Blackberry Priv Launched in the Philippines!, Here’s our hands-on

One of the most exciting devices to arrive this year is the Blackberry Priv. Unlike other Blackberry devices, the Priv isn’t running on their BB10 OS, instead, it’s running on the Android 5.1, not the latest Android operating system but a surprising feature for a Blackberry smartphone.

So why is it attractive and what are its advantages over other Android smartphones? Well, aside from this smartphone runs on Android, this smartphone also has a sliding QWERTY keyboard which can be rarely found on smartphone these days and a focus on security and privacy, a feature of Blackberry smartphones that are really proud of.

So let’s talk about the smartphone. The smartphone looks really premium. There’s a sliding keyboard at the bottom which can also be used to scroll webpages just like in the Blackberry Passport and then we also have here a dual-curved display that is awesome to look at. And at the back, you have that carbon fibre look which is really unique.

So why is the Blackberry Priv really secured compared to other smartphones? Well, this smartphone’s security features a secure hardware level which makes it sure that your device hardware is secured and there’s also an app called DTEK on Blackberry Priv which lets you monitor the application access to Microphone, camera, location and personal information. Yes, you could easily know which apps are monitoring you.

Aside from DTEK, the Blackberry Priv also packs some of the known features that can be found on other Blackberry smartphones such as the Blackberry Hub and some of its services. But of course, this smartphone will now come with Google Play services so you can now install your favorite apps and games on Android on this smartphone.

BlackBerry Priv

• 5.4-inch curved QHD AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass 4
• Snapdragon 808 hexa-core processor
• 3GB of RAM
• 32GB of storage, expandable via microSD up to 2TB
• 18-megapixel rear camera, OIS, PDAF with dual LED flash
• 2-megapixel fixed focus camera
• LTE
• WiFi
• Bluetooth
• GPS, A-GPS
• NFC
• Physical Keyboard
• 3410mAh battery
• Android 5.1 Lollipop

The Blackberry Priv’s keyboard and operating system might be attractive but the smartphone is pegged at P45,000 which is really expensive