38 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 45
REVIEW
commands to the home screen for quick, efficient
and usually work-oriented tasks.
There are other neat integrated features. We
initially thought the physical home button was a step
backwards in design, but a tap of the button (rather
than a physical press) acts as a back button. Slightly
odd as there is a back button directly to its left, but
we found ourselves using it all the same.
You can do all the tweaks to the OS that you’d
expect, but the skin doesn’t invite to customise as
much as Samsung, OnePlus or Google. We get the
feeling this is a phone to simply set up, be secure and
last forever on a charge. And that is not a bad thing.
If you’re a die-hard BlackBerry fan, you’ll also enjoy
being able to set app icons to the style of both the
BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry 7 operating systems.
It’s a small nod to the old company’s past as is the
Motion’s name, surely a nod to Research in Motion?Verdict
The BlackBerry Motion proves a difficult device to rate.
It’s too big, and there’s not much to tempt a casual
smartphone buyer here aside from outstanding battery
life. It is too austere and clunky even in comparison
to the KeyOne, and won’t stand out in the £400
price bracket. BlackBerry isn’t a cool brand, but the
Motion has a huge battery, a headphone jack and a
CPU that will just about cope with what you want it
to do besides high level gaming. If the KeyOne was a
comeback, the Motion is just about a solid sequel but
there are phones like the Moto G5 Plus with similar
specs for half the price. Henry Burrell