BlackBerry Key2 LE (Intl Model)

I brought the phone into a Verizon store because of some of the recommendations from some of the reviews here. I asked them about possible issues with text messages, and they had no idea what I was talking about. They recommended I call tech support if I have any issues. Well, I've had the phone for about four hours now, I've used about 10% of the battery setting crap up, and so far, I've yet to have issues. I know I can receive text messages because of the multi-factor authentication texts I received, but apparently all of my friends are sleeping. I've yet to have anyone respond to one (EDIT: The next morning, people started to respond to my test texts, so the texting did work right out of the box). My biggest peeve with modern mobile device technology is that I just don't like touch screens. They are cool as a peripheral tool, but having to use a touch screen as a primary input device is something that drives me batty especially when I have to type. I watched this phone for a few months waiting to see what the public reaction would be before I pulled the trigger on it. One thing I can say after four hours of use: It has been a long time since I've been able to say I've had a pleasant experience trying to accomplish anything productive on a phone. I can honestly say that using this device tonight was actually pleasant. The best part about it was simple. I put off getting a new phone for far too long because having to enter my email address and password a dozen times to set up all of the apps was not something I was looking forward to doing on a touchscreen. I blew through all of that with ease. Some quick notes about the phone itself: -The touch screen is slightly different. I would call it a little sluggish compared to Android and Apple products. I actually kind of like it, but it takes some getting used to. -The Blackberry Hub is a cool idea, but I've had integration issues. So far, I've been successful in migrating everything over, but I don't have the same functionality. That means I have to go find the original app anyway. The one really annoying thing is that the Hub is accessed by swiping from the right edge of the screen. This can be very annoying if you accidentally hit it while trying to swipe across your desktop (note: The new Android Q operating system is going to incorporate "back" and "home" buttons that swipe from the bottom of the screen. I find this to be a horrible idea because this phone also came with Google Messenger that was activated by swiping from the bottom, and I was constantly accidentally activating that as well. I did find out how to disable both apps, but it's a bit of extra work for those who are sensitive to this kind of thing). -The phone comes stock with a bunch of shortcuts. I remember this from my first Blackberry device way back in 2008. They were extremely handy for someone who is using a Smart Phone for the first time, but they are mostly useless to someone who already has everything set up. I deleted most of them. -Blackberry has a cool button that you can use to set up your own shortcuts. I don't know if this feature exists on Apple or other Android devices. If it does, I never found it. I had completely forgotten about it. Being able to set up 30 different shortcuts makes doing what you want to do extremely efficient. -One huge negative....the slot that holds the sim chip and the SD card is atrocious. It's an itty bitty slot. You have to have extremely good balancing skills to get the SIM chip and the SD card to stay on the stupid tray as you try to put it into the phone. You also need a tiny paperclip to get the slot open. Not a fan of this minor design "feature". -I'm also not a fan of the 3.5 mm jack being on the top of the phone. I'd prefer it to be on the bottom next to the charger port so that the wires can remain tidy while the phone is docked in my car. Overall, I'm very happy with the phone. I'd like to set a trend, here. Touchscreen phones are virtually unusable for me. My experience on this in the short time I've had it has been amazing. I feel like a 32 year old kid picking up my very first Blackberry back in 2007. Because of my struggles with modern smart phones, I actually began to feel like the information world, of which I had always been an early adopter, had started to leave me behind. This device is a breath of fresh air. It gives me exactly what I need to be successful and productive in this environment. Thank you, Blackberry, for sticking to your guns on this.