The world of touch-and-type isn’t done yet if BlackBerry has anything to do with it. The BlackBerry Key2 is now available in South Africa, and much like its predecessors, the Key2 is being billed as a productivity-focused device, imbuing its redesigned QWERTY keyboard with some new features.

The main one of these is the Speed Key, which allows users to create custom shortcuts on the keyboard to launch certain applications. Added to this is the usual ability to use the keyboard for scrolling and other touch-based functions, with a fingerprint sensor built into the space bar.  At 4.5" (1620x1080) the Gorilla Glass sporting display is far smaller than that of the competition, but, of course, the keyboard is underneath.

The phone carries a number of firsts for BlackBerry, including being numero uno with Android 8.1 Oreo and the first to feature a dual rear camera system, consisting of two 12 MP sensors. TLC, the company responsible for BlackBerry these days, punts the 3500 mAh battery which they believe can support up to two days use from a single full charge.

Doing the hard work underneath is the octa-core Qualcomm SnapDragon 660 (2.2 GHz), 6 GB of RAM as well as 64 GB of storage, with a microSD card slot also on board.

The BlackBerry Key2 is now available from Vodacom, going for a recommended retail price of R599 pm x 24 months on a Smart XS+ package. The question is, is this a premium BlackBerry users are prepared to pay to still have a physical keyboard?