BlackBerry hasn't had the best time recently, but a shining light throughout the BlackBerry 10 launch and its more recent Android flirtation has been the BlackBerry Hub.
Hub is a one-stop-shop for all your messages, emails and social communications – and it's now getting the release it deserves.
The Canadian firm has launched its BlackBerry Hub+ suite for Android, allowing anyone with a handset running Android 6 Marshmallow or above to access its Hub, Calendar and Password Keeper services.
It's the Hub which is the standout feature here, as it pulls emails from all your accounts, text messages, instant messenger notifications and social chats into one easy-to-navigate application.
There is a catch though
The Hub+ Services suite is free to download from Google Play, and you'll get a 30-day free trial. Once that's over, you have two options.
Option 1: continue to pay nothing, but be prepared to live with ad-based experience, which will surely take the shine off the suite of apps.
Option 2: agree to pay 99 cents (probably 99p) per month for an ad-free experience and access to additional apps - contacts, tasks, device search, notes and launcher.
As a free service this is well worth considering, but it all hinges on the ad-based experience in the Hub. If it's too excessive you'll likely be better off using the dedicated messaging apps on your phone.
It's difficult to justify the monthly outlay when you consider the wealth of similar apps already pre-installed on your phone and available for free in the Play Store.
Those of you with BlackBerry Priv and DTEK50 handsets will continue to get all this for free, without ads, while BlackBerry says it's looking into bringing the suite to Android Lollipop devices in the future.
