There’s a bit of an obsession out there with resurrecting the BlackBerry-style physical QWERTY keyboard but, after trying a couple of the latest attempts, I still struggle to see the appeal in 2026, and I’m really not sure who’s buying these.
The era of the physical smartphone keyboard is one I barely grew up in. My first phone without a traditional T9 setup was the Samsung Alias 2, a two-way flip phone that opened up to an e-paper QWERTY keyboard. It’s from that that I moved on to the touchscreen Android phones I’ve spent the past decade writing about and living with day after day. So the nostalgia play doesn’t really work with me. I’ve very much enjoyed my time with the repeated attempts to revive BlackBerry as a brand, but physical keys are not something I find myself immediately gravitating towards.
But, clearly, there are some people out there who really want these devices.
Enough that there’s still hardware being built for that market.
Two of those devices have crossed my desk as of late, starting with the Unihertz Titan Elite 2. This is a dedicated QWERTY Android phone that made its first appearance earlier this year and, as BlackBerry reboots go, it’s pretty solid.
