BlackBerry Mobile says it is taking 'measures' to strengthen KEYone displays

Now this is a swift response! After internet rabble rouser and professional phone destroyer, JerryRigEverything, put the KEYone through its paces last week, one of the main takeaways was that the display can come apart from the rest of the phone quite easily, as there isn't a lot of adhesive holding it all together.

After the video came out, I promised to do some durability tests of my own, and I'll summarize those in just a minute, but let's hear from BlackBerry Mobile, since it has just released a statement:

TCL Communication has a long-standing track record of delivering high-quality devices to our customers around the world, and the BlackBerry KEYone is no different. To ensure the highest quality in the BlackBerry KEYone, we used strong, durable premium materials and conducted rigorous stress tests on the device throughout the product development cycle to meet the real life use standards our customers demand. While the BlackBerry KEYone is being met with great enthusiasm, we are aware of the concerns around potential display separation on the device. Out of the thousands of BlackBerry KEYone smartphones that have been shipped and sold globally, only a very small handful of customers have reported this kind of issue.

Our teams are actively examining additional adhesive measures that might further strengthen and eliminate any possibility of display separation occurring. If a customer does experience this however, they're encouraged to contact us for a device warranty replacement.

The takeaway here is that the KEYone doesn't have a huge problem — only a handful of phones have been affected — but in either case, BB Mobile is "actively examining additional adhesive measures" to make sure this problem goes away completely. And if you've had a problem with the phone up 'til now, just contact the company and it will replace the phone for you under warranty. OK, that's great, but here are some of my findings (video coming soon!!) from my own durability tests:

I dropped and threw the phone around a lot and it took so much abuse (I had to throw it at a wall) to get the screen to break but overall it held up super well.
When I did manage to get the display off by actually bending the phone (on purpose) so the screen would pop out, I found there is adhesive in there. Here's what I wrote in the CrackBerry forums:

I took the KEYone apart... bent it hard and popped out display. So, interesting thing here is that THERE IS adhesive.... it's all around the edges of the display. Like a thin strip of black-ish caulking. If you watch JerryRig's video, there IS the same caulking in that video -- he's wrong to say there's "absolutely no adhesive" because there absolutely is. I just watch the video and you can see it. It's not under the metallic parts, but on the perimeter around the edge.

Could more be done to cement that display into place? Maybe.... but given the testing and the real "normal world abuse" I've given my KEYone over the past few months, don't think it's really an issue issue. Though given the occurrences of some letting go, I'd assume they do even more to lock in place. But if you own a KEYone already, I dunno.. I wouldn't worry about it unless you plan on twisting and bending the hell out of it. And if you do end up having an issue, I'm going to assume it'll be covered under warranty, etc.

So there you have it. BlackBerry Mobile is doing the right thing here, acknowledging that there is a small problem in a few units for some people, and making it right for them, and for everyone else.