Blackberry Motion review

The BlackBerry KEYone announced a return of the company to its heritage. They infused the modern Android experience with the classic BlackBerry physical keyboard. The BlackBerry Motion aims to continue the positive trend by adding a few features and removing the physical keyboard.

Design of the BlackBerry Motion

Design wise, BlackBerry has shown that it is not afraid to step away from the trends to go with something unique. It opts for a sturdy design with metal sides. The backside features a faux carbon fibre pattern that not only looks great but is soft to the touch and gives the phone plenty of grip.



The build quality is pretty great too. It is definitely on par with the top smartphones such as the iPhone. At the bottom is a fingerprint sensor designated by the BlackBerry logo on the bottom chin. It also works as the home button.

There is a single speaker at the bottom along with a USB Type C cable. BlackBerry was able to make the Motion IP67 dust and water-resistant

Display and performance

The screen is an LCD panel that measures in at 5.5 inches and a resolution of 1080p. The screen is crisp, but it is not as good as AMOLED screens. On the inside, you will find a Snapdragon 625 processor that is coupled with 4 GB of RAM. While the specs are not flagship quality the phone does perform quite well when it comes to day to day usage. There is 32 gigs on board but you will find a Micro SD card slot too. On the side of battery, there is a generous 4000 mAh battery.

The front facing camera is an 8 MP camera while the one on the back is a 12 MP camera. The camera app is basic and you will not find portrait mode and other modern features.

 

 

Palm branded devices set for a return

The reminder of Palm devices will evoke warm memories of nostalgia for a large number of old school phone users. Well, there seems to be a reason to rejoice. According to a new report, TCL has plans to bring back the Palm brand. The devices are to be announced somewhere in 2018.

History of Palm

Launched in 1992, the Palm Corporation first released small mobile devices like the original Palm Pilot PDA (personal digital assistant), which was a precursor to the modern smartphone. It also developed its own operating system for PDAs, the Palm OS. In the 2000’s people started moving away from Pam devices.

The company then changed its course. It started developing fully fledged smartphones with an operating system called the webOS. This, however did not stop the trend of dwindling sales. People were moving to the iPhone and Android was gaining popularity during this time.

Then in 2010, HP bought the company. It tried to launch devices like tablets and smartphones. The devices ran webOS. It was largely a failure. In the end it sold the webOS and content to LG in 2013. In 2014, it sold the rights to the Palm brand to TCL. TCL has made no move to use the name but that looks to change.

TCL already uses the Alcatel name to sell smartphones in the US and other markets, and in 2016 it acquired the rights to design and make phones with the BlackBerry brand.

Future of Palm

TCL will probably look to ride on the nostalgia factor and target the older audience. Chances are, the younger audience will not know what Palm is.  The older audience though will have fond memories of the Palm devices that were the hype before the iPhone and Android devices took over the world. It will certainly be interesting to see what kind of devices TCL will come up with.