BlackBerry KEYone review: Make or break

Performance

Let's face it, the BlackBerry KEYone is not a top performer. However, that doesn't mean its Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chip disappoints. It's able to multitask quite well and yields more than enough power for getting your @Work game on.

We've pinned the KEYone against other competing smartphones of all price ranges, as well as other Snapdragon 625 CPU-powered devices. Let's see how the BlackBerry stacks up against the other guys.

Let's start with graphics performance. The KEYone's Snapdragon 625 is paired with the usual Adreno 506 GPU and performance is on par with other Snapdragon 625-powered devices. Unfortunately, the BlackBerry Priv did better than its successor in the Basemark X benchmark test.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S8
  42370
• OnePlus 3T
  36958
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  33023
• Huawei Honor 8
  16592
• BlackBerry Priv
  15072
• Lenovo P2
  10472
• BlackBerry KEYone
  10445
• Motorola Moto Z Play
  10401
• Moto G5
  7475

Given that the KEYone doesn't have the full 1080p resolution, you'll notice that the GFX onscreen tests performed a little better than the other Snapdragon 625-powered devices. Otherwise, it still did better than the Priv with its Snapdragon 808 setup, even with the offscreen tests.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  61
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  50
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  49
• OnePlus 3T
  49
• Apple iPhone SE
  39.6
• Huawei Honor 8
  18
• BlackBerry Priv
  12
• Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
  9.9
• BlackBerry KEYone
  9.8
• Motorola Moto Z Play
  9.8
• Lenovo P2
  9.8
• Moto G5
  7.1

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  60
• Apple iPhone SE
  59.2
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  48
• OnePlus 3T
  48
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  36
• Huawei Honor 8
  19
• BlackBerry KEYone
  11
• Motorola Moto Z Play
  10
• Lenovo P2
  10
• Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
  9.7
• BlackBerry Priv
  7.6
• Moto G5
  7.1

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  43
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  36
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  33
• OnePlus 3T
  33
• Apple iPhone SE
  26.8
• Huawei Honor 8
  10
• BlackBerry Priv
  7.8
• BlackBerry KEYone
  6.4
• Motorola Moto Z Play
  6.2
• Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
  6.2
• Lenovo P2
  6.2
• Moto G5
  4.6

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  60
• Apple iPhone SE
  58
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  34
• OnePlus 3T
  33
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  23
• Huawei Honor 8
  11
• BlackBerry KEYone
  7.4
• Motorola Moto Z Play
  6.7
• Lenovo P2
  6.7
• Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
  6.1
• BlackBerry Priv
  5.4
• Moto G5
  4.6

The results of the Snapdragon 625 chipped phones are within a couple of points of each other, but the score drastically changes once you aim for higher-end chipsets. The Honor 8, for instance, scored more than double the other Snapdragon 625 devices. Keep in mind, the Moto G5 uses a Snapdragon 430.

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  1547
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  1189
• Apple iPhone SE
  882
• OnePlus 3T
  641
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  626
• Huawei Honor 8
  345
• Motorola Moto Z Play
  138
• Lenovo P2
  137
• BlackBerry KEYone
  136
• Moto G5
  100

Basemark OS II encompasses GPU, CPU, RAM, Web, and OS performance into a single score. Unfortunately, the KEYone performed at the very bottom of this round. All this while the OnePlus 3T scored much higher, despite its lower price.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• OnePlus 3T
  3328
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  3272
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  2901
• Huawei Honor 8
  2029
• BlackBerry Priv
  1704
• Lenovo P2
  1400
• Motorola Moto Z Play
  1226
• BlackBerry KEYone
  1132

The iPhone 7 is at the very top of the chart on the Basemark OS II 2.0 benchmark and the BlackBerry Priv's hexacore Snapdragon 808 performed better than the KEYone's Snadpragon 625. The Moto Z Play wasn't very far behind in this test.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  3416
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  3376
• OnePlus 3T
  2678
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  2461
• Apple iPhone SE
  2163
• Huawei Honor 8
  2099
• BlackBerry Priv
  1393
• Lenovo P2
  1235
• BlackBerry KEYone
  1132
• Motorola Moto Z Play
  1031
• Moto G5
  795

Finally, Antutu 6 really put the devices into the right perspective. The Snapdragon 625-powered devices all yielded around the same score with marginal differences. Otherwise, there are still many devices that crush the KEYone in raw performance.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  174532
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  174435
• OnePlus 3T
  165097
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  141193
• Apple iPhone SE
  123961
• Huawei Honor 8
  94892
• Lenovo P2
  63493
• Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
  63358
• BlackBerry KEYone
  62868
• Motorola Moto Z Play
  62217
• Moto G5
  43755

Although the KEYone doesn't pack a top-of-the-line CPU, it still performs admirably. Multitasking of day-to-day tasks is just fine. The KEYone and the Priv have conflicting scores; some benchmark results are in favor of the Priv, while others came out in favor of the Snapdragon 625. Although the Snapdragon 625 isn't as powerful as the CPUs in other devices, its added battery efficiency is the likely reason it was selected for the KEYone.

Whether or not you want to believe that is up to you. Given that the performance is somewhat on par with the BlackBerry Priv, we feel that the KEYone may not be a successor to the Priv in the performance aspect. Honestly, if you have a Priv and are expecting a better-performing smartphone on the KEYone, you might be disappointed. Then again, the Priv did have many more pixels to push around with its QHD display.

The phone generally doesn't get warm other than while it's charging. Given that the phone is covered in soft touch plastic on the back, it has to rely on key areas of the phone's exposed metal to cool itself down. Generally, the areas that warms up is on the upper part of the back plate, just underneath the camera ring. This means you might often catch heat radiating from the phone's area above the volume rocker.