Unihertz Titan 2 Elite review: I traded my smartphone for the BlackBerry feel

The Titan 2 Elite may say Unihertz on it, but it is really about a feeling: the one from over 20 years ago, when we could still use our beloved BlackBerrys. This device is about hardware, but not about the specs, rather about the emotions and the nostalgia it triggers.

Why the Titan 2 Elite grabbed me right away

In my early days on social media, it was all about BlackBerrys. I used the devices to the bitter end, until it really wasn’t possible anymore, and I kept all of them. By now, the plasticizers are dissolving and the housings have become sticky, which is why they sit behind glass.

When I first held the Titan 2 Elite in my hands at CES in Las Vegas in early 2026, I immediately remembered why. It’s the keys. That small, satisfying click with every letter. Finally haptic feedback when writing again, instead of glass that you type on anonymously.

I used to be able to type blind on my BlackBerry. When I then bought my first iPhone, the 4S, the glass felt like grasping at thin air. My thumbs were disoriented. I got used to that over the years. With the Titan 2 Elite, it all comes back, and now it’s the keys that are unfamiliar at first: having to actually press was new for my thumbs.

There was a little shriek of joy when I unconsciously swiped across the keys and scrolled the screen with it. Some shortcuts stay in the brain, even after 20 years.

A modern edition of the BlackBerry

Unihertz has gotten everything right here. The Titan 2 Elite is a modern, usable edition of the BlackBerrys: the format, the build quality, the keys and their design, the backlight. The whole thing runs on Android 16 and 5G.

That makes it completely usable every day, but definitely not for the mass market. Hand it to someone in their mid-20s and they will look at you as if you had lost your mind. Show it to someone between 40 and 60, and you have just discovered the Holy Grail.

Is the Titan 2 Elite usable every day?

For the first few days, I treated it like a rare gem. I eased into it slowly, installed WhatsApp, set up my email and at first used it only as a messenger, the way I used to use the BlackBerry.

Today, though, a smartphone has to do more for everyday life than email and phone calls: AI, camera, social media apps, and all day long. The Titan 2 Elite can do all of that. In some places it takes getting used to, but it works.

• Gemini is on board as an assistant, and you can install any AI app from the Play Store. For everyday tasks, they run well and smoothly.
• WhatsApp works flawlessly, with voice messages and pictures like on any other smartphone.
• The processor is completely sufficient to keep the device running smoothly. I’m not interested in benchmarks here.

Format, weight and what’s in the box

	Unihertz Titan 2 Elite
Size	11.7 cm × 7.5 cm
Thickness	10.4 mm
Weight	163 g
Display	4.03-inch AMOLED, almost square
Processor	MediaTek Dimensity 7400
Memory	12 GB RAM, 256 GB
Battery	4,050 mAh, charges at 33 watts
Rear cameras	50-megapixel main camera, 50-megapixel telephoto camera
System	Android 16, 5G

The format is truly compact, and I like that a lot. The device disappears into any pocket, without a holster and without fuss. The frame is metal and feels robust. But to tell the truth, it’s also quite thick and surprisingly heavy for this size. Compared to normal smartphones, it is still light.

In the box, there are a case, a screen protector and even a protective glass for the camera. Where else do you get something like that?

This device did something else to me: I wanted to make it mine. I don’t have that urge with any other smartphone. So a golden hand strap went on, stickers under the case and a magnet on the back so that I can attach a finger grip or a stand.

Social media: black bars as a built-in safeguard

It takes getting used to with the common social media apps, which all work in 16:9 or 9:16 format. The display of the Titan 2 Elite is almost square. On Instagram and YouTube, that means loads of black bars, no matter how you turn the device, and a relatively small picture.

Is that a drawback? I’m not sure. If you spend a large part of your time in social media apps, you won’t have much fun here. For me, that is exactly the point: social media isn’t that much fun on this device. A quick video on the train or in bed in the evening is fine, but not more. For me, that is a built-in safeguard against excessive consumption.

Since I’ve mainly been using the Titan 2 Elite, my time in the social media apps has dropped significantly, down to the essentials: staying up to date briefly and otherwise staying in touch with real people via messages and voice messages.

Unihertz recognized the problem and offers a mini mode that forces the format of the social media apps via software. Then you see Reels on Instagram in full again, but the picture gets even smaller.

The keyboard: scroll less, write more

The keyboard is, as with the BlackBerry, unbeaten.

• Shortcuts: One press of a key can launch an app directly.
• Navigation: Back, recent apps, home screen: everything works via the keys.
• Flick Typing: The keys are touch-sensitive. If you like, word suggestions appear above the keyboard, and you insert them with a swipe up.

You can’t write faster, at least once your thumbs have gotten used to pressing keys again.

Battery

The battery has 4,050 mAh and charges at 33 watts. The display isn’t very big, and you don’t spend hours on social media with this device. That’s why you easily get through a day, maybe even a day and a half.

Camera

On the back, there are two cameras with 50 megapixels each: a main camera and a telephoto camera. The shots are nothing to be ashamed of. I was especially pleasantly surprised by the quality of the telephoto camera.

I was unpleasantly surprised by the image stabilization in video recording. The Titan 2 Elite is not a smartphone for content creators or video professionals. For vacation photos and everyday snapshots, the quality is still really good. Videos turn out fine too, as long as you hold still.

Verdict

I love the Titan 2 Elite. It is a smartphone that swims against the current and has character, even if as a content creator I can’t use it exclusively. I still need a smartphone for social media, but that doesn’t apply to everyone.

It brings the BlackBerry feel completely back, with all the modern features we need in everyday life. And most importantly: typing is finally fun again. You type more deliberately, scroll less and reply to an email or write a message on purpose. This phone forces you a little toward intention. Whether that is a feature or a bug, you decide.