Dubai: BlackBerry’s third Android device — DTEK60 — is an Alcatel phone with some software extras from BlackBerry.
The 5.5-inch is an all glass and metal device and the devise looks premium with 7mm thick.
The placement of the power on/off button, near the top of the left side, is difficult for right-hand use but good for left-hand users but it is not an issue as you can double tap the screen to wake up or sleep the device.
It has two front-firing stereo speakers. The Quad HD (1440 x 2560 resolution; 534 pixels per inch density) AMOLED display is top class and colours are very vibrant. Watching videos with the display, coupled with stereo speakers, is an immersive experience.
It is powered by Qualcomm 2.15GHz Snapdragon 820 processor with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage capacity. The storage can be expanded up to 2TB via microSD slot but the 2TB microSD cards are not available in the market. It runs on old Android 6.0 Marshmallow but Android 7.0 Nougat is not far away.
BlackBerry has finally been able to marry its hardware and Android software to deliver a fluid and rich experience. When it comes to a BlackBerry device, it is the software that steals the limelight and DTEK60 is no different.
The fingerprint sensor, placed on the rear side just beneath the camera hump, is fast and accurate but it is sometimes hard to find and accurately press your finger to it. You can add up to five fingerprints which are stored and encrypted through the software.
The display is protected with Dragontrail glass, in addition to an oleophobic coating that BlackBerry claims will make it harder for thieves to identify your PIN from fingerprint marks.
BlackBerry Hub lets users see their email, SMS, calendar, phone calls and social media at a glance.
The BlackBerry productivity Tab, which sits on the right side of the screen, can be accessed from any screen and has a calendar, task list, BlackBerry Hub and contacts list. It is handy but it takes time to get used to it. BlackBerry’s home screen lets users swipe up on any icon to show a relevant widget, and users can also swipe up from the home button to get to one of three customisable shortcuts — device search, Google and BBM.
If you don’t like any of the BlackBerry’s features, you can install Google Now Launcher and it will turn into more Googlely and a plain Android phone.
The DTEK app monitors and reports on application access to apps, enabling users to be confident that their personal data is being kept private. Users can manually switch off permissions like access to location, camera, mics and contact details if they don’t feel so.
Security is supported at the kernel, firmware, OS and the apps level.
With the BlackBerry Calendar, a user can view and respond to the meeting invitations directly from the BlackBerry Hub and by using the ‘Join Now’ feature, the user can instantly dial into the meetings directly from the event reminder.
A user can automatically silence audible notifications with the Meeting Mode. It has one of the best calendar options available for Android.
Users can create secure passwords with BlackBerry Password Keeper. The app allows you to keep all of your passwords, login information, and important records safe and secure. Your information is encrypted and protected by a single password of your choice.
The touch-enabled four-row keyboard offers contextual auto-correction, next-word prediction and a personalised learning engine that gets to know the way you type.
Another advantage which Blackberry claims is ‘Rapid Security Patching’ and dedicated security testing and notification services via BlackBerry Security Incident Response Team. The security patches are immediately pushed to the device as soon as delivered by Google.
Multitasking on this device is a breeze and even games with high-res graphics played smooth without any lag.
The 21MP rear camera, coupled with f/2.0 aperture lens and phase-detection autofocus takes good photos in decent light conditions and it even has manual controls to do the adjustment. Due to the camera with too much resolution on a small sensor, it suffers in lowlight conditions. Due to the lack of optical image stabilisation and an enhanced electronic image stabilisation, chances are that you’ll end up with blurry images.
The camera app offers a wide array of filters, quick access to advanced settings like the flash, aspect ratio, and HDR.
The rear camera can record in 4K at 30 and 24 frames per second (fps), 1080p at 60, 30 and 24fps, 720p at 60, 30 and 24fps.
The ‘focus before capture’ allows taking the picture after the shot is in focus.
The 8MP with f/2.2 aperture lens takes decent selfies with the flash and it supports 1080p video recording at 30fps.
There is a dedicated convenience key on the centre of the right side to launch an app the user want. Even though it cannot be used when the phone is locked, it is a pretty dedicated programmable button. The DTEK50 lacks a dedicated camera button and the dedicated button can be applied to that or the volume up/down button can be used to click the photos.
Regarding connectivity, it has 4G LTE, NFC, WiFi, WiFi direct and Bluetooth 4.2.
The 3,000mAh non-removable battery gets through a day’s use for heavy users. The advantage is that charging is done through Type-C port with Quick Charge 3.0. It can charge around 85 per cent in thirty minutes. Some days, I got more than one-and-a-half days of moderate use but the usage can differ from person to person. It is priced at Dh1,999.
Pros
• Security-focused device
• Productive BlackBerry Hub and software
• Dual stereo speakers
• Fingerprint scanner
• Excellent display
Cons
• Large camera bump
• Power key oddly placed
• No water or dust resistant
• No OIS on the camera
• Camera struggles in lowlight
