[Taigatrommel]

German hardware website ComputerBase just published their own Z30 review. To my surprise, it was quite positive. While they already gave both the Z10 as well as the Q10 a decent verdict, the introduction of the new review was a mixed bag: They already stated this would be the last BlackBerry flagship, at least from the BlackBerry we used to know. Thinking about it however, they have do a point for sure.

In any case, they really liked the hardware, the phone had a very good build quality, with a decent, not playful design. Only negative aspect would be the weight of the new Z, which was on the heavy side.
Moving on to the display, they noted, as expected, the missing full-HD resolution. Regardless of that, the display was pretty good, ppi was still very decent and enough to get a clear view. Just like with the Q10s Super-AMOLED screen, the complained about the rather dim brightness, which I can only agree with.
Loudspeakers and telephone in general was very good rated, loud and clear sound/voice quality. Another good rating recieved the connectivity, where nothing is missing.
Overall performance was great, they didn't really manage to slow down the device, everything was smooth. They didn't miss a quad-core CPU at all.

Since the camera features the same module they used to know from the Z10, they didn't find any surprises here. Good quality on nice, sunny days. Average quality on typical autumn days (like we start having a lot around here), which tends to get noisy quickly when things get darker. Video recording was very similar rated, but the negatively mentioned the digitial image stabilization, which caused some stuttering.

With the new 2880mAH battery, they had high hopes for good battery runtimes. However they were disappointed by real world results. Their top tested phones are those of Samsungs Galaxy S4 line, while the Z30 only gets a place in the above average middle field. Although their benchmark method is a bit questionable: They're playing a long video at maximum brightness and check how long the phone lasts. The Q10 scored impressive 8:16 hours, the new iPhone 5S 7:50 hours, while the new Zed only scored a flat 6 hours of playback time.


Their final verdict was positive: The Z30 is a very good phone with only a few minor drawbacks. For example again the missing 1080p display, while it sure is good with 720p, the competition offers more right now in the same pricing segment. They liked BB10 in particular and think the new 10.2 offers many small but critical improvements compared to the previous versions. It is a joy to use, very efficient and very smooth.
The biggest drawback however, the reason why they can't give the device a "Go out and buy!" rating, is sad yet fair: With the BlackBerry future being uncertain, the possibility of a buy-out on the table and even a chance the company might get split up and get sold, it is unknown what will happen with BB10. It might be possible there won't be any software updates as soon as next year and, even worse, you might be out off warrenty in the worst case. So spending more than 500? for a device with such a background, is kind of a risk, which most likely appeals to BlackBerry fans.

BlackBerry Z30 im Test - ComputerBase

Posted via the awesome Blackberry Q10

[dbiv5445]

Sounds like a fair assessment to me. I don't have a problem with fair, just can't stand the unbiased and unprofessional reviewers that give reviews without obviously testing the devices for themselves.

[Taigatrommel]

Sounds like a fair assessment to me. I don't have a problem with fair, just can't stand the unbiased and unprofessional reviewers that give reviews without obviously testing the devices for themselves.

Indeed, there are too many reviews out there who obviously didn't even bother using the device at all or even giving it a chance in the first place. It gets the "BlackBerry sucks anyways"-stamp on it and gets a bad treatment, so it's always good to get unbiased reviews like this.

Posted via the awesome Blackberry Q10

[PauloPImenta]

Germans are unbiased when talking about technology. Good to know. The fact that german government has choose BlackBerry is also a good sign and shows they are more impressed with the product rather than with the fact that is fashion or not.



Posted via CB10

[wincyUt]

Mobile phone is at a cut-throat pace and most features today will be obsolete in 2yrs time, so it (warranty or serviceability) really shouldn't be valid consideration for dissuading people from buying a Z30. BlackBerry even under the worst case scenario will not just shut down abruptly.
Z30 is not heavy; maybe the reviewer is not strong. Lol!! To each their own.

[jrohland]

Typically the first few days of a BB10 device's life entails some heavy lifting to index content. If you judge the battery life in the first 2 days, it will not be very impressive. After that, you will get a much better feel for battery life. I would like to know if they are aware of this and took it into account?

[jay_men]

Typically the first few days of a BB10 device's life entails some heavy lifting to index content. If you judge the battery life in the first 2 days, it will not be very impressive. After that, you will get a much better feel for battery life. I would like to know if they are aware of this and took it into account?

I'm not sure how subjective the ComputerBase battery tests are. I find that the GSMArena battery tests are more "scientific" as they seem to follow a set consistent standard of battery tests for each phone they review. It'll be interesting to see how they rate this bad boy.