BlackBerry KeyOne

The BlackBerry KeyOne is a touchscreen-based Android smartphone with an integrated hardware keyboard that is manufactured by TCL Corporation under the brand name of BlackBerry Mobile.

At least it has a physical keyboard.

BBB100-1

Well, here we are. AT&T has implemented a whitelist excluding all BlackBerry devices from its network. Even the devices they used to sell. Can’t roll back to the Key2. Can’t even retreat to the Passport.

At least it has a physical keyboard?

dialer codes

Type the following codes into the dialer app to pull up hidden menus.

   *#837837#     displays the PRD
   *#*#46368676#*#*     cellular menu

capacitive touch scrolling

The KeyOne’s physical keyboard is also a capacitive surface that doubles as a touchpad. It works pretty well for large windows, except in post-68 versions of Firefox, where capacitive touch scrolling is inexplicably broken. Which is pretty much the only place I really wanted to use the feature. So, nevermind.

software updates

The last update from AT&T is build ACG696, which arrived on November 27, 2019. That’s it, there won’t be any more. This thing will always be stuck on Android 8.1.0.

2022.07.02 Update: For some reason earlier today AT&T attempted to push this last update to my phone. The installer crashed at 85% three times in a row, and then bricked my phone.

2022.07.03 Update: I was able to run a direct loader on an old (32-bit) Macbook and restore to the latest AT&T image.

buy

Don’t.

If you do, and you’re an AT&T customer, you just made a mistake. It’s not going to work on the AT&T network.