Checking out the Blackberry Motion

It’s been a long time since I used any kind of Blackberry device. Recently, they asked if I’d like to try out their latest handset, the Motion. Blackberry now runs Android as it’s primary operating system and as it turns out, is a pretty nice platform for running a near pure Android experience.

The first thing I noticed after taking it out the box is how similar its ‘slab of glass’ shape looks like the devices used in Westworld:

It’s a solidly built handset that is easy to pick up due to the flat metal sides and rounded edges. It’s a little reminiscent of the iPhone 5’s rounded corners.

As you can see, it also sports a headphone jack and a USB-C charging port but doesn’t support wireless charging which is almost barbaric these days.

The 5.5″ IPS display isn’t OLED like many new smartphones are but it still looks great without being oversaturated like some. The 16:9 aspect ratio makes it great for media consumption. The home button is also the fingerprint sensor and works like a mini trackpad allowing you to swipe up and down on it.

On the side, below the volume and power buttons is the Convenience Key which is programmable to launch apps, speed dial friends & family or other shortcuts.

Under the hood, the Motion has a huge 4000mah battery which is possibly the largest I’ve seen in a smartphone (my iPhone X has a 2700mah battery for comparison). If daily battery life is important to you, this is the phone to beat. While regular usage of most other phones would mean daily recharging, the Motion could easily go for two days (possibly longer) on a single charge with moderate use without charging anxiety.

A nice touch when you do have to charge is the ‘fuel gauge’ charging status indicator on the screen when it’s locked.

Onboard storage is 32gb of ram with a microSD card slot for further expansion.

The handset uses a mid-range Snapdragon 625 processor and honestly it ran all of my apps just fine. It could be a combination of a clean Android install and a less power hungry display and processor but I didn’t see any noticible slowdown or lag like I’ve seen with some other devices.

Shipped with Android 7.1 (Nougat), the Motion also has a suite of Blackberry applications that seem quite useful without getting in the way. The Blackberry Hub aggregates all your emails, social media and other notifications into one place so you don’t need to flip around. The Productivity tab can be swiped from the screen edge and shows you all your upcoming calendar events, unread emails, etc. using a customizable widget system. I didn’t have a chance to try Blackberry Messenger.

The Motion has a 12MP rear facing camera and a 8MP front facing camera. They are both decent cameras but nothing earth shattering. Below are some photos I took with the rear camera (click through for full resolution) to judge for yourself.

Things I liked:

• HUGE battery life
• solid build quality
• relatively untouched Android experience with minimal pre-installed software (Blackberry specific but quite useful)
• comes with Android 7.1 (Nougat) out of the box
• IP67 water & dusk resistant (not waterproof but good enough for spills)

Things I didn’t like:

• on the expensive side compared to competitors but likely comes with a decent carrier subsidy discount
• no wireless charging

Overall I found the Blackberry Motion to be a great experience with few downsides and a nice alternative to the usual Android players. It makes up for the lack of some modern bells and whistles with its near stock Android install, giant battery and clean lines and ultimately makes for a very compelling option for Android users.