BlackBerry Classic specs bring back trusted features for the core business crowd.
The BlackBerry Classic's specs probably won't please users accustomed to touchscreen smartphones, and it's not meant to. The company is going back to its roots after a trying year of losses and cost-cutting.
The BlackBerry Classic primarily, and almost exclusively, caters to business customers. The smartphone retains the all-too-familiar QWERTY keyboard, but unlike the BlackBerry Passport's three rows of physical buttons, the Classic offers the 2008 layout instead.
The BlackBerry Classic has four rows of QWERTY keyboard, with the hang-up, menu, back buttons and track pad placed in a line above the top row. The buttons also respond with an authentic, crisp click, a welcome feature for those who feel the "clicking" sound of touchscreen phones too artificial.
Though the Passport was well-received after its launch, the BlackBerry Classic's release date should please fans of true QWERTY smartphones, with original features (and even oddities, like the layout of the numeric keys on the left side of the keyboard) retained.
The smartphone delivers in terms of call quality; the Paratek antennas ensure clear, excellent, and uninterrupted calls, with significant signal strengths. The microphone excellently cancels out street noise, and the same goes for the headset. The speaker is loud enough for outdoor use.
The BlackBerry 10.3 OS is efficient with emails and social media alerts, as well as document processing features (DocumentsToGo). The device still needs a bump in third-party support; even though it's compatible with Android apps, there isn't any Google Play or services installed to make downloads more efficient.
Battery life is excellent, considering its small screen size. A charge can last 11 hours give or take, and the eight-megapixel camera helps (pcmag.com).
The BlackBerry Classic's specs won't offer any surprises, both for touchscreen users and the business crowd. The company decided it would ensure its core market is satisfied, rather than reach out to new ones. Analyst Carolina Milanesi (Kantar Worldpanel) doesn't think the smartphone's classic features will even have the retro appeal to touchscreen users, though.
"This is more about avoiding more people leaving than necessarily winning many over. I have a hard time thinking that people who grew up on touch[screens] will see this as an exciting 'retro' trend and embrace it." (bbc.com)
