u/ReyXbox360

Context in the photos: I have 1 Zinwa Q25 and 1 BlackBerry Classic running BB10, I set up my Zinwa to be as close as possible to BB10 since I liked BB10 a lot. The right phone = Zinwa, left phone = BB Classic.

Backstory: I have been an Apple user for over 9 years now. I still run my main phone as an iPhone and I have a Macbook as my main laptop. My reasons for getting a Blackberry were as many people have stated - keyboard + a simple communication device. I bought a normal BB Classic 1 month ago and it can function pretty well in 2026 as an MP3 Player and offline device. The original BB classic can also still email and you can sideload apps like Telegram, Instagram, and even Chrome making it decently usable when connected to wifi. The main issue I was running into was I desperately wanted it as a dumb phone, a phone that could call and text so I could unplug for the weekend while still having a way to call / text my loved ones. So I finally bought in and paid the price of getting a Zinwa. My thoughts were this - I want a dumb phone, the Clicks and Titan 2 Elite already have a price point of around $500, sure the software will be better suited for those devices, but they just ain't BlackBerry God Dammit! The BlackBerry Classic is so dang beautiful and those phones just do not convey the same sleekness. Anyways, 2 weeks of having the Zinwa - here are my thoughts, feedback, and answered questions.

1. Calls and Texts work perfectly fine on AT&T and T-Mobile

This alone was the reason I got the Zinwa. I live in the US, I tried connecting my BB Classic to T-Mobile and failed. Several reports that 2G and 3G is dead in the US, thus, the BB Classic is not able to connect to any carrier in the states. With my Zinwa, I went to AT&T, input a SIM card, and had service immediately. The call quality is great and reception is perfect, I have not had a case where I was not able to make a call / text. If you strongly desire a BB Classic as your dumb phone to call / text - this alone should make it worth it for you.

2. The Battery is great

Not much to say. It is modified to take be USB-C so should be convenient to charge anywhere. The battery lasts me 2-3 days before needing a charge.

3. Downloadable Apps

You can pretty much get any app from the Google Play Store onto your Zinwa. I was pleasantly surprised to see Apple Music. ChatGPT works perfect. Waze works perfect. All google apps like Gmail / G-Suite work fine. Since I use it as a dumb phone, I have not tried Instagram, YouTube, etc - but there should be no issues with social medias either. I have not tried banking apps nor would I want to, but I think those would work fine too.

4. The camera sucks

Going to be honest, the camera app is horrific. The front camera can never focus for me, the quality is also horrible considering it has been "upgraded". The OG BB Classic on BB10 takes almost as good of photos IMO. Not a dealbreaker for me but may be for others, especially if it is your daily driver.

5. Overall Smoothness of usability

This is something everyone should know before getting a Zinwa. It is a bit hard to explain, but the overall user experience can be painful at times. The Keyboard can be glitchy, the trackpad is very glitchy depending the app, the overall tool belt is not as smooth as the BB Classic running BB10. Obviously since BB10 is made for the BB classic, and this is just an android device with BB Classic Hardware, you should expect hiccups on Zinwa's Q25. The toolbelt is beautiful and still usable, however be aware that it will not be "smooth" as a normal BB Classic running BB10. If BB10 is a 10/10 for smoothness, I would give Zinwa's a 7.3/10. Not horrible but not great either.

Overall thoughts:

Great as a dumb phone, would be painful as a daily driver. Is it worth it over the Clicks or Titan 2 Elite? Hard to say. For me, calls and texts work fine and it is my favorite phone design ever, the keyboard is all time as fuck. It should be able to call / text for at least 2 years and that alone makes it worth it for me to have as a 2nd phone to detach from my main. For someone who needs a good camera, social media, banking apps, android pay, and wants to replace their smart phone entirely? Probably not. If the BB Classic running BB10 could make calls / texts would I have still bought this Zinwa Q25? No.

Feel free to comment questions, I will try to answer them as best I can.

First and foremost, this phone is just utterly gorgeous, even as just a glorified MP3 player I do not regret buying one in 2026. Alas, the phone is old and outdated so it is VERY limited. I wanted to answer questions for anyone who has been thinking about getting one. These were all questions I had before purchasing.

1. Cell phone service (Calling and Texting)

I live in the US. As far as I can tell, this is almost entirely dead. Outside the US, various sources show that it is indeed working in the likes of Europe and Asia. Users have claimed that it might work with T-Mobile in the US since they still support 2g and 3g. I tried myself but no luck. I went into the T Mobile store, input a SIM and tried for 30 mins to make a call and receive / send texts but nothing worked. If anyone can attest to getting this to work, please comment.

2. Email works perfectly but is a security risk

You can easily connect an email to this phone using IMAP and SMTP. Use chatgpt if you want it to walk you through step by step. This has actually been the only real effective communication method I have found for this device. It does pose a security risk however, so I would not use this for a business or personal email. A burner email would be perfect, forward emails here, email loved ones, etc.

3. Sideloading Apps (APKs)

You need to buy a microSD card to easily download workable apps but it is very worth it. Since the classic runs BB10 and BB10 is not supported anymore, there are no apps you can download from the app store. As such, even the browser that comes with the phone is totally useless. For this reason, I recommend getting a MicroSD and Sideloading a browser like Chrome. In my pics you can see I am on youtube listening to a video with Chrome. Using the normal browser - it is impossible to use YouTube. Beware that these apps are glitchy and a website like chatgpt obviously wont work. This is really only useful for youtube videos and basic google searches. Google translate works well too on browser.

NOTABLE APPS TO GET: Chrome, Firefox, Instagram (Surprisingly works well), Telegram, MagicEarth

Resources on APKs for BB10: ProjectBerry 2.0 on youtube

Link for some APKs

4. What can it be used for?

Mainly offline apps - MP3 player, Alarm, Notetaker, camera, looking at downloaded photos, downloaded audiobooks / downloaded podcasts.

With some work and a connection to wifi - Emailing, Decent Browser, Instagram, Telegram, Discord.

Hope that helps.

Never owned a Blackberry before this week. Super nostalgic and the phones are so aesthetically pleasing.

The bold has basically no utility but has some fun phone games on it. The classic has some utility.

Here is how I set it up and have used it for 4 days.

1. Burner Email

Its a security risk to run your real personal email or business email. However you can create a burner email and just set up a workflow that forwards all your emails to the burner email. I have done that and also signed up for some news letter so I can read up on news on my classic. Need to use imap to set this up but its not complicated.

2. MP3 Player + Photos / Videos

Main utility here. I go for walks and just plug in my headphones and look at this aesthetically pleasing device. I set up a 128 microSD and uploaded thousands of songs and pictures to have on this.

3. Alarm

This is really underrated. I used to sleep with my iPhone since it was my alarm. I did not like this since it led to me doomscrolling at night and losing sleep. I leave it in a separate room now and just use my classic as an alarm.

4. Notetaker

Not really that useful, the keyboard is cool af to use but I do not jot down too much. Still fun to type though. Could be useful to jot down all my passwords on here I guess.

Main complaint - the battery life is horrific. Takes forever to charge and does not even last a day if you use it. On a full charge, it loses half battery in 8 hours of doing nothing. Its old so I probably need to replace the battery but I have seen mixed reviews that doing so will still have the same issue.

Overall cool purchase but not useful enough to replace my iPhone. With the releases of the Clicks Communicator and Titan Elite 2, all the aforementioned problems should be solved.