BlackBerry Classic review: For old times' sake

Unboxing

The retail box of the BlackBerry Classic looks as serious as the intentions of the smartphone. Its contents include a wall charger, a microUSB cable, a stereo headset (a rarity in the US), a tool for removing the SIM and the microSD card, and a couple of booklets.

The retail package of BlackBerry Classic.

It is nice to see bundled headphones in the box of the Classic. BlackBerry also offers a number of well-made, keenly-priced accessories for the handset. They include a leather pocket and holster, a soft shell, and a screen protector.

Design, build quality, handling

The design of the BlackBerry Classic falls right in line with its name. The smartphone looks like a slightly stretched version of BlackBerry Bold 9900 - the model it is bound to replace.

BlackBerry Classic in the flesh

As you can see in the images above, the Classic looks decidedly old school and unmistakably BlackBerry. This should hardly catch anyone by surprise - it is the effect the company was seeking when it designed the device.

For the time being, the BlackBerry Classic is available only in black color scheme. Recent leaks suggest that a white version is also on the way, though we are yet to hear about it officially.

Build quality of the BlackBerry Classic is outstanding. The handset features an outer frame machined out of a solid block of stainless steel. The rest of the materials used in the device include high-quality polycarbonate. Corning's Gorilla Glass is protecting the display.

The BlackBerry Classic aims at professionals and has the build quality to show for it. It is as tough as it is business minded.

The steel frame of the BlackBerry results in the rather considerable weight of 177 grams. Physical measures of the smartphone are 131 x 72.4 x 10.2 mm. The considerable by modern day standards thickness takes off some of the device sleekness.

BlackBerry Classic sized up next to iPhone 6

The plastic back of the BlackBerry Classic features nice texture, which allows comfortable handling. One handed-operation is also possible most tasks, so long as they don't rapid text typing.

BlackBerry Classic is easy to handle

The presence of hardware navigation buttons is key for easily operating the device with one hand. The trackpad allows you to reach the areas of the display that your thumbs don't.

Display

BlackBerry Classic packs a perfectly square 3.5" LCD display with a resolution of 720 x 720 pixels. The pixel density of the unit is 294ppi.

A 3.5" 1:1 display

The square shape of the display takes a little getting used to. However, we reckon that it works quite well on the BlackBerry Classic.

A closer look at the screen of BlackBerry Classic

The LCD unit of the smartphone combines truly impressive brightness and sunlight legibility with accurate colors. Our only gripe with the display has to do with its viewing angles - they are far from stellar due to its non-IPS nature.

To sum it up, the screen of BlackBerry Classic is very good, so long as you don't expect it to be your primary source for gobbling up multimedia. As far as doing work and occasionally peaking online and in social network goes however, it will surely keep you happy.