Jump for joy

The BlackBerry Leap — another affordable smartphone that does the job

On the heels of the Z3’s  decent market run, BlackBerry has taken quite a running jump (pun intended) to offer another affordable yet sturdy device — the BlackBerry Leap.
This new BlackBerry is reminiscent of the Z3, Z10 and Z30 in design, and it’s one that we quite like. Despite being 5” tall, it sits very comfortably in your hand.
The 5” HD display looks pretty decent and reacts well to whatever you do with it (swiping out of an app from below can get a bit tricky at times, but not much). As is often the case with BlackBerry phones, battery life won’t be an issue — the Leap has a 2,800mAh battery that the company claims will last 25 hours, and our test saw it zap out at over 20 hours, with a balanced mix of usage. That’s good.
Its main camera stands at 8MP, but let’s just say that it’s not the best in not-so-well-lit areas.
BlackBerry has always emphasised security on its devices. Aside from the usual back-up and restore features, the Leap also supports encry-ption and built-in malware protection. And yes, BlackBerry Hub is back, where you can view all your messages in one convenient window. Don’t forget about browsing and typing on the virtual keyboard, which continues to impress.
Again — and I say, again — the biggest weakness I see here is, while there are more and more apps being added, the BlackBerry World store still has a lot of catching up to do with the two titans of the app world. Honestly, I can’t understand why this is still the case, but I still am a firm believer in the brand’s capabilities.
AND SO…
Let’s face it: BlackBerry continues to come up with very good products; it’s just a matter of ramping up its offerings on them (read: apps). The BlackBerry Leap is likely to continue its success in the low-to-mid segment, and hopefully more of these will follow. But then again, there’s something else to look forward to — the slider phone BlackBerry confirmed it will release this year. I’m reminded of the Torch. 
alvin@khaleejtimes.com

THE LOWDOWNCPU Qualcomm 8960 dual-core 1.5GHz Memory RAM – 2GB; storage – 16GB, up to 128GB microSD Platform BlackBerry 10 OS Display 5” 1280 x 720 HD Camera Main – 8MP; front - 2MP Battery 2800mAh, up to 25h Connectivity Up to LTE; Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS Price Dh1,099 Pros Smooth operation, good battery life, affordable Cons Old processor, more apps need to be offered Editor Rating 8/10

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