Unihertz Titan 2 revives BlackBerry style with Android 15

If you’ve been hankering to thumb-type on a physical keyboard on your phone again, Unihertz wants to sort you out. Its upcoming Titan 2 phone looks like it’s modeled on beloved BlackBerry handsets, while packing Android 15 and up-to-date hardware to make it easy to live with.

More specifically, the Titan 2 looks a lot like the boxy BlackBerry Passport from 2014, with a 4.5-inch 1440×1440-px square display gracing its flat-edge body. The Shanghai-based brand, which is known for making tiny phones and rugged ones, is squarely aiming at nostalgic gadgetheads – and despite the brazen design imitation, it works for me.

The keyboard, which takes up the bottom third of the device’s face, features a full QWERTY layout with backlit tactile keys. Those keys can do a couple of neat tricks: they double as a trackpad so you can scroll through documents and TikToks without touching the screen, they support gestures to move the cursor around while working with text, and you can assign long-press or short-press shortcuts to each of them (like launching specific apps).

That should all help you get plenty of use out of the keyboard. There are also two shortcut buttons on the side that you can customize to quickly access functions on the phone.

You’ll find a secondary 2-inch display on the rear panel by the camera bump that shows you a clock as well as who’s calling (and likely other notifications as well).

Unihertz

On the inside, the Android 15-based Titan 2 is a major step up from the Titan that came out in 2019. It packs a mid-range MediaTek Dimensity 7300 octa-core chipset – the same one powering the US$279 CMF Phone 2 Pro, and the Motorola Razr 60 Ultra. That’s paired with 12 GB of memory, and a roomy 512 GB of storage.

Unihertz

The handset features a 50-megapixel camera on the back, as well as an 8-megapixel telephoto lens. There’s also a 32-megapixel snapper on the front. I wouldn’t expect outstanding image quality out of these, but at least you’ve got some flexibility when it comes to shooting photos.

Unihertz

With a decent 5,050-mAh and 33-W fast-charging – along with an included charger in the box, a nice touch – Unihertz promises the Titan 2 should last you all day. It supports 5G bands, comes with a dual SIM slot, and can be unlocked with your face.

Unihertz says the Titan 2 will receive software updates until at least Android 17, along with essential security and system patches along the way.

It’s a bit hefty at 8.3 oz (235 g), and a bit thicker than most phones available today at 10.8 mm (0.42 in). For reference, an iPhone 16 Plus is only 7.80 mm (0.31 in) and weighs 7.03 oz (199 g).

Unihertz

All that makes for a compelling package. The only real alternative to this for Android folks is the recent Clicks keyboard case, but that only fits select Google Pixel and Motorola Razr models.

I imagine the only notable drawback with the Titan 2 if you’re coming off a traditional smartphone is the fact that vertical video will naturally shrink to fit the wide screen. Still, this is first and foremost a productivity-focused phone, so it shouldn’t be too much of a bother for business types who are looking to do a lot of typing like in the old days.

Unihertz

The Titan 2 is currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter; it can be had for $269 at the time of writing, down from the expected retail price of $399. Assuming all goes to plan, the phone will ship in October to select countries, with charges ranging from $10-$30.

Unihertz

As with other crowdfunding campaigns, the usual cautions apply. For what it’s worth, Unihertz has been in the phone business for several years now, and its products have previously been well received.

Source: Kickstarter