1. donnation's Avatar
    So I decided to purchase a leap because honestly I wanted to go back to using full touchscreen after using the Passport for a while. I won't use the Z10 again because the batter life is so terrible and the Z30 I can't get LTE on and I hate the side buttons on that phone because the press constantly while in your pocket if using the phone on a bluetooth headset.

    Anyway, I ordered a Leap from Amazon, which was a great price at $275. Here are some of my initial thoughts on the phone. First the positive:

    1. Battery life is improved over the Z10. I had horrific battery life with the Z10 and could never get more than 4 hours out of it with medium/heavy usage. I'm not getting close to the dramatic results people are getting in here but am getting close to around 7 or 8hrs of medium/heavy usage over the past couple of days. I've had the phone a week and won't judge the battery on BB10 until the OS has had a little bit to sync everything.

    2. The screen is fine. Nothing mind boggling but nice and clear and I do like having a large display.

    3. The OS so far hasn't stuttered. Things have been running pretty smoothly (aside from Android apps discussed below) but thus far the phone has been running fine.

    Now for the bad:

    1. The speaker on this phone are pretty much worthless. Turning it all the way up while playing music causes some type of rattling in the phone and speaker phone calls are terrible. The speakerphone volume is weak and the calls sound muffled.

    2. Ear piece volume. I don't know if its just my phone but the quality and loudness in the earpiece speaker are terrible. The volume is too low and I have to really press the phone to my ear to hear someone. I don't know if this is regular with this device but its not too good. I talk mostly on bluetooth in my car though so its not a huge deal to me.

    3. The Camera: The camera isn't very good. It appears to be the same one in the Z10 and the same problems exist. Poorly lit, poor picture. Slight movement, blurry picture. If its a well lit environment with nonmoving subjects then the photos are passable. If not, the photos aren't very good at all. If you take a lot of pictures I wouldn't recommend this phone as BB is still struggling in this department. The fact that it says 8MP autofocus on the back really points to the fact that they are trying to say that this camera is great with an autofocus, but in reality they are pretty poor and BB doesn't seem to realize that putting that on the back of their phone as a highlighted feature only shows they are way behind the times in this department.

    4. Build Quality - This feels like a $275 device to me. The Z30 has a great feel to it. I haven't held a Z10 in a while but I remember it felling a little more premium than this phone does, but again, this is a very affordable device so I get that cost savings was key here in the design of the phone. I hate the feel of the back of this phone and the whole phone feels like a piece of cheap plastic and is slippery. I'd definitely use a case with it as most people use one on their phone anyway so I'm not sure how big of a deal this is.

    5. Android apps - Decent, but slower than running an an Android app on the Passport. Some are much slower to open (sirius XM being really slow) but I don't run a lot of them so I can't comment on really how well most of them will run.

    Bottom line for me is that this phone would serve as an acceptable backup while I was waiting for another phone or for my phone to be fixed. I'm not sure the demographic BB was shooting for here will want this type of device but who knows, maybe they will (I'm late 30's so I guess I'm a little older than their target market). I got it just to play with it and while I'll probably keep it, I wouldn't use it unless I had to. Again these are just my opinions in my brief time with the phone so take them as you will.
    Last edited by donnation; 05-19-15 at 05:18 PM.
    lift, awindsr and matthew550 like this.
    05-19-15 11:47 AM
  2. lumumba500's Avatar
    ****

    From my first ever BlackBerry (z10)
    05-19-15 12:53 PM
  3. Paul Collins4's Avatar
    Just received my leap took screen protector off then tried to use phone. Sounded quiet. After a quick inspection there was a 'hard to see ' little clear sticker over ear piece. All is fine now!

    LeapSTR100-1/10.3......
    awindsr likes this.
    05-19-15 01:06 PM
  4. Rarefrith's Avatar
    Really like my leap, I've come from a Q5 so not used to using top end devices but delighted with it. Efficient, productive and the battery has been lasting nearly 2 days so far though I turn my phone off when I go to bed.

    Posted via my BlackBerry Leap
    awindsr likes this.
    05-19-15 01:56 PM
  5. Paul Collins4's Avatar
    Really like my leap, I've come from a Q5 so not used to using top end devices but delighted with it. Efficient, productive and the battery has been lasting nearly 2 days so far though I turn my phone off when I go to bed.

    Posted via my BlackBerry Leap
    I love it as well I don't know why the hate. I came from a passport

    LeapSTR100-1/10.3......
    awindsr likes this.
    05-19-15 03:35 PM
  6. lift's Avatar
    1. The speaker on this phone are pretty much worthless. Turning it all the way up while playing music causes some type of rattling in the phone and speaker phone calls are terrible. The speakerphone volume is weak and the calls sound muffled.

    2. Ear piece volume. I don't know if its just my phone but the quality and loudness in the earpiece speaker are terrible. The volume is too low and I have to really press the phone to my ear to hear someone. I don't know if this is regular with this device but its not too good. I talk mostly on bluetooth in my car though so its not a huge deal to me.
    I would have to say that was a great review. I owned my Leap for about a week and returned it. Your bad point number 1 was the main reason. I don't know what Blackberry did wrong with the speaker, but it was almost the worst speaker I ever heard on a modern smartphone. It had terrible sound quality and when you TRIED to turn it up loud it rattled terribly. Just a major fail in my opinion.
    I am pretty tight with my money so I just could not justify the $293 including taxes. Maybe BlackBerry will find the problem with the speaker and fix it going forward. Then maybe I could justify the price. Maybe.
    05-19-15 03:40 PM
  7. Rasheed White's Avatar
    who the hell uses speakers on a smartphone, everybody is expecting bose sound quality on a phone

    Posted via CB10
    mkelley65 likes this.
    05-19-15 06:25 PM
  8. donnation's Avatar
    who the hell uses speakers on a smartphone, everybody is expecting bose sound quality on a phone

    Posted via CB10
    Lol but let's praise the Z30's speakers. I use speakerphone a lot, and so do a lot of people, and the Leap's is terrible.
    05-19-15 07:25 PM
  9. matthew550's Avatar
    Great review! I can easily see your points!

    Yes, the Z30's speakers are something else -- easily the best I've heard from a phone (and I have several). It came in handy when I was on holiday as it sounded better than the speakers on my laptop.

    I wanted to comment on point #4. After receiving my Leap today, it gives the impression/feel of a $129 (USD) phone, not a $275 device. I can see the Z30 being more of a $275 phone and the Passport worth the $500'ish (I have both). The Leap feels, physically and operationally, like a solid phone but reminds me of my $49-99 Lumia 635 or, perhaps more similarly, the newer Lumia 640 that is going for approximately $129. Just my two cents, for what it's worth, from someone who has more phones than common sense. ;-)
    anon(5830442) likes this.
    05-19-15 08:00 PM
  10. lift's Avatar
    Lol but let's praise the Z30's speakers. I use speakerphone a lot, and so do a lot of people, and the Leap's is terrible.
    Same here. I also use it for listening to music and it is terrible at that too.
    05-19-15 09:54 PM
  11. Drenegade's Avatar
    who the hell uses speakers on a smartphone, everybody is expecting bose sound quality on a phone

    Posted via CB10
    That's one of the many reasons that the Leap gets hated on. It's because BlackBerry made a phone that was a downgrade to the Z30 a year and a half later.

    The Z30 speaker is amazing and I use it all the time for music.

    Posted via CB10
    05-20-15 12:06 AM
  12. axlrvx's Avatar
    I can't believe that the people still thinking about the Leap as a z30 upgrade or downgrade, THEY ARE IN DIFFERENT LEAGUES FOR GOD'S SAKE! It's like say "ohh ****, the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime is a piece of sh*t compared to the Samsung Galaxy S4 (2013), I can't believe that they launched that 2013's hardware smartphone on 2014"

    Posted via CB10
    Dave Bourque and brunoxrs like this.
    05-20-15 12:30 AM
  13. RubenDM's Avatar
    8h on such a battery
    Damn, what the hell do you use youre phone for if i can ask?

    I'm on a Q10 with 2 mails, fb,twitter, android apps etc..
    Getting 1 day of usage

    Posted via CB10
    05-20-15 12:33 AM
  14. georgethegreek's Avatar
    Wow I can't get over the battery results of the OP. My Z30 lasts all day and I have 6 email accounts with heavy email coming thru and FB, Twitter, Blaq. One of the advantages of the BlackBerry is the battery. Wow if that is normal for Leap. Why would anyone grab this phone.

    Posted via CB10
    05-20-15 12:40 AM
  15. johnny_bravo72's Avatar
    who the hell uses speakers on a smartphone, everybody is expecting bose sound quality on a phone

    Posted via CB10
    Lol @ using Bose for sound quality reference. :P

    Posted from an ME173X
    05-20-15 01:39 AM
  16. donnation's Avatar
    8h on such a battery
    Damn, what the hell do you use youre phone for if i can ask?

    I'm on a Q10 with 2 mails, fb,twitter, android apps etc..
    Getting 1 day of usage

    Posted via CB10
    I talk on the phone a lot.
    05-20-15 04:50 AM
  17. Tompire's Avatar
    How could you think about getting a Leap to replace your Passport. Sounds for me like a joke.

    I hope it was..

    I've got the Leap today! Nice phone but hello! Replacing my Passport with the Leap? Is like going from a Merc to a Fiat..

    ..the Passport is more BlackBerry than ever!
    05-21-15 01:22 PM
  18. Paul Collins4's Avatar
    How could you think about getting a Leap to replace your Passport. Sounds for me like a joke.

    I hope it was..

    I've got the Leap today! Nice phone but hello! Replacing my Passport with the Leap? Is like going from a Merc to a Fiat..

    ..the Passport is more BlackBerry than ever!
    It's true. I loved my passport but had 3 with hardware problems just gave up. Loving the leap tho best build quality I have seen since the z10

    LeapSTR100-1/10.3......
    awindsr likes this.
    05-21-15 02:50 PM
  19. donnation's Avatar
    How could you think about getting a Leap to replace your Passport. Sounds for me like a joke.

    I hope it was..

    I've got the Leap today! Nice phone but hello! Replacing my Passport with the Leap? Is like going from a Merc to a Fiat..

    ..the Passport is more BlackBerry than ever!
    I didn't get rid of the Passport but I'm not a fan of the keyboard. I'll most likely try the Classic and see how it goes with that.
    05-21-15 08:37 PM
  20. kbz1960's Avatar
    I didn't get rid of the Passport but I'm not a fan of the keyboard. I'll most likely try the Classic and see how it goes with that.
    Seems most power users think the classic is slow.
    05-21-15 09:02 PM
  21. Fs Laflamme's Avatar
    We expect the sound on a mid range $ phone as good as competitor in the same range 300-550 $. Lumia 830, LG G3 etc.
    The usual BlackBerry user may be not usually play vid�o or games.. but this phone is suppose to offer a good first experience to a BB newbie. not only be a replacment to the z30 that nobody could have for a while by a carrier.
    Why having downgraded the processor on this phone? Why not choosed an architecture a bite aged a pro one with a 10 or 12 mp onboard(snapdragon 400-600 series)? The competition is far from that with octa core with main 16MP and more 5 or 8MP frontal camera(Snapdragon 800 serie).??? A simple mid range sony with BB in it would not be better than that?

    The Passport was just perfectly fine.A high end productivity phone very powerful. (ut many user have bad issue of battery drain since the last 4 months(it appear to have something to do with an OS update or security breach, So BB YOU have to fix it very SOON because many Customers will leave for ever!!! My wife is near to do so) BlackBerry company just can deceive anymore. This phone is simply smell quality, is size an look (it looks like chanel for me) make an ideal bussiness woman phone.

    The Classic is good an useful as communication hub between car, office and PC. Even if it stays in at your belt. But the timing should be better great a year ago.
    The Z30 a real high full hd BB. But so appreciate that try to find it at any carriers in Canada is virtually impossible.(a very good sign of a succes)
    With th BB Leap, we were expecting a z30 reedition with just a networking an OS update, at a smaller price than first edition. that it.
    But the Leap!!??... Will be a a easy to buy on eBay.. sadly. As the curve did in the past for north america market, the leap will convince BB newbie to never buy again a BlackBerry.
    Do you really thing a smart is propose a subsential mercedes experience..Really? Why so they put there name on it?
    I thing BB should continu to propose High end phone and sould do reedition with update of their three flaghips at lower price. Period. Or for a the mid range price phone propose a BB OS version of a just released phone like Xperia or a Samsung. So people at the carriers sould see the advantage for many of them of a BB OS turning perfectly on a affordable phone an everybody phone well build and right on expectations price-size-power-camera.

    A BB fan, an e-class mercedes owner.
    Last edited by Fs Laflamme; 08-30-15 at 12:17 AM.
    mighthor likes this.
    08-29-15 11:37 PM
  22. PALeafs67's Avatar
    I'm a mid 50s dude and I got my Leap a few months back for $250.00 and really only use it for Candy Crush the odd bowling game though , and its very choppy at best and the speaker ! is a disaster !!
    I've got the Z30 and Q10 as well and pull these out once in while ,but I'm still sold on the size of my Z10 I ll probably just keep using the Leap as a play device ,I can't see myself using it full time due to size as well too big for the pockets...

    Via Lenovo pad 2
    08-30-15 04:53 PM
  23. skstrials's Avatar
    So I decided to purchase a leap because honestly I wanted to go back to using full touchscreen after using the Passport for a while. I won't use the Z10 again because the batter life is so terrible and the Z30 I can't get LTE on and I hate the side buttons on that phone because the press constantly while in your pocket if using the phone on a bluetooth headset.

    Anyway, I ordered a Leap from Amazon, which was a great price at $275. Here are some of my initial thoughts on the phone. First the positive:

    1. Battery life is improved over the Z10. I had horrific battery life with the Z10 and could never get more than 4 hours out of it with medium/heavy usage. I'm not getting close to the dramatic results people are getting in here but am getting close to around 7 or 8hrs of medium/heavy usage over the past couple of days. I've had the phone a week and won't judge the battery on BB10 until the OS has had a little bit to sync everything.

    2. The screen is fine. Nothing mind boggling but nice and clear and I do like having a large display.

    3. The OS so far hasn't stuttered. Things have been running pretty smoothly (aside from Android apps discussed below) but thus far the phone has been running fine.

    Now for the bad:

    1. The speaker on this phone are pretty much worthless. Turning it all the way up while playing music causes some type of rattling in the phone and speaker phone calls are terrible. The speakerphone volume is weak and the calls sound muffled.

    2. Ear piece volume. I don't know if its just my phone but the quality and loudness in the earpiece speaker are terrible. The volume is too low and I have to really press the phone to my ear to hear someone. I don't know if this is regular with this device but its not too good. I talk mostly on bluetooth in my car though so its not a huge deal to me.

    3. The Camera: The camera isn't very good. It appears to be the same one in the Z10 and the same problems exist. Poorly lit, poor picture. Slight movement, blurry picture. If its a well lit environment with nonmoving subjects then the photos are passable. If not, the photos aren't very good at all. If you take a lot of pictures I wouldn't recommend this phone as BB is still struggling in this department. The fact that it says 8MP autofocus on the back really points to the fact that they are trying to say that this camera is great with an autofocus, but in reality they are pretty poor and BB doesn't seem to realize that putting that on the back of their phone as a highlighted feature only shows they are way behind the times in this department.

    4. Build Quality - This feels like a $275 device to me. The Z30 has a great feel to it. I haven't held a Z10 in a while but I remember it felling a little more premium than this phone does, but again, this is a very affordable device so I get that cost savings was key here in the design of the phone. I hate the feel of the back of this phone and the whole phone feels like a piece of cheap plastic and is slippery. I'd definitely use a case with it as most people use one on their phone anyway so I'm not sure how big of a deal this is.

    5. Android apps - Decent, but slower than running an an Android app on the Passport. Some are much slower to open (sirius XM being really slow) but I don't run a lot of them so I can't comment on really how well most of them will run.

    Bottom line for me is that this phone would serve as an acceptable backup while I was waiting for another phone or for my phone to be fixed. I'm not sure the demographic BB was shooting for here will want this type of device but who knows, maybe they will (I'm late 30's so I guess I'm a little older than their target market). I got it just to play with it and while I'll probably keep it, I wouldn't use it unless I had to. Again these are just my opinions in my brief time with the phone so take them as you will.
    You could have bought a Z10 with an extended back battery, and have a bigger battery than the leap, all while having a better battery life as well.

    http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...ry-z10-834209/

    Probably would have saved some money too over getting the leap.

    Posted via CB10
    08-31-15 10:27 AM
  24. emanuel0ss0's Avatar
    [QUOTE=Tompire;11653007]How could you think about getting a Leap to replace your Passport. Sounds for me like a joke.

    I hope it was..

    I've got the Leap today! Nice phone but hello! Replacing my Passport with the Leap? Is like going from a Merc to a Fiat..

    ..the Passport is more BlackBerry than ever![/QUOTE/]

    I'm thinking of getting a leap and I have a Passport. Sometimes the width of the phone isn't conducive to every day life. There are some days that I know are slow at work and having a touch screen BlackBerry would help. The Passport is a beast don't get me wrong, but watching netflix on this and watching a tiny rectangle sucks. I would much rather a 5" touchscreen BlackBerry.

    Post via my Awesome Red Passport running on T-Mobile Unlimited Data. SQW100-1/10.3.2.2339
    09-12-15 11:47 PM
  25. lift's Avatar
    [QUOTE=emanuel0ss0;11919039]
    How could you think about getting a Leap to replace your Passport. Sounds for me like a joke.

    I hope it was..

    I've got the Leap today! Nice phone but hello! Replacing my Passport with the Leap? Is like going from a Merc to a Fiat..

    ..the Passport is more BlackBerry than ever![/QUOTE/]

    I'm thinking of getting a leap and I have a Passport. Sometimes the width of the phone isn't conducive to every day life. There are some days that I know are slow at work and having a touch screen BlackBerry would help. The Passport is a beast don't get me wrong, but watching netflix on this and watching a tiny rectangle sucks. I would much rather a 5" touchscreen BlackBerry.

    Post via my Awesome Red Passport running on T-Mobile Unlimited Data. SQW100-1/10.3.2.2339
    The Leap is great. The only problem you may have switching from the Passport is the SIM's are not the same size.
    09-13-15 09:01 PM
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