[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

This is my little 10 minute write up opinion of the Blackberry Z10. Former 9900 user. I am not trying to portray any of this as facts. It is just what I think. I have had the phone since the first minutes it was released in Canada. Its not everything I have ever thought, just a quick thread.



Hardware


Pros:
-Back is texturized for grip. Less likely to drop it compared to smooth back phones
-I like the weight of the phone. Not too heavy not too light. On par with other top phones.
-Back, sides, and the top and bottom chins are all made of a material that does not scratch or show swirl marks over time.
-The back or the sides are not made of a shiny, cheap looking plastic. It is indeed plastic – but not a cheap shiny looking one. I am familiar with plastic materials in high end European cars – and these are along the same train of thought.
-It does not get finger marks or oil residue on the back, sides, or both top and bottom chins
-The phone is the most minimalist design that I can think of. No writing on the back or front or recycle logos, etc because that is inside the device under the battery. I like that.
-The Blackberry logo on both the back and sides are the correct size ratio based on the overall size of the device.
-Removable battery comes in handy for those on the go. When you are travelling around not sitting in a car or at a desk you are not able to charge the device if there is no removable battery. It is nice to swap out a battery on the go. Not having to hook it up to an external power pack is a plus.
-Battery cover is easy to remove. No corner of a credit card or long nails needed anymore. Battery cover clicks into place. No guessing.
-SD card removable without pulling battery. And it works with a 64GB card – or more. Although the compatibility is a Fat32 software issue really.
-Camera doesn’t show trashy text like how many megapixels it has, or “zoom” written underneath it. It is what it is and we don’t need to advertise specific hardware specs for the camera
-Nothing wrong with headphone jack placement at the top
-Speaker has good call quality
-Antenna seems to get good reception – wifi antenna and cellular
-Blueooth 4.0 is nice, as on other new devices
-Front facing camera is good for video call. 2MP is top of class I believe.
-Side volume buttons and top button are easy to press. They are made of metal but are small enough that they will show wear/swirls over time as on a whole metal phone
-I like the USB placement.
-Screen clarity is great. High PPI and it shows

Cons:
-No charging contacts or wireless charging
-You must pull battery to change SIM card
-Loud speaker is not as loud as the 9900 or 9000.
-Rear Camera quality is acceptable but not exceptional in low light. I will consider this a hardware issue.
-I would like the rear camera in the middle of the phone. Less likely to have a finger over it when trying to take a picture. I understand this is harder to do for the manufacturer.
-I wish the side HDMI and USB ports were further apart or more easily identifiable. Even after this time I still have to think for a split second to make sure I don’t try and jam the USB into the HDMI.Do not know how this could be done better though.
-I would like the sheet of glass for the screen to go side to side. No little small border with dust gap




Software

Pros:
-I like the camera button on the lock screen
-I like pulling down the shade for the night clock. Alarm is easy to set on the clock.
-Software never freezes. Have had one or two individual isolated app freezes.
-Everything opens and closes instant. Never problems.
-The keyboard is amazing. I am probably about the same, or faster then on my 9900. This is because of the flick predictions only. I am not faster on standard touchscreen or standard swiftkey.
-Seldom restarts
-Transitions and various small TAT things.
-I like story maker and the photo editing
-BBM and all of its features are great. Screen share, bbm video, etc…way ahead of competition. Colour coded D and R is nice.
-The hub is great. I always had my convenience key set to messaging. Now theres no convenience key but that’s fine with me
-Browser is very fast and loads anything you throw at it. I like that the top bar does not show it saves space.
-Calendar, contacts…basic things are all no issues for me.
-Calculator is nice with the unit convertor and scientific calculator.
-Updates are easy and simple.
-I like active frames. I like clearly seeing what apps are open. It encourages you to close the ones you aren’t using rather then not knowing or having to check to know and they are running in the background the whole time.


Cons:
-Startup is not really completed for a few seconds after you see your home screen. The hub and call log still have to load. Add on this time to the one minute for start up and it is on the longer side of smart phones.
-Predictive text does not seem to remember websites. Type www.c and it shows default craigslist which I have never been to. Will not show crackberry when I keep typing it even know I frequent it.
-Playbook has a .ca button. I do not believe this does.
-The volume icon stays on the screen too long when you change the volume
-The songs seem to take longer to change using the hardware buttons then they did on the 9900
-A missed call icon on peek should go away if you view the hub since the missed call. You should not have to go into the phone app to dismiss the icon.
-I don’t like that the voice control doesn’t show a lot of information in the voice control app. It always wants to use the browser to display or search. Should pull what it feels you want and display it like Siri.
-Sometimes when I have tried to swipe up during a call I accidently press end call. End call icon should be in a less gesture sensitive area.
-Not a fan of carrier bloatware that you cannot delete without the updates coming back. This is a carrier issue, never the less it is on the z10 software.
-This is also on other devices and the playbook, but when I have rotation lock on and restart the phone..why is rotation lock off? All of my other settings are the same except for that after a rare restart.
-I find battery life acceptable, not exceptional, and on par with other devices, however I would like it to be longer
-There is no way that I can see to edit a pictures name from within pictures. I have to go to another location to do this.
-Wish there was an option to select a different image or a default background for when the phone is locked. Right now even when my phone is locked the background picture can be seen.
-Keyboard should automatically come up for SMS like it does for BBM. Or atleast have the option to turn that on or off for all message types.



Accessories

Pros:
-Love the transform shell
-Love the holster - and sleep magnets

Cons:
-Where is the media dock?



Platform

Pros:
The overall experience on the phone is great. It would translate well into a tablet and otherwise.
-Blackberry protect is great. Have never used Link


Cons:
-Needs more big name apps to draw in users
-BB10 is still not on the playbook. The playbook is still usable but soon it will be behind the curve in hardware. A new tablet is needed.
-They keep portraying this interconnected world with parking meters and cars because of QNX. Where is it. Stop showing it or do it.
-Still missed promises. Alec Saunders said Skype would be here by now






Will follow up with more good and bad when I think of it

[TheQuietRioter]

What are sleep magnets? Don't LOL@Me. I've honestly never heard the term.

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

What are sleep magnets? Don't LOL@Me. I've honestly never heard the term.

When you put the phone in a holster it recognizes it and changes screen setting accordingly

[TheQuietRioter]

Oh yeah!!! I remember those cases. They were so cool. I never had to worry about buttons getting pushed or b*utt dialing my grandma during a Slayer concert with those. I was a little sad at the lack of accessories with the Z10, but I hope the Aristo is a bigger package.

[missing_K-W]

I love the constructive criticism attta girl!

As great as the device is. Ever onward on improving the platform Blackberry

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

I love the constructive criticism attta girl!

As great as the device is. Ever onward on improving the platform Blackberry

That's Ashley esqueda licking a playbook in my pic. I'm a guy. LOL!!!!

[ddlax22]

That's Ashley esqueda licking a playbook in my pic. I'm a guy. LOL!!!!

HAHAHAHA

Posted via CB10 - FINALLY

[Tre Lawrence]

That's Ashley esqueda licking a playbook in my pic. I'm a guy. LOL!!!!

The "atta girl" was classic. I was second guessing myself there for a second LOL.

Great write-up, Pros and cons seem well thought out, sounds balanced and fair. Well done, ma'am sir! great guide for those of us who don't have one yet.

[ddlax22]

I really can agree with you on most of them. I don't have too many gripes with the software as bb10 honestly is everything I could ever imagine it to be. Hardware isn't bad, runs great. But the battery pisses me the f***off! I don't know if it gets better after a week but I sure hope so!

Great overview Bold. Glad you did it. We needed this.

Posted via CB10 - FINALLY

[raw_dog]

Solid criticism. I personally would like to see more of this kind of thing.

Posted via CB10

[BlackBerry Guy]

That's a reasonable assessment . I can agree with pretty much all you've noted.

On the subject of the camera, I tend to think it's more of a software issue. I was looking at the stats a little while back and it was noted that the camera unit had a backside illuminated sensor and a 5 element f/2.2. In theory, this should mean decent low light pictures.

I've noticed the camera tends to under expose, and the work around that's been mentioned on CB is to drag the focus point to a darker area to get the camera to up the exposure. Giving the camera AI a kick in the pants might make it "smarter".

[missing_K-W]

That's Ashley esqueda licking a playbook in my pic. I'm a guy. LOL!!!!

Ooopsy.........Attttttttta boy

[iToya]

I'm glad you waited after you had the phone for a while to go ahead and post your opinion.

I only had it for about six days and I'm still in the honeymoon phase, but I feel like points you made are valid and relevant.



Posted via CB10

[missing_K-W]

I really can agree with you on most of them. I don't have too many gripes with the software as bb10 honestly is everything I could ever imagine it to be. Hardware isn't bad, runs great. But the battery pisses me the f***off! I don't know if it gets better after a week but I sure hope so!

Great overview Bold. Glad you did it. We needed this.

Posted via CB10 - FINALLY

Let your battery run out before charging .....breaks your battery in.

[TheQuietRioter]

Am I just ******** or does the flash not become an option when the time shift feature is on?

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

Am I just ******** or does the flash not become an option when the time shift feature is on?

Not an option. Flash is an instant. Time shift rewinds more than that instant so it wouldn't work

[BlackBerry Guy]

Am I just ******** or does the flash not become an option when the time shift feature is on?

No, the flash doesn't work with time shift. I'm guessing due to a combination of it being burst mode on camera phone hardware, and that they probably won't be able to properly stitch in the right face if the lighting is slightly different on each shot.

[DJM626]

Would you still recommend it, or are you sorry that you picked it up?

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

Would you still recommend it, or are you sorry that you picked it up?

This is the best phone I have ever owned and I would highly recommend it

[Iamanonymous62]

This is the best phone I have ever owned and I would highly recommend it

Have you ever owned Android or iPhone?

[TheQuietRioter]

Not an option. Flash is an instant. Time shift rewinds more than that instant so it wouldn't work

Well, that should be addressed. Its going to be hard to capture the perfect drunken shot in a dim bar. LOL fo'realz

[ddlax22]

Have you ever owned Android or iPhone?

I have. You won't be let down

Posted via CB10 - FINALLY

[ddlax22]

Well, that should be addressed. Its going to be hard to capture the perfect drunken shot in a dim bar. LOL fo'realz

#word

And yea I used a hashtag in crackberry. kill me

Posted via CB10 - FINALLY

[canuckvoip]

The radios are great... if not awesome.
The voice quality is very good and stable as you speakerphone comment suggests. The "HD" voice experience is excellent and much better than normal (this can also be experienced with another BBMV user). Never had a signal issue on any radio. BT great and automatically syncs to my Venza. WIFI is perfectly remembering every spot. LTE is available and well used. Haven't tried NFC yet. WIFI hotspot is stable too.

[jonduran86]

Very thorough review. Great read for those still debating on getting one. With that said, can't wait to get mine!