BlackBerry Porsche Design P’99882
First up, why is there an apostrophe in the name? That makes it incredibly awkward to type out. Secondly, why on Earth does this phone cost so ridiculously much?! At £1,450 (roughly ₦320,000), there are very few people that can actually afford this phone. Considering there’s not much difference from the BlackBerry Z10 (barely any differences in fact, but more on that later), there doesn’t seem to be much reason to buy the phone other than the subtle Porsche symbols and the material it’s made of.
Let’s talk about how the phone looks and feels before moving onto the specifications of it. One of the only benefits of this phone is that it feels pretty sweet in your hand. It has a nice weight at 140g as well as a nice size (the same as the Z10, 4.2-inch, 1280 x 768 resolution) meaning it doesn’t feel overbearing in your hand, but still has a nice, premium weight to it. Although funnily enough, holding an iPhone or a HTC will give you the same feeling.
The phone also has a leather back giving you solid grip on your phone at all times, as well as feeling pleasant against your hand. Unfortunately, this leather does scratch quite easily, and replacing it is an additional cost (even more than you’re already paying!). On each side of the phone, there’s a little square which homes the Porsche Design Logo to remind you just how much you’ve spent.
You also get a code that comes packed bundled with the phone, enter this and you get a special BBM pin code. Sign in with this code and your profile gets a nice little icon to show off just how much you’ve spent on this phone.
That’s literally all that’s good about the phone, and all that can attempt to justify the immense price tag. The specifications of the phone are as follows:
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Exactly the same as the BlackBerry Z10 apart from internal storage being 64GB instead of 16GBNot exactly the biggest list of specifications right? But that’s all there’s to mention. Considering you can get the Z10 for around £200 (or ₦36,000), the only reason you’d buy the P’99882 is if you like the little logo and the leather back. Even the battery inside the phone is exactly the same as the Z10’s but with “Porsche Design” slapped on it. To me, this doesn’t justify the price tag in the slightest.
Of course, the P’99882 does retain some redeeming features, like the BlackBerry hub which neatly organises all your communications into one central inbox. The phone’s speed also isn’t too shabby, but again, just get a Z10 if these sound appealing to you.
All in all, this phone is just a Z10, a very expensive, elitist Z10 with a special BBM logo so you can show off. If you’re into that, and are willing to spend around ten times the amount for those “qualities”, then go ahead. You can get better phones with better specs for cheaper, so I would recommend those, like the HTC or the iPhone series. But my wallet is staying with me for this one.
Talat Kazim
Account Executive
7thingsmedia