BlackBerry Z10

Overview

Flagship BlackBerry Smartphone

Blackberry Z10 is a much-awaited Blackberry touch phone with the new OS 10. The phone has not met the user expectations fully but is still a step in right direction by Blackberry.

BlackBerry Z10 Design and Build Quality

The body of the phone is black and feels like a plastic grip but the build is strong and the phone feels very smooth in the hands. The weight is little on the plus side (137Grams) but the phone feels comfortable to hold. The battery is a bit small for a powerful phone but will last a decent time with moderate usage. HDMI and USB cable both come with the set and therefore you don’t have to purchase them from outside.

User Interface and Comfort to Use BlackBerry Z10

Touchscreens are the in thing nowadays and therefore Blackberry users have been looking forward to the full touchscreen phone by Blackberry. The phone has a 4.2-inch screen with an awesome display of 1280 x 768. The processor is 1.5GHz dual-core with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The storage can be expanded up to 64GB. The phone’s on screen keyboard is superb and the word suggestions are fast and accurate. The user interface of OS 10 is something new. The home screen has large thumbnails of the recently used apps. You can easily close them by using the bottom option. The processor is fast and apps are easy to access.

Telephony and Phonebook

In India, the phone supports 2G and 3G networks. The call connectivity is excellent however, the data browsing on 3G was not as fast as we would have liked. Otherwise, the phone call quality is good. Contacts in the Phonebook can be easily added from Google, Hotmail, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and BBM accounts. At one click at the contact, you can see all their details from various accounts at one place.

Messaging and Emails

Blackberry has a reputation for fast messaging and this phone lives up to that reputation. You can take a peek into the message by sliding the finger over the blackberry icon. The messaging app integrates third party applications like Whatsapp in it. The BBM messaging service on the phone has been revamped to give the users a smoother experience. BBM Voice and BBM Video are two new features that put the phone in the league of iPhone. The typing keyboard does not give you the access to punctuation marks easily but other than that, it works smoothly.

Gallery, Photo Viewer and Video Player

App wise the phone is very simple. The video player has been kept simple with basic options. The playback is not very good but good enough for watching a small episode. Picture app stores photos on the phone. The edit functions have 16 different options and you can just slide your way through the options before applying one. You cannot create albums directly from the app, which is a slight drawback. Contrast ratio of 2.051:1 in sunlight makes sure that you can see photos and videos in sunlight easily.

BlackBerry Z10 Music Player and FM Radio

Z10 is not a music phone. Therefore, the music app does not hold any surprises; it is very basic and easy to navigate. There is no equaliser on the phone and the music quality is OK. The player supports all major music formats.

BlackBerry Z10 Camera and Image Quality

The phone has an 8MP rear camera and a 2MP front camera. The camera is not one of the strong features of the phone and takes decent photographs. With 5x zoom and powerful LED, flash even the photo in dark come out very god. Auto focus and time shift features give a sharp clarity to photos.

Video Camera and Video Quality

The phone can record up to 1080p of videos and the video quality is quite good.

BlackBerry Z10 Connectivity Options

The phone has USB, HDMI, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and NFS as connectivity options. The connectivity speed is good and you don’t see any lag in Bluetooth or NFS transfer.

Organiser and other utility tools

The phone as basic utility tool functions like alarm, clock, calculator etc. You can set only one alarm at a time, which seems a bit strange because even the most basic phones nowadays offer multiple alarm functions.

Web Browser and Applications

Z10’s browser is crisp and with no frills. It still supports Adobe flash, which is good. The images and text can be seen clearly even with zoom. Browser of the phone is fast and even heavy websites load easily. There is no offline mode, which is a negative for the phone. Remember, DocsToGo, Newsstand, Games Hub are some of the apps on the phone. You can download more apps from the store.

Maps and GPS

Blackberry Maps are although not as good as Google maps but are still very workable. They are just standard maps with no traffic, street, or satellite overview options. GPS sometimes struggles a bit and takes time to load.

Distinctive Features of BlackBerry Z10

Fast messaging, fast browsing and time shift are some of the distinctive features of the phone.

Value for Money

The phone is priced at INR 43000 (approx., may vary) in the Indian Market. For people who love to email and message on the phone the phone definitely gives the value for money.