BlackBerry KEYone CDMA Unlocked Android Smartphone (Verizon) - 4G LTE - 32GB

First of all, I'm not a typical smart-phone user. I don't live for cat videos or snarky 140-character proclamations on the state of humanity (politics), the nation (politics), and/or celebrities (incredibly brainless politics). If I had any hair left, it would be grey, and I'm considering buying a house with a lawn just to tell kids to get off of my grass.No surprise, then, that my "use case" for a smart phone is a bit different than most. I care about productivity tools so that I can look like I'm working when I'm really in my workshop pretending to know how to fix and build things. (Productivity Note: This phone can be used to find someone to fix things you've fixed.) I type in reader-centric sentences and paragraphs, not "n txt spk 2 get msg :-) ;-) B-| <3". It takes a little bit of text to craft messages with some thought and nuance, some actual content, and text requires typing. Typing on a soft keyboard is to let others do the thinking for you, to get "suggested" from typo to bland average. The "fix" for half-baked soft-keyboard technology is ever-worse spelling, punctuation, and grammar. (Suggestions: "grandma," "gramophone," "Alexander Gram Bell.")So to me, this device is a keyboard with productivity apps attached; and the apps have gotten pretty darned good. It's a communication portal for those who value the written word and have thoughts more complex than "like" to get across. It is for people who want to DO things, to think and create, not just react to what is fed to them.For the desperate few who have endured this far, here's the actual review of the phone itself, a reward for your substantial sacrifice so far.Positives:Did I mention that it has a keyboard? It's a VERY nice keyboard, and once configured the way I wanted, has been GLORIOUS. It takes up the same screen space that a soft keyboard would. I've turned off most of the typing "help" that seems purpose-designed to wreck my prose. Android, however, persists a little. As does my prose. Sorry.Solid build. It does have corners at the top, and I would absolutely HATE to drop it on one of those. But until that happens, it looks amazingly professional.The screen seems to be attached as far as I can tell. Maybe I've missed something. *shakes the phone* Nope, still attached. It looks like a screen, with the same "wrap-around" fetish that has infected phone designers lately.Battery is shockingly good. Turn the radio off at night and it lasts for three days. No longer do I walk through the airport looking for outlets like an out-of-air diver grasping for his buddy's regulator. An hour of charge gets me through a day of solid use. Well, it gets the PHONE through the day.There are comments in the reviews about weak wifi. I have no objective measure of this except to say that of the dozen or so devices I use that have wifi, this is in the top three for connectivity. And the Bluetooth is so good that I worry it's getting a little chummy with my car's audio system. What, exactly, are you two plotting? I use a VPN away from home for my por... um... sensitive files, and it has never failed to work perfectly.Stability is another place I've seen negative comments. It's Android running on a stock processor. What the heck apps did you load onto it? It's stable as hell, maybe two restarts for system updates in two months. Android and NSA spyware just WORK. Not sure what the complaints are.USB C is a gift to the elderly and blind. Micro USB is proof that two ways of inserting a plug means it will be wrong the first try at least 75% of the time. Can somebody please work on the OTHER end of the cable now?Don't care:The Blackberry software is fine. Just... fine. I do use the hub occasionally, but would never notice if it wasn't there. And it's hard to see whether the DTEK is helping anything. I mean it's not like people stealing my e-mails are giving me feedback. This may be my own (now-obvious) ignorance speaking, but it all seems a bit of a shoulder shrug to me.On the negative side:The rubberized back helps with grip, but it tends to pick up marks and crumbs and fingerprints and small pets.Also on the back, the camera sticks out a little. I feel like every time I set it down on a hard surface, I might as well scrub the lens with steel wool.Both of these negatives may be negated soon with a leather case. Out of the box, though, they are "meh" design features.The quick-access button is great except for the fact that it works. I keep bumping it. Awesome... another photo of my finger.Conclusion:Blackberry and Android had a baby, and here it is... the best of both. And by "best" I mean the most productive. If you want a fashion accessory with the processing power of an 80s Cray supercomputer, buy one of the generic slabs of glass that are out there. But if you are old enough to know what a Cray supercomputer is and/or your student debt came with actual spelling and grammar skills -- and you prioritize function over fashion -- then this device is for you.

(If anyone at TCL is reading, I will happily change to 5 stars if Android Oreo 8.1 is forthcoming - and I will be posting a similar review for the Key2)For anyone considering a CDMA version of the KeyONE (Sprint or Verizon), PLEASE DON'T. I have been nothing but ecstatic about my KeyONE, having owned it for just over a year. I am happy with the build quality (no screen popping issues for me), battery life is superb, and I love the keyboard.So why am I only giving it ONE STAR? Because TCL has now abandoned CDMA editions of the KeyONE. Specifically, --TCL LIED TO US-- about Android 8.1 Oreo being forthcoming for the KeyONE. Only the GSM editions have received Android 8.1. In fact, they stopped putting out security updates for Android 7.1.1 - my patch level is stuck on July 1, 2018 and I haven't received a security update in almost 2 months. Google releases security patches for Android on a monthly basis. For most of the past year, TCL was on the ball with Android 7.1.1 security updates (usually 2-3 weeks after Google put them out), but not anymore. Note I have the "Verizon edition" that I bought on Amazon & that my phone is unlocked - so, Verizon doesn't choose which updates I receive, TCL does.A few weeks ago, a Sprint representative (not TCL) indicated that Android 8.1 would not come for the "Sprint version" of the KeyONE. As a result, others are concerned that the same would be the case for the "Verizon version" -- the other CDMA edition out there, and apparently still being sold.In fact, I even signed up to be a beta tester of Android 8.1 Oreo (bbbeta-centercode site), but have yet to hear anything on the subject. (You are required to provide your phone's serial number, which would tell them that I have the CDMA-Verizon version).Also, this lack of action on the part of TCL is in violation of the "Android Enterprise Recommended requirements" section (Knowledge Workers), since being stuck on Android 7.1.1 does not meet the recommendation of "Major update release support -> Support current shipping release + one letter upgrade".BTW - Blackberry/TCL have abandoned previous Android phones before - look into the Priv, DTEK50, DTEK60. They also never received an OS update to the next version of Android. But the KeyONE-CDMA would be the first reneged promise of an OS upgrade.So, if you want a $550 phone that stopped receiving updates, won't receive an update to the 2nd-newest version of Android, and may have received its last update, plunk down your hard-earned $$$. Given the security holes, it will make a nice paperweight in the next few months... (I wonder if DTEK will start complaining about the old security patch level). But hey, it has a keyboard!

My order came with a case and a screen cover.. the phone works perfect

Pour recevoir mes appels personelle.

This phone will not update software or pass it's own security scan...........spend the extra few hundred dollars and get on in North America