TECH BREAK: If you can get over the plastic feel, it is a good phone

The F(x)tec Pro 1 is a business phone in every aspect. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • First announced in MWC Barcelona, and made by the relatively unknown British F(x)tec, the F(x)tec Pro 1 is an attempt to redefine the physical keyboard on a phone.
  • Ironically, it is made by the same guys who made the Nokia E7.

Once, BlackBerry ruled the world with the physical keyboard, which is slowly creeping back thanks to TCL’s hard work. Now that the world is beginning to accept that physical keyboards are not necessarily a bad thing, it is inevitable that innovators will try to take on the BlackBerry challenge.

In this case, the natural heir to the throne after the overwhelmingly popular Nokia E7 is set for launch in a few months. The F(x)tec Pro 1.

First announced in MWC Barcelona, and made by the relatively unknown British F(x)tec, the F(x)tec Pro 1 is an attempt to redefine the physical keyboard on a phone. Ironically, it is made by the same guys who made the Nokia E7. To begin, this is a Qualcomm powered phone running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 backed by 6GB of RAM. It has 128GB storage that is expandable to 2TB via microSD card. The 5.99-inch display comes with 2160 x 1080 pixels resolution that also features curved edges.

The F(x)tec Pro 1 has an 8MP front-facing camera with fixed focus while at the back, it has a dual array consisting of a 12MP and a 5MP sensor with a dual colour dual-LED flash, and very impressively, a 2-stage camera shutter key that makes photography so much easier.

It is an LTE faring device with legacy support for GSM, W-CDMA, CDMA/EVDO, which can all be supported via its dual SIM cards. It also has WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac support, Bluetooth 5.0, Near Field Communication (NFC) for payments, as well as USB Type-C support that also connects to HDMI, which means that you can watch your videos on a HDMI supporting device. For authentication, there is a side mounted fingerprint sensor, the best place to mount the sensor.

Then there is the physical keyboard. It has a full keyboard that is hidden underneath the phone, which slides out, leaving the screen slightly angled like an old school PDA. The keyboard has 5-rows consisting of 64 keys, is staggered and is backlit, a brilliant move because you can fiddle with it in the dark.

On paper, it sounds brilliant, when you look at it, it looks brilliant, but, when you touch it, you get the distinct feeling that it isn’t all quite there. The plastic feels cheap, and that may be blamed on cost management. The build, quality is impressive though, with the keyboard action having been tested for over 100,000 times with no mechanical failure whatsoever. Despite the look, this is a rock solid phone. It runs Android 9 (Pie) which is mostly intact, though certain modifications have been made to accommodate the keyboard, such as gestures being disabled when the keyboard is opened.

The F(x)tec Pro 1 is a remarkably good heir to the throne and does everything it needs to do well. The only real downside is the plastic feel, but aside from that, everything else about this phone is brilliant, at least from first glance.

It is powered by a 3200mAh battery, which is enough for a day’s run on a single charge. It ships in July, but you can get it on preorder for around Sh65,000.

Should you get one? To be realistic, it is no replacement for a BlackBerry because comparing the two is nearly impossible. This is a business phone in every aspect, and if you want one out of your fond memories for the E7, then by all means, yes.