[lindaandjon]

I'll start by saying I've always had Blackberrys, not because I'm a fan boy but because of the amazing international data tariff that I have - £15 a month for all the data you can eat anywhere in the world and as a regular traveller this is fantastic and better than any other OS can offer. I've had the Storm 1, 2 and the latest Torch which I'd rate as poor for the Storm 1 through to quite good for the Torch (if you can ignore the regular spinning hour glass, usually just when you need the phone the most.) So I was really looking forward to getting a phone that sounded as good as the competition and not being the **** of my sons jokes for having a Crapberry as they called my Torch.

I was the first person to buy one in the Norwich store (at 2pm!) and got the Carphone Warehouse people to trim my SIM from my Torch to fit it. The store staff were excellent and were just as interested in the phone as me having not seen one in the flesh before. I got a nifty little Surface like case too which I'm not sure if I like it as much as a holster as the phone feels odd in your hand in the case but perhaps its just a matter of adjusting. I have to say that the demo phone they had out in the store almost made me change my mind about upgrading - I really didn't get on with the demo and found it confusing and uninspiring - I wasn't sure at times if I was actually watching a video or actually following their prompts.

Setting up the phone with accounts is straight forward and it flies along between screens and apps. Silky smooth I'd say. The biggest issue I've got with it so far is I really want a back button! On some apps in the bottom left hand corner there is a back button but others there isn't, to be fair it's often because you don't need one because there is a home icon or something else to take you back to the front screen of the app. I'm sure this is just a matter of getting used to it but it's certainly frustrating at the moment. I don't know what it is with Software these days - first they nick my Start orb from Windows 8 and now the back button from my BB!

My only other gripe is that some apps don't have a landscape mode including the home screen which I find very annoying. Maybe mines faulty?? It's very odd typing a message in Landscape and then returning to the home screen only to find its sideways and I have to change the phone orientation.

The touchscreen keyboard is great and I'm slowly getting used to flicking word suggestions onto the page as I type and I'll certainly use this feature more than I did the old word suggestions and the web browser is simply amazing - so quick and clear.

The screen quality itself is fantastic and I love the flow from screen to screen and app to app. To see the phone at its best you should try The Guardian app. This is lightening quick, brilliantly laid out and just a joy to use. It seamlessly plays any video in an article and if the rest of the apps worked this way I'd say this is an absolutely fantastic phone, but it certainly does show that with the right apps it will be a fantastic phone and shortcomings at the moment are largely due to the apps, not the hardware or OS.

Talking of apps although there are a lot of apps I still feel I've stepped backwards from my Torch, no Endomondo, Sugar Sync, Score Mobile, Sky Sports, T Mobile, my favourite news reader which I can't remember the name of and various other apps I had but probably the one I miss most is Social Feeds - I loved having all my FB and twitter news in one place.

So my day one overall impressions are positive for the OS and hardware but slightly disappointed by the absence of some apps. Would I recommend it? If you want to stick with Blackberry then definitely. If you are choosing between this and an iPhone, Android or Windows 8 phone then the lack of apps will certainly be a key factor (also for W8) but this is being addressed with many new apps arriving all the time and to be fair they are all pretty good systems. Certainly BB10 makes you feel like you are up there with the others rather than languishing miles behind.

If I could take my tariff with me then out of all the phones I have used then currently I'd opt for the Win 8 phones first, then the Z10 then Android. I'm certainly pleased with the phone and enjoying using it and overall I think as the apps come on line I will enjoy it more and more. Even with an iphone like app store though I think I'd (at this early stage) prefer a Windows 8 phone to the Z10, but it is close and feels a bit like choosing between two things you really want on a menu rather than like with my Torch being forced to choose from the kids menu!

I'd give it 85%.

[Djlatino]

They were aiming for number 3, that's what they got. Simple as that.

[cwoodffr]

Talking of apps although there are a lot of apps I still feel I've stepped backwards from my Torch, no Endomondo, Sugar Sync, Score Mobile, Sky Sports, T Mobile, my favourite news reader which I can't remember the name of and various other apps I had but probably the one I miss most is Social Feeds - I loved having all my FB and twitter news in one place.

Scoremobile is now the score and is available for 10 I believe.

[qbnkelt]

Awesome review, OP!!!! Fair assessment, no fanboism or trolling in sight. Very helpful and informative.

Appreciate your candor. Enjoy your Z10 in good health.

Cheers!!!!!!!

[slparry]

why do you need social feeds? I was under the impression the Blackberry Hub achieves the same thing, at least it does on my Playbook?

[Kat0908]

why do you need social feeds? I was under the impression the Blackberry Hub achieves the same thing, at least it does on my Playbook?

You have the Hub on your PlayBook?

[BBThemes]

the landscape mode is a weird one, i had a dev alpha since may last year, and iv had a z10 since wednesday, neither of these have lanscape homescreens. while this is very different from the BBOS of old, its probably a valid point to note that the other players on the market also dont have a landscape homescreen so far as i know (feel free to correct if im wrong). Now im not saying thats right that there isnt one, im just saying on a `feature parity` basis, neither do the others. wether thats a good or bad thing i think is entirely down to personal preferance.

As for the back button, well as i previously said, i had a dev alpha, so i had already got acclimatised to the swiping and UI by the time i got my Z10, so while i dont see the challenges with it, thats maybe more a `im used to it now` thing. I would competely agree with the social feeds comment, as i really do miss it. the facebook app is totally acceptable, but the twitter app is abysmal if im honest, and apps like Blaq are simply not there (seriously? wtf!). the problem mainly for me is they dont auto update if you leave them open, so your always pulling down to refresh, which isnt a good thing, ever.

Now im sure these (and many other apps) will get better over time, but id have to agree the app situation right now isnt the best it could be. I should point out though that alot of the portathon apps havent been cleared through appworld yet, so this could change quickly, i guess only time will tell.

[q649]

They were aiming for number 3, that's what they got. Simple as that.

I hate to sound realistic, but no new OS can claim anything but last place, and it would sound moronic for Heins to jump around on stage yelling "We're number 1!".

It's going to take a few months (or many months) to convince some of the huge apps that are missing from the BB10 ecosystem that BB10 is worth developing for. There are two ways to bring the apps over to a new platform: pay huge amounts of $$ or have the install base. Windows has the $$, but there is a general lack of interest in their phones. BlackBerry doesn't have the $$, but they have a loyal fan-base and outside of North America still have a reputation. The greater the number of BB10 users, the harder it will be for app developers to ignore.

[pvantienen]

I wonder if the landscape home screen is an issue because there is no bezel room to swipe up from the bottom in landscape mode. I don't have a phone yet so i am just pondering.

[JMDBERRY]

Man! I hope it has the same 'Social Feeds Reader" as the 9810! That is an awesome app - imho!

[kazmi]

excellent info...thanks for sharing!

Had some questions - can you please comment on the boot/startup time? Also, when you get around to it, please do post your thoughts on the camera.

Thanks and have fun with your new toy

[Smiley88]

Boot time is way faster than the Playbook. Less than a min.

As for the camera it takes really nice pics with full light and is super fast. The time shift and burst modes are awesome.

excellent info...thanks for sharing!

Had some questions - can you please comment on the boot/startup time? Also, when you get around to it, please do post your thoughts on the camera.

Thanks and have fun with your new toy

[njblackberry]

Boot/Startup (from a battery pull): 1:15 (includes getting on the carrier network)
Camera is VERY fast.

[PunPryde]

Honest review. Thank you.

[MoolahMitch]

Do emojis work, tired of those damn Black squares when I am not using my Android or iOS devices

[njblackberry]

OK.. Hmm - how to ask it - what is an emojis? So I can test if they work...

[mooda]

why do you need social feeds? I was under the impression the Blackberry Hub achieves the same thing, at least it does on my Playbook?

social feeds is different than the hub. HUB looks at things directed at you like facebook messages and twitter DM. Social feeds pulled everything timeline updates tweets of everyone you follow status updates also had a built in RSS feed. if its not there then Taptu will suffice but it was a great convenience

[123berryaddicted]

Great! I love honest reviews from an average user. Thanks OP!

Quick question - have you had the time to try out the bbmGroups and speed of accessing a group? Currently on my 9900 it takes. Forever to pull up a group chat or photos... Almost like the feature is to hard to run on the 9900 hardware, I'm wondering if this is improved significantly with the Z10 and BB10?

[calicocat2010]

Well that's weird how for the homescreen aka active frames does Not work on landscape. I say this because I saw on this website: http://m.theglobeandmail.com/technol...service=mobile demo with gaming on the Z10....one of the employees of RIM/BlackBerry was able to jump between games From landscape mode showing the active frames with just swiping from the bottom.

[MoolahMitch]

OK.. Hmm - how to ask it - what is an emojis? So I can test if they work...

Its all those smiley faces that iOS and now Android and WP users use to communicate, mainly seen in IM convos but it has migrated to Twitter. If you have ever seen a black square when viewing someones tweet or in their Twitter name, thats an emoji. It originated from Japan and is usually accessible via the keyboard input as an addtiional keyboard.

[lindaandjon]

I'm afraid I don't use groups, sorry.

[lindaandjon]

I now use Scope which works well - I sideloaded it.

[R Field]

The have Score mobile in BlackBerry world just so you know

CB10- z10

[DrWormBoy]

OP how sure are you that your data tarrif is coming along for the ride? Would hate to see you ranting on here about a huge data bill in a month. I have been taking my Z10 real slow untill I figure out my carriers data billing