Blackberry Motion

Blackberry Motion review: A KEYone without the keyboard .

OUR VERDICT

This all-screen Android offers a flavour of the BlackBerry experience in a more modern, water-resistant package. It’s held back by dated hardware and a lacklustre camera, but impressive battery life means workaholics might just love it.

FOR

• Water resistance

• Programmable key

• Endless battery

AGAINST

• Unreliable camera

• Frustrating key placement

• Mediocre hardware

One thing that you have to commend BlackBerry for is not being afraid to do something different .

BlackBerry made a triumphant return into the smartphone space with the BlackBerry KEYone, a phone that brought the modern Android experience with the classic BlackBerry physical keyboard. The new BlackBerry Motion looks to continue that momentum by bumping up the specs in a few key areas and losing the physical keyboard.

Although the keyboard is one of the best and most iconic features of a BlackBerry, it certainly doesn’t appeal to everyone. For those that want the BlackBerry KEYone experience, sans the keyboard the BlackBerry Motion is here to fill that void.

BlackBerry Motion price and availability

The Motion costs a little less than its hard-keyed sibling, coming in at £399 (around $535, AU$705) to the KeyOne's £499 ($549, AU$729), though there's no word yet on a US or Australian release. 

That price pits it directly against well-reviewed droids including the diminutive Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact, the slightly ageing LG G6, and fellow back-from-the-dead brand effort, the Nokia 8 - plus there's just £50 (around $65, AU$90) between it and the excellent OnePlus 5T.