Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. Reviews

Hands on: BlackBerry Classic

The Classic will make BlackBerry diehards swoon, if those still exist

By

The BlackBerry Classic is clearly aimed at traditional BlackBerry fans and enterprise users who place security and speedy communications above all.

BlackBerry finally knows who its customers are. The company may have missed the boat on touchscreens back in the day, but its later attempts to “catch up” to Android and iOS with keyboard-less phones fell flat. Now the company is back to doing what it does best: making phones with full, QWERTY keyboards.

Recommended Videos

The massively square BlackBerry Passport was just the first of many throwback devices, CEO John Chen claimed earlier this year. Now we have the phone that BlackBerry addicts have been asking for since the Bold 9900 came out in 2011. The BlackBerry Classic couldn’t have a more accurate name if it tried. It’s classic BlackBerry from the top of its curved body to the angled keys of its keyboard.

Related

We had a chance to use the Classic during a launch event in New York City; here are our first impressions.

Hands on video

Classic BlackBerry look

At first glance, you might think the BlackBerry Classic is actually a Bold 9900 in mint condition. It has the same curved body, high-end build quality, and iconic QWERTY keyboard with slightly rounded keys and stainless steel frets between each row of letters. The navigation bar is back, nestled in between the screen and the keyboard. After a moment, though, you realize that the screen is much larger, and the rows of keys aren’t curved at all.

Even though it doesn’t look like it, the Classic’s screen is actually the same size diagonally as that of the iPhone 4S.

The BlackBerry Classic features a few subtle differences in design and a few more substantial ones when it comes to its specifications. The screen is 60 percent larger on the Classic than on the Bold, as the device sports a 3.5-inch square touchscreen with a 720 × 720 pixel resolution and 294ppi pixel density. Even though it doesn’t look like it, the Classic’s screen is actually the same size diagonally as that of the iPhone 4S. It is square, though, so watching videos on YouTube or checking anything out in landscape view leaves an absurd amount of black space above and below the image.

As such, BlackBerry’s Classic isn’t ideal for those who stream Netflix and YouTube videos on their phones during all hours of the day. It is, however, perfectly crafted for the businessman who needs to respond to 100 emails a day and get things done.

Clicky keyboard moves fast

BlackBerry upgraded the keyboard slightly to make it more ergonomic and easy to use. The stainless steel frets add a nice amount of separation to the rows of keys, so users can type without looking. Each key is slightly curved, though the rows aren’t — the keys now sit in straight rows like the ones you see on the BlackBerry Passport. The company says it found the curve wasn’t necessary and the straight line up is actually more comfortable to use.

We typed a few lines of text in Evernote to get a feel for the keyboard, and things moved very fast. The physical keys give a nice clicky feedback that does seem reassuring. Die-hard BlackBerry users who have been clacking away at their QWERTY keyboards for years without interruption will feel right at home. Those who’ve been using touchscreen keyboards all their lives will find it odd at first. Even so, there’s no denying that the keyboard works well.

A BlackBerry representative pointed out that for phone users who are on their keyboards all day, a physical one is ideal. After all, the virtual keyboard takes up the same amount of screen real estate on comparable phones like the Samsung Galaxy S5 and iPhone 6 anyway.

If you’ve been waiting for an upgrade to the Bold 9900, the Classic is the phone for you.

BlackBerry also brought back the navigation bar on the Classic, which has a scrolling trackpad, back button, BlackBerry button, and two more on either side. The trackpad that sits in the center of the navigation bar is touch sensitive, so you can scroll around apps, email, or your browser. It’s very responsive and quick, so you can really jet around the device and scroll through email at warp speed. The trackpad was surprisingly nice to use and it certainly made navigating through apps one-handed much easier than on a phablet.

Upgraded specs bring BlackBerry to 2014

BlackBerry’s Classic may not have incredible specs, but it has enough power to get you through a day or two of intense work. The phone itself is powered by a dual-core, 1.5-GHz Snapdragon S4 processor and 2GB of RAM. BlackBerry offers 16GB internal storage, but a MicroSD card slot sits next to the SIM slot, so you can bring that number up to 128GB. The Classic totes a 2,515mAh battery that BlackBerry says will last 22 hours. Bluetooth 4.0, 4G LTE connectivity, Wi-Fi, an FM radio, and the NFC BlackBerry Tag technology are all included, as well.

blackberry classic hands on 2
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Classic runs BlackBerry’s latest BB 10.3.1 operating system update, which involves a lot of swiping around the screen for navigation. Luckily, you can download apps from the Amazon Android Appstore and the BlackBerry World app store.

To round off the Classic’s spec sheet, BlackBerry included an 8-megapixel back camera with autofocus and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. We snapped a few pictures with the Classic’s camera at the event, and it focused in on objects well. Overall, it looked like an average camera, and it certainly wasn’t one of the Classic’s strengths.

Conclusion

The BlackBerry Classic is clearly aimed at traditional BlackBerry fans and enterprise users who place security and speedy communications above all. Android and iOS users who’ve never expressed interest in BlackBerry devices before now will not be tempted by the Classic, but that’s not who the company is targeting. If you’ve been waiting for an upgrade to the Bold 9900, the Classic is the phone for you.

Of course, these are just our first impressions, so we’ll have a more fleshed out review once we’ve tested the device at length.

Highs

  • QWERTY keyboard for the faithful
  • BlackBerry’s security suite
  • High-end build quality
  • Easy to use one-handed

Lows

  • Limited app selection
  • Average camera
  • May not appeal to non-BlackBerry fans

Editors’ Recommendations

Malarie Gokey
Malarie Gokey
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Mobile Editor, Malarie runs the Mobile and Wearables sections, which cover smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and…
A new BlackBerry with a keyboard is still on the schedule for 2022
BlackBerry Key2 LE review

A new BlackBerry phone is still in the cards for 2022, according to hardware partner OnwardMobility. Following a breakup with TCL in 2020, BlackBerry partnered with the little-known Texas company OnwardMobility to launch a new phone in 2021. After missing that launch period, the Onward Mobility team shared an update this week, letting BlackBerry enthusiasts know that their phone was still coming.

"Everyone has eagerly awaited additional information following our last announcement, but 2021 was truly a challenging year to launch a new phone, much less one with the high expectations we set and the fact that we want to get it right!" the OnwardMobility team wrote, "While we encountered various delays that prevented us from shipping in 2021, we will be providing more regular updates starting this month that will clarify and answer many of your questions about the ultra-secure 5G enterprise smartphone (still with a keyboard!) we’re bringing to market."

Read more
Classic BlackBerries are finally losing suppport as company shuts down services
BlackBerry Key2. Credits: BlackBerry official.

After kickstarting the smartphone era, BlackBerry's classic devices and services are finally shutting down. No, not the Android-powered modern BlackBerries such as the KeyOne, Key2, and Key2 LE, but anything that ran a BlackBerry-branded operating system. Whether this is a classic QWERTY keyboard powered by BlackBerry 7, or the iPhone-inspired BlackBerry 10, or even the forgotten BlackBerry PlayBook OS -- it's all shutting down this month.
"As another milestone in the BlackBerry journey, we will be taking steps to decommission the legacy services for BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier, BlackBerry 10 software, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1, and earlier versions, with an end of life or termination date of January 4, 2022," the company announced. "As of this date, devices running these legacy services and software through either carrier or Wi-Fi connections will no longer reliably function, including for data, phone calls, SMS, and 911 functionality. We have chosen to extend our service until then as an expression of thanks to our loyal partners and customers."
BlackBerry bids farewell to its longtime customers. Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
It's the end of an era for what was once a distinguished product that defined the market a decade ago. Even predating iMessage, the BlackBerry instant messaging service -- BBM -- was a great selling point for the product line. As iOS, Android, and WhatsApp began to dominate, BlackBerry devices began to fall by the wayside.
The company tried to rejuvenate its smartphone business by launching its own touchscreen phones and later its own operating system in 2013, but had little success. Unable to keep up,ity stopped the creation of smartphones in 2016 and licensed services to TCL Ltd. between 2016 to 2020. BlackBerry promised to launch a smartphone by the end of 2021 in partnership with OnwardMobility, but that hasn't panned out. 
The company has now shifted its focus to selling software. It briefly had a nostalgia-fueled increase in its share price this year, which later nearly returned to its original price. While the market has been saturated with multiple companies claiming a stake in the smartphone pie, hopefully, BlackBerry manages to return to some form of relevance with its current partnership. 

Read more
Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, Classic hands-on review: Your choice of sporty or stylish
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic and Watch 4 side-by-side.

The Galaxy Watch 4 range gives you more smartwatch choices from Samsung than ever before. It has ended the days of the Galaxy Watch and Watch Active models being separate model lines, and brought them together under the all-new Galaxy Watch 4 name, complete with the highly anticipated Wear OS 3 and One UI Watch software onboard.

Samsung’s smartwatches have long been the only real competitor to the Apple Watch, but now Samsung has the chance to edge ahead of Apple, due to a comprehensive new range of health features, a lightning-fast software experience, and two tried-and-tested designs available in a range of sizes and colors. I had a chance to spend a short time with the smartwatches ahead of launch.
Choice matters
There are two new smartwatches, the Galaxy Watch 4 and the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. The Classic resembles the Galaxy Watch 3 with its rotating bezel and bulkier style, while the Galaxy Watch 4 is closer to the old Galaxy Watch Active 2, and has a smoother, less busy, sportier design and a digital bezel.

Read more