[BerryWizard]

I signed up to these forums JUST to post my first day experience with the Blackberry Q10. It's been twenty four hours now since I've received mine via Rogers device reservation system at a local shop in Vancouver.

Some background: This is the third generation of Blackberries I've owned now, upgraded from a 9900, but I'm not brand loyal as we've got a Microsoft Surface, iPad, and iPhones in the household. I've used the iPhone extensively as well and the Windows Phones. However, I've been patiently waiting for a hardware upgrade to the 9900 with a keyboard.

Hour 1
Shiny new Q10 box in my hands! Gorgeous packaging, can't wait to open it!

Hour 2
Coworkers excited at work, they loved the new form factor but heckled me a little for owning a Blackberry. I didn't want to turn it on till I got home and properly devote my focus to this pretty new device. First impressions.... form factor is beautiful, great weight and great keyboard design (without having turned it on), and loving the rubber on the back.

Hour 7 (after getting home)
Downloaded Blackberry Link. Major frustration with it not working with my Windows 7 PC. Took forever to boot up and hung a couple times. Was eager to get the new phone going. Finally got it to work and plugged in my old 9900, it automatically backed up the files and transferred over to my new Q10.

Hour 8
WHAT THE CRAP IS THIS

Hour 9
Almost in tears. Couldn't figure anything out, complained to husband. Every shortcut, menu, workflow I ever used on my old Blackberry was destroyed. I hated it. Everything seemed slow and unintuitive. I couldn't even figure out how to change from silent to vibrate and vice versa!

Hour 10
Plugged in the new phone and (after a while) figured out how to set the alarm. Actually shed a tear with frustration when I saw the analog clock face in sleep mode and didn't understand what happened to my easy digital face. Went to bed upset. Told the husband I was returning the phone first thing in the morning.

Hour 12
Woke up in the middle of the night after tossing and turning not being able to sleep. Secretly turned the phone back on without disturbing hubby and started looking up tutorials and how to do things. Here's what I figured out in the middle of the night:
1. You can change the clock face by going to the home screen, clicking on Clock, swiping downwards from the top and going into settings.
2. AH, so that's how you access the menus, by swiping downwards from the top. That helped a lot.
3. Added all my email accounts to the Hub, cleaned up some old text messages that were displaying incorrectly (I think these were old "empty" messages on my old phone which were basically drafts). Hold down on a message to delete it, or go into it and go into options to delete it.
4. Ah ha, in the Hub settings I can change what I get notified about and what I don't.
5. Just figuring out the gestures in general. 'L' shapes for the win!
6. I was changing my profiles (vibrate, silent etc) by going into settings and then doing the drop down. Once I realized you could swipe down from the top in most screens and just click on the "bell" icon to change from silent to vibrate quickly, I was much happier.
7. Adjusted screen brightness.
8. Finally got used to all the new icons.
9. Stopped trying to tap the screen to close, phone, or turn on the phone. Swipe up, swipe up, swipe up!
10. Started holding the phone a little bit higher so I could still use it one-handed even without the trackpad.

Hour 14
Back to bed, slightly appeased but still grumpy.

Hour 19
A brand new "sunrise" alarm clock ring greeted me and boy... I like it much better than the old one. A better way to start the day with the new phone.

Hour 20
Puttering around the house and on the way to work I was enjoying swiping into the Hub to read all my new messages and alerts that accumulated overnight. Facebook and Twitter are AWESOME in the Hub and on the new phone....... so much better than any other Blackberry ever, period.

Hour 21
Can't stop using this thing at work, pretty sure I'm going to get in trouble today! Added my work email account (for the first time ever on my personal device) and turned off all the notifications and customized when I get alerted or see my work messages. The Hub makes this balance AMAZING! I only need to check it when I want to, and I can hide the number of unread work messages and not even see them if I don't want to. (For example, I set my work email to NOT show up in the Hub, however I can still access it as a folder in the Hub menu) Love love love!

Hour 22
Figured out a few more things...
1. To mark all messages in a folder as unread, hold down on the date (e.g. Tues, May 2 in the little bar at the top of the screen) and then click the envelope with the down arrow to mark everything downwards in that folder as unread. Sweet!
2. I stopped automatically going into the home screen to do stuff. Now I pretty much exclusively use the Hub for ALL my texting, emails, FB, Twitter, etc... and I swipe over to the right only to use the Browser pretty much. Opening all of these at first seemed slow, but now that I'm doing everything from the Hub it's way easier and faster.
3. Simple swipe up and then type what I want to do. fb I'm loving my new Q10! to automatically post a Facebook status. txt Bonnie to text my friend Bonnie right away. Swipe up and press the phone button to access all my speed dials and voicemail easily. Once this is open it's very easy to toggle and swipe to the phone from the Hub.
4. LTE is amazing.
5. Timeshift on the camera is sweet. Whenever using the camera, let it focus till it's green and then it takes a great photo. Swipe along to get the best photo with timeshift.
6. Fixed the short timeout in Display settings to 90 seconds. WAY too short by default.
7. The browser is great. You can still click I and O to zoom in and out.
8. Most importantly.... I got used to swiping between the Hub and my apps. Once you get used to this, you've won.

Hour 24
I'm keeping the phone. I'm crazy in love with it. So much so that I had to write this post.

So, it's not perfect, as no piece of technology is. Here are some things still on my wishlist:
- It would still be nice to have keyboard shortcuts from any screen, especially speed dialing... but you get used to it.
- Disable certain accounts from showing notifications on the lock screen
- Double tapping in the browser doesn't have quite the right zoom yet and doesn't rearrange the text very well for reading. Seems to pick too far or too close, just needs a little tuning but not a dealbreaker.
- Wish in browser mode that there was a "virtual trackpad" button where you could scroll around a page in a small safe area that could be enabled or disabled. Would make one handed browsing easier for small hands like mine.
- Wish for one button change to my profiles to vibrate, normal, etc.
- Camera can be funny at times with how it chooses to colour correct and can be blurry if you're used to the 9900, although if you turn on image stabilization it greatly helps.
- Generally would still like a trackpad one day for browsing and text selection etc, but it's getting easier ever hour to forget about it

So that's it.

Bottom line is...
The Q10 Blackberry phone is hard to get used to for hardcore Blackberry users. iPhone, Android or Windows Phone users will love this and pick it up in a heartbeat. There are a couple quirks but once you get used to it, the majority of your texting, emailing and notification workflows are FAR FAR superior and faster and easier on this device than old Blackberrys. The Hub is amazing. Go out and get one! You won't regret it once you take it for a good spin

Allie

Can we sticky this as an example for the newbies on how to share an experience on a forum?

Thanks op, very nice Read.

Posted via CB10

[Harley Kid]

Most hardcore BB users are users of the Bold series of keyboard phones, and this is a step up in screen size and functionality. If you've gotten used to a 4.7 inch screen, moving back down won't be an easy decision.

I find myslef in this quandry. I am currently stuck on an Android and am eagerly waiting for the day I can get my hands on the BB10. Problem one. my device is a larger screen with a crappy OS and an even worse KB ... Enter Swift Key. I am more than apprehensive to give up my screen in order to get back to my beloved Bold. I have used the Curve, Tour and Bold and loved their ability to respond quickly to my usual daily emails. Promblem #2. Ater watching the tutorial on the new Z10's ability to "flick" the words onto the screen, I now and trying to weigh the benefits of both devices, waiting for the 30 issues to be sorted out (without flagging), and praying the renewal date would hurry up and force my decission!

[earlym]

Nice post! Great to capture the real time experiences. Reminds me of the TV show "24". Hour by hour, minute by minute. Glad you like the phone. It's a different platform than other phones. Takes a few hours to get the swing of the gestures based interface, but I love my Z10 and wife does too! She's used iPhones and finds the gestures very fast and efficient.

The amount of updates to v10 already, I'm really stoked on the future of BB!

Go BB!

[bold007]

Great post... at first I thought you were really returning it.... congrats. I prefer Q10 to Z10...I can live with the smaller display.. keyboard is fantastic.

Thanks

Bold007

[Harley Kid]

Can we sticky this as an example for the newbies on how to share an experience on a forum?

Thanks op, very nice Read.

Posted via CB10

Awesome idea. Whether it be a Noob to the BB platform or first time with a 10, I know a post like this would have helped me years ago when I got my first Blackberry. I will be checking post like this one once I decide on a Z or a Q10.

[Xadion]

I remeber when I first got my Palm Pre and I didnt know to swipe back on the gesture area to "go back" as there are no back/forward buttons in WebOS (phone) - I had the phone for about 2 days before I bothered to watch to intro demo....I really didnt like it because I missed that basic function- so I can relate how not being able to do basic functionallity can just grind your gears... but once you figure it out - boom!

Although I am not thrilled with their shift from playbook/card style multi tasking to the grid/tile form I am not going to give up on my search for a new phone to replace my WebOS obsession- pre-pre2-pre3 (current) I am still thinking that a Q10 or if there is a torch version that BlackBerry will be my new home. Thank you for your impressions!

[Bill Mountain]

Good post!

Posted via CB10

[spvsarah]

I've never had a blackberry before but I'm super excited about the Q10!! I have iPhone 4S right now, can't wait to ditch it for BB. I love keyboards. The only reason I didn't have one before is because they all lacked so much in basic smartphone functionality. I love when you can't understand a phone at first because that can be a sign that there are a lot of cool features. This post made me smile lol, and even more excited for the U.S. release!! Ahhh!!!

[chosen1_88]

It's always the case with new phones that you'll need a little bit of time to get it up and running, along with troubleshooting all your issues. I remember when I first got my Torch, I was having such a hard time transferring data from my Bold 9000 to it I was close to returning it. After figuring out that I shouldn't try to transfer applications over, everything worked fine and I'm approaching 3 years of use on it (mostly due to Rogers changing its HUP policy). Even when my gf moved from a 9300 to a Nexus 4, she couldn't figure out how most things worked, including how to answer incoming calls, but she stuck with it and now is very happy with her phone.

[mkmilan]

Brilliant review! After reading many dozens reviews and forum posts, there are still many functions, features and currently non-negotiable apps I use on my 9900 that makes moving to Q10 daunting. Not least of which how my left hand is locked to my phone and left thumb lives on the trackpad. Certainly, you make it ever so slightly more tempting.

[VancityAllie]

Thanks everyone for the great feedback! Love hearing your experiences and responses!

I've learned so much just from reading these forums and this post for a couple hours I've updated my original post with some new big learning breakthroughs!

[KarissaBean]

Thanks for this post! I am bookmarking it for future reference.

I tried a demo phone at Rogers last night, and I found it ... confusing. Reading this makes me feel better.

[leslie haw]

Hi Allie, I really want to thank you for the post and update on your progress on the q10. I'm on an android now and am considering changing to the q10. With apprehension whether I'll get used to it but your posts tell me it's possible with sufficient perseverance hope to hear more from you

[leslie haw]

Can anyone take a screenshot of how the browser on q10 look under reader function? Interested to see how much better it becomes. I read a lot on the Internet and I'm really concerned about the smaller screen size. Do q10 users have major concern on this? Thanks!

[Rezia]

Great post! It was fun to read AND informative! I love that you were neither needlessly snarky about the phone most of us here love nor slavishly full of praise. Really refreshing to read an unbiased review like this.

Posted via CB10

[slagman5]

Wait, so "r" in browser turns it into reader mode??? What about REFRESH?? I'm so used to hitting "r" to refresh the webpage. Please tell me they have another key to refresh it and I don't have to hit a bunch of things on the touchscreen...

And would be nice to be able to switch the phone between silent and normal with long pressing the "q" button like with current BB keyboard phones...

[OldSkoolVWLover]

Thank you so much for sharing and welcome to the forums. I can't even get my hands on one of these phones yet, but sounds like I've got a lot to look forward to. I'm a hardware keyboard junky, and the Q10 seems to be looking like it can fit all my needs!

[93Aero]

Thanks for the info, still on the fence about the Q and the S4.

[stevepar]

Awesome post. I've had my Q10 for two days, my Z10 for three months. I'm going to keep my Z10 and take back my Q10, I think :-)

Posted via CB10

[WArcher]

This was a super post. Thanks for the creative and constructive storyline.
Should be mandatory reading for anyone moving from 9900 to Q10. :-)

[VancityAllie]

Can anyone take a screenshot of how the browser on q10 look under reader function? Interested to see how much better it becomes. I read a lot on the Internet and I'm really concerned about the smaller screen size. Do q10 users have major concern on this? Thanks!

Here you go! It's really handy!

[VancityAllie]

Wait, so "r" in browser turns it into reader mode??? What about REFRESH?? I'm so used to hitting "r" to refresh the webpage. Please tell me they have another key to refresh it and I don't have to hit a bunch of things on the touchscreen...

And would be nice to be able to switch the phone between silent and normal with long pressing the "q" button like with current BB keyboard phones...

Yes so 'R' is reader mode and 'L' is refresh now. There are also shortcuts for Next Page 'N' and Previous Page 'P'... a neat one I just found is ArrowUp+Space scrolls up in the browser.

[vinestain]

Your post cracked me up so thanks for the read.

I've been Iphone since Iphone2! and my wife has been an Iphone slave since IP3 but both of us are upgrading to the Q10 when it hits the states and we CANNOT WAIT! I run 3 businesses and do 60% of my work from phones and to put it as politely as I can, the Iphone fracking blows for real work! I'e missed the keyboard since I first bought my Apple and its never gone away! I imagine it is how a crackhead feels a few years after recovery! that craving never goes away.

thanks for the diary of your experience. like i said, can't wait to Join the BB fun and games with the new devices!

[anon(153966)]

Welcome to CrackBerry.com

I just want to point one thing out. Carriers give a minimum (in the U.S) of 14-30 days to 'play\test' a device. I think the first few days with ANY new device is simply a learning curve. Hence it will be 3-4 days to fully start to get the hang of a device. Easier said than done, but I'd try to not get too frustrated in the early days, as it is all a learning curve.

Depending on your carrier, if after a week or so you simply don't like it, or can't get used to it, return it.

[slagman5]

Yes so 'R' is reader mode and 'L' is refresh now. There are also shortcuts for Next Page 'N' and Previous Page 'P'... a neat one I just found is ArrowUp+Space scrolls up in the browser.

Phew, ok, at least there's another shortcut key. I was just hoping they didn't figure that it is better to have to use the touchscreen to refresh and removed it completely... Thanks. :-)