The Priv is running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, which means that Marshmallow will follow in a future update.

What the Priv does bring to the table is a vast list of extremely useful software and security enhancements - more so than any other Android phone I’ve used. There are so many in fact, it’s difficult to know where to start.

The home screen is as good a place as any, I suppose. Swiping up on any app icon that supports widgets (marked by three small dots) will bring up a pop-up widget. Instead of the Google Play Music widget cluttering up the screen for example, a simple swipe up shows the controls and album art, before it’s swept away again.

If you’re like me, and prefer a widget-free home screen for a cleaner look, this is a fantastic, refreshing idea, and it’s something that I want Google to bake into stock Android immediately.

Swiping up from the bottom of the screen calls up Google Now, which is a gesture Android fans will be familiar with. It also throws up two customisable shortcuts, which I found useful for accessing the BlackBerry Hub and the camera.

Another useful addition to the pile is the customisable shortcut bar. Its size and location on either side of the screen can be tweaked, and a simple thumb swipe from any app or screen instantly brings up your newest messages, calendar appointments, contacts, and notes. This is another really useful feature I’d love for Google to implement natively. Nice one, BlackBerry.

Security-wise, BlackBerry’s built-in DTEK app does a decent job of simplifying all the various security and privacy settings that Android has to offer. It saves you from trawling through nests of menus to check or uncheck various settings, but its most powerful feature is the ability to quickly and easily see all the different permissions for all of your apps. You can, for example, see how often an app accesses your microphone throughout the day, and take measures to stop it, if you’d rather it didn’t.