SINGAPORE — Amid a sea of Android smartphone options, the BlackBerry Priv’s selling point as the “first-ever BlackBerry smartphone powered by Android” is enough to pique the interest of fans on both sides.

The Priv’s main draw is arguably its slide-out keyboard. It is unmistakably BlackBerry-inspired, right down to the design of the keys. It feels and types quite like a BlackBerry Bold, except that the keys are flatter and smaller.

The phone remains compact and thin, despite the addition of a physical keyboard. The entire keyboard is touch-sensitive, which means you can scroll or swipe your screen with it. The layout takes some getting used to but, once familiar, typing on the Priv is generally a smooth-sailing affair.

The Priv’s 5.4-in 2560 x 1440 curved AMOLED display offers rich colours, deep black levels and crisp details, coupled with an incredibly bright screen, making it a pleasure to read, watch and surf on the device.

While you get your standard (but not the latest) Android fare on the Priv, the device also comes with unique BlackBerry features.

Included with the Priv — which stands for “Privacy” and “Privilege” for short — is a DTEK security app that monitors and reports on risky application access.

Then there are the BlackBerry Messenger messaging client and BlackBerry Hub, where all modes of communication — email, social media feeds and messages — are consolidated into one timeline.

The software is cleverly designed in a way that both Android veterans as well as BlackBerry fans will face little difficulty in getting used to the phone.

The Priv’s achilles heel, however, is its 18-megapixel camera. While it is easily the best camera on any BlackBerry device ever, it pales in comparison to its competitors.

Photos turn out well; unfortunately, the camera is sluggish and its white balancing can get wildly inaccurate at times, especially indoors.

In our review, its 3410mAh battery allowed for about a working day-and-a-half of use on maximum brightness, including web surfing, messaging, and constant Facebook, Twitter and email updates.

A Snapdragon 808 processor, paired with 3GB of RAM, ensures that everything runs smoothly.

We did note that the phone gets very hot with intense use — such as extended periods of video-watching and gaming — but it is a small snag in an otherwise decent phone.

The device also comes with 32GB of memory and an extra microSD slot for up to an additional 2TB.

Overall, the device does a good job at appeasing both Android and Blackberry fans — the BlackBerry users who have been longing for a more robust app store, and Android fans looking to pair good software with a BlackBerry keyboard.

For these people, the BlackBerry Priv could make an excellent choice. However, if you are looking specifically for an Android phone, you are better off with the usual suspects, that is, the Huawei Nexus 6P and the flagship Samsung phones. And, if you are patient enough, there is the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S7.

The BlackBerry Priv is sold at S$1,098 through M1, Singtel, StarHub and other authorised partners.