Introducing a completely new way to use your smartphones, a new experience where features and apps work together – like a dream and share your train of thought to help you complete tasks faster and with ease.
Indeed, the BlackBerry Z10 has succeeded for the struggling Canadian company in at least one sense: It’s no longer embarrassing to whip out a BlackBerry in public.
Overall, the BlackBerry Z10 feels like a nicely balanced device. The weight feels great, as it’s not too light and not too heavy. The Z10 hardware is also really sturdy. I have dropped the Z10 a handful of times, without a case, and it has never received more than a little scratch on the back cover.
The buttons on the Z10 are helpful and easy to press. The volume keys allow you to change volume levels even when the device is locked, which helps for listening to music. The best part of the hardware is probably the HDMI and Micro-USB connections. It’s so nice to be able to share connectors with people who don’t even use a BlackBerry 10 device. Sharing a charger with someone makes you realize how lame it must be to be an iPhone 5 user. No offence to Apple lovers.
Some of the basic specifications of the BlackBerry Z10 are:
1280 x 768 resolutions, at 356 pixels per inch (PPI) 4.2 inch screen.
8 megapixel auto-focus camera1080p HD video recording
2 megapixel fixed-focus front camera
720p HD video recording
BlackBerry Balance for corporate users
Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (LE)
Near Field Communication (NFC)
Support for HDMI and Micro-USB
The Z10′s resolution is powerful enough to look great on the device and also great when connected to a TV with the HDMI connection. The photo option also comes with a nice feature called Time Shift which allows you to shift the time of the picture, specifically a face in the photo so you can get the perfect shot. I really like the external speaker; it has revolutionised the BB music style.
The quality of the video camera is great but what really sets it apart is the ability to edit videos and create your own and upload it to YouTube with instance.
BlackBerry 10 is a huge improvement over the legacy BlackBerry OS. It’s everything that BlackBerry needs to be in order to be competitive in the smartphone industry. The way it handles apps, multi-tasks and “flows” is such a breath of fresh air compared to the old BlackBerry experience. The User Experience is fast and responsive and overall I’m really pleased with the experience, especially when compared to the legacy devices.
One big reason people have been using a BlackBerry for so long is that it does one thing and it does it really well: messaging. The vast majority of smartphone user’s usage is spent messaging, whether it’s email, SMS, twitter or BBM. The Z10 comes with a virtual keyboard so you would now have to train your brain to “flick”. Unless you’re flicking, the spell checker will replace your intended word with what it thinks you want to type. Without the flick, you’re constantly working against a virtual keyboard that thinks it’s smarter than you.
In terms of messaging, BlackBerry Hub is the main selling point with BlackBerry 10 and it’s a great feature. The BlackBerry Hub generally does an excellent job of managing all social media, email and blogging accounts including calendars and contacts.
Performance on the Z10 is magnificent. Applications load quickly and the device boots up in a short period of time. Overall, the device has never frozen, crashed, restarted or had any major performance issues since in usage. The BlackBerry 10 OS by QNX definitely seems to be worth its purchase price as it brings BlackBerry into a new era of mobile.
The battery life on the Z10 depends on how and what you use the phone for, but it gives you – on average -up to 4 to 6 hours.
** Consider the following before buying the blackberry Z10:
Am I a touchscreen user? The question can also be answered by asking yourself what you’re going to use your device for most often. Will you be doing a lot of messaging and business? Or will you be playing games and browsing the Internet. If the answer is messaging, I say wait for the Q10 – which comes with both touch and keyboard.
Will this device get BlackBerry to the number 3 position? I hope so. It’s so hard to tell these days. It seems insane that only 2 operating systems (Android and iOS) can dominate the entire mobile OS market, especially because 10 years from now smartphones could easily number in the billions.