As BlackBerry continues to release BlackBerry hardware, the company is slowly reestablishing itself in the smartphone industry. Even in the beginning of 2018, we still encounter a large number of people who don't know that BlackBerry is relevant again.
We can't blame them since BlackBerry hasn't been spending excessive amounts of money on advertising. Maybe those who have seen the BlackBerry KEYone in carrier stores might somewhat remember they saw a BlackBerry "in a store that one time".
Brand recognition aside, the BlackBerry Motion has a standard set of hardware: A Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, 4GB of RAM, and a 5.5-inch Full HD screen. The BlackBerry Motion does stand out in a couple of aspects: it has a large 4,000 mAh battery, and it is IP67 water resistant. We're glad to see that the BlackBerry Motion's hardware is pretty sharp-looking and instantly recognizable among a selection of smartphones that already look very similar.
BlackBerry Motion key features
- Body: Brushed aluminum frame, soft touch material on the back, stylish design, IP67 rating.
- Display: 5.5-inch IPS LCD, 1920x1080px resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio 403 ppi, DragonTrail Glass with anti-scratch nano-diamond coating.
- Rear camera: 12MP camera, PDAF, f/2.0 aperture, dual-tone LED flash, HDR, 4K recording @ 30fps, 1080p @ 30fps with video stabilization (EIS), multi-frame low light enhancement.
- Front camera: 8MP fixed focus, f/2.2 aperture, 1.12 um pixels, 1080p @ 30fps, 84° field of view.
- OS/Software: Android 7.1.2 Nougat; BlackBerry Apps suite.
- Chipsets: 14nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 CPU - octa-core 2.0GHz Cortex-A53, Adreno 506 GPU.
- Memory: 4GB RAM / 32GB RAM.
- Battery: 4,000 mAh (sealed) with Quick Charge 3.0 support.
- Connectivity: Single or Dual SIM configurations; LTE-A Category 9 450/50 Mbps, USB-C (v2.0); Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 or 5 GHz); GPS; NFC; USB-OTG; Bluetooth 4.2.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader embedded into home button; bottom-firing loudspeaker; 3.5mm headphone jack; earbuds with tips included.
Main shortcomings
- Pricey for the specs at $450
The phone's software is just as important as its bold-looking exterior. BlackBerry's software on the Motion is very similar to how it was on the KEYone - only with a fully virtual keyboard rather than a physical one. BlackBerry's formula for software is a near-stock version of Android, enhanced with BlackBerry's productivity-centered suite of apps and security-focused approach for handling sensitive data.
BlackBerry Motion Official photos
Camera wise, we are expecting the BlackBerry Motion to take pictures like the ones we saw from the BlackBerry KEYone: unexpectedly good. Based on the surpassed expectations of the KEYone, we expect that the BlackBerry Motion would have the best camera performance of any smartphone with a Snapdragon 625.
We're not as excited about the BlackBerry Motion as we were about the KEYone. After all, there aren't too many new phones that come with a full QWERTY keyboard these days. The BlackBerry Motion is ultimately the successor to the BlackBerry DTEK60, a phone that came with a high-end processor to let it stand out. There are, however, a plethora of devices that fit the same base formula of a Full HD 5.5-inch screen and a mid-range processor.
Let's find out together - starting with the phone's unboxing and a quick tour of the hardware at hand. Is the BlackBerry's price premium worth more over these cheaper options?
The BlackBerry Motion's packaging radiates that whatever is inside really means business. The box is just as rectangular as many other smartphone packages, but this one the iconic BlackBerry logo embossed all over it, which acts as the graphic background. It almost reminds us of something made of black alligator skin.
An image of the phone adorns the front of the box with the words "Secure Smartphone" written underneath - boasting the company's long-standing reputation for smartphones fit for handling sensitive information with enterprise management.
BlackBerry Motion Unboxing
Under the sleeve is a plain matte black box with a magnetic flap that opens to the left like the front cover of a book; under this flap is the BlackBerry Motion itself. We'll place this aside for now and take a look at the document pack: a welcome card, quick start guide, and warranty information. On the back of this packaging is a SIM tool.
Included in the box are a USB-C cable and a generic 15W (9V @ 1.67A) quick charger. We say "generic" because there is no kind of branding on the charger block. Otherwise, there are also a pair of included earbuds and some additional ear tips in different sizes. These earbuds are branded with the BlackBerry Logo on each bud.
Now that we've seen what comes in the box, let's take a closer look at this BlackBerry's hardware.
Hardware and Design
The BlackBerry Motion is not quite the bezel-less contender. Then again, it doesn't need to have a fragile display to appeal to its target audience. That said, the BlackBerry Motion's overall design features bold details and straight lines. Because of this and it's mostly flat backside, the Motion doesn't feel very ergonomic. Those with small and medium sized hands might feel that the lower corners dig into the palm - this isn't a major issue by any means.
The screen isn't centered between the top and bottom of the phone's body, but this isn't something that the average person would be bothered by. However, given that the BlackBerry Motion is equipped with mid-range internals with a pretty high asking price, there's not much wiggle room for shortcomings.
Unlike many other blank-faced smartphones, the BlackBerry Motion can be immediately recognizable if it's sitting face-up on a table or desk. The BlackBerry icon lives right on the fingerprint scanner below the display, which doubles as the home button. Though you can't tell while the phone isn't in use, there are two back-lit capacitive navigation keys on either side of the home button.
Above the display is a metal-clad speaker grille, an 8MP selfie camera, light and proximity sensors and an RGB LED notification light. The glass in front of the display is said to have a scratch-resistant surface thanks to the world's first "nano diamond anti-scratch coating".
Chin • Forehead • Display
As previously mentioned, the sides of the phone are quite flat - enough to make the phone stand on its bottom edge fairly easily. From left to right, the bottom plane has a 3.5mm headphone jack, in-call mic, USB-C charger port, and loudspeaker grille.
The bottom continuously curves to either side of the phone. On the left side is the SIM tray with a nanoSIM and microSD slot while the right side has four physical keys. In typical BlackBerry fashion, there is an additional programmable key which BlackBerry calls its "Convenience Key". This key is ribbed to tell it apart from the power key and volume rocker. Speaking of which, the keys offer great tactile feedback.
On a similar note, we really appreciate that BlackBerry brought the power button back to the right edge of the phone. By contrast, the power key is on the left edge of the BlackBerry KEYone and it took a bit of getting used to.
The frame that wraps around the phone is made of sort of a gun-metal color that is brushed all the way around and shines beautifully when light hits it from the right angle.
Bottom • Left • Right
Now we've arrived to the top of the phone. It's a curved piece that "caps" the top of the phone and rolls from the top of the glass around and overlaps to the back of the phone, highlight ting the 12MP camera and dual-tone LED flash. Keeping with the theme of brushed metal all around the frame of the phone, this end cap features a faux-brushed metal look. We say "faux" because the end cap is made of plastic. This does raise concerns of wear and tear as far as how the phone will hold up after getting dropped.
We do have to give BlackBerry the benefit of the doubt for going with plastic as opposed to metal. This would have required unsightly antenna lines to allow RF signals to pass through. There are two small antenna lines on the bottom and that's enough for us.
Top • Camera setup
The back side of the BlackBerry Motion feels much like its made of the same material as the BlackBerry KEYone's. The main difference here is that the KEYone's backing has a pitted design, providing even more grip. By contrast, the BlackBerry Motion's backing is smooth to the touch, yet ribbed, thanks to its attractive micro-texture. It feels as if this material belongs in a sporty car's interior accent panels.
Right in the middle of the back, is the classic BlackBerry logo highlighted by shiny chrome. In much older BlackBerry phones, this logo was made up of small inserts held in with adhesive. It would appear the BlackBerry Motion takes a similar approach with this logo, so there's a plausibility these could fall out over an extended amount of time.
Back • BlackBerry Logo
The overall design of the BlackBerry Motion can be summarized as a boxed-off slab with rounded corners, much like the iPhone 4 or iPhone 5. The exception is the top end, which has some different curves going on. We like the clean and tidy lines of the Motion. It has a bold, yet reserved and sophisticated look. Oh yeah, and the phone is also IP67 water resistant.
Read on to find out more about the phone's display and battery life. With a 4,000 mAh battery and efficient Snapdragon 625, we're expecting nothing short of excellent endurance.
The display on the BlackBerry Motion is a 5.5-inch IPS LCD with a Full HD resolution of 1080 x 1920 px. That works out to 403ppi and a 16:9 aspect ratio. It's safe to say you won't be getting the latest and greatest display technology on any BlackBerry these days. However, the company has sourced another kind of glass called "Dragon Trail". It features the "world's first nano-diamond coating" on a smartphone.
The colors on the BlackBerry Motion are very similar to those on the BlackBerry KEYone: slightly oversaturated for maximum viewing pleasure. The display yielded an average deltaE of 5.6 while the max deltaE was found in one of the shades of gray. The display has a maximum brightness of 393 nits under manual adjustment, meanwhile, that number jumps up to a maximum of 514 nits with adaptive brightness enabled.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.463 | 670 | 1448 | |
| 0 | 647 | ∞ | |
| 0.468 | 640 | 1368 | |
| 0.00 | 625 | ∞ | |
| 0.321 | 579 | 1804 | |
| 0.399 | 566 | 1419 | |
| 0.397 | 554 | 1395 | |
| 0.456 | 514 | 1128 | |
| 0.266 | 467 | 1756 | |
| 0 | 437 | ∞ | |
| 0.297 | 431 | 1451 | |
| 0.00 | 422 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 420 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 412 | ∞ | |
| 0.345 | 393 | 1140 | |
| 0.02 | 377 | 25133 | |
Out of its box, this display is tuned very cool. Whites have a blu-ish tone while colors appear to be slightly oversaturated. Unfortunately for those who like to tweak photos, there is no adjustment for tuning the display aside from a color temperature slider.
Color temperature slider
Sliding it "cooler" doesn't make it look any better, but sliding it all the way to the "warm" setting yielded a lower deltaE of 5.1. Doing this brought the display some degree closer to accuracy, though it could certainly be even warmer and still more accurate.
Finally, because of the relatively average maximum brightness, the Motion scored an unimpressive sunlight contrast in our tests.
Sunlight contrast ratio
Connectivity
Like the KEYone before it, the BlackBerry Motion is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625. This means it's quite versatile when it comes to network connectivity thanks to its quad-band GSM model. The Motion is capable of LTE-Advanced with theoretical download speeds of 450 Mbps with upload speeds of 50 Mbps.
There are five variants of the BlackBerry Motion listed on BlackBerry's website. There's a single SIM model for EMEA and Asia Pacific (BBD100-1), a single SIM for North America and Latin America (BBD100-2), a CDMA Sprint model (BBD100-3), a model for greater China (BBD100-5) and a dualSIM model for international markets (BBD100-6).
At the time this writing, the BlackBerry Motion has just been announced for availability in the States as GSM Unlocked.
The Motion also supports 2.4 GHz (b/g/n) and 5 GHz (ac) Wi-Fi. You'll also get Bluetooth 4.2 (supporting A2DP, EDR, and Bluetooth LE), NFC (for mobile payments, Android Beam, or quick pairing), and Wi-Fi Direct for faster data connection between Android devices. For global positioning, the Motion supports A-GPS, GLONASS, and BDS2. Unlike the KEYone, the BlackBerry Motion does not have support for FM Radio.
There is a 3.5mm headphone jack on this device and the phone is compatible with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 via the USB-C port. Speaking of which, this port supports OTG and is rated for data transfers on the USB 2.0 standard - no USB 3.0 here.
Battery Life
The BlackBerry Motion has the largest battery capacity of any BlackBerry before it - there's a 4,000 mAh power pack sealed-in. The BlackBerry KEYone had a smaller 3,505 mAh battery, but it also had a smaller 4.5-inch display with a 3:2 aspect ratio. We are expecting that the BlackBerry Motion fares better in our battery endurance tests than the KEYone did.
The BlackBerry Motion scored a very good rating of 94h. There's a talk time of 23:51h, a web browsing score of 13:45, and a video playback score of 15:01h. The Motion scored better than the BlackBerry KEYone consistently, thanks to its generously sized battery. Still, we feel that the phone should have done better in our standby tests. It yielded around 280h but we think it could have pushed much farther past the 300h mark with this type of hardware.
The Motion supports the Quick Charge 3.0 charging standard. The included charger caps at 15W (9V @ 1.67A) and brought the Motion from 0% to 26% in 30 minutes of charging. One hour later, it reached 55%. Some competitors are able to reach 50% or so in half an hour so the charging speed is largely unspectacular.
The BlackBerry Motion features a "Boost mode" for charging the battery. Upon plugging in the phone, you'll be presented with a couple of options: 'Charge only' or 'Boost mode'. Everyone knows you can switch any phone to airplane mode to let it charge a bit quicker. You can use Boost Mode when you've got a very limited time to charge the Motion - this will reduce processing power and turn off animations to maximize the amount of capacity recharged while making sure that you don't miss any calls or messages.
Boost mode: prompt • Settings
The same Power Center app that we saw on the KEYone is also here on the Motion. At its most basic, the Power Center app gives you recommendations on which settings to adjust for optimal battery life, and it can notify you if a specific app is hogging battery resources.
Power Center: Introduction • Recommendations • Suggestion • Settings
Actually getting apps to save you some power under active usage is a bit more of an involved process. Unlike other phones that notify you when an app is draining precious battery life, BlackBerry's Power Center doesn't quite work like that. You have to manually set up the apps that you want to save battery. There are three saving profiles: Performance, Balanced, and Energy Saving.
Adding an app • Power saving profiles • Performance • Balanced • Energy Saving
You can also set each power saving option for apps manually. You have the choice of adjusting the brightness, rendering resolution, and even the frame rate. We would advise you test out the settings before you set them for good. We say this because adjusting Instagram's resolution rendered it unusable.
Oreo coming in early 2018
The BlackBerry Motion ships with Android 7.1.2 out of the box. It has already been confirmed by the Canadian company that the Motion will be receiving an OTA update for Android Oreo sometime in early 2018. Until the big update occurs, we'll be taking a look at what Android Nougat and BlackBerry have to offer.
The Blackberry Motion's UI is identical to that found on the BlackBerry KEYone. The main difference is that the KEYone's display rendered it all in a 2:3 aspect ratio. Otherwise, near-stock Android is the basis of BlackBerry's UI, which isn't complete without its own launcher and suite of BlackBerry Apps.
BlackBerry's launcher looks very average, but it does offer a couple of features unique to it. If an app icon has three white dots under it, you can swipe up or down on it to see a pop-up version of that app's widget. The idea is that you can take advantage of many more widgets without having them take up space in the home screens. BlackBerry's notification spark (red asterisk badge) is also here, notifying you which app you may have missed a notification from. This is a feature derived from early BlackBerry OS.
Home screen • BlackBerry shortcuts • Widget chooser • Pop-up widget (Android Messages)
Tap or swipe on the app drawer button to get to the main app list. The app drawer has three tabs: apps, widgets, and shortcuts. Apps can be sorted alphabetically, chronologically, or by most frequently used. BlackBerry shortcuts offer very specific actions within apps or settings as shortcuts that you can add to your home screen. Such shortcuts include: Open a Chrome Incognito tab, open a specific SMS conversation, or a new Google Docs file.
Sort apps • More apps • Widgets • Shortcuts
Launcher options include: icon packs, wallpaper chooser, and launcher settings. There are three preloaded icon packs: default Android, BlackBerry 10, and BlackBerry 7 icons for those who really want to feel the nostalgia.
Launcher menu • Wallpaper chooser • Launcher settings • Icon packs • BlackBerry 7 Icon pack
The BlackBerry Motion supports fingerprint authentication. The scanner is embedded into the physical home button. Also, pressing and holding the home button/fingerprint scanner will summon Google Assistant.
Fingerprint scanner • Screen lock required • Google Assistant
The lock screen is nothing out of the ordinary for stock Android. You get notifications, a clock widget, a camera shortcut, and a Google Voice search shortcut. Double tap to open a notification or reply within notifications. The Motion also supports Ambient Display notifications.
The notification shade is also straight from stock Android.
Lock screen • Notifications • Quick Toggles • Edit Toggles
There are three different Recent Apps views: Masonry (default), Grid, and Rolodex. The latter is the view of choice for most OEMs, but BlackBerry has decided to set Masonry as the default option. We find it to be a little unpredictable for quick task switching since the app previews aren't uniformly sized and the app's previews are kind of just sprawled out.
Recent apps views • Rolodex • Tiles • Masonry (Default)
The Motion comes with a tab for quick access to the BlackBerry Hub (more on that soon). This shortcut is called the "Productivity tab" and gives you a glance at some useful sub-categories of your content. You can take a quick glance at the calendar, BlackBerry Hub, BlackBerry Tasks, and a list of recently contacted people.
Productivity tab: Calendar • Hub (messages) • Tasks • Contacts • Settings
The BlackBerry Motion's Convenience key has also gotten an update. It can perform different actions under certain conditions. You can use it to open your music app if the phone is connected to the car's Bluetooth. You can set it to open Twitter while you're at home and you can set it to a shortcut to an action or setting while your calendar is marked as "busy".
Convenience key
BlackBerry Apps
The Motion comes with BlackBerry's suite of apps focused on productivity and organization of various accounts from emails and SMS to social media. These apps are what separates BlackBerry from other Android smartphones. Here's a list of BlackBerry's more notable apps:
- BlackBerry Messenger
- BlackBerry Calendar
- BlackBerry Contacts
- Device Search
- DTEK
- BlackBerry Files
- BlackBerry Hub
- Locker
- BlackBerry Notable
- BlackBerry Notes
- BlackBerry Tasks
- BlackBerry Password Keeper
- Privacy Shade
BlackBerry Messenger was once all the rage in instant messaging. Research in Motion was pressured to make it cross-platform but when it was finally released for Android and iOS, not many seemed to care. Otherwise, BlackBerry Messenger is still a viable option for messaging among work and team mates, regardless, there are many other messenger apps competing for screen time.
BBM Introduction
BBM: Chats • Feeds • Discover • Me
BlackBerry has its own Calendar and Contacts apps. The Contacts app lets you filter contacts by account and lets you manage duplicates.
Contacts • Selecting an account • Adding a new contact • Duplicates
On the other hand, the BlackBerry Calendar app is a bit more cumbersome to use. We added an event and tried to enter the name of the venue when we realized that Google Calendar handled this much better.
Calendar: New reminder • New Event • Week view • Month view
Device search lets you search across all BlackBerry apps and accounts registered in the BlackBerry Hub. This includes apps, files, help, contacts, tasks, notes, and calendar events. You can also type actions into the Device Search before your search query such as "call" or "email" before a contact's name.
Device Search: Keyword • Action
DTEK by BlackBerry is where you can check up on how secure your device is. The app will give you a rating based on your security settings and permissions. Along with a shortcut to apps and permissions, DTEK offers suggestions on how else you can improve security on the device such as making sure you have secure startup enabled or setting a screen lock.
DTEK by BlackBerry
BlackBerry made its own file manager called 'Files'. It offers copy/paste actions and zip/unzipping of archives. The home page of the app offers an overview of the kinds of files taking up the internal/expandable storages.
Files
BlackBerry Hub is the core of the BlackBerry software experience on Android. This is an app solution that keep track of all communications and notifications that you send and receive on your BlackBerry. The Hub is also the default email client for BlackBerry. BlackBerry Hub is compatible with POP3, IMAP, Microsoft Exchange/ActiveSync, and Gmail accounts.
BlackBerry Hub: Main view • Menu (accounts) • General Settings
Adding an email account
Hub can keep track of all your notifications, even those you've wiped away. If you got a private message on Instagram a couple of days ago, you'd be able to go into Hub and filter Instagram notifications to sift or search for a more specific keyword. This is a powerful tool for those who get hundreds or thousands of notifications a day.
Viewing Notification log in Hub
In the spirit of BlackBerry, there are plenty of settings and customizations to the BlackBerry Hub to suit your needs. There are email settings a plenty, and you can create custom notifications that meet certain criteria such as sent to, from, and subject keywords.
Email account settings 1 • Settings 2 • Settings 3 • Adding a custom notification rule
Locker is a password-encrypted area where you can store sensitive files, documents, images, or videos. Like the BlackBerry lock screen, the phone will wipe itself after 10 failed password/pattern attempts. The only way to save things to the locker appears to be by using the BlackBerry Files app and choosing the option to "Lock" a file. Much like the Password lock app, screenshots aren't allowed within BlackBerry Locker so you can't even take one accidentally. The interface is similar to BlackBerry Files.
Locker lockscreen
Notable is an image clipping app, but one of its main functions is letting you make annotations on screenshots before you send them out. The app has enough features to let you make some kind of mock-up banner or poster for a project of sorts. You can layer and drag-and-drop elements like you'd see in Microsoft Word.
There's a persistent notification that automatically takes a screenshot and then opens it in the Notable app. If you don't like the persistent notification, you can make it so that every screenshot you take is automatically opened in the app.
Create new image • Notable settings • Notable persistent notification
It's an okay app, but there are likely better ones on the Play Store for scribbling on screenshots. Anyway, you can draw or add images, stickers, text, and emoji.
Notable: draw • insert text • insert graphic • delete tool
Let's take a look at Notes and Tasks. There isn't much special about the Notes app except that it does let you sync your corporate notes from a Microsoft Exchange or Novell GroupWise account.
Adding a note • Adding an account for Notes
Much like the Notes app, the Tasks app is meant for syncing with a corporate Microsoft Exchange or Novell GroupWise account.
Tasks menu • Adding a Tasks account • Tasks view • Adding new task
Privacy Shade is definitely one of those apps with an ingenious function. This puts a dark filter over your entire screen except for a small resizable window. The idea is you can start the privacy shade and use the window to view sensitive documents or images while keeping onlookers at bay.
BlackBerry Privacy Shade • Access via notification • Tweaking the settings
One other BlackBerry exclusive is the BlackBerry Keyboard. We'll be covering this in a future section under Telephony, SMS, and input. Next, we'll be taking a look at the phone's CPU performance.
Syntethic benchmarks
The BlackBerry Motion is by no means a top-performer. That doesn't mean the Snapdragon 625 is underpowered, in fact it can handle your day-to-day tasks and casual gaming fairly well. BlackBerry's lean modifications to Android also means the phone won't hog the system's resources. An Adreno 506 GPU powers the graphics.
We've put the BlackBerry Motion up against a number of other smartphones in its price point and other smartphones running the Snapdragon 625. Let's see how the motion does among other smartphones. We've even added the Honor 6X, a phone that launched at the end of last year with HiSilicon's Kirin 655 and launched in the US for $250. We've also added the OnePlus 5T, which is at a similar price point but brings the best available performance for the money.
Starting off with Antutu 6, the BlackBerry Motion performed similarly to the KEYone and the Blade V8 Pro, all of which have the same Snapdragon 625 processor. The SD 626 in the Moto Z2 Play didn't fare much better of a score. Meanwhile, the Snapdargon 630 of the Moto X4 isn't too far ahead. The Snapdragon 835 on the OnePlus 5T is drastically quicker.
AnTuTu 6
Higher is better
The BlackBerry Motion has a standard 1080p resolution, so you won't notice a significant difference between onscreen and off-screen test results since they are done in the same resolution. The general consensus thus far is if you plan on playing a lot of heavy games, you may be happier with something else.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
Basemark OS II encompasses GPU, CPU, RAM, Web, and OS performance into a single score. Unfortunately, the Motion scored dead last among the other devices. Here, the Moto X4 and BlackBerry Priv lead the mid-rangers while the OnePlus 5T leaves the rest in the dust.
Basemark OS II
Higher is better
In this graphic test, the BlackBerry Motion was on par with the Snapdragon 625 and 626 devices of the pack. Here, the 2015 BlackBerry Priv fared better. These midrange CPUs are still no match for the Snapdragon 835, despite also having 8 cores.
Basemark X
Higher is better
In Basemark OS 2.0, the results are a bit more staggered. Once again, the BlackBerry Motion is ranked toward the bottom of the list. Even behind the Kirin 655 on the Honor 6X.
In the last graphic-intensive benchmark, you can see the CPUs creating their own tiers. The Snapdragon 630 in the Moto X4 barely separated itself from the other mid-rangers, but not by a lot. Meanwhile, the iPhone 8 shattered the Snapdragon 835's score on the OnePlus 5T.
Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal
Higher is better
Once you load apps and break the BlackBerry Motion in, you may notice some slight difference in performance over time - you'll notice this if you're a really fast smartphone typer. We think that a smartphone of price category pushing 2018 should not be this prone to software lag.
Despite using a mid-range CPU, the BlackBerry Motion's performance is generally good. It handles day to day tasks well, even during those intense message typing sessions when the predictive text and autocorrect are working hard.
The stability of stock Android should be a benefit to Android's performance. That, and Android 7.1.2 is the smoothest and most stable version of Android Nougat. We'd love to see the Android Oreo update take the efficiency and smoothness even further.
Unlike what you may expect, the BlackBerry Motion played games wonderfully. We were able to play Asphalt 8 with no dropped frames. Android gaming has become pretty smooth across most devices, even on midrange phones.
Where CPU power matters now a days is the few seconds or fractions of a second of time between performing actions. You'll notice this if you were to use video editing apps or anything that requires post-processing or rendering of a final product.
At the end of the day, a BlackBerry is a work horse for sorting documents, answering emails, taking calls, social media, and mobile tasks for running a department or business. If you require the use of more demanding apps and tasks like editing photos or constant social media, we'd recommend you look for something with a more capable CPU.
Telephony
The BlackBerry Motion will come in single and dualSIM configurations. Our review unit is the Latin/North America unlocked version, which has a single nanoSIM slot. The dialer is nothing unique -there are a few tabs for favorites, a call log, and a tab for contacts.
Dialer • Favorites • Call Log • Contacts • In-call screen
SMS
Android Messages is the default SMS application for Android. You can expect a pretty straightforward SMS experience with plenty of sharing options. Android Messages has slowly gained some nifty features over the past several months like sticker packs (similar to Allo), sending and requesting money (via Google Wallet), and basic location sharing.
Conversation view • New conversation view • In-conversation media options
The message threads are randomly assigned colors on a per-contact basis. You can edit each of these colors to your liking or you can assign a unique notification sound. If Android Messages is too simple for you, there is a vast collection of third-party SMS apps that give you control over every aspect of SMS for chronic texters.
Individual conversation options • Conversation colors • Android Messages settings
BlackBerry Keyboard: autocorrect done right
BlackBerry offers an in-house virtual keyboard solution with a very unique approach to auto-correct. Rather than displaying the predicted word in a row of two or three suggestions, the keyboard will show predicted words all over the keyboard. All the user has to do is swipe up on a letter with the predicted word. If you want to accept the suggested correction for a misspelled word, it will be right on the space bar.
BlackBerry Keyboard's predictive suggestions
The BlackBerry Keyboard is laid out quite functionally and practically. A swipe from the left will display a list of pre-written or canned messages. A swipe from the right shows a number pad which slides out of sight when it's not being used.
Pre-written quick replies • Number pad
Finally, along the top of the keyboard are some functions laid out in tabs. The first one is for voice typing, the next one is Emojis, the keyboard itself, and then there's a directional pad with copy and paste shortcuts. The last tab keeps a list of things recently copied into the clipboard for easy retrieval.
Voice to text • Emoji • Keyboard • Text editing and copy/paste shortcuts • Clipboard
Much like on the KEYone, adding a multi-lingual keyboard option is a little cumbersome. Head to the BlackBerry settings and look for "Languages and Input" > "Keyboard Settings" > "BlackBerry Keyboard" > "Multi-language keyboards". From here, you can select up to two supporting languages that will supplement your primary language.
Once you do this, you need to enable the newly created multi-language keyboard in the BlackBerry Keyboard settings.
Setting up a multi-language keyboard
Loudspeaker
The Motion has a single downward-firing speaker next to its charging port. It's loud enough to hear an alert or ringtone in noisy office environments, but that's about it. Thankfully, we didn't experience any distortion when we put the phone on the highest volume. Otherwise, the quality of sound from the small loudspeaker is average - comparable to a Samsung flagship phone's.
The BlackBerry Motion's loudspeaker scored "Good" in our loudness test. You can see how it fared against other smartphones down below. While it's not the best scoring phone around, it got fairly good numbers in the Ring test, which is important for a workhorse like the BlackBerry Motion.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing | Overall score | |
| 62.1 | 61.7 | 66.5 | Below Average | |
| 67.3 | 67.8 | 72.8 | Average | |
| 67.8 | 69.5 | 71.5 | Good | |
| 67.5 | 68.9 | 72.5 | Good | |
| 66.1 | 69.6 | 77.1 | Good | |
| 67.2 | 71.1 | 80.7 | Good | |
| 69.2 | 72.7 | 78.4 | Very Good | |
| 68.5 | 71.7 | 80.3 | Very Good | |
| 68.7 | 73.0 | 79.1 | Very Good | |
| 67.7 | 70.0 | 83.6 | Very Good | |
| 66.9 | 72.3 | 84.5 | Very Good | |
| 70.0 | 77.0 | 81.1 | Excellent | |
| 76.0 | 74.6 | 79.0 | Excellent | |
| 71.7 | 77.8 | 80.3 | Excellent | |
| 70.9 | 75.3 | 88.0 | Excellent | |
| 91.5 | 75.4 | 90.5 | Excellent |
Next we'll take a look at the different apps for consuming media that come standard on the BlackBerry Motion. You'll want to definitely use that pair of bundled earbuds for that.
Google Photos
BlackBerry went with Google's default photo and video viewing app: Google Photos. The Gallery isn't as straightforward or intuitive as other custom gallery apps, but there are lots of features and services available for Google Photos users, even if you opt out of Google Photo's backup service.
Not signed in: Menu • Albums • Zoomed out • Zoomed in
You can manage and edit albums and photos. Editing tools are aplenty, and you can crop, rotate, apply filters, lighten/darken and adjust levels of the photos. What you won't find is a way to scribble or draw on photos, nor are there any stickers.
Photo view • Filters • Levels • Crop/Rotate
If you do use Google's Photos service, backing up your photos will enable a few cool features. Face recognition and keyword search (it will even recognize your pet), automatically generated collages and video montages, and you can even order a physical photobook directly from Google. Hit the "Free up space" option to clear only the photos and videos already backed up to Google Photos.
Keyword search • Person search • Stylized photo • Photo book • Free up space
The Video player is very basic. There's only a progress bar, a share button, and a toggle to loop the video. There is no support for subtitles, swipe-to-seek, or playback speed option. You can edit videos taken with the phone, but it's only limited to trimming, rotating, and stabilizing.
Video options • Stabilizing a video
Google Music
Google's default music player is here as well. Google Play Music offers a large collection of music to stream, or you can upload up to 50,000 of your own MP3 tracks from your computer that you can then stream from anywhere. You can also opt to pay for Google's music subscription that also includes unlimited skips and no ads. YouTube Red also comes bundled in markets where it's available. Aside from no more video ads, you can download videos to watch offline, screen-off playback, and access to YouTube Red's exclusive content.
Google Play Music is also contextual and can suggest playlists based on the time of day, location, or day of the week.
If you don't want to take advantage of Google's Music service (either paid or ad-supported), you can still use it for playback of local audio files. We wish it was a bit easier to navigate, but you have a hamburger menu with plenty of options. You can browse music by playlist, stations, artists, albums, songs, and genres.
Google Play Music
12MP shooter
BlackBerry devices have never really been known for having outstanding camera performance. However, BlackBerry proved this statement wrong when it first released the BlackBerry KEYone. Since expectations for the camera's performance were already low, we were surprised when we saw the kinds of photos that the KEYone's camera was able to produce.
Given the KEYone's fairly good performance, we are expecting more or less the same camera performance on the BlackBerry Motion.
The BlackBerry Motion is equipped with a 12MP sensor with large pixels, phase-detection autofocus, dual-tone LED flash, and a 6-element lens with an f/2.0 aperture. On paper, these specs are identical to the KEYone's. The BlackBerry Motion also has "Multi-frame low light enhancement". Similar to Google's HDR+ or HTC's HDR Boost (which are pretty similar), the phone will stack several frames of the same scene and use software to reduce noise and regulate exposure.
Like the KEYone, the BlackBerry Motion does not feature optical image stabilization. It has to rely on electronic image stabilization to stabilize videos and it uses the multi-frame shooting to keep still images more steady.
Camera App
The BlackBerry Motion's camera app is straightforward for both basic and advanced users alike. Before we get to manual controls, let's cover all the camera's features first.
The camera app has two columns of controls. The left side has the Settings shortcut, HDR toggle, aspect ratio settings, timer, and flash settings. On the right side, starting from the top, is a shortcut for live filters, camera modes, the shutter button, front/rear camera toggle, and a shortcut to the photo gallery.
Camera App: viewfinder • HDR • Aspect ratio • Timer • Flash
Camera App: filters • Modes • Manual controls
To activate manual controls, you have to change the very first entry in the settings. Keep in mind when you enable manual controls, they stay over the viewfinder screen. You can still take photos in automatic, but you'll still be able to see what settings the camera is tuned to. This is an interesting approach from an advanced camera user's perspective.
The settings allow you to change the image quality, face detection, focus, grid lines, and you can mute the shutter key sound. Locker mode lets you take photos or videos and store them directly into the BlackBerry Locker. This is done by tapping on the home button (without depressing it) to take a photo or video. It's worth noting that a finger doesn't need to be registered in order to shoot in locker mode.
Camera settings • More settings • Video recording settings
There are a bunch of video modes, and 1080p has three framerates: 24, 30, and 60. There's also 4K in 24 or 30 fps. Keep in mind that you'll lose electronic image stabilization in 4k mode.
Camera samples
The BlackBerry Motion's camera wasn't the best or most consistent smartphone camera. Sometimes it got blurry shots, but most of the time it can capture some excellent color and exposes scenes well.
Samples
This bright sunny day was very interesting to shoot in. It tests the camera's ability to expose for areas with contrast-y shadows and brightly lit areas. We're glad to say the BlackBerry Motion did fairly well here. There was also plenty of detail in the shots, though it was mostly focused in the middle of the frame. Areas closer to the edges of the frame were a bit fuzzy and didn't include the same amount of detail.
Noise suppression is quite good here as well, particularly if you look at the blue areas of the sky. This lighting also gave us the perfect opportunity to test the HDR capability of the BlackBerry Motion's camera. Turning on HDR resulted in drastically different exposures in some cases.
HDR mode brought the shadows out of this scene. Most of the light source is coming from the left or the scene, behind the buildings. When taken with HDR on, we can see all the buildings brought out of the shadows, while the bright light source is tamed down. While this lets us see much more than we did before, the image no longer looks like a natural scene. We can see what's in the shadows now, but it comes at the expense of the softening of details.
HDR: Off • On
This other HDR scene is more of a best-case scenario. In this scene, the building is glaring the sun back into the camera. At this particular exposure, the building's whiter parts are reflecting more light into the lens than the ground or the sky. HDR corrects this by bringing the highlights of the building down to where we can see its actual color.
HDR: Off • On
Finally, you can head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the BlackBerry Motion handles the controlled environment of our studio. We've pre-selected the OnePlus 5T and the Moto X4, but you can replace those with any other two phones you feel like.
BlackBerry Motion against the OnePlus 5T and the Moto X4 in our Photo compare tool
8MP selfies
The front facing camera of the BlackBerry Motion is okay. While it gets the job done, there's something you should know about this camera. Since this camera, like many front facing cameras, is a fixed-focus lens, the depth of field is actually a bit closer to the phone than an arm's length.
The thing is, most people might want a selfie camera to be a little softer than usual, this is more flattering for the face since it can hide lines and other facial features that some may not want to highlight. As a result, there's a slight fuzziness to selfies that likely won't be noticeable right away. Selfies taken a little closer to the camera show much more details.
Selfie: outside • inside • closer up
Panorama
The BlackBerry Motion can take sweeping panorama photos, though only in a horizontal direction. Also, the Motion takes panoramas by direction-based dots that you have to line the viewfinder with. While this is a clunkier way of taking panorama shots, the stitching doesn't look terrible, though details of panoramic images are scarce.
Panorama
Video
The BlackBerry Motion can record 1080p at 24, 30, or 60 fps while 4K resolution video can only be shot at 24 or 30 fps. Starting with 1080p, video looks nice and well exposed; noise is kept to a minimum as well. As usually happens when shooting in 60 fps, there's an ever-so slight drop in image quality as the camera compensates for doubling up on frames.
4K footage looks great as well and there is no noticeable banding or noise throughout the scene. Colors were well represented in both 1080 and 4K recording resolutions. The only place that the camera could have improved is in dynamic range. You can see this on some of white parts of the video like the buildings or trucks that drive by.
You can also download this 1080p@30fps (9s, 21MB) video sample taken straight off the BlackBerry Motion, as well as a 1080p@60fps (9s, 24MB) sample and a higher resolution 4K (9s, 47MB) video sample.
And finally, for some extra pixel peeping head over to our Video compare tool, where you can examine the BlackBerry Motion's output against any phone we've tested before. We've pre-selected the OnePlus 5T and Moto X4, but you can of course pick your own set.
BlackBerry Motion against the OnePlus 5T and the Moto X4 in our Video compare tool
Wrap up
If you recall almost a year ago, the BlackBerry "Mercury" was quietly shown to the press during CES 2017 (Before it was officially named the KEYone). Up to its release, TCL had us giddy and excited about a phone with a physical keyboard. While the concept isn't a new one, it hadn't been relevant for many years since touchscreen phones took over.
The BlackBerry Motion missed this mark. The Motion really had an opportunity to bring some unique hardware to the table. While we appreciate the programmable Convenience key, we feel that BlackBerry could have done even more to differentiate it from other smartphones. If you take away the Convenience key and the BlackBerry software, you're left with a phone that's pretty average - there are many others with the same formula.
Don't get us wrong, we were quite pleased with the BlackBerry apps, UI features and overall stability. The sharp, neat lines of the hardware's design are attractive and the BlackBerry logo stands out amongst Samsung and Apple noisemakers. We also didn't mind the camera because despite a few shortcomings, we still got some very nice-looking shots.
Key test findings
- Sturdy and attractive IP67 water-resistant body with soft-touch backing
- 5.5-inch screen is alright. Color accuracy is good, though slightly oversaturated for some of our tastes. Viewing angles and screen brightness are quite good making out at over 500 nits.
- Fingerprint scanner is quick and reliable. The physical home button is a nice contrast to the other capacitive keys.
- With a 94h endurance rating, the Motion's battery will last well into the second day before needing to charge back up. 0% to 26% after half an hour of charging with included Quick Charge 3.0 @ 15W charger.
- Near stock Android gives smooth and stable UI performance with minimal lag or stutter.
- BlackBerry App suite offers secure and efficient tools for productivity and organization.
- BlackBerry Keyboard offers a unique way of auto-correcting and intuitive layout.
- Snapdragon 625 chugs along okay, though its performance won't be winning any benchmark wars.
- Loudspeaker is okay. Loud enough for calls and alerts but not good enough to play music for extended periods of time.
- Still images from main camera were quite good. OIS could have helped produced more consistent details. HDR mode can sometimes do very well but sometimes overkills in other scenes. Details are often lost in areas toward the edges of the frame (lens distortion).
- Front camera is fairly wide for taking selfies with a couple more people. Depth of field was a bit close on the fixed-focus lens.
- 1080p and 4K video were both quite good - details and colors were good while noise was kept to a minimum. Dynamic range isn't the best and OIS could have helped better stabilize video.
During CES just last week, TCL announced that the BlackBerry Motion will be available in the United States from B&H, Best Buy, and Amazon as a GSM Unlocked smartphone. The company had been waiting to see how the Motion performed in Europe and Canada before bringing it to the States and it's actually priced $100 lower than the BlackBerry KEYone (at least in the States).
It's a little on the pricey side when you consider the cost-to-performance ratio. A Snapdragon 625 is quickly becoming outdated at this point. We'll give BlackBerry the benefit of the doubt since it is technically in its first year back on track. In 2018 BlackBerry should offer at least one model with high-end specs, even if it uses 2017's Snapdragon 835 (or even 2016's Snapdragon 820 for that matter).
The OnePlus 5T is one of the first competitors that comes to mind because of how close the price is. The BlackBerry Motion is going for $449 in the States while the OnePlut 5T is just $50 more. This is a similar situation in the multiple regions the phone is available. For $50 more you can get a smartphone with top of the line specs and souped up RAM.
The OnePlus 5T will give you much better bang for your buck. It has a similarly sized display and fairly good battery life by comparison. Just keep in mind that you won't be getting any water-resistance with the OnePlus 5T.
OnePlus 5T
Another viable option to the BlackBerry Motion is another BlackBerry. The BlackBerry KEYone has the physical keyboard, which is a totally different experience and nostalgic for those who used a BlackBerry back when the Curve was really popular.
Both smartphones are similarly spec'd. The KEYone doesn't have water-resistance, though. Otherwise, The BlackBerry Motion has the same exact software as the KEYone, minus the unconventional 4:3 aspect ratio. Oddly, the KEYone is $100 more expensive in the US at $549.
BlackBerry Keyone
The Galaxy C7 has the same processor as the Motion, so you'll get similar performance out of either one. The main difference is going to be the larger 5.7-inch display and Samsung's UI. As far as security goes, Samsung has its own solution for Enterprise usage called Knox. If you're in the States, you won't find the C7 but you might be able to source one.
Samsung Galaxy C7 (2017)
If you're looking for an alternative to both the Motion and KEYone and you're not feeling the 5T due to its lack of water-resistance then take a look at the Moto Z2 Force. It's about halfway through its life cycle by this point and US carriers have offered deep discounts for it. It has a nano-coating for accidental splashes and features a shatter-proof display. There are top of the line specs but you wouldn't get anywhere near as much battery life.
Motorola Moto Z2 Force
In BlackBerry's early days of decline, enterprise users have gradually flocked to the iPhone for a dependable and secure smartphone experience. At this point, the iPhone 8 has one of the fastest CPUs, though software polish has been lacking from Apple lately. You won't get nearly as much battery life, either, and getting any other iPhone model will be much more expensive.
Apple iPhone 8
That still doesn't answer the question of the year: should you get the BlackBerry Motion? That depends on your priorities. Here's what the Motion brings to the table: a lean user interface, BlackBerry apps that focus on productivity and security, and a sophisticated hardware package that's attractive and water-resistant with a long-lasting battery.
If all of that sounds great to you, you'll have a wonderful time with the BlackBerry Motion. Just keep in mind that you won't get top-of-the-line performance or an award-winning camera, even so, both the CPU and camera do their jobs fairly well. At the end of the day, this is a respectable phone with decent specs, a reliable software experience with regular security updates, and a reputable name in smartphones with a Chinese phone maker backing it up.
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