The latest gadget to be put through its paces is BlackBerry’s KeyOne, the company’s new flagship handset that launched at the end of May. In the dreaded bend test, YouTuber JerryRigEverything — who tests smartphone durability — managed to pop out the KeyOne’s display with some gently applied pressure.
In response to build quality concerns, Blackberry Mobile released an official statement to Crackberry, explaining that TCL used “strong, durable premium materials, and conducted rigorous stress tests on the device throughout the product development cycle to meet the real life use standards our customers demand.”
While the company initially urged customers to reach out for a warranty replacement in the event of similar damage, BlackBerry has now confirmed that extra steps have been taken in the intervening weeks to improve the KeyOne’s durability. The news was again confirmed on Crackberry’s forums by a BlackBerry representative.
“In a further effort to ensure all our BlackBerry Mobile customers and fans have an outstanding experience, we’re implementing additional measures that add even greater strength and adhesive to the BlackBerry KeyOne display,” the statement reads. “These new measures are already being implemented on new KeyOnes and are beginning to hit our retailer and carrier inventories — and will continue to come in stock throughout the summer.”
BlackBerry’s KeyOne is made by Chinese electronics giant TCL. BlackBerry handles the software side of the product, while TCL manages the hardware.
Unlike many of its competitors, the KeyOne seemed to have little to no adhesive holding the display in place, increasing the chances of it popping out in this way. When the tester then bent the phone the other way, the display stopped functioning due to a torn ribbon cable inside the device at the bottom of the display. Hopefully, with the changes BlackBerry and TCL have now made, the screen will no longer separate itself from the body quite as easily.
With a determined effort to wreck the phone’s Gorilla Glass 4 display with some severe scratching, we see it stand up pretty darn well. The phone’s physical keyboard, however, doesn’t look too good following a prolonged encounter with a box cutter — though this was more to test the keyboard’s scrolling function, which continued to work perfectly when the tester ran his finger over it. Even the fingerprint scanner at the bottom of the KeyOne carried on working after it was pretty much ripped to shreds in a way that’s just not going to happen during everyday use.
Following more brutal scratching and scraping, which showed the phone to be one robust product, the tester took a lighter to the display. Holding a naked flame to the screen for around 15 seconds, a black mark appeared, though it disappeared once the flame was removed, and left BlackBerry’s newest phone with no obvious damage.
Still interested in picking up a KeyOne? Check out our full review of the $550 phone here.
