BlackBerry DTEK60

Let's be honest... most of the higher-end smartphones out there are pretty good. and the DTEK60 is no exception. It has served me well and has been a pleasant surprise.

First off the built quality on my DTEK60 is outstanding. It feels like a flagship phone with its glass back and thin design. It's a pleasure to hold in the hand. The screen bright and crisp resolution is excellent as are the two front facing speakers.

The pre-loaded BlackBerry Hub and keyboard are well worth the price of admission. The Hub lets you view all your emails,messages from your social media accounts, and notifications in one place. I sorely miss this feature on my iPhone SE that I use for work. Apple need to fix this oversight. And the BlackBerry keyboard, blows what Apple has to offer right out of the water, despite the improvements offered in iOS11.

The Snapdragon 820 processor is exceedingly fast and easily handles multiple apps, HD video, and streaming with ease. The fingerprint sensor works without a hitch and is much faster than my iPhone SE's Touch ID.

The 32gb of on board storage is okay, but having a MicroSD card slot means you are not limited. I have a 128gb card are there are zero issues with lag.

I appreciate the monthly security patch updates but wish BlackBerry/TCL would offer an update to the Android OS. It runs Marshmallow and I feel it misses out on the latest and greatest OS.

The main camera works well and is on par with the iPhone SE and is a little better shooting in the daytime. Video recording is also very good and can shoot 4K.

Battery life is average I think. I can go a full day on charge with normal use but the high resolution screen does take plenty of juice you are streaming video. That being said, the DTEK60 supports rapid charge and takes only about 30 minutes to go from under 5% to 50%. A full charge takes somewhere in the neighbourhood of 90 minutes.

My main peeve with the device is that the screen does show fingerprints and smudges. I don't use a screen protector but the fingerprints and smudges wipe right off using a soft cloth. After one year of use, there are no scratches on the screen - another testament to the build quality and screen glass.

Overall, the DTEK60 is an excellent phone. I paid $650 CDN for mine and I feel it was a bargain compared to other similar spec devices.