keen eyes will also notice that the Productivity Tab is similar to one of the features in Sailfish 2.0.

(Image: Android Central)

Another software addition unique to the Priv is DTEK by BlackBerry. This app works similarly to other security apps that are part of several Chinese Android ROMs, offering app-specific permissions, and providing an overview of how secure the Priv is. These app permissions will be a standard feature on Android Marshmallow, but the Priv also goes one step further, by offering to drop a notification whenever an installed accesses a certain function of the device, such as the camera or microphone. It will also log these activities down, letting you view them later.

Finally, there’s also Pop Up Widgets. Apps on the home screen with three dots underneath the app icon indicates that it supports Pop Up Widgets, which can be activated by a flick-up gesture starting from the app icon. This way, BlackBerry claims the user will save home screen real estate, while still enjoying the benefits of Android widgets.

Interestingly, these new additons, in particular the Hub and Productivity Tab, appear to be well thought-out additions on the Priv. They certainly makes things a lot easier to view the things that matter: the emails, the notifications, and perhaps more importantly, the upcoming events.

And, after spending some time with the device at the experience zone, there appears to be little to no lag, nor any software issues that disrupt the software experience. Perhaps, like other devices, they will crop up over time, but in all the first impressions of the Priv is a surprisingly positive one.

However, BlackBerry is taking quite a risk with the pricing for the Priv. At a retail price of RM3,559, BlackBerry states that the Priv is targeted at those looking for a flagship smartphone with renowned security features.

At that price, it is close to RM1,000 higher than virtually all of the flagship Android smartphones available today, such as the RM2,699 Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and the RM2,698 Nexus 6P by Huawei. The Priv is just slightly more affordable than a 64GB iPhone 6s or a 16GB iPhone 6s Plus, and virtually the same as the other “secure smartphone” around, the RM3,599 Blackphone 2.

While BlackBerry will see some sales of the Priv via the usual security-conscious crowd in government and private agencies, it remains to be seen whether this blend of Android and a slide-out keyboard in a BlackBerry device will have the same pulling power as BlackBerry devices of old.

THE ANDROID-BASED BLACKBERRY PRIV SLIDER IS OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED

There have been so many leaks regarding this particular device which made it looked like one of the worst kept secret in the world. Of course, you can’t call it official until done so by its maker and that finally happened today as BlackBerry officially announced its plan to launch the Android-based device called Priv.

Also fondly known via its codename Venice, some of you might already aware that it is slider device with physical keyboard. In its Q2 Fiscal 2016 results announcement today, BlackBerry has indeed confirmed that Priv is indeed a slider in addition to having Android operating system.

Furthermore, the Priv will be a flagship device which in line with the rumored components list that we’ve heard before. The company also promises that the Priv will provide best in class security for enterprise customers, which is not surprising since security is one of BlackBerry’s major strength.

In terms of availability, the Priv will most likely to be made available later in the year but despite this, BlackBerry is still fully committed to its own BlackBerry 10 operating system. In fact, BlackBerry is now working to deliver version 10.3.3 in March 2016 which features updates that focuses on security and privacy enhancements.

Apart from the details that we have mentioned above, other information regarding the new device was not mentioned during the announcement. Given the amount of information that have been leaking out though, we have to say that it seems very likely that everything about BlackBerry Priv might be known even before the device goes into the market.

[Source: BlackBerry. Image: Evleaks, Android Authority – 1, 2]

BlackBerry posts surprise Q4 profit, though Grim Reaper still lurks

Those crazy kids at BlackBerry managed to surprise the haters on Wall Street by pulling out a profit in their most recent quarter.

Take about 30 seconds to savor that before we get to the punch line: Sales dropped 32 percent to $660 million, missing analysts’ projections.

BlackBerry’s revenue fell to $660 million in Q4, waaaay down from $976 million for the same period a year ago, and under the $786 million that analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected. So, yowch.

Thanks to cost cutting, though, the company reported a net profit of $28 million, or 5 cents a share, even though analysts had expected a 4 cents a share loss.

“Our focus this past year was on getting our financial house in order while creating a multiyear growth strategy and investing in our product portfolio. We now have a very good handle on our margins, and our product road maps have been well received,” BlackBerry chief executive John Chen said in a statement. “The second half of our turnaround focuses on stabilization of revenue with sustainable profitability and cash generation.”

BlackBerry is hoping to hang on long enough for a slate of new phones and services to deliver a long-awaited turnaround.