[jamierparent]

I've had the phone on Telus since the 15th of October. Here are my findings.

First off, I came from an HTC one and this is my third BlackBerry. The first BlackBerry was the 9900. That lasted 16 hours. I guess I had one with an OS which was really new because I could not properly integrate with gmail and a few other services. Also, triple contacts turned me off pretty quick. Second phone was the z10 which lasted one week. The OS was super nice but I could not side load some of my apps, plus the device felt super cheap.

The z30 in my opinion should have been the phone to be released in place of the z10 because it's a great device. Long battery life, great integration with other services, great screen, sound is on par with the HTC One minus some base. I've been able to side load things like Netflix and Google Maps without issue. It's not all roses though.

Crashing. I can't fully blame the device however. I've been side loading everything under the sun. I'm also running the unlocked run-time which might account for some usability issues. That said, I've had a few issues in usability where from the lock screen if you hold the camera button to start the app, it would lock up the phone and you can only restart it by long pressing the power button. I've also had this super weird issue where I was fiddling with Bluetooth for my car (VW Golf TDI) and it locked up the phone, but also somehow crashed the cars computer. I could not scroll through any of the menus in the car withing the center staring console, and my horn was disabled. Shutting down the car for about a minute allow for it to reset. This is not likely solely the phones fault. There is something definitely worth investigating with regards to the BT implementation both on the phone and car.

That being said, I still have the phone. BBM, ease of use with regards to communication via the hub, the flow of the OS as well as the new 4.2.2 run-time and the ability to have access to a larger pool of apps has made this one of the, if not the best phone I've owned. Also, the only other handset I've owned which had call quality near what this handset can achieve is the iPhone. None of the Android phone came close. It might have something to do with the compression algorithms used on Android, but generally my experience on those devices has not been stellar.

Battery life has been very good to say the least. The last time I had a device last this long was when I had my Note 2. The keyboard is one of the best. It does take some time use to. I used Swiftkey on my Androids and loved it but I'm just faster and accurate with this one.

A lot of folks gripe about the screen, but let's be honest, the slight aliasing you might get, and I use the word might loosely, is not really perceptible unless you are in licking distance of your phone. Colors are great, viewing angles are adequate. No issues here.

I'm not a huge camera user but the camera in this phone is good enough for me. I do wish there was more control. That can be solved with a but more work on the app side.

I'm looking forward to improvements in some departments. Stability, more Android support or native app support. Besides that, I'm sold on this phone. So although it's not all clear sky's and sunshine, there is more than enough value withing this device and ecosystem to keep me happy.

All in all this phone answers my use pattern better than the other devices I've used. I think the other platforms are all great solutions and as things keep evolving, and they evolve fast, my opinion might change. For now, I'm quite happy showing off my z30 and having people ask me excitedly , "THAT is a BlackBerry !?!"

[diegonei]

All in all this phone answers my use pattern better than the other devices I've used. I think the other platforms are all great solutions and as things keep evolving, and they evolve fast, my opinion might change. For now, I'm quite happy showing off my z30 and having people ask me excitedly , "THAT is a BlackBerry !?!"

It does bring a good amount of satisfaction, doesn't it?

Keep rocking that Z30 and smashing bias!

[jamierparent]

During the two week period where you can exchange your phone the only other phone I was considering was the Sony Z1. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there was something off about that device. This is of course my personal opinion and not indicative of the device itself. I honestly have gotten so used to the BBOS 10 UI that I find it hard to re-establish a connection with either iPhone or Android. I do a lot of communication for work which is where I really feel this device shines. I don't regret giving up my 6 month old HTC one for the z30.