BlackBerry Priv review

This is the phone that's supposed to save BlackBerry.

That seems like a dire thing to say about the new Android-powered BlackBerry Priv, which in any other context would just be yet-another Android phone in what has become a veritable sea of yet-another Android phones. As an Android phone, it's stolidly middle of the road. It's unique in having a hardware keyboard, and it has some nice BlackBerry software features, but it does Android things.

But there's way more riding on the $699 Priv than whether or not it's a decent Android phone. BlackBerry's CEO says the company needs to sell 5 million a year to stay in the consumer handset business — a number that's either eminently achievable or wildly optimistic depending on your perspective. It's the last chance for a once-dominant global brand to stay relevant, and if it fails, BlackBerry will have little choice but to accept a future as a niche company that provides software services to business and government.

And BlackBerry has risen to the occasion, creating a device that's bursting with good ideas on both the hardware and software side. Good ideas, however, aren't enough. BlackBerry needs to execute on them flawlessly.

No pressure.

Let's start with the physical keyboard, because it's the most BlackBerry thing about the Priv. The screen slides up with a satisfying snik to reveal the four plastic rows. It's a fine keyboard, and it registers my keypresses without fail, even when I type quickly. It's laid out in classic BlackBerry fashion, the better to appeal to people whose thumb muscles still remember their Bolds.

BlackBerry did more than just slap a keyboard under the screen. The whole phone is thoughtfully designed to make the keyboard usable. It's balanced so that it doesn't feel too top-heavy when it's slid open, and it's thin enough that if you didn't even know there was a keyboard under the screen, you wouldn't call it thick. And the back is made of a grippy "glass weave" material that makes it easy to hold without collecting lint and dust.

The software is also optimized for the keyboard — no mean feat, given how few Android phones have bothered with them anymore. From the home screen, you can long-press keys to quick-launch shortcuts, and you can also just start typing to trigger a search (though sometimes the search app misses a keypress here and there).

The keyboard is also touch-sensitive, so you can scroll with it and swipe down on it to bring up an optional symbols keyboard. Swiping up is supposed to enter the next word that BlackBerry predicts, but it's really finicky and basically only worked about half of the time for me.

Lots of people have been asking me about the keyboard, usually with a nostalgic pang in their voice. Even more have expressed incredulity that a physical keyboard is even something you'd want. My answer to both kinds of people is basically the same: you are probably not going to be any faster or more accurate on this than you are on a touchscreen keyboard, but it isn't about what's definitively "better." Because after you reach a certain level of quality and functionality, it's perfectly fine just to have personal preference. Live and let live.