There are plenty of reasons to be excited about the PRIV, and few better ways to convey them than through some hands-on time with the device. That’s why we’ve compiled some of the best unboxing videos and hands-on reviews we could find, along with key quotes underneath them. Check them out below (and while you’re at it, read how major reviewers feel about the PRIV):
Jamie Frier: The major thing with BlackBerry, in addition to this QWERTY keyboard is DTEK…a very well laid-out, easy to understand, easy to follow way of working out exactly how secure your smartphone is.
Tim Schofield: There’s a little raise to the display above the bottom speaker grill which makes it really easy to slide the display up; really good design when it comes to that…I’m super excited to try this [phone] out.
Aftab Husain: The hardware keyboard felt very nice, it gave me that feeling that you’d get on a BlackBerry 9900 or any of BlackBerry’s keyboard devices.
BlackBerry Flow: BlackBerry has always been really good at input, and the PRIV is obviously a testament to BlackBerry’s best competitive advantage. PRIV is thin, well-balanced, and nothing changes as it shifts. This device is well-conceived and well-engineered.
Phone Dog: The device appears to be very well made and very well thought out…BlackBerry left many of the things that made stock Android great, and tweaked many of the not so great things.
Bored at Work: I like that BlackBerry has designed something that isn’t too bulky, doesn’t give that bulky feeling, and still gives you something that you can carry around.
Droid Life: [The keyboard] really does sort of look just like an old-school BlackBerry keyboard…I actually can’t wait to sort of try it out a bit.
Erica Griffin: I wanna take some time to play around with this and see how I feel, but this is something that I’d really end up using as a daily driver.
Total Tech: I’m really liking this; [the slider] is so satisfying. It’s just awesome.
BerryReporter: It’s a nice feel when you open up the keyboard. There’s really no effort to it. It’s a very lightweight device.
John McCann, Tech Radar: Going on-screen now…It looks really, really nice. The high-resolution is great, QHD as I said, 5.4 inches, and it’s right up there with the best phones on the market.
Russell Holly, Android Central: It actually feels really good when you hold it, you can almost reach the entire side of the phone.
Carphone Warehouse: Just like on BlackBerry 10, [the Hub] brings all your communications to one screen…You can even get to it quickly by swiping up and right from the home button.
Chris Barraclough, Recombu: We’ve got a proper full on keyboard there, but it’s also touch sensitive, and acts basically like a trackpad…One of the interesting things is that the keys act as shortcuts in Android as well.
Total Tech (Editor’s note: we included this second video from Total Tech because it was just. so. awesome.): In my opinion, the iPhone can kick rocks. The BlackBerry wins. It’s just that much different. It does so much more and has so much more potential than what we see from the iPhone.