BlackBerry Q5 review

BlackBerry Q5 review No-one will deny that BlackBerry's in a rut. The onetime cock of the office power walk has been laid low by other, faster moving, higher investing smartphones, and now it really needs to come out with something superior to keep in the game. But can that something really be the Q5, a dowdy, retro-look return to classic BB styling? It's on sale now for around £330. Design The Q5's casing is very old-school BlackBerry -- all black plastic, with nary a nod to the metallic elements we've been seeing from the iPhone and indeed other recent BlackBerrys. It feels solidly built, but the flat front and broadly curved back, not to mention the relentlessly black colour scheme (or white, or pink) don't allow any design elements to lift it from the banal -- it looks and feels like a solid workhorse rather than a must-have pocket pal. There must be some reasoning behind the Q5's dowdiness, but it's not immediately apparent and it seems an unnecessary concession to make when it comes to knocking a couple of hundred quid off the considerably more stylish Q10's asking price. The casing is sealed, so you can't get at the battery, but there's a flap at the side for swapping your SIM and microSD cards. The volume buttons on the side flank a button that activates voice control (it seemed a little slow on the uptake, but it didn't seem to have any trouble deciphering our demands). There's also a power/sleep button and 3.5mm headphone jack on top and a microUSB power/sync port on the side. BlackBerry Q5 BlackBerry Q5BlackBerry View Gallery 3 items The 3.1-inch Super Amoled touchscreen offers a resolution of 720x720 pixels, which amounts to 329ppi. That's not in the same league as the high-end likes of Samsung's Galaxy S4 441ppi but it's still plenty sharp, especially on a relatively small screen like this. In fact, it's unusual to see a screen like this anywhere else -- it has a 1:1 aspect ratio, square in other words, and while that's fine for browsing web pages, it doesn't really do best service for movies, which end up being cramped between black bars like an old-style telly. Incidentally, there's 8GB memory on board for storing films and music, though you can add up to 32GB via microSD card. Keyboard The hard keyboard won't necessarily convert anyone whose fingers are already comfortable on glass, but it does allow for a few more quick keys and shortcuts to be instantly at your fingertips. Going back to a hard keyboard after being accustomed to glass actually takes a bit of getting used to, but the keys are well spaced, offer a good level of feedback and can be easily used with either the tips or the pads of your fingers. The BlackBerry World app store remains a bit of a disappointment and that's unlikely to change any time soon Features and performance The dual-core processor is clocked at 1.2GHz, back a bit from the Q10's 1.5GHz. It's supported by a generous 2GB of RAM which looks pretty good on paper but it still feels a little sluggish in general use, which was a bit disappointing. Not enough to feel like you're missing out, but considering the price we'd have expected something a bit nippier. BlackBerry 10 is a sleek interface, and only requires a gentle learning curve to get the hang of it if you're moving over from Android or iOS. Swiping your thumb down from the top of the screen gives you your notifications menus, Android-style, but swiping up takes you out of an app, and displays those that are already open. Swiping to the right within an app brings up additional menu options in some apps. The BlackBerry Hub combines your social networking updates in one place and the Universal Search function comes in handy too -- you just start typing from the home screen and you're immediately searching files, messages, contacts, settings, BBM, Twitter, Facebook and help. You can also send messages without having to open the relative app -- just type "tweet" or "sms" at the top of your message and the OS will open the relative app for you. It's not long before you're taking this for granted. Apps and photography The BlackBerry World app store remains a bit of a disappointment however, and that's unlikely to change any time soon. There are more than 120,000 apps there now, which seems like a goodly amount, but that includes a lot of rubbish and you won't get all the latest faves or raves that you'd expect from Apple or Android. So while Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all present, other essentials like Spotify, Netflix or iPlayer are not. The five-megapixel camera drops the quality from the Q10's eight-megapixel number, but it still includes a large four-element F2.4 lens, autofocus and an LED flash. There are a few tweaking features to play with, though nothing like the multiple playthings you'll find on many recent Samsung or Nokia models and it can handle 1080p HD video recording too. Picture quality is okay, but not quite as naturalistic as we'd like. Colours can look a bit saturated, though there's a decent level of detail available, even in comparatively low light. Test photo taken on the Q5's rear camera Test photo taken on the Q5's rear cameraDave Oliver The two-megapixel front-facing camera can record video at 720p HD resolution, so your video calls look pretty good too (Skype's available in BBW). For a phone this size, it's surprising to find a large 2,100mAh battery packed in there. It's welcome though, and we found it easy to get a couple of days' worth of steady, if not particularly hardcore use out of it. Conclusion The BlackBerry Q5 is a pretty decent handset overall. The screen is sharp and sensitive, even if it's an unusual shape. The keyboard is excellent for messaging and the BlackBerry 10 OS is fast, slick and easy to get the hang of. It's a shame that developers are holding back on the app store since that's the only thing that really lets the Q5 down. Perhaps it could have been a bit cheaper to try to entice a few Android or Apple fans over, but it still probably offers the best value for money of any BlackBerry at the moment and this is a solidly decent workhorse of a handset that deserves consideration.