TCL Communication, makers of BlackBerry handsets, won two iF DESIGN AWARDS for Smartphone Product Design this evening for its BlackBerry KEY2 and BlackBerry KEY2 LE at the iF Design Award Night 2019. Selected from among 6,375 entries from 52 countries by the 67-member jury of international independent experts, the KEY2 and KEY2 LE were highlighted for offering the perfect blend of form and functionality.

The iF DESIGN AWARD has been renowned worldwide for 66 years, for recognizing outstanding design services. Submissions are awarded in the following disciplines: Product, Packaging, Communication and Service Design/UX, Architecture and Interior Architecture as well as Professional Concept.

“We are extremely proud to have our devices designs recognized by such a prestigious organization which highlights just a bit of our product development capabilities within TCL Communication,” said Shane Lee, General Manager of Global Product Center at TCL Communication. “Our teams remain committed to offering our customers around the world a genuine BlackBerry smartphone experience that offers an experience quite distinct from the rest of the market today.”

BlackBerry has stepped up its camera game since the KeyOne. You’ll capture the moment perfectly on your BlackBerry KEY2 LE Sim Free, with a dual rear camera that offers a 13-megapixel, f/2.2 aperture camera, and a 5-megapixel, f/2.4 aperture secondary lens. The dual set up allows you to create stylish portraits with bokeh, detection autofocus and HDR, while the front camera helps you take stunning selfies with Face Beauty Mode. The video camera can even shoot 4K video at 30fps.

Google Lens enables you to explore the world around you with image recognition features. This AI-powered technology will use the camera on the BlackBerry KEY2 LE along with deep machine learning to not only detect an object, but understand what it detects and offer actions based on what it sees.

Get your hands on the BlackBerry KEY2 LE and see for yourself.

Late last week, TCL launched a more budget friendly little brother to their very popular KEY2 handset. Coming in under £350, the handset offers the same design with streamlined features with a saving of over £200.

So what can you expect for your money? Let’s compare:

Display:

This is where the two devices are most similar, with both housing a 4.5-inch LCD screen, 3:2 format with a resolution of 1080 x 1620 pixels and a density of 434 dpi. The only minor difference? The Key2 LE screen covers a larger screen surface at 55.6%, in comparison to 55.2% on the Key2.

Keyboard:

If you’re a die-hard BlackBerry fan, chances are you are looking for the classic physical keyboard experience. Both the KEY2 and the KEY2 LE provide the expected QWERTY keyboard design, making efficiency a breeze. The only downgrade on the LE is that the keys are a non-touch physical keyboard, due to the removal of the touch capability. Not a biggie, but features like swipe type may be missed. The physical keyboard and its Speed Key with built in fingerprint reader are still there for you to use.

Storage:

The BlackBerry KEY2 LE does comes with less starting storage than the BlackBerry Key2, 32 GB and 64 GB compared to 64 GB or 128 GB of the original KEY2. However, both devices offer the same amount of expandable storage of up to 256 GB.

Battery:

TCL have reduced the battery size of the latest of the KEY2 family from the original 3,500 mAh to a still reasonable 3,000 mAh. Despite the downgrade, the device still promises a better than average endurance,  of about 22.5 hours of battery life. If you’re a heavy user though you may want to spend the bucks for the longer lasting BlackBerry Key2, which can get up to two days of battery life.

Under the hood:

BlackBerry’s Key2 LE runs Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box, just like the BlackBerry Key2, so you’ll enjoy the same OS experience. Chipsets are slightly different, with the Key2 LE running on the Snapdragon 636, while the BlackBerry Key2 has the Snapdragon 660. While the KEY2 had a generous 6GB of RAM, the LE has a perfectly adequate 4GB.

Rear Camera: 

Dual Rear cameras grace the back of the BlackBerry Key2 LE with a 13 megapixel and a 5 megapixel lens.  This is slightly smaller combination to the 12 megapixel rear lenses of the BlackBerry Key2, but both devices offer an 8 megapixel selfie camera.

Build:

As a cheaper phone, the KEY2 LE has a polycarbonate build with a metal  frame, which makes it lighter-weight and less expensive to make. Great if you’re looking for something lightweight in your pocket as it is 12 grams lighter than the Key2.

You can Pre order the BlackBerry KEY2 LE today, available with UK and international delivery. Don’t forget all of our handsets are unlocked, but you can add a sim if you need one.