BlackBerry Q5 – a Performance Packed at Affordable Price [Review]

Smartphone companies are following a new strategy to create a buzz around their devices. They launch a flagship phone and create hype around it. Once this phone captures the market, the manufacturers come up with a toned down version of the same device available at an affordable price. Blackberry Q5 is the latest example of this marketing strategy. A mid-range version of the older sibling-Blackberry Q10, Q5 has combined the touch screen with the iconic QWERTY keyboard. It promises to offer the same Q10 experience but without hurting the pocket a lot.

Key Features

The latest device from Blackberry has a dual Krait chipset, a 3.1inch display with 720 X 720 pixel resolution and a four-row QWERTY keyboard. It also has a 16M-color LCD capacitive touchscreen and runs on Blackberry 10.1 OS.

Design

Blackberry Q5 looks identical to its predecessor- Q10. The dimensions of the phone are 120 X 66 X 10.8 mm and it weighs around 120 grams. There is no unique style factor found in Q5. It has a simple and clean design but is not impressive. The keys on the keyboard have been placed in an island design. The back of the phone squeaks mildly when pressed hard. However, it is convenient to handle the phone as the back is nicely curved. The finish of the phone is immune to fingerprints and provides a good grip while in the hand. The Blackberry logo sits in between the display and the keyboard, rather than on top near the earpiece.

Controls

The LED light, earpiece and the proximity sensor are placed right above the screen of this device. There are volume control buttons on the right side. One will find the SIM card and microSD card slots on the left side of the phone. On the top of the device, there is a 3.5mm audio port and a power/lock button. A 5 megapixel camera and LED flash are placed on the back side and the device also boasts of a 2 megapixel front camera. The 2,180 mAh battery of the phone is non-removable.

Display

The Q5 uses a 3.1inch IPS LCD screen of 720p resolution. A high pixel density of 328 ppi assures that the screen is sharp and text appears very clear on the phone. The colors appear great and viewing angles are decent in Q5.

Blackberry Hub

It is the unified messaging interface of the phone. The Hub is a collection of SMSes, BBM, email, Twitter, Facebook, calls and voicemails at one place.

Conclusion

Blackberry Q5 is a worthy descendant of Q10. It is has the same screen size and resolution as found in Q10 butuses a LCD screen instead of an AMOLED. There are some key apps missing from Blackberry World. Overall, this phone presents a better QWERTY experience.

The review is penned by experts at Reliance Digital.