Blackberry Z10 Review8/29/2020
Rebranded, refreshed, and desperate to impress, you cant knock BlackBerrys enthusiasm about its now-eponymous platform.Instead, and with the arguably more important Q10 QWERTY version a couple of months off, its a case of making an argument for BlackBerry 10 to occupy the coveted third ecosystem spot, and the scraps left behind from Android and iOS.
Is BlackBerry 10 the OS to give Windows Phone nightmares, reboot BlackBerry itself, and snatch both consumer and enterprise crowns Read on for our full review. BlackBerry was always keen to stress that the A and B versions of the Dev Alpha developer device were far from production-status, but bar a little aesthetic smoothing the ridge around the display is gone, and the upper and lower front bezels are refined this is the same identikit block as weve been seeing for months. The plastic back cover which tugs off with a fingernails snatch at the bottom edge, to reveal a long, thin battery compartment, micro SIM slot and microSD slot has been given a soft-touch, dimpled finish reminiscent of a golf ball; it feels neither cheap nor premium, being merely easy to grip and reluctant to slide around tabletops. MicroUSB and micro HDMI ports sit snugly along the left edge (BlackBerry includes a USB cable and charger in the box, along with a wired stereo headset which plugs in on the top edge of the phone, but not a micro HDMI cable); on the right there are volume buttons flanking a center key that triggers voice control. Its a bright panel with accurate colours, and the size and resolution balance do a fine job for smooth text. A front-facing 2-megapixel camera is above the display, along with proximity and ambient light sensors, while an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash is on the back. Shiny BlackBerry branding front and back complete the picture; you dont get a home button or any other fascia controls, with BlackBerry 10 dismissing them in favor of on-screen gestures. Blackberry Z10 Review Plus That MicroSDThe Z10 gets a 1.5GHz dualcore Qualcomm MSM8960 processor with a healthy 2GB of memory and 16GB of storage space (plus that microSD slot, of course, which is hot-swappable with up to 32GB cards), together with GPS, an accelerometer, digital compass, and a gyroscope. Theres also Bluetooth 4.0, as well as the ability to share the 4G connection with an integrated mobile hotspot feature. An all-touch phone is perhaps better suited to the state of the smartphone market today, however; the iPhone 5 and Samsungs Galaxy S III, the current best-sellers, are both dominated by their touch interface, and while the BlackBerry faithful is crying out for physical keyboards, the company needs a broad audience if it wants to turn about its fortunes. Still, the combination of touch and QWERTY with the new OS leaves us eager to spend more time with the Q10 when its fully baked. Its also the OS it really couldve done with for the past five years, as its portfolio of phones grew to look progressively more archaic in comparison to the iPhones simplicity and Androids growing refinement. Getting it right out of the gate was perhaps the best decision BlackBerry could make, and while it came in for criticism in missing its 2012 launch goals, it at least avoids the stigma of being broken on day one. Whether you generously call it an homage, or think its plain copying, BlackBerry 10 cherry-picks several interface elements from other platforms weve seen over the past few years. Swiping up, from the bottom edge of the display, takes you back to the task switcher; it also unlocks the phone, if the display isnt active. Swiping down, from the top of the display, pulls out a contextual menu, the contents of which depend on what view youre in. At the homescreen, for instance, there are toggles for Bluetooth, WiFi, screen rotation, and notifications, as well as shortcuts for the settings and the alarm; above it, theres a status bar with battery, clock, WiFi, and network signal strength. As on other platforms, you can drag one icon onto another and create a folder, as well as long-press and hit the trash icon to uninstall apps. A row of squares under the grid show how far through the launcher you are, and you can tap them to jump back, while at the bottom there are fixed icons for phone, search, and camera. Searches go through contacts, messages, calendar, web history, and apps by default though you can narrow things down with filters and third-party apps can hook into the search system so that their results are included too.
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