BlackBerry Priv

As we approach Christmas let's all take a minute to recognise that the BlackBerry Priv is a reminder that miracles do happen! Yes folks, the BlackBerry Priv is something we never thought we'd see; a BlackBerry-made device running on Google's Android software. That's a promising combo, teasing excellent hardware with one of the biggest and best software platofrms and content ecosystems on the market today - access to all the things you know and love from Google's catalogue of apps and services, but right there on a physical-keyboard toting BlackBerry! Part of the reason BlackBerry adopted Android is to do with developers. Most have now migrated to either iOS and Android. This is where the money is. Developing for BlackBerry 10 or Windows Phone, for instance, isn’t likely to yield much of a return as the number of users simply isn’t big enough. Like all businesses, developers go where the users are and, by proxy, the potential for money is greatest. BlackBerry cannot adopt iOS and Windows 10 Mobile is in a similar position to BB10, so this just leaves one option: Android. This has irked a lot of hardcore BlackBerry users, those loyal to BB10 — and there is a lot of them out there. But from a business perspective this move does make sense. BlackBerry doesn’t have anymore cards to play, so the move to Android, with a renewed focus on creating secure applications for the platform, is the best case scenario for the company as we move towards 2016. In this respect, the PRIV needs to be viewed as the start of a new direction for the company, one that could bring it from bit-player to major contender inside the next 12-18 months. Does this tempting combination deliver the goods? We aim to answer that vital question... BlackBerry PRIV Review: Design I’d seen the leaks and read the reports and knew ALL about the specs and hardware before my briefing with BlackBerry. I had a pretty solid idea about what the PRIV would look and function like. At least I thought I did, but once I sat down and looked at the handset I realised it was VERY different looking in real life -- the pictures really do not do it justice. The PRIV is bigger and has a lot more presence than I had anticipated. The first thing I noticed about the handset was its display; the curved QHD panel looks utterly stunning. The finish and gait of the handset is pure BlackBerry, with its traditional silver-on-black livery, but it also looks completely unlike anything the company has ever produced, sort of like the bastard child of the Galaxy S6 EDGE and the Passport.