Modern smartphones are useful and convenient tools, but they can be rather distracting due to accessing apps, texting, and scrolling online. Older cell phones were just for making calls, sending text messages, providing basic games like Snake, and some could even browse the internet. These included the original BlackBerry phones, which had all the aforementioned features in a sleek black box.
BlackBerry phones were designed to be a quick way to check on your professional work while looking pretty cool, but the company became more modern with the 2017 release of one of its latest phones, the BlackBerry KEYone. This model had an Android operating system, a touchscreen, and fast charging capabilities. So if you want a phone with a physical keyboard that can do everything a smartphone can without paying a lot of money, a BlackBerry might be worth buying in 2026.
Introduced in 1999, the BlackBerry 850 was launched as a pager. A few years later, in 2002, manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) made the $549 BlackBerry 5810, the first phone of its kind capable of browsing the Internet, sending emails, making calls and sending messages. They are no longer made, but you can find inexpensive models available online. You can even get BlackBerrys with a touchscreen and then get a physical BlackBerry-style keyboard to go with it.
What users love about BlackBerry phones
Those who have had the pleasure of owning a BlackBerry say it wasn’t just about owning a unique phone: it was about having one that felt decidedly different. “BlackBerry was that hardware, that software, that experience…that feeling,” one owner said. This look and feel is a major appeal for the company, which has also made other interesting and sometimes downright strange devices.
The physical keyboard is one of the most attractive features of BlackBerry phones. Reviews are full of users saying they love the real keyboard because it provides a tangible way to interact with the phone and enter messages. Others say that having a physical keyboard makes writing much easier, since touchscreens don’t always correctly register what you type.
The specifications of the latest Blackberry models are also not bad compared to today’s smartphones. The BlackBerry KEYone has a 12 MP rear camera and an 8 MP front camera, and it runs Android 7.1 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 and Octa-Core 2.0 GHz. You can still get them for $339.00 on Amazon.
What users don’t like about BlackBerry phones
Throughout its history, RIM has released phones that have caught the attention of fans. However, the BlackBerry Storm is a phone that users have recognized as a failure. The current keyboard was replaced with a clickable touchscreen, which reviewers said was just awful. Clickable screen technology was expensive to make and didn’t always work.
If there’s one feature that BlackBerry users still miss, it’s the QWERTY keyboard. The original and older models of BlackBerry were noted for their use of a real keyboard instead of relying on a touchscreen like Apple and Android devices, which were frustrating to use at first. If you want to feel what it was like to use a physical keyboard on your phone, you can do so through Clicks Communicator. This is a phone case with a physical keyboard that can fit most existing phones and can be purchased on the company’s website. As of this writing, Clicks Communicator offers its keyboard phone cases for select iPhones, Razr, and Pixel 9/9 Pro.
Support for all BlackBerry products ended in 2022, leading to the end of the line of phones and PDAs manufactured by RIM. There is hope for a modern revival of the fan-favorite device and other manufacturers are making QWERTY phones such as the Unihertz Titan 2.
