In 2018, I tried to go back to the future in getting a Blackberry KeyOne — a modern smartphone but with the “Old Timey Days” keyboard. In 2012 when I got my first iPhone, that was an adjustment. And part of me always longed for the “good old days” of the Blackberry keyboard, the one that I used to thumb out so many trenchant emails.

Alas, despite my nostalgia, the Blackberry KeyOne was a dud. I attempted in good faith to use it as my primary work/life phone for a few weeks but there were too many problems. Part of it was attempting to leave the faith of IOS for Android. I am not beholden to either Faith but when simple things would not work easily on the Blackberry, my interest waned quickly. Case in point — zoom meeting one-touch dial in. On the iPhone, I could click the one touch and it would dial into the zoom and also automagically enter in the passcode. With the Blackberry, it didn’t work — so I found myself fumbling to enter in passcodes.

And the keyboard — the thing that I thought I would love, like a long lost relative or a dog or pet that had gone missing — no! The keyboard was not that great, especially since (as I recall) the original Blackberry phones had the roller ball. The roller ball — once mastered — was transformational.

So, the Blackberry KeyOne — for me — was like half a car.

Admittedly, I am on high on the impatience spectrum and could not see the benefit of attempting to make it work, when I still had my old iPhone that worked so much better. The Blackberry KeyOne became a glorified small tablet for reading/watching video. It sat most of the time unused.

Thus, I have let it go and donated it to a charity that supports veterans. It is a nice phone for someone.