When comparing Blackberry Keyone vs Blackphone 2, the Slant community recommends Blackphone 2 for most people. In the question“What are the best smartphones for security?” Blackphone 2 is ranked 1st while Blackberry Keyone is ranked 2nd. The most important reason people chose Blackphone 2 is:
Blackphone is bundled with privacy services for anonymizing and encrypting communications.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Can take really good high-quality pictures
The 12MP primary camera uses the same Sony IMX378 sensor found in the first Pixel which takes some of the best pictures out of all smartphones. The Keyone's camera performs especially well on outdoor pictures while in low-light pictures it's still good but there's still some room for improvements.
Pro Can last up to two days on a single charge
The large 3505mAh battery can last up to two days on a single charge. Even under heavy use it should still have quite a bit of juice at the end of the day at least.
Pro One of the few modern phones with a keyboard
While most phones ditched them, the Blackberry retains the physical keyboard. The QWERTY chiclet style keyboard also acts as a trackpad. The small buttons does take some time to get used to, but can lead to better typing accuracy compared to touchscreen keyboards. The space bar doubles as a fingerprint sensor too.
Pro Extremely secure
The phone's built-in DTEK monitoring app constantly monitors how vulnerable your phone is. It scans all the installed apps for potential malware or unwanted permissions. It also checks and installs the latest security patches and prevents unwanted access to the camera or microphone by third-party apps. Phone data is fully encrypted and the internet data goes through a VPN when browsing the internet.
The device can be set up so that it can be tracked remotely or swiped clean. You can set up two factor authentication that requires you to use a password and a fingerprint scan to unlock the phone.
Pro Anonymized and encrypted communication
Blackphone is bundled with privacy services for anonymizing and encrypting communications.
Pro Runs a custom privacy focused build of Android
Blackphone has developed a fork of Android called PrivatOS with a focus on security and privacy. It closes all build in backdoors, and adds additional privacy features like anonymous search, privacy-enabled bundled apps, and better app permission control.
Cons
Con The screen can be removed when slightly bending the device
Some users have reported that the screen can be removed when slightly bending the device. Although phones made after June 2017 shouldn’t encounter this problem, according to the manufacturer.
Con Awkward screen ratio
The Blackberry’s screen uses a 3:2 aspect ratio instead of the conventional 16:9 in order to accommodate the keyboard. Though it’s fine for web browsing and messaging, it isn’t great for watching videos. Apps like Instagram and Snapchat also fail to correctly display content in this aspect ratio.
Con Price
562.80 EU or 722.82 USD is the running cost for the device.
Con OS is not open source
Blackphone has announced plans to make their PrivatOS fork of Android open source in the future, but until then, 3rd parties cannot audit the OS to confirm their security claims.