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Battery life
- The DTEK50 won't last a day on a single charge, so take a charger with you
- Supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0, giving you 50% in 51 minutes
The BlackBerry DTEK50 comes with a non-removable 2610mAh battery, which really isn't big enough and is smaller than many rivals, such as the 3000mAh OnePlus 3.
Battery life was consistently poor on the DTEK50, and drain seemed sporadic and unexpectedly high. A two and a half hour Spotify streaming session (over a mobile network) with the screen off saw the battery percentage dive by around 50% - which is a seriously alarming rate of decline.
Even with day-to-day usage, which included a few phone calls, light social media use, emails, a handful of texts and a couple of brief Spotify sessions, the DTEK50 was crying out for a charge come early evening.
In short, you'll really struggle to get a full day from a single charge, and that's very disappointing. Drain doesn't get any better when it comes to movie playback or gaming, with both activities hammering the battery life. 45 minutes of Pokémon Go saw 30% disappear from the DTEK50.
Running the 90 minute HD TechRadar video test with screen brightness on full and various accounts syncing over Wi-Fi in the background, the DTEK50 lost 27% of its life. Again, that's not a particularly strong showing and flags up the phone's weakness in this area. The OnePlus 3 for comparison dropped 23% and even that isn't a great result.
The micro USB connection on the base of the phone is Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 enabled, giving you 50% charge in 51 minutes, but with handsets like the OnePlus 3 giving you the same amount of juice in almost half the time it provides little comfort.
If you do opt for the DTEK50, make sure you carry a charger or portable power pack with you. You'll need it.
Camera
- Solid everyday snapper on the rear with an easy to use application
- Front-facing camera is fine for the occasional selfie
While the battery may be a low point, the BlackBerry DTEK50 redeems itself somewhat with a 13MP rear camera, which is capable of taking some rather nice snaps.
Don't go expecting flagship quality, but we were impressed with the snapping ability on a phone which costs half the price of the top tier offerings on the market.
The rear camera boasts auto-focus, a dual-tone flash, HDR (high dynamic range, which brightens up shadows) and full HD video recording, all controlled by a simple application which makes point-and-shoot easy.
Modes are limited, with just camera, panorama and video under the main "mode" menu. There is a hidden fourth option though, with manual mode available from the drop down menu in the top right corner giving you control over exposure, ISO, white balance and shutter speed - perfect for any budding photographers out there.
There's also a selection of 20 Instagram-style filters you can apply to your shots if you fancy something a little artier. They're pretty basic, but can give you the desired effect with little hassle.
Get snapping and the DTEK50 can be slightly sluggish when focusing, with a gentle tap on the screen sometimes required to help it on its way – but once it's sorted the shutter speed is quick.
In good light the BlackBerry DTEK50 takes solid, detailed shots, and if you opt for HDR it does a really good job of brightening up areas in shadow. It can get carried away though, with some HDR efforts looking over-saturated.
In low light things are a little more of a struggle, with the DTEK50 finding it difficult to pull in enough light for a clear shot and images tending to come up a little grainy.
Round the front, the 8MP selfie camera is serviceable for the odd mug shot, but the quality of the final images falls short of the megapixel billing on the spec sheet, with a lack of vibrancy and detail.
