BlackBerry KEY2 hands-on: It’s all about speed

Hey! You! We’ve published our full BlackBerry Key2 review, so head to this article to see what we really think of this new BlackBerry phone.

BlackBerry’s renaissance launched with aplomb last year with the BlackBerry KEYone. A year on, and two new variants later, including the first dual SIM BlackBerry ever, the company is back with its new keyboard-toting phone, the BlackBerry KEY2. It’s got an updated design, a new special key, and the first ever dual camera on a BlackBerry, but should this be your new phone? Let’s take a look!

The KEYone inspired nostalgia amongst BlackBerry users everywhere, with a design reminiscent of iconic devices such as the BlackBerry Bold 9000. The BlackBerry KEY2 brings a few tweaks based on feedback from users, partners, and customers, and builds on this with an emphasis on a better overall typing experience. The curves of the KEYone have been replaced by a flatter design with straighter edges, and the device is one millimeter thinner as well as 12 grams lighter. The result is a much better in-hand experience more conducive to one-handed typing. The keys have also moved to the righthand side of the KEY2 — with the power button gaining a textured finish — to provide a more seamless experience and look.

The KEY2’s typing experience is where it really shines thanks to 20% larger keys

The KEY2’s typing experience is where it really shines. The keys are now 20 percent larger and there’s more room for them, now that the glass display stretches all the way to the top of the phone. Personally, I found the KEYone keyboard to be a little cramped, but the KEY2 is more comfortable to use. Like the KEYone, there’s the fingerprint sensor in the space bar, and it works well whether the phone is flat on a table or in your hand.

The big addition to the keyboard is the new speed key. One of the best parts of the BlackBerry experience is the ability to program a key to quickly launch apps, shortcuts, or other features directly from your homescreen when you tap or long press it. On the KEYone, you had to go back to the homescreen to use it, but you no longer have to with BlackBerry KEY2 — pressing the speed key and activating your shortcut will work regardless of which app you are in. The larger keys provide excellent tactile feedback and the keyboard still comes with all the swipe gestures and functionality we’ve come to expect from BlackBerry’s physical keyboards.

The speed key isn’t the only new feature on the KEY2, it also features the company’s first dual camera offering. The back has two 12MP sensors, with the main sensor offering f/1.8 aperture and 1.28μm pixel size. The second sensor has a 12MP resolution with an f/2.6 aperture, 1µ pixel size, and a telephoto lens offering 2X zoom. The BlackBerry KEY2 uses both lenses to offer a portrait mode because it’s 2018 and every camera offers this feature. The front camera has an 8MP sensor with an f/2.0 aperture and 1.12μm pixel size.

Neither rear camera offers optical image stabilization and portrait mode is limited to just the rear cameras, but it’s an improvement over previous BlackBerry devices nonetheless. While the hardware is new, the real story is the software, which BlackBerry said it heavily refined to capture much better pictures. We’ll have to wait for the full review to confirm this, but the early signs are promising.

The BlackBerry KEY2 runs Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box, and BlackBerry confirmed the device will get an update to Android P, although it wouldn’t say past that. The software experience is largely what we’ve come to expect from BlackBerry, and its best-in-class DTEK security suite now features an updated UI. A couple of interesting additions to DTEK include the ability to see whether apps are running in the background or foreground, which is particularly useful for finding apps you’ve never opened that consistently run in the background and turning them off.

DTEK has also gained new sensitive permissions, which will help alleviate any security concerns users may have. Out of the box, the microphone and camera are set as sensitive permissions. When an app is trying to use either of these, you’ll get a notification and will have to explicitly grant it access. This could stop rogue apps and also provide you with an understanding of which apps use these features. If the phone app asks for permission to use the microphone, you’ll obviously want to grant it. If the calculator asks to use your microphone, you might want to think twice.

The other big addition to the software experience is a new Private Locker feature, which creates a private area on your phone. While other Android phones also offer this feature, BlackBerry’s integration is a little different. Inside the locker you can add apps, photos, files, documents and more. Photos added to the locker don’t appear in the regular gallery and won’t back up to the cloud.

The Private locker lets you hide apps from your homescreen or app drawer, which is great for hiding your banking apps

Even more interesting, the Private locker lets you hide apps in the locker from your homescreen or app drawer. This is particularly useful for hiding sensitive items like banking apps, and the only way to launch them is to either access via the locker or using keyboard shortcuts. Everything in the Private Locker is only accessible via your fingerprint, password, or pin. Even when you launch an app in the locker using a keyboard shortcut, you’ll need to authenticate before opening it.

Those changes aside, the rest of the BlackBerry KEY2 experience is similar to the KEYone, with a few hardware updates. The KEY2 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor and comes with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage standard. The first version of the KEYone — which only had 3GB of RAM — was a little sluggish in every day use. 6GB of RAM will go a long way to prevent any performance issues this time around. Versions with up to 128GB of storage and dual SIM functionality will be available in select non-U.S. markets, but the KEY2 will only come in the 6GB and 64GB variant stateside.

The display is the same 4.5-inch Full HD LCD panel with 3:2 aspect ratio as the KEYone, though the glass extending to the top of the phone makes it feel a little more immersive. There’s a USB Type-C port, as well as a headphone jack (which Blackberry said it has no plans to drop anytime soon). There’s also dual speakers, improvements in the antenna positioning, LTE Cat 9 offering 300Mbps download speeds, and Gorilla Glass 3 protection over the display.

The 3,500mAh battery unit supports Quick Charge 3.0 and should last about two days, according to the company. To improve your battery experience, the new Power Center app lets you see how much battery individual apps are using, and whether any apps are slowing your device down. The app gives you recommendations on improving battery life.

BlackBerry is also using machine learning to help you manage your battery life. The Power Center application will learn your charging habits and use this data to predict whether you’ll run out of battery. If you always charge around 11 p.m., the phone will learn this. If you’ve been using the phone heavily in the morning, it’ll try and work out if you’re likely to make it to your charging window without running out of juice. Instead of having to wait to hit the five percent low battery warning, it’ll prompt you hours in advance so you have time to find an outlet and top the battery up.

Instead of having to wait to hit the low battery warning, it’ll prompt you hours in advance so you have time to find an outlet and top the battery up.

The BlackBerry KEY2 will launch by the end of June in the U.S. and other select markets like Canada, the U.K., Germany, France, and China. It’ll then roll out to other markets starting in July. It’ll cost $649 in the U.S., with pricing in other markets to be confirmed later.

The BlackBerry KEY2 brings a host of tweaks to improve the overall experience, but the updated keyboard is its biggest change. The larger keys make for a much better typing experience and will be a welcome change for anyone who had issues with the small keys of the original KEYone.

What do you think of the BlackBerry KEY2 and do you plan to buy one? Check out the rest of our BlackBerry KEY2 coverage below and let us know your views in the comments below!

• BlackBerry KEY2 Specs: two cameras and twice the power
• BlackBerry KEY2: when can you buy it?
• BlackBerry KEY2 is official: Better keyboard, more RAM, and dual cameras
• Here are our favorite BlackBerry KEY2 features

Qualcomm’s newest smartwatch chips are made just for kids

Karlis Dambrans/Flickr

Android-based smartwatches may not be the fastest growing industry in the world, but Qualcomm reckons there’s still legs on that crowd. That’s why Qualcomm’s first new smartwatch chip in two years is geared toward a very specific market: Smartwatches for children, which run a custom Android interface.

The new chip, the Snapdragon Wear 2500, promises to be more battery efficient than previous chips, supports LTE, location tracking, and cameras up to 5-megapixels, as well as a bunch of other sensors. According to an interview, the Wear 2500 will also be about a third smaller than previous chips too — size being exceptionally important in a child’s watch.

The Verge

Interestingly, the chips are not made to work with Google’s Wear OS — instead, they’ll be running a customized Android interface called Android for Kids that probably won’t have access to the usual array of Android apps. Instead, Qualcomm will preload the watches with all the apps that they expect will be needed by kids (and the adults who supervise them). There’s an emphasis on learning too, and Pankaj Kedia, leader of Qualcomm’s wearable department, intends these watches to complement the more connected lives that children lead today.

“It’s like you grew up on Alexa and you want to take Alexa with you,” Kedia said to The Verge. “You want to ask Alexa ‘what’s the capital of the U.S.’ or ‘who is the 35th president of the U.S.?’ or learn a different language, and voice assistants are making it easy for you to do that. Literally, kids in that bracket are using kid watches to learn.” These watches will presumably facilitate that need, and help parents to keep an eye on their kids at the same time.

The smartwatch market is still a fairly volatile place, and while Apple reigns supreme at the top of the charts with the Apple Watch Series 3, 2017 saw a lot of well-established names drop out of the race in favor of new kids on the block. So while the overall market for wearables continues to grow, it’s new directions and manufacturers that are being rewarded for their hard work. With this in mind, it’s not hard to see why Qualcomm chose to go this way.

Interested this new breed of smartwatch? Qualcomm is already sending the chips out to manufacturers, and expect to see watches with it come out later this year, with Huawei being named as one of the companies involved.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Qualcomm smartwatch chip may include eye-tracking support for AR glasses
• Make some time for the best smartwatch deals for May 2018
• Here’s everything we know about the upcoming Samsung Gear S4 smartwatch
• Fitbit Versa vs. Apple Watch Series 3: Which should you wear?
• Misfit Path review

‘Can I book a table for Thursday?’ Google Duplex duped me, but I didn’t mind

While working the front desk of a New York City Thai restaurant, I picked up the phone, took down a reservation, and hung up. Surreal was the first word that came to mind afterward, not because I was pretending to work at a restaurant, but that I just spoke to and booked a table from the artificially intelligent Google Assistant.

I couldn’t shake the thought that the voice on the other end wasn’t a living being, even if it was only a two-minute conversation. That’s not to say the Assistant wasn’t convincing; if it didn’t tell me (and if I wasn’t in a demo environment), I wouldn’t have thought much about the exchange with what sounded like another human on the other end.

The robot exhange I had was part of a press demonstration Google held for its Duplex technology, first announced at the company’s I/O developer conference in May. It lets people book a table at a restaurant, schedule a haircut appointment, and find out store hours through Google Assistant. The voice assistant will call the restaurant or store — after you make a request from your phone or Assistant-enabled smart speaker, like a Google Home — and minutes later you’ll get a notification confirming your plans are officially booked (or if the call couldn’t be completed).

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The demo at I/O was jaw-dropping, but wasn’t without controversy. Concerns were raised: Why did the AI needed to sound so lifelike and why didn’t it announce a disclaimer to the human caller, amounting to what some considered to be deception. And because the call was recorded, some questioned if the technology would violate certain laws governing phone calls.

Since that time Google has clarified its position, and we now have some answers. Digital Trends spent some time with the team behind Duplex and demoed the technology for ourselves. But before we dive into our experience, let’s take a look at the new details we’ve unconvered on how and where Duplex will work.

What is Duplex, and where will it work?

Duplex is a technology in development that enables Google Assistant to make phone calls on the user’s behalf, and it stems from years of research and work into artificial intelligence for natural language processing.

“We can now understand natural speech and we can generate natural speech,” Nick Fox, vice president of Product Management at Google, said. “Those technologies are applied with Duplex to have a natural, engaging conversation that adapts to what’s happening within the conversation, ultimately with the goal of getting things done.”

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Google Duplex scheduling a hair appointment Google

Helping you get things done is Google’s goal for Assistant, and with Duplex the company is starting with three specific tasks: Booking a table at a restaurant, finding store hours, and scheduling a hair salon appointment. Duplex cannot do anything more than this at the moment, so if a query isn’t pertinent (say, asking about the weather or sports scores) Assistant won’t understand. Similarly, a user cannot ask Assistant to make calls unrelated to the aforementioned tasks.

It has the potential to save a lot of time for employees stuck answering calls about store hours.

For the user, having the Assistant make these calls frees up a little time, but it also benefits businesses that receive these calls. For example, if a caller asks Assistant for the holiday hours of a local store, the Assistant will place the call, get the answer, and the hours will be added to Google Maps and Google Search for all to see, with a verified tag next to it.

With this info, if other callers want to know the same info, Assistant would only need to pull it from Google’s servers, and not make another call. It only takes one person to ask Assistant, but has the potential to save a lot of time for employees who would be stuck answering calls about store hours otherwise.

During Google’s testing phase this summer, Duplex will only work with select businesses and users in the U.S., and it will only be available at restaurants and hair salons that do not have an online booking system. Google Assistant already works with OpenTable, so it doesn’t need to call restaurants that use the booking service.

Google will test calls for business hours first in the next few weeks, and later this summer, the test will expand to calling for reservations and haircut appointments. There will be a lot of testing and tweaking during this period, so the end result of Duplex may look a little different from what we’ve already seen. Businesses will be able to opt out if they do not want to receive calls from the Google Assistant.

Google

“What you’re seeing is a technology that’s very early stages,” Fox said. “We want to talk about it publicly even at this stage to make sure we get it right, but you’re seeing something quite early in the process here.”

The demo

The demo experience, which took place at Thep Thai in the Upper East Side neighborhood of New York City, was heavily controlled. First, Google put on a presentation showing the overall process of making and ending a call, but actually using the technology in real-time. An engineer fed Duplex a time and party size we suggested for a booking, and here’s what followed.

The idea is you’d tell Google Assistant on your phone or Google Home that you want to “book a table at Thep Thai for two at 8 p.m. tomorrow.” Assistant will ask if it’s okay to book a time from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. in case there’s no table available at 8 p.m., and after you confirm, it will say it’s going to call the restaurant and will get back to you soon.

When the restaurant employee picks up the phone, Assistant will say the following, or something similar to it: “Hi, I’m calling to make a reservation. I’m Google’s automated booking service so I’ll record the call. Can I book a table for Thursday?”

The call is recorded so that human operators at Google can listen back to the recording, annotate the conversation, and highlight any mistakes Duplex made so it can make the service better.

Getting Duplex to the level where it’s at now started with a lot of manual and human work.

Assistant goes on to respond to each question asked — such as what time the reservation is for, how many people are in the party, and the name for the reservation — and the conversation politely and promptly ends. If it’s asked for information like a user’s email address, the Assistant will say it does not have permission to provide that information.

The person who booked the reservation through Assistant will now get a notification saying that the table has been reserved, and it will automatically be added to Google Calendar. Ahead of the reservation, the user will get a notification and an opportunity to cancel the appointment in case she can no longer make it. Thep Thai’s restaurant owner said a lot of people make reservations and then don’t show up. He’s hopeful this system, which offers an easy way to cancel a booking, will mean fewer empty tables.

After the main demo Google allowed us to try it. When we took the call, we tried to trip Duplex up and threw in some complications, but Assistant handled them well. We asked it to hold at the beginning of the conversation — to which it responded “mhmm,” rather than a verbal “yes.” When we told it the 6 p.m. booking time was full up, Assistant responded with a range between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., and it settled for our 7:45 p.m. recommendation. We then asked for a name and phone number for the reservation, and if Assistant could spell the name, which it did successfully.

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Google Duplex scheduling a restaurant reservation Google

It’s impressive how consistently well Assistant handled its demos, though we did encounter a moment when it needed to fall back on a human operator. It was when someone asked if the Assistant’s client was okay with receiving emails from the restaurant. The phrasing was a little awkward, and the Assistant responded with, “I’m sorry, I think I got confused,” and it said it’s putting a supervisor on the line. The human operator swiftly took over, told the caller it can’t reveal the email address, and finished booking the reservation.

How Duplex works

Early test versions of Duplex, which Google played for us, sounded incredibly robotic. However, the Assistant was still able to understand pauses in the conversation, and even say, “hello?” when a restaurant employee paused for a few seconds. Still, Scott Huffman, vice president of Engineering for Google Assistant, said it was “painful to listen to it.”

If the system really doesn’t know what to do next, it will gracefully bow out of the call, and a human operator will take over.

Getting Duplex to the level where it’s at now started with a lot of manual and human work. Human operators placed calls to restaurants, annotated conversations, and fed the results into Duplex. The team would link phrases like “how many people” and its variations to “number of people in the party,” allowing Duplex to understand the question.

The second stage involved human operators listening to calls the Assistant made, and if things go off track, the operator jumped in to take over and make sure the call is successful. This allowed the team to identify the rough edges around the service, annotate those conversations, and feed it back into the machine-learning algorithms so that Duplex could learn.

The final testing stage is automated mode, where the automated system places calls and completes them. Escape hatches built into the system allow the Assistant to jump back to the key goal of completing the task, thanks to sentences like, “I’m not sure what you said, but can I book a table for three.” If the system really doesn’t know what to do next, it will gracefully bow out of the conversation, and the human operator will take over.

At the moment, Huffman said about four out of five calls made by Duplex do not need the assistance of a human operator. Interestingly, he said human operators aren’t going to be pulled away from the service as Duplex gets better, as Google sees them as an integral part in ensuring Duplex works without a hitch.

The “ums” and “ahs”

Throughout the process of teaching Assistant, Google placed an emphasis on making it sound more natural, and less like a robot. After the demo at Google I/O, critics asked why Google is trying to mix in “ums and ahs” to make the Assistant sound more human, especially if it didn’t add a disclaimer to the beginning of the call that it wasn’t a human. There are disclaimers now, but Huffman said speech disfluencies like “um” or “mhm” were added to keep the flow of conversation going.

Assistant added an “um” after it couldn’t hear what the restaurant employee said, and followed up with its request again.

“We’re not trying to trick or impersonate, but if you go back to that recording of that painful early system, it didn’t sound very natural, it didn’t sound very human,” Huffman said. “But as a result of that, the Assistant was not very successful at completing the tasks. A lot of people would hang up, or get confused about what they were talking to, the conversation would just break down because it didn’t feel natural.”

Huffman said speech disfluencies, according to linguists, are a key part of keeping human conversation between two people going. It’s easy to see how well this works when hearing conversations with the Assistant, and the results are far from the original recording.

One way speech disfluencies help is for conversational acknowledgement, such as when one person is talking, but you want to make sure the receiver know you’re still engaged and listening, like when Assistant said “mhmm” to us when it was asked to hold.

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Another useful tool is saying ”um” when there’s uncertainty, as a polite way of asking for clarification. Assistant added an “um” after it couldn’t hear what the restaurant employee said, and followed up with its request again.

Assistant with these speech disfluencies is a stark contrast over the original, robotic Assistant. It’s far less cold, and the conversation moved much more quickly. And rather than accepting simple commands, Assistant is actually interacting with humans through our language, which is sure to excite some while frightening others.

Convenience

Duplex is all about convenience. It saves you a little time, it can give you more accurate store hours, and it can save businesses time as well. Google also said there’s a big opportunity here to help people who can’t speak or have trouble speaking.

Huffman said to think of Duplex as an evolution of automated voice machines from the past, such as when calling your bank, when it was a slow process of pressing numbers to get to the right department.

“Today if you call those airlines or banks, you’ll get something much, much nicer,” he said. “You’ll hear a much more natural sounding voice, and it might say something like, ‘Just tell me what you need, you can say things like, what time is my flight?’ In Duplex, we’re really just taking that same idea a step further, evolving the conversation and making it more natural so that it’s more successful for users and businesses.”

From what we’ve seen so far, it’s promising technology, but is it something we should embrace, or fear?

Google hasn’t shown us how Duplex makes calls to businesses for store hours, nor has it demoed scheduling haircut appointments — so we can’t comment on how well Duplex would work in these instances. We also are unsure if the human operators will have access to your phone number and full name, as that poses a bit of a privacy risk. We also wonder if Duplex would support multiple languages in the future. We’ve reached out to Google to verify some unanswered questions, but of course, there are sure to be more as the technology progresses.

From what we’ve seen so far, it’s promising technology, but is it something we should embrace, or fear? We’ll be happy if we never have to be put on hold for hours on end again, but it’s important to consider the trajectory here. We’re constantly inching towards a future where we do not need to talk to anyone, where you can live isolated in an apartment, with food delivered to you. packages dropped off by drones, and thousands of hours of media to consume without ever having to step outside.

While Duplex may start with some of the more mundane phone calls, the AI is going to get better at conversations, making it easy to port to other industries. It will be up to us as a society to decide how much of our talking should be done through AI, and whether it’s worth picking the phone up again.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Google Duplex sounds human when it calls to book appointments
• Microsoft Build and Google I/O are over. Which came out on top?
• Here’s everything we saw at the action-packed Google I/O 2018 keynote
• 5 reasons I still hate voice assistants, even as the world goes nuts for them
• I wore Levi’s smart jacket for three months, and it changed how I use my phone

The best BlackBerry Key2 cases

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Face it — software keyboards aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. If you’re desperate for a physical keyboard, then there’s only ever been one real option for you — BlackBerry. If you’re looking for a new and powerful phone with a physical keyboard, then the BlackBerry Key2 is probably at the top of your list.

But even though the Key2 is likely to be solid, extra physical components generally mean more areas that can break. It’s hard to protect a keyboard fully, but a protective case can go a long way toward making sure your phone doesn’t get damaged by the knocks, bumps, and hazards of everyday life. Here are the best BlackBerry Key2 cases to keep your phone safe.

Avidet Clear Case ($8)

If you want to keep your phone protected, but don’t want to slap on a big, bulky case, then a slim and clear gel case is a must. This one comes from Avidet, a long-established and trusted name in Amazon phone cases. It’s made from TPU, a soft and flexible material that adds a good amount of shock-resistance and grip to keep your phone locked into your hand. The dot pattern on the back of the case prevents unsightly condensation from forming, and, while it’s not the most protective case you can get, Avidet’s clear gel case should provide good protection, while also giving you a completely clear view to BlackBerry’s executive design.

Buy it now from:

Amazon

Olixar Leather-Style Wallet Case ($15)

The BlackBerry Key2 is a phone with a very executive feel, so what better way to complement that than with this extremely business-like wallet case from Olixar? It’s made from synthetic PU leather, which is durable and easy to keep clean, and is almost indistinguishable from real leather in most cases. Your phone is held in place with a shock-absorbent inner TPU core, while PU leather wraps around your phone while not in use, and can be folded back into a stand when in use. The inner lining of the front cover contains slots to hold credit cards, and there’s an inner pocket to hold small documents or spare cash. A great little case that fits in anywhere.

Buy it now from:

Mobile Fun

PushImei Soft Touch TPU Case ($8)

Want something a little more protective? TPU can be adapted into a variety of forms, and this case from PushImei showcases one of the most protective. It’s soft, flexible, and shock-absorbent, but it’s also a little stiffer than the variety of TPU you’ll find on clear cases, providing a bit more protection. Extended corners improve shock absorption in those areas, and a raised lip around the camera lenses and the display keep those areas elevated and protected. Finally, the case has a cool sci-fi style with the addition of a brushed metal texture and carbon fiber-style panels at either end.

Buy it now from:

Amazon

Ouba Air Hybrid Bumper Case ($8)

So you want protection, but you also want to show off your Key2’s design? That sounds as if it wouldn’t really be possible, but it is, thanks to this case from Ouba. The back panel of this case is made from hard-wearing polycarbonate (PC) that provides a solid backbone for your phone, and makes it harder for scratches to get through and affect your phone’s body, while also still allowing the phone’s style to shine through. The edge is a softer TPU bumper, which serves to help insulate the Key2 from bumps and shocks. Like other protective cases, there’s a raised edge around the camera lens and display, and the combination of PC and TPU help really elevate the protective qualities of this case.

Buy it now from:

Amazon

Official BlackBerry Genuine Leather FlipCase ($51)

Who better to turn to than BlackBerry itself? BlackBerry has released a couple of cases to fit the Key2 — including a nice, soft shell case — but it’s the genuine leather FlipCase that really caught our eye. Wallet cases are fantastic at protection that also looks good, and they never look out of place in any circumstance, whether that’s in the boardroom, or on the table at a bar. The FlipCase is crafted from 100 percent genuine leather for good looks and great protection, and contains an inner lining of microfiber to make sure your phone is safely nestled within the case. There’s room inside the cover to keep two credit cards, and it’s also NFC friendly. It’s not the cheapest on this list by far, but it’s a great buy if you want the best materials for your Key2.

Buy it now from:

Mobile Fun

Editors’ Recommendations

• Best Samsung Galaxy S9 cases
• BlackBerry Key2 vs. Apple iPhone X: Which fruit-themed flagship is best?
• BlackBerry Key2 review
• BlackBerry Key2 vs. BlackBerry KeyOne: A stunning successor
• BlackBerry Key2 vs. OnePlus 6: Which fan-favorite will win?

Huawei’s MateBook D could be the new king of powerful budget laptops

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As much as we love midrange laptops such as the Dell XPS 13, there are some fantastic offerings in the more budget-orientated space too. Take the new Walmart exclusive Huawei MateBook D, which combines a 1080p touchscreen with AMD Ryzen CPU and Vega graphics, all within a premium-feel aluminum chassis. Better yet, its battery is designed to charge up super fast, so you can get back to work or gaming in well under an hour.

At 3.5 pounds and just over a half-inch thick, the MateBook D is solidly built, compact machine with decent hardware under the hood. It sports a Ryzen 2500U chip which combines a quad-core Ryzen CPU with multithreading clocked at 3.4GHz, with an AMD Vega 8 graphics core. While not as powerful as desktop Ryzen accelerated processing units (APU) it should provide some decent general computing ability and the option to play basic games too.

In terms of memory and storage, the MateBook D comes with 8GB of DDR4 (the RAM sweet spot) and 256GB of solid-state storage. Combined with the CPU choice, this laptop should be impressively snappy for its price point.

Port selection gives a nod to the modern age of USB-C adoption with one of the reversible ports, but still provides plenty of legacy support with a USB-A 3.0 port and a USB-A 2.0 port. There’s also an HDMI output for those who like hooking up external displays and a standard headphone jack.

Huawei has fitted its new laptop with a great feature for heavy users — fast charging. The 57.4-watt-hour battery is said to last up to eight hours and is capable of charging from nothing to forty percent in just half an hour, so even if you have sporadic access to a power outlet, it won’t take long to get your system back up and running again.

The only downside to the launch of this new laptop is that it’s already out of stock online. While individual Walmarts may have additional stock, it appears the $30 discounted launch price of $600 was just too good to pass up for many.

For a look at some of our other favorite budget-conscious laptops, here’s our list of the best notebooks under $1,000 you can buy today.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Huawei jumps on AMD’s Ryzen bandwagon via an upcoming 14-inch MateBook D laptop
• Huawei MateBook X Pro review
• HP’s mainstream Pavilion PCs refreshed with latest AMD Ryzen, Intel Core CPUs
• HP targets gamers on a budget with new Pavilion notebooks, desktops, and more
• Huawei MateBook X Pro vs. Dell XPS 13

What do you like the most about Google’s Pixel phones

This is why the AC forum community loves their Pixels so much.

Although Google’s Pixel series was faced with some initial backlash from Nexus loyalists, it didn’t take long for most everyone to realize that Google had crafted something special with the original Pixel and Pixel XL. The phones offered the best Android experience around, and when you added that together with the stellar camera, solid displays, etc., you ended up with a fantastic package.

Google improved even more on these strengths with the Pixel 2 series, and when the Pixel 3 comes around this October, we’re anticipating more of the same great things.

Why is it though that so many people are enthralled with the Pixel lineup? Phones like the Galaxy S9, LG G7, and OnePlus 6 are far more enticing in some regards, but even so, Google’s Pixel phones remain unshaken.

We decided to check in with our forum users to see what they had to say on the matter, and these are a few of the responses:

Golfdriver97
06-22-2018 08:30 AM

“

I think the camera is very good. My pictures come out quite well.

Battery is always a trick question; no one has the exact same setup and use patterns. However, I am a light to medium use case, and I can get through a day easily.

Speakers are ok. Not bad, not great….just ok.

No issues.

I love the device. I like how there is very little bloatware unlike many of the other OEMs, and…

Reply

libra89
06-22-2018 09:08 AM

“

The camera is great! I don’t know about the battery life for the XL but the regular Pixel was good enough for a day of use for me, but I’m not a heavy user. The speaker quality is decent.

Reply

Gdraft#WN
06-22-2018 02:48 PM

“

The wife and I each have XL’s….. These things are amazing.

Still as good as day one.

We did not buy a XL2, as these are still like new. And do not intend to buy a XL3.

These are as fast and smooth as the day we got them (1st day they were available). I have never had to reset or monkey with either one due to lag or other phone bull@hit.

I would get another in a heartbeat

Reply

TNCattleDog
06-24-2018 01:42 PM

“

Switched to the OG Pixel XL from a LG V20. I’ve always been very outspoken about wanting a swappable battery and additional (SD Card) storage. but…

I switched to project Fi and my Verizon branded V20 just isn’t going to work on Fi. So I bought a couple Refurbished Pixel XL’s off Amazon and I am amazed.

I loved the V20 camera for all its bells and whistles. With Gcam+, it takes excellent…

Reply

Now, we’d love to hear from you — What do you like the most about Google’s Pixel phones?

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Skull & Bones for PlayStation 4: Hands-on impressions from E3 2018

This game will be familiar to anyone who has enjoyed boat combat before, and sadly doesn’t offer much else.

Ubisoft’s E3 presentation didn’t detail much we didn’t already know about their new IP, Skull & Bones. We saw more pirates and some fun catch phrases, but nothing to suggest the game was more than pirates in ships fighting one another. And even after playing the upcoming PlayStation 4 game myself for half an hour, I’m convinced that’s the case.

The jokes up until now have been that Skull & Bones is basically just the ship combat portions of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag. I had hoped, from my hands-on impressions at E3 2018, to be able to refute that. But I can’t. If you’ve played Black Flag, World of Warships, or just about any other game with boats that fight each other, you’ve played Skull & Bones and then some.

What is Skull & Bones?

Skull & Bones is a game in which you play as a pirate captain aboard a customizable vessel. Your job is to restore the golden age of piracy by being a really great pirate–sinking merchant ships, looting treasure, and getting into scraps with fellow pirates if you like. Treasure can be exchanged for better ship upgrades, which in turn makes your better at your job. You can get better cannons, stronger rams or hull reinforcement, or even fancy swag to deck out your deck.

My demo of Skull & Bones consisted of sailing about a small area rife with Portuguese merchant ships, in which I was allowed freedom to either complete some listed objectives (bring a ship down, visit and loot a wreck, etc) or just float around and blast my fellow pirates out of the water. Since others were playing the demo with me, I had the chance to do both.

How do you play?

The major difference between Skull & Bones and Black Flag is how reliant you are on favorable winds to travel. At the start of my demo, a fortune teller promised me such winds, but if they aren’t going in your direction, you won’t travel very fast. To be true to life, you actually have to either sail with the wind or accomplish some fun zig-zag patterns to get anywhere, and even if you have the wind behind you, your hulking galley moves…slow. A point in the realism column, to be sure, but I felt I wasted a chunk of the demo just trying to get where I was going, inch by inch.

Fortunately, when you enter combat, every other ship has mostly the same problem. My ship (selected at the start of the demo) specialized in its broadside cannons, so I was able to do some meaty damage to opposing vessels without having to work too hard or bother much with my front-facing mortars. I did get rammed a few times for hefty damage, but between the brace mechanic and plenty of repair kits from looting shipwrecks, I kept myself alive. I didn’t have a particularly wide array of options for combat action, but given that at the start of the demo I was offered a mere three basic ship type samples and there seem to be many more, I expect customization to be robust.

What is there to do in Skull & Bones?

What I’ve mentioned so far: looting wrecks, taking down enemy ships, and collaborating or fighting with fellow pirates is about all I saw to do in my little patch of ocean. I was directed to destroy a fort at one point, but before I could try that out I was waylayed and demolished by another player (I got my revenge after respawning, never fear).

It turns out that Skull & Bones is almost 100% a pirate naval battle game, perhaps one with fewer tactics than the more modern World of Warships. If that’s your jam, you’ll have a good time. If you’re looking for some overarching plot or characters or exploration or anything else, nothing Ubisoft has shown me so far has indicated that these are a part of the game.

Overall

Ship battles are fun, especially when other human beings are involved, but I can see the whole operation getting boring quickly if there’s not more to do beyond finishing objectives in the world and building a bigger ship.

The fact that I could essentially get the same kind of gameplay out of a game that came out several years ago, alongside a story, characters, interesting exploration, and whale fishing says a lot about Skull & Bones. In fact, if you can’t even go ashore properly in this game, then Sea of Thieves has an edge on it, too!

When can I set sail?

Skull & Bones is expected to launch sometime in 2019 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Pricing details have not yet been revealed.

Ask a pirate!

Any questions about Skull & Bones? Ask me in the comments!

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Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know!

Samsung once again has a fantastic pair of flagships.

Samsung’s new Galaxy S9 and S9+ are definitely iterative updates over last year’s dramatically redesigned Galaxy S8 series, but that’s not a problem. Instead of going back to the drawing board altogether, Samsung focused on fixing a lot of the issues while making drastic improvements to the camera experience and retaining everything that made the last generation so great.

Whether you’re looking to buy or make the most of your new Galaxy S9, we have all of the information you need right here.

June 27, 2018 — The unlocked Galaxy S9 now supports FM radio

Way back in January at the beginning of the year, Samsung announced it was partnering with NextRadio to bring free FM radio to the Galaxy S9 in both the U.S. and Canada.

The unlocked version of the S9/S9+ has still been without this FM functionality, but after a software update began rolling out on June 25 that upgraded the version number to G965U1UES2ARF4/G960U1UES2ARF4, a few Redditors quickly noticed that this finally turned on the FM radio chip.

To use this, download and install the NextRadio app from the Google Play Store, enable the Basic / FM Only Mode to make sure you’re not using any data, and plug in a pair of wired headphones/earbuds as these act as the antenna for the FM signal.

June 22, 2018 — We go hands-on with the Sunrise Gold Galaxy S9!

If you’re interested in getting one of the hot new Galaxy S9 colors, we have you covered with some Sunrise Gold.

What do you think?

What are the big changes over the Galaxy S8 series?

In a word, the camera. Samsung has kept the primary sensor at 12 megapixels, but that’s where the similarities end. The S9 and S9+ have adjustable apertures, switching seamlessly between f/1.5 and f/2.4, sitting in front of an all-new sensor that is great in low light. The Galaxy S9+ also gets a second 12MP sensor with a “telephoto” lens that provides 2X zoom and facilitates Live Focus, Samsung’s version of portrait mode that debuted with the Galaxy Note 8.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ specs

In terms of specs, the Galaxy S9+ (but only the S9+) has two more gigabytes of RAM than last year’s models. And let’s not downplay the importance of the fingerprint sensor being relocated to a much more sensible place on the back of the phone — below the now-vertical camera module.

Samsung Galaxy S9 review: A fantastic phone for the masses

Samsung Galaxy S9 India review: As good as it gets

Samsung Galaxy S9 review, 3 months later: Holding the high standard

Should you upgrade to the Galaxy S9?

This is the big question — and as always, it depends. If you’re running a Galaxy S6 or S7, and want to move to something new in the Samsung world, the answer is absolutely. If you’re rocking a still-new Galaxy S8 or Note 8, the answer is no. While there are substantial differences that clearly make the Galaxy S9 a better phone, the S8 is just a year old at this point, and has most of the Galaxy S9’s features thanks to its Android 8.0 Oreo update.

Samsung Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?

Samsung Galaxy S9+ vs. Galaxy Note 8: Which should you buy?

Is the Galaxy S9 better than the competition?

There are so many great phones on the market right now — how do you decide which one to buy? Here are our looks at the new phones compared to some of the best devices on the market.

The Galaxy S9 is the smaller of the flagships, and here’s how it compares to some of the other major phones on the market.

Samsung Galaxy S9 vs. iPhone X: The best of metal and glass

Samsung Galaxy S9 vs. Google Pixel 2: Which should you buy?

Samsung Galaxy S9 vs. Honor View 10

And how about the larger Galaxy S9+?

LG G7 vs. Samsung Galaxy S9+: Which should you buy?

Samsung Galaxy S9+ vs. Google Pixel 2 XL: The true flagships

OnePlus 6 vs. Samsung Galaxy S9+: Which should you buy?

Should you buy the Galaxy S9 or larger S9+?

OK, so you’ve made up your mind to buy the Galaxy S9 — but wait, should you get the S9 or the larger S9+?

Unlike last year, the Galaxy S9+ feels like more of the “default” choice of the two. It has extra RAM and a secondary rear camera in addition to its overall larger screen and bigger battery — yet the price delta between the two hasn’t changed. If you can handle the size difference and would like the extra battery life, go for the Galaxy S9+.

Here’s why the Galaxy S9+ is worth the extra money over the GS9

What colors are available?

Like last year, there are multiple colors of the Galaxy S9 series to purchase: Midnight Black, Lilac Purple, Coral Blue and Titanium Gray. U.S. buyers only get access to three of the four — silver is only available internationally — and both blue and purple are slight updates over last year.

A few months after the S9’s release, Samsung introduced two new colors in the form of Sunrise Gold and Burgundy Red.

Burgundy Red and Sunrise Gold are available around the world, and we took a look at the latter and it’s beautiful!

What color Galaxy S9 should I buy: Black, blue, purple, or silver?

Galaxy S9 and S9+ get Sunrise Gold and Burgundy Red color options; ARCore support

You can get as much as 256GB of internal storage

No matter where you decide to buy the Galaxy S9, 64GB is the default storage space that’s available with the phone. 64GB should be more than enough for most people, but if you want, you can always expand it with a microSD card.

However, if you’re someone who has a lot of local files and goes through GB like nothing, you may want to consider upgrading to a 128GB or even a 256GB model.

These larger configurations are sold exclusively on Samsung’s website and you’ll spend an extra $50 per each storage upgrade.

Samsung Galaxy S9: Which storage size should I buy?

Where can I get the best deal on a Galaxy S9?

The Galaxy S9 is now available worldwide, both from carriers and also unlocked.

In the U.S., the Galaxy S9 costs between $720 and $800, while the Galaxy S9+ goes for between $870 and $915. For all the details, take a look at our roundup of the best Galaxy S9 deals.

Where to buy the Galaxy S9: Best deals for your new phone

See at Verizon

Getting started with the Galaxy S9

Once you pick up your new phone, there are a few things you should do immediately. Here’s how to make your GS9 experience great!

The first 9 things to do with your Galaxy S9

The first 5 things to turn off in the Galaxy S9’s software

What’s this about bad battery life with the Exynos processor?

Samsung has regularly used both its own processors and Qualcomm’s latest chips in different markets, and it’s regularly been a point of discussion between enthusiasts as to which one is “better” overall.

In the Galaxy S9 and S9+, there’s a clear differentiation in that the Exynos versions of the phone have been getting much shorter battery life. To make things worse, the Qualcomm models are also outperforming Exynos in many synthetic benchmark tests.

So what can you do? Well, not much — Samsung doesn’t sell both versions of the phones in the same markets, so you can’t exactly cross-shop the two processors. The hope is that Samsung could update the firmware on the Exynos models to improve processor efficiency a bit.

Samsung Galaxy S9 battery problems, explained: Exynos vs. Snapdragon

Help me get started with accessories!

Once you have your Galaxy S9 or S9+, you’ll want to look into accessories like cases and screen protectors that make the phone even better. We’ve rounded up our favorites for you.

The best Galaxy S9 accessories

The best cases for the Galaxy S9

Four Great Quick Chargers for Galaxy S9

Spigen Rigged Armor case for Galaxy S9+ review: Low cost, rugged protection

Maxboost mSnap case for Galaxy S9 review: The only case you need

Having battery life problems?

The Galaxy S9 isn’t perfect —obviously, no phone is — but if you’re experiencing battery life problems, we have a guide on how to fix that.

How to fix Galaxy S9 battery life problems

Updated June 27, 2018: Added links to recent case reviews, accessory roundups, and information on new color options.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

• Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know!
• Galaxy S9 review: A great phone for the masses
• Complete Galaxy S9 and S9+ specs
• Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?
• Join our Galaxy S9 forums

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BlackBerry KEY2 review: Just my type

Call me maybe?

How often do you write? You know, with a real pen? Me, not so often anymore, and certainly not longer than a few paragraphs in a birthday card.

I enjoy the process of writing, sure, and even long for the simpler days of grade 2 cursive homework and university exam notebooks, but every time I think about pulling out my old Moleskine to jot down some thoughts, they end up on Google Keep instead. New habits die hard and all that.

I do this despite the knowledge that writing is more deliberate, more thoughtful, and ultimately more creative. There are studies. Typing is just faster, and it allows me to accomplish more in a given time frame. Typing doesn’t preclude creativity, but there’s a dryness to it; it’s perfunctory.

I’ve been thinking about this lately as the industry decides once again whether to embrace a phone with a physical keyboard. Ubiquitous 10 years ago and still common in 2012, BlackBerry’s hardware legacy disappeared so quickly it’s almost like it was erased. And in some ways it was. Erased by bigger, taller, more versatile touchscreens, with better keyboards that made fewer mistakes.

But, like the creative power of the pen, was the keyboard phone’s absence making us worse communicators? Were we falling back on shorthand, on emojis, because virtual keyboards replaced efficiency with adaptability? And is the BlackBerry KEY2 the phone to prove us all wrong?

Not quite, but it makes a sparkling attempt at it.

BlackBerry KEY2

Price: $649 USD / $829 CAD

Bottom line: BlackBerry does right by its keyboard-loving smartphone fans, but there’s enough here to attract even the staunchest of skeptics. BlackBerry just has to get them to put aside their ambivalence.

Pros:

• Keyboard is a huge improvement over KEYone
• Design improvements are transformational
• Camera can be very good in decent light
• Lots of small productivity boosters included in the software
• Exceptional battery life

Cons:

• Screen is too dark to use outdoors
• Camera is very bad in low light
• Single speaker is tinny and underpowered
• Performance isn’t good enough for the price

See at BlackBerry Mobile

Less is more

BlackBerry KEY2 The hardware

Operating System	Android 8.1 Oreo
Display	4.5-inch, 1620×1080 IPS LCD434ppi
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 6604x Kryo 2.2GHz, 4x Kryo 1.8GHzAdreno 512 GPU
RAM	6GB
Storage	64GB / 128GB
Expandable	microSD up to 2TB
Rear Camera 1	12MP (1.3 micron) ƒ/1.8 laser+phase autofocusdual-tone LED flash
Rear Camera 2	12MP (1 micron) ƒ/2.6 2x optical zoom portrait mode
Front Camera	8MP Selfie flash1080p/30 video
Battery	3500 mAhNon-removable
Dimensions	151.4 x 71.8 x 8.5 mm

As far as sequels go, this one is pretty conservative. But given the KEYone’s loyal following, and projected success (though TCL hasn’t released sales figures), changing too much would be construed as a betrayal.

But BlackBerry focused on improving areas of criticism from the first phone, especially performance. To that end, the phone has a beefier Snapdragon 660 — a substantial upgrade from the Snapdragon 625 of the original — along with 6GB of RAM in every model and an ample 64 or 128GB of storage. It has dual rear cameras, a stronger series 7 aluminum frame, and a drastically improved keyboard with keys 20% larger, and far more tactile, than on the KEYone.

Both the robust frame and redesigned keyboard are part of an overall cleanup and modernization of the phone’s exterior. Most importantly, the bulbous front camera and sensor cutouts of the KEYone have been more seamlessly integrated into the bezel atop the 4.5-inch LCD panel, and the earpiece is more sunken, allowing for richer sound.

This is easily the best-looking BlackBerry ever made, and that includes the Bold. Don’t @ me.

In fact, despite the presence of the keyboard, the KEY2 looks far more like a traditional phone than its predecessor in almost every respect. Thankfully, that extends to the placement of the power button, which is wedged between the convenience key and volume rocker on the right side of the phone. Its ridged texture distinguishes itself from the other buttons, which is a nice touch, but the fact that it’s there, on the right side where it should be, is reason enough for me to get excited about this phone. (I’m kidding, but not really.)

This leaves the left side of the phone to deal with the SIM tray alone, all angles and matte finish. Putting the KEY2 next to the KEYone shows exactly where TCL’s designers focused their energy: on removing the shiny, cartoonish elements of the original. The KEY2 comes in two colors, black or silver, and both feature brushed aluminum finishes that speak more to my understanding of BlackBerry’s professional legacy.

And even if your association with BlackBerry is more BBM than holster, the takeaway for everyone looking at the KEY2 without irony (because many people still view a physical keyboard on a phone as a useless indulgence) is that it’s objectively much better looking than its predecessor.

That brings us to the keyboard. BlackBerry Mobile says the keys are 20% larger than before, and more evenly spaced thanks to redesigned frets. But perhaps the most significant improvement is the key finish, which is also matte.

That’s a big deal, because while the glossy KEYone may have looked good out of the box — all shiny and new — the keys got grimy and slippery after a few month’s use. So far, that hasn’t happened with this one.

Continuing the KEY2 tour, around back there’s a familiar texture that makes the phone incredibly comfortable to hold and use. But it is top-heavy — more so than the KEYone — which affects how I hold it when I type.

In many respects, the KEY2 is more akin to a slider like the Torch than a traditional BlackBerry like the Bold or Curve. Despite being 12 grams lighter than its predecessor, the phone lilts backwards unless I’m propping it up with a pinky underneath, positioning my right thumb below my left.

This display is one of the phone’s most underwhelming components, and undermines its $649 price.

On large phones with virtual keyboards, this isn’t a problem because the pressure needed to execute a letter tap is negligible, but on the KEY2 I’ve yet to find a typing position that’s both comfortable and conducive to accurate typing. This is 100% my issue, and will likely not affect anyone coming from a KEYone, but it’s something to keep in mind if upgrading from an older BlackBerry or an all-touch device.

My one main issue with the hardware is the display. It’s dim — far too dim to comfortably use outside. This is the same panel that was in the KEYone, and it was merely mediocre then. Now it’s outright disappointing. Adding insult to injury, the display’s touch response is worse than most other flagships; it’s not sensitive enough to pick up minor taps, resulting in repeated presses and inconsistent scrolling.

A few other things to note about the hardware:

• Phone calls sound great out of the earpiece. BlackBerry says it’s one of the few companies that still cares about call quality, and is using an extra microphone to cut out background noise for those on the other side of the line. I made quite a few, and every person told me they couldn’t hear a thing, even while walking down a busy street.
• The single mono speaker is enormously disappointing. Soft at the top volume in addition to being tinny and shrill. Just a huge letdown.
• Sound from the headphone jack is great, and that there’s a headphone jack at all is even greater.
• Even though all of the phone’s buttons are now all on one side, it’s easy to differentiate between them thanks to a raised texture on the power button and the size differences. They’re also wonderfully clicky.
• The textured back is very prone to oil stains from grubby fingers, so you’ll have to clean it regularly.

The keyboard

I’ve used every keyboarded BlackBerry since 2004’s 8700 “Blueberry,” and the KEY2’s is definitely closest in style to the Bold 9900, still considered the best hardware keyboard ever made.

The key travel is a touch longer than its predecessor’s, and despite my thumb placement issues, it feels easier to get into a rhythm while typing. Part of that is due to the taller keys, but it’s mainly because of the matte finish, which causes my thumbs to slip far less than they did on the glossy. Identifying each letter is considerably easier, since the letters are more distinct.

I also love using the keyboard’s trackpad feature to scroll through long feeds and longer articles. It takes a bit of calibration to get it right — a light touch is all that’s necessary — but once you get the hang of it, it’s super useful.

My main issue with the keyboard is that its on-device autocorrect companion isn’t very good. Unless you’re already accustomed to touch typing on a BlackBerry keyboard, and make few errors, you’re likely going to be frustrated by its lack of proactive correction.

There were times when I enjoyed using the keyboard, but I find it hard to believe most people will type faster on it than a good-quality virtual keyboard like Gboard.

Minor errors — a mispressed key, an accidental space — require a degree of manual attention that not only interrupt the typist’s flow but discourage me from attempting to type at a pace that would rival a touchscreen, where more errors are made but more consistently fixed.

Replacing the right Shift button is the new Speed Key, which works as a “function” button of sorts. Holding it and pressing any one of the keyboard’s 26 letters can open any app or activate any shortcut the system can muster, from beginning a text or email to opening the camera or Instagram. There are 52 possible combinations, too, since you can hold on the Speed Key and long-press any letter of the alphabet.

Such functionality is estimable on the KEYone, but only from the home screen (and only using the BlackBerry Launcher). This bypasses all of those prerequisites, giving avid multitaskers more ways to manically accomplish tasks on the go. It took me a while to integrate the Speed Key into my daily routine, but once I figured out a macro system that worked, it became second nature to combo “Speed Key + S” for Slack or ” SK + I” for Instagram. I found myself rarely going home anymore.

A few other notes about the keyboard:

• The phone is tall, so I appreciate the ability to reassign the currency key to pull down the notification shade. So, so useful.
• On the other hand, you can also reassign the currency key to act as a CTRL button, which allows for quick copy-cut-paste. Also super useful.
• That said, being able to swipe down over the keyboard keys to quickly enter the symbols menu, or double tap to precisely move the cursor, somewhat make up for the awkward marriage of physical and digital inputs. (It also takes quite a while to learn and remember all of these gestures and key combos.)
• Accessing symbols and emoji requires interacting with the on-screen keyboard, which feels a bit awkward when trying to focus on physical typing.

Mostly smooth

BlackBerry KEY2 Performance and battery life

The Snapdragon 660 inside the KEY2, along with 6GB of RAM, should be enough to assuage any lingering doubts about this phone’s performance. Right? Right?!

Thankfully, all is well in the world. This is not a phone meant for games — a single look at the form factor makes that clear — but for productivity tasks, multitasking and everything else one would throw at a phone of this lineage, the situation is just fine.

In fact, I’d say the Snapdragon 660, with its eight Kryo cores, is closer in design and features to the Snapdragon 835 than it is to existing 600-series chips, and that allows BlackBerry Mobile to sell the KEY2 for considerably less than a modern flagship without sacrificing performance or battery life.

The phone feels quick, especially when using the Speed Key to get around between apps. And while many reviewers, including me, only saw severe slowdown manifest on the KEYone months after its release, I have faith that the ample amount of RAM should be able to prevent that from happening a second time. Still, this isn’t Pixel smooth or even Galaxy smooth. There are minor performance blips that, while not show-stopping, still crop up now and then. I haven’t been able to isolate them to a single app or action — it’s more the odd hiccup.

On the battery front, I’m noticing uptime as good, if not better, than on the KEYone. This is a powerhouse, a phone that’s meant to be pounded into submission, day after day. BlackBerry users have always insisted on this unyielding availability, and the KEY2 meets that demand.

Snap. Chat.

BlackBerry KEY2 Cameras

The BlackBerry KEY2, like Motorola’s recent flagship phones, sidesteps a camera upgrade in favor of adding a second sensor. This is the trend, so BlackBerry must comply.

Unfortunately, the phone is worse off for it.

On paper, the KEY2’s camera should be better than the KEYone’s: a 12MP primary sensor with 1.3-micron pixels, an f/1.8 lens, dual phase-detection autofocus, and an improved ISP through the Snapdragon processor. Couple that with a second 12MP sensor with twice the focal distance and you have yourself a potent combination.

Last year, BlackBerry Mobile made a big deal about the pedigree of the KEYone’s camera sensor, the Sony IMX378, which was also found in the Google Pixel. At 1/2.3-inches in size and 1.55-micron pixels, the sensor itself was perfect for both daylight and low light shots, and while the KEYone struggled in dim conditions, it performed better than anyone expected. Even without significant post-processing optimization, the phone benefited tremendously from good genes, so to speak.

In 2018, the KEY2 finds a compromise. A smaller Samsung sensor — the S5K2L2 ISOCELL, which was first used in the international Galaxy S8 — the phone takes decent photos but nothing more.

In daylight, photos benefit from a liberal application of HDR, and the f/1.8 aperture manages some impressive depth of field. Colors are vivid but not exaggerated, and there are ample manual tweaks available for those who want to play with shutter speed, exposure, and sensitivity. You can see how well the camera does when compared to the Pixel 2 below. Note how much more the colors pop, and how much warmer the yellows, oranges, and reds are.

BlackBerry KEY2 (left) / Google Pixel 2 (right) | Use your keyboard’s left and right keys to quickly compare photos.

Conversely, the KEY2 really struggles in low light.

The best low-light photos are merely usable, whereas the bad ones are just awful, some of the worst I’ve seen from a phone in this price range. The main issue is focus — it rarely manages to settle on a subject when the lights are low — but even with ISO ratcheted to over 6000 fine details are barely discernible and color is so muted the photo might as well be monochrome. The lack of optical image stabilization hurts the KEY2 a lot here.

The KEY2’s low light performance is pretty dismal.

The primary sensor isn’t saved by the presence of the secondary telephoto, either. With a 2x focal length, it’s nice to grab the occasional long-distance photo, but any scrutiny belies its digital lineage. There is almost no discernible detail out of this second camera: every photo is splotchy and diffuse, like it’s been run through a de-noising filter (which it likely has).

KEY2 primary sensor (left) / KEY2 secondary sensor + 2x zoom lens (right) | Use your keyboard’s left and right keys to quickly compare photos.

At the same time, the accompanying 12MP sensor also allows for portrait mode, which is surprisingly good given BlackBerry’s lack of experience in this area, but it still suffers from the same edge detection issues as every other phone.

A few more things about the KEY2’s camera:

• By default, it takes photos at the screen’s native 3:2 aspect ratio. This is terrible practice, and the first thing you should do is change it to the world-accepted 4:3.
• This phone’s manual mode is not a feature but a toggle: you either select Auto or Manual and stick with it, which I don’t mind, but I can imagine will be a little frustrating for the average user.
• Video quality is much better than on the KEYone thanks to better electronic stabilization and support for 1080p@60 — another benefit of the Snapdragon 660.
• With the power button on the right, you can set a double-press to quickly open the camera app. You can also use the Convenience Key below it to open the camera app with a single press. You can also set the Speed Key to open the camera app. There are so many ways to open the camera app!
• Playing on BlackBerry’s legacy of privacy, when you snap a photo using the space bar as a shutter key, or take a photo when the phone is locked, the shots are stored in a “locker” and aren’t available to the rest of the OS. That means they won’t be uploaded to Google Photos or Dropbox, and you’ll have to decrypt them before sharing with others.

Vaulted

BlackBerry KEY2 Software and features

With Android 8.1 on board and the KEY2 certified as part of the Android Enterprise Recommended program, I’d be remiss not to point out that the phone, as popular as it is with a small number of enthusiasts, is really aimed at the enterprise market.

To that end, the KEY2 maintains its predecessor’s focus on privacy and security, promising monthly security updates (bested only by Google itself) and, as part of the AER, “at least one major OS update.” So you know that the KEY2 will get Android P — eventually. For what it’s worth, the KEYone is still on Nougat and is expected to get Oreo shortly after the KEY2’s release.

Mainstay apps like DTEK have received visual updates to improve usability, and the BlackBerry Locker now has built-in document support so files stored on the phone don’t need to be uploaded to the cloud.

More interesting is a partnership with Mozilla to pre-install Firefox Focus, its new super-fast, privacy-focused browser, within the locker, so nothing is tracked and everything is kept out of advertisers’ prying eyes.

There’s very little not to like about the KEY2’s software. It runs a very light version of Android 8.1 Oreo, and while I continue to ignore the presence of the BlackBerry Hub, which is just a resource management disaster of a productivity app, everything else is good.

Since BlackBerry shipped the Priv in late 2015, the company has shown a skill for building functional, well-designed productivity apps that work alongside the main OS. The issue today is the same one that presents itself on all Android phones today: Google’s versions are just better and more full-featured.

Google Keep is better than BlackBerry Notes; Google Calendar is easier to use and faster than BlackBerry Calendar; Google Tasks syncs with the cloud and BlackBerry Tasks doesn’t. Apps that have a uniquely BlackBerry angle, like DTEK or the Privacy Shade, make sense to include on a phone like this. But from a consumer perspective, there’s nothing pre-installed that’s better than anything you can get for free on Google Play.

Still, if you choose to use BlackBerry’s apps and avail yourself of the various security features built in, you can also rest easy knowing that your phone will receive monthly security updates and will be next to impossible to hack.

BlackBerrys are still very secure, but they can no longer claim to stand alone in a sea of vulnerable Android devices.

On the other hand, BlackBerry’s long-touted claim that Android is inherently vulnerable to attacks and that you need a secure device like the KEYone to protect yourself has repeatedly been undermined by Google’s own ability to prevent OS-wide attacks through Play Services updates and by the Play Store’s powerful Play Protect engine.

The KEY2 may be ever-so-slightly less vulnerable to physical intrusions, but the days of saying BlackBerry devices are more secure than Galaxys or Pixels are over.

Some additional notes on the software:

• Even though the KEY2 ships with Android 8.1, I wouldn’t expect an update to Android P very quickly. The KEYone still has Nougat, and it’s been out for nearly 18 months.
• In addition to the Convenience Key and Speed Key, BlackBerry includes a Productivity Tab that’s always available with a swipe in from the right side of the screen. It’s basically an overlay for emails, calendar entries, and tasks, but you have to use BlackBerry’s apps for it to work. But below that, there’s an area for widgets of your choice, which makes it much more useful. But not useful enough for me not to disable it.

Yes, but…

BlackBerry KEY2 Should you buy it?

The KEY2 has one direct competitor, and it’s its predecessor. Compared to the KEYone, this is a much better phone — even if the camera isn’t an improvement.

But will the KEY2 sell more than the KEYone and widen the keyboard phone market like BlackBerry Mobile believes it will? Outside of its core audience, does BlackBerry Mobile have the marketing chops to convince iPhone and Galaxy owners that they need to return to the good ol’ days of blinking-red-light productivity?

No, probably not. There are a number of conveniences here that I love, including the myriad keyboard shortcuts and affordances that come with having a phone that resembles a universal remote control. You can certainly do more with it, but so much of the benefit comes from setting things up exactly so, and acclimating to Android in a small-screened 3:2 world.

Most of it works — even watching video, surprisingly enough — but a year on from the KEYone’s novelty, BlackBerry Mobile is facing the same problem larger companies like LG and HTC are dealing with: is it the best choice? Carving a niche is fine, but parent company TCL has set its sights high for BlackBerry Mobile, its flagship brand, and for the KEY2 in particular.

The good news is that the phone, as concept and execution, succeeds. Its profile is striking, its performance is excellent, and its inherited lineage remains intact, if more diffuse than ever.

In Canada, BlackBerry’s most resilient market, the KEY2 will be available July 6 starting at $99 on contract at Rogers, Bell, TELUS, and SaskTel. That’s a great endorsement.

In the U.S., it’ll be available unlocked and, at first, will only work on AT&T and T-Mobile (and their compatible subsidiaries and MVNOs). That’s unfortunate but not unexpected, and given the KEYone’s numerous iterations throughout its 16-month life, probably temporary.

3.5
out of 5

So should you buy the KEY2? BlackBerry Mobile managed to fix most of the issues, so if you were holding off on a KEYone, you’ll probably love this phone. For everyone else it’s about figuring out whether you can get to the point where tapping away at a physical keyboard, like pen on paper, brings you enough fulfillment that you forget about all the things you’re losing in the process.

See at BlackBerry Mobile

BlackBerry KEY2

• BlackBerry KEY2 review
• BlackBerry KEY2: Everything you need to know!
• BlackBerry KEY2 specs
• BlackBerry KEYone review: Coming home
• Join our BlackBerry KEY2 forums!

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Sonos Beam review: Raising the sound bar

The only living room speaker you need.

To know a Sonos speaker is to love it. It’s that simple.

But to know a Sonos speaker is to know two, or five, or a $699 Sub or Playbar. Even though you get what you pay for, you still pay.

To some extent that changed with the now-$149 Play:1, which was succeeded by the $199 Alexa-touting Sonos One. But the speaker company, which has awkwardly stumbled into the smart assistant age, is alien to the average music listener because that industry is so heavily commoditized, and out of reach of its more attainable audience, TV watchers, because its existing products are so narrowly focused.

With the Beam that changes for the better. The way better.

Sonos Beam

Price: $399

Bottom line: The Sonos Beam is a compact, powerful smart speaker that also happens to be a great TV soundbar.

Pros:

• Huge sound for the size, especially from the low-end
• Superb channel separation
• Puts Sonos features right in front of you
• Lets you control your TV with Alexa
• Easy to set up

Cons:

• Expensive
• Still doesn’t support Google Assistant
• Alexa hot word is too sensitive

See at Amazon

Sonos Beam What it is

The Beam is neither Sonos’ best music speaker nor its best sound bar, but it’s the most sensible product the company could have released in 2018. Unlike the massive and input-limited Playbar, the Beam supports HDMI ARC, which means it pulls double duty as a TV speaker and a remote control.

The idea behind the Beam is that it replaces your TV’s crappy built-in speakers, or gets rid of the need for a complicated receiver and separate pair of speakers. The latter was my setup — I have an expensive Yamaha multi-channel AV receiver and a pair of old Technics bookshelves — with my various set-top boxes polluting its HDMI ports and forcing me to use its awful remote. The prospect of simplification was enticing.

So I unplugged my Chromecast, Apple TV, my Fire TV from the receiver and put them directly into my LG B7 OLED television, reserving HDMI 2, which supports ARC, for the Beam. ARC is intriguing, and this is my first time using the technology; it stands for Audio Return Channel, and it’s a standard that synchronizes the video on the TV with the audio from a connected speaker.

It also does one other really cool thing: it forgoes any setup or pairing, and it facilitates smart assistants like Alexa acting like a remote control. So not only does the Beam, when connected to a compatible TV, act as a rich, powerful speaker, but it lets you ask Alexa to turn on and off the TV, and on Amazon-built hardware, launch individual apps like Prime Video or Netflix.

But the Beam is two more separate products: it’s a Sonos speaker, which connects to nearly 100 streaming music and radio services like Spotify, Google Play Music, Apple Music, Audible, and others, and it’s an Alexa conduit, which means it’s a much better-sounding Echo, able to perform all the same smart home tasks and useful skills that Amazon has been adding to its platform since 2014.

The best streaming music services

Sonos Beam What I like

At $399, the value proposition is fairly straightforward: the Sonos Beam is an outstanding speaker. Even if it didn’t do all the things I described above, it would almost be worth its asking price by virtue of its sound output. While it doesn’t match the deep bass and ultra-wide soundstage of the Playbar, which is near twice the price and double the size, the Beam’s four woofers, single tweeter, three passive radiators, and five Class-D amplifiers manage to amply reproduce a stereo pair from a single unit that’s just 26 inches wide, 3 inches high, and 4 inches deep.

I appreciate that Sonos doesn’t cloud its equalization with bias, either: the sound emitted from the Beam is, by default, clean and approachable. It doesn’t create bass that isn’t there, and it doesn’t pretend to be a speaker double the size. Sonos recommends the Beam for a small or medium-sized living room; it probably wouldn’t do well paired with a 100-inch projector in a theater.

According to Sonos’ head of marketing, Michael Papish, only 20% of homes have any sound equipment connected to a TV in the living room. When looked at in such a context, the Beam is an ideal speaker for them because it also gets rid of the need for a separate smart speaker, or Sonos speaker in general, in one’s living area.

The Beam sounds better than most soundbars, and way better than any Alexa-enabled speaker.

At the same time, the Beam benefits from being paired with Sonos’ other products. I was easily able to use a pair of Sonos Play:1 speakers as a stereo pair, and the excellent Sonos app makes it trivial to set up. And while I don’t have one of the company’s excellent $699 subwoofers, when mixed with the Beam Sonos does the work to separate the bass from the mids so frequency crossover is smooth.

Here’s an example of why I love using the Beam, and why pairing it with a smart assistant makes so much sense. I use my voice to turn on my TV — “Alexa, turn on the TV,” and launch right into Netflix. I start watching some Luke Cage and hear a song I love. It’s Faith Evans’ “Mesmerized,” but it only plays for a few seconds so I ask Alexa to play the full thing. This leads me down a Bad Boy rabbit hole, so I open my Spotify app and build a new hip-hop playlist, pushing it to the Beam using Spotify Connect. Once I’m done, I press play on the TV and my episode resumes.

The genius of Sonos is that it just works, and works everywhere. You can use the new-and-improved Sonos app (seriously, it used to be garbage and now it’s amazing) to consolidate music from any number of music services — the app’s universal search is excellent — or just use it as a Spotify controller. If you have more than one Sonos speaker, you can combine or separate them at any time for whole-home audio. You can choose to use Alexa or ignore the functionality altogether, muting the five far-field microphones with a tap on the Beam’s capacitive console.

Even when my TV is off, I use Beam to listen to podcasts or my local radio station. It stands in for Bluetooth speakers, smart speakers, and TV speakers. It’s just that versatile.

Sonos Beam What I don’t like

Let’s offer a counterpoint to what I said above: at $399, the Beam’s value proposition is straightforward. It’s also outlandishly high compared to buying an Amazon Echo and a decent soundbar. If you’ve no need for Sonos’ integrated nature, it’s easy enough to recreate a facsimile of the experience with a $99 Echo and a $120 RSR.

This becomes doubly true when admitting that the Beam’s Alexa integration is pretty basic unless you’re also using an Amazon Fire TV, and that the far-field microphones are far too sensitive, accidentally activating a half dozen times an evening. Every word that begins with “Al-” elicits the recognizable activation chime, and that’s despite Sonos saying the Beam is less prone to false positives than the notoriously finicky Sonos One.

Then there’s the question of Google Assistant support. When Sonos announced it was getting into the smart speaker game, it approached the problem as it had with music: it would be as open as possible and support as many APIs as it could. But Google Assistant integration was supposed to launch earlier this year and has been pushed back to an indefinite date citing unspecific compatibility problems. Later this year, the Sonos Beam will be among three speakers in the company’s lineup to support Apple’s AirPlay 2, but that won’t provide Android users much solace.

The final concern is with the HDMI spec itself: ARC is built into most TVs these days, but Sonos can’t control that side of the equation. It can only hope that customers are savvy enough to check their televisions beforehand or upgrade their sets at the same time. The fallback is an HDMI-to-optical adapter in the box, which should even the oldest of modern-day televisions to work, sans intelligence, with the Beam. And in neither configuration does the Beam support DTS, just Dolby Digital 5.1.

Sonos Beam Should you buy it?

Let me tell you something about Sonos. All of the problems I mentioned above? The investment, the platforms, the cables, the specs — they all disappear once you start using the product. Every Sonos product is solid, and the Beam is no exception. This is my favorite speaker in the company’s lineup to date because it checks so many boxes.

And it will get better. The Beam will eventually support Google Assistant and all its intelligence, along with the smart home integrations and routines you’ve already set up on your phone, and Sonos will add additional services like YouTube Music to its music lineup. And there’s a good chance, once you buy a Beam, you’ll want to spend more money on additional Sonos stuff.

4.5
out of 5

Even if you don’t, and just stick with the Beam as your sole Sonos product, you’ll be happy with its massive feature set and awesome sound.

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